ATG_Giving back CSR_2024

Reflecting on our Corporate Social Responsibility in 2023: Making a Meaningful Impact

In 2023, our company embarked on a journey to extend our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts beyond mere philanthropy. At Argility Technology Group (ATG), we aim to give back and make a tangible and sustainable impact on the communities we serve, not only those in which we live but also those who are not as fortunate as us, while aligning our initiatives with our core values.

The ATG family is all about positive change and making an impact.

We focused on addressing pressing social challenges through strategic partnerships, innovative projects, and dedicated resources, extending our support, love and heart to various initiatives. Let’s delve into the highlight of our corporate social investments and the transformative outcomes they yielded.

Donations to help people irrespective of age, race or creed:

  • CHOC – An NGO that aims to provide support to children with cancer and life-threatening blood disorders and their families.
    • Our donations helped to provide much-needed treatment for low-income households who cannot afford it.
  • Johenco Old Age Home – A BPO that cares for older persons to promote active ageing and support them to live a life of quality and dignity.
    • We purchased a solar geyser and panels to give senior citizens warm water in the Winter and reduce their electricity costs.
  • Angels Baby Sanctuary – An NPO that takes care of abandoned, abused and orphaned babies by providing a place of safety and meeting all their needs.
    • Our donations sponsored five babies with food and care.
  • Action for the Blind and Disabled Children – An NPO who makes a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Blind and disabled young people receive education free of charge.
    • We updated their PCs with the necessary software and licences to enhance learners’ learning experiences.
  • Alex Hospice & Rehabilitation Centre – A PBO in the Alexandra community that cares for people who are infected and ravaged by HIV/AIDS.
    • Our donations sponsored much-needed primary healthcare for patients who cannot help themselves.

Further donations extended to helpless, abandoned and abused animals:

  • Cheryl Lyn’s Rescue Organisation – An NPO that rescues abused, neglected and lost animals with the aim of rehabilitation and re-homing.
    • Our donations helped feed the animals and provided needed vaccinations and medication.
  • Hellen White in the Community – An NPO that assists the community with education in animal care, responding to animal emergencies with veterinary support and paying bills.
    • Our donations helped feed the animals and provided needed vaccinations and medication.

As we reflect on our corporate social responsibility in 2023, we take pride in our transformative impact on individuals and communities. By aligning our CSR initiatives with our values and business objectives, we’ve demonstrated our commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen and driving sustainable change. Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to continuously innovating and collaborating with stakeholders to address evolving societal challenges and create a brighter, more equitable future for all.

“We may make a living by what we get, but we make a lifewith what we give.”  Winston Churchill

By Wanda Kriel – ATG People Lead and Special Projects

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Executive team

45 Years of Technology Innovation

A Tribute to the Argility Technology Group and the ATG family by Tanya Long, ATG Chief Operating Officer.

I always smile when I see our monthly internal posts celebrating the Argility Technology Group (ATG) staff work anniversaries, even more so in these times when the war for talent is a reality. The fact that collectively the tenure of the current team recently clocked in at 1078 years, speaks volumes about a business that in 2023 is celebrating 45 years since its founding.
In the evolving technology arena where companies come and go – do you remember the .com bubble that shot up in the ’90s when Argility was already rounding off its second decade of operations – many of those organisations are now firmly in the realm of ‘whatever happened to them’. Businesses came and went with what was later referred to as .bomb – a burst bubble indeed. But a few shining stars continued to develop and endure the test of time – Argility is one of those rare performers. The business has withstood and grown through a remarkable journey of 45 years of innovation, technological advances, and in doing so, delivering a transformative impact on our world and the success of our customers.

Since its inception Argility has been at the forefront of retail technology advancements, consistently pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Decades of long, prosperous customer relationships bear testament to ATG’s customer-centric culture, exceptional service, and innovative thinking. With each passing year, the company has risen to new heights shaping the digital landscape, and revolutionising various industries through the supply chain including retail, fleet and warehousing. All of this has filtered down to the enhancement of daily lives of both ourselves and our customers, in ways we could have never imagined.

Let’s take a quick walk down memory lane.

  • Circa: 1978 – point of sale (POS) – where it all began.
  • Circa: 2011/2012 – By this time, the company’s software was powering more than 6,000 retail operations internationally.
  • Circa: 2015 – Argility was a driving force behind digital eCommerce. Argility’s Omni Channel Business Solutions Framework and Single Customer View were providing a single customer data repository augmented by consistency of customer data across multiple channels.
  • Circa: 2016 – Argility was firmly established as a driving force in digital transformation.
    Through IoT and real-time analytics, Argility became an enabler for customers to acquire a single view, across all channels including mobile, online, in-store and call centres. Argility was not only a leading digital transformation specialist but the first choice provider of converged traditional and digital commerce capabilities across a wide range of industry sectors including: financial services, retail and enterprise.
  • By 2017 – The Argility Technology Group was solving complex business problems by supplying and supporting various customised software solutions such as POS, ERP, Warehouse, Fleet and IoT management software, Proximity Marketing and more.
  • Circa: 2018 – ATG was the leading innovator and implementer of customised enterprise software solutions including all the foregoing plus Prescriptive Analytics and more.
  • By 2019/2020 – Artificial Intelligence (AI) had entered the picture and ATG was supplying and supporting various customised software solutions including all the foregoing plus Data Science/AI and Machine Learning (ML) solutions.
  • By 2021 Smollan entered the picture and in 2023 finalised its acquisition of ATG into the global group.

At the heart of ATG’s success lies a relentless commitment to excellence. Argility has been unwavering in the pursuit of retail and digital commerce solutions, which has yielded game-changing products and services that have become integral parts of our lives and advancements for our customers that enabled them to stay a step ahead of the competition.

The path we’ve walked since the early days has been nothing short of extraordinary. We’ve seen software evolve from punch cards and huge data centres to cloud computing, AI and the intricate, digital ecosystem we navigate today. We’ve embraced change, adapted to new technologies, and continuously redefined our offerings to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers.

Impressive technological achievements aside, the Argility team has also been a champion of positive change. Through our corporate social responsibility initiatives, we have demonstrated a deep commitment to making a meaningful difference in society. Whether fostering diversity and inclusion, addressing socio-economic challenges of the previously disadvantaged, supporting the growth of our nation’s youth or empowering communities, Argility has consistently shown that our vision extends far beyond a balance sheet.

Beyond the code and the algorithms, what truly sets ATG apart is the people who have been the heart and soul of the organisation. The driving force behind the remarkable ATG story has always been our talented and resolute workforce. Comprising some of the brightest minds in the industry, our people have embodied the spirit of collaboration, pouring their creativity and passion into solving complex problems, pushing boundaries together and bringing their collective capabilities to bear on shaping the future with technology. Each individual past and present, has made ATG a great place to work and their contributions to our success, sustainability and growth, have been immense. Through their countless hours of dedication, passion, expertise, creativity, and unwavering commitment to excellence, they have propelled ATG to become the successful business it is today. Armed with experience, wisdom and a clear vision, we are enthralled with the possibilities that lie in the future.

In conclusion I would like to borrow a phrase from the great 19th century poet Robert Browning:
“The best is yet to come.”

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Java-Digital Transformation

Argility Winning the Java Talent War and Leading the Way

ATG’s successful collaboration with Java Training leader – VZAP – by Keenan Naidoo, Argility Divisional System Manager.

The battle for tech talent has intensified in today’s competitive digitally transformed landscape, with Java skills emerging as a crucial differentiator. These skills remain scarce in the country, posing major challenges for organisations who need to stay ahead of the curve in the digital era. We firmly believe that by bolstering our technological prowess, we can contribute not only to the growth of our business but of the industry as a whole by equipping our local workforce with the tools they need to thrive.

These initiatives take various forms, including comprehensive technology training, workshops, and seminars led by industry experts. By providing opportunities to enhance skills and upgrade general capabilities, we ensure staff are positioned to tackle the challenges of today’s fast-paced digital business environment.

We recognise the importance of a supportive and collaborative work culture in nurturing talent. Our employees are our most valuable asset, and their development is pivotal to our overall success. By investing in that, ATG is not only empowering our people with the skills they need to excel but also fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning. Ryan Hanson, Best Buy, once said – “I believe that the talent that we need for tomorrow exists within our organisation today,” which sums up our approach at ATG. We work hard to provide an inclusive environment where our people have access to online and face-to-face learning programmes, cross-functional collaborations, and knowledge-sharing platforms. Through these initiatives the group encourages the exchange of ideas, expertise, and collective growth.

We have tailored a specialised programme that directly caters to our group’s unique requirements. Unlike generic training programs, our focused initiative is designed to enhance our current capabilities, aligning closely with our solutions and software. By investing in this approach, we make sure our people acquire the exact skills needed to excel in their roles, thus creating a pool of talent primed to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow.

The reskilling of our highly trained technical staff in Java has proved to an immensely successful collaboration with VZAP – renowned in IT for the quality of its Java training courses. These are geared for both first-time programmers as well as experienced developers looking to up-skill or cross-skill to Java.

Our people possess incomparable domain knowledge, technical skills and experience with our iRIS platform team alone boasting more than 340 years combined retail experience – a record, not many companies can boast. The business took a strategic decision to dip into this phenomenal tech reservoir and reskill in areas specific to our wider tech stack requirements and with rewarding outcomes for both our people and our company.

VZAP was only too happy to cater to ATG’s bright bunch of candidates and provided specialised short training courses in an atmosphere of collaboration with input from the Argility team to create individualised content. We knew what we needed, and our VZAP lecturers displayed great enjoyment in delivering it. They embraced the challenge of tailoring the curriculum to meet the needs of our teams with vigour and enthusiasm.

Gregory Guy, VZAP Senior Lecturer noted: “As we navigate this educational journey together, I find myself savouring every minute of it. ATG’s hard work, inquisitiveness, and commitment to learning creates an environment that fosters growth and mutual respect. We look forward to hosting more courses and collaborations with Argility in the future and believe their candidates are achieving great success going forward with their new skill set.”

We concur with that and envisage a future where our workforce possesses a deep well of Java and Google expertise, enabling us to deliver innovative solutions and maintain our competitive edge.

By continuously investing in our people’s growth and development, we are securing their professional success and contributing to the overall progress of our organisation plus the wider industry.

VZAP training Contact Information:

Website: www.vzap.co.za

Email: java@vzap.co.za

Tel: +27 11 447 6620

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ATG - The new Chapter

ATG – the next chapter

ATG the next chapter

By Anja Justus, Marketing Manager – Argility Technology Group

The ATG family has moved to new offices – not too far from our previous space – so we are keeping that great central location.

Our old offices served us well and was a place that saw many innovative ideas come to life yielding unforgettable memories. However, change is the one inevitable aspects of life. We couldn’t be more thrilled about our new space and starting this new chapter.

“Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision and change” Richard Branson.

Over the past few months, we were technically ‘homeless’, embracing the home-office way of working, but that is not to say ATG was standing still – we most definitely were not. ATG has undergone many changes during that period. Now after months of preparation and hard work, we have eventually moved into our new domain.

There were several motivating factors behind the move. Yes, our lease agreement had come to an end, but it was fortuitous timing as it encouraged us to rethink how we needed to get ready for the post-pandemic journey and embrace the new future of work.

Onwards and upwards

ATG continues to grow, and we would love to have all our colleagues back in the office. But as a natural step of growth and with the changing world of work due to COVID19 , we had to explore the options of allowing our colleagues to work from across the globe and to complete assignments when and where they feel most productive. So we decided a hybrid/remote working environment was the best model to adopt.

Our new space is slightly smaller than the previous one, but our office features and facilities have had a major revamp benefiting both our customers and the ATG team. Therefore, we now have more greenery, collaboration spaces, and high-tech meeting rooms. What more can anyone ask for?

Now, slowly but surely we are settling in and getting back into the swing of in-person things.

Teamwork

A big shout-out and special thanks to everyone involved who worked tirelessly around the clock and behind the scenes, to successfully transition us into the new environment.

Nothing is stopping us now!

Tech meets nature

Let’s take a brief tour:

  • First, a warm welcome to Reception, where we will help you find your way.
  • Next, our office space: An open floorplan concept with hot desks, allowing you to choose the perfect spot where the magic happens.
  • Many collaboration and innovation spaces are strong features from where creativity and epic outcomes will flow.
  • Our user-friendly shiny meeting rooms are kitted with the latest technology to ensure we don’t miss a beat, allowing us to connect anywhere with team members or customers.
  • The Pause and Patio area: A great welcome space for employees and guests – our favourite place to breathe, connect and enjoy a cup of coffee/tea; a place for many celebrations to come.
  • Last but not least, welcome to The Firs! The hustle and bustle below us keep us sane. With great restaurants within easy walking distance, we can grab a meal or have a team lunch – doing it in style. Sometimes the best ideas happen outside of the office.

ATGs’ new chapter

But more important than any office space – our people – they make our working environment a place of energy and synergy, taking us to new levels of possibilities. We’ve got a great team of innovative, passionate, motivated, productive, creative thinkers and lifelong colleagues – this is the essence of the ATG family.

It has been quite a rollercoaster ride for ATG with many challenges and exciting times – we look at our new space as the start of another chapter in our history.

“In every end is the seed of a new beginning” Liz Hester.

If you are in the area, please pop in and say hello! 

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The POPI Act Countdown is On! Everything you need to know about POPIA compliance

The POPI Act Countdown is On! Everything you need to know about POPIA compliance

What is POPI?

POPI is South Africa’s data privacy law and it stands for the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013. It is sometimes also referred to as POPIA. It governs when and how organisations collect, use, store, delete and otherwise handle personal information.

What is personal information under POPIA?

Generally speaking, personal information is any information that can be used to personally identify a natural or juristic (i.e. organisations) person. This information about a person includes, but is not limited to:

Personal information_web use

Who does POPI apply to?

POPI applies to all local and foreign organisations processing (i.e. collecting, using or otherwise handling) personal information in South Africa.

What does this announcement mean for your organisation?

You will have up until 1 July 2021 to become compliant. This means that although there will be no sanctions for non-compliance, you must work towards compliance. For most organisations, this is no easy feat as it requires an analysis of all personal information within your organisation, where you get it from and what you do with it.

It is recommended that organisations that have not yet started becoming compliant, do so as soon as possible or they could face fines, penalties and other adverse consequences in future. It is also a good time to commence a data privacy awareness programme within your organisation.

What do the final POPIA regulations deal with?

  • How a data subject can object to the processing of their personal information.
  • How a data subject can request the correction or deletion of information.
  • The responsibilities of an information officer. (Important!)
  • How to apply for the regulator to issue a code of conduct.
  • How to request marketing consent. (Important!)
  • How to submit a complaint to the regulator.
  • How the regulator will act as a conciliator in investigations.
  • What the regulator must do before it investigates you.
  • How the regulator will try to settle complaints.
  • How the regulator will conduct assessments.
  • How the regulator will notify people during investigations.

What is POPI compliance?

You will need to establish measures that ensure that you only collect, use, store, delete and otherwise handle personal information in permitted ways and that it is appropriately protected from unauthorised access or loss.

The measures that each organisation employs will be different, but in practice, it will mean more policies and procedures for your organisation and you will need to inculcate a culture of data protection in your organisation.

Does POPIA provide any benefit to businesses?

POPIA provides the opportunity to analyse and have more control over the data handled within your organisation and to better understand its purposes. As data is an increasingly valuable resource, better data management can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of any business.

What does POPI mean for consumers?

Consumers will benefit from POPI’s requirements in that their personal information must be protected and it can only be collected or handled where there is a lawful justification for doing so.

POPI gives consumers specific rights in respect of organisations handling their personal information and it gives consumers greater control over their personal information. Consumers are informed about what personal information is collected, by who and why so that consumers are able to make informed decisions.

Who regulates POPIA?

POPI is regulated by the Information Regulator.

What are the fines and penalties for non-compliance?

The fines and penalties vary depending on the offence, with a maximum of 10 years in prison or a R10 million fine.

Does POPI add anything to my constitutional right to privacy?

Every person has a constitutional right to privacy, which has many aspects (including privacy in the home, private communications and private information about a person).

POPI gives practical effect to that right insofar as it relates to personal information handled by organisations. It provides a direct mechanism through which that aspect of the right can be enforced.

Is POPI different from the GDPR?

POPI is similar to the EU’s data privacy law, called the General Data Protection Regulation but it differs in some respects. The main difference is that POPI regulates corporate personal information, where appropriate, whereas the GDPR does not.

Another interesting difference between GDPR and POPI Act is that the GDPR places direct obligations on operators (called processors) whereas the POPI Act simply says there should be a mandate in writing between the responsible party and an operator. This places immense importance on the agreements that a responsible party has with its operators.

Who are the role players in POPIA? 

POPI Infographic-Role Players-Web use

What are their responsibilities?

Under POPIA and the regulations: The Information Regulator is responsible for ensuring that their organisation complies with the POPI Act. They are a key person in any project or programme. 

A Responsibly Party is a public or private body or any other person which alone or in conjunction with others determines the purpose of and means for processing personal information.

An information regulator and responsible party (or body) must:

  • encourage compliance with conditions for the lawful processing of personal information,
  • deal with requests made pursuant to POPIA (presumably by the Information Regulator or Data Subjects),
  • work with the Regulator in relation to investigations conducted related to prior authorisations (pursuant to Chapter 6 in relation to the body),
  • otherwise, ensure compliance by the body with the provisions of POPIA,
  • develop, implement and monitor a compliance framework,
  • ensure that a personal information impact assessment is done to ensure that adequate measures and standards exist,
  • develop, monitor, maintain and make available a PAIA manual,
  • develop internal measures and adequate systems to process requests for access to information,
  • ensure that internal awareness sessions are conducted, and as may be prescribed.

These responsibilities are set out in section 55 of POPIA.

The third-party Operator is a person who processes personal information for a responsible party in terms of a contract or mandate, without coming under the direct authority of that party.

Regardless of the fact that an operator might also be a responsible party in its own right; when instructed or contracted to deliver a processing service on behalf of the responsible party for a specific purpose they act as an operator.

For more information or compliance solutions, feel free to contact us

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Digital Fluency ATG

Google Workspace in ATG: An African Journey to Digital Fluency

Digital Fluency

By Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail” this statement resonates across different facets of life and business alike. They often say that the white water of change is the only constant and the ability to adapt seamlessly is a testament to good leadership, regardless of industry or vocation.

With the world of work turned upside down, it has become even more critical for organisations to implement systems allowing collaboration with heightened security.  A few years ago, the Argility Technology Group (ATG) adopted Google Workspace (originally called G Suite) and the Google Cloud Platform. This decision was undertaken to ensure that ATG as a whole adopted digital technology in a progressive manner to achieve digital fluency over time.

What is Digital Fluency?

Digital Fluency is the ability to achieve certain outcomes, by leveraging the appropriate digital tools. The ability to nurture this is essential for any organisation looking to adopt agile internal operations.

With the Covid lockdown impact, the transition to working from anywhere for the ATG teams was seamless, and in hindsight moving to Google Workspace was one of the best operational decisions we made.

As we progressed with the implementation of Google Cloud, the benefits for our customers were a compelling reason for our development teams to embrace the Google tools available. We are pleased to announce that we have achieved Google Cloud Build Partner status. Argility is one of a handful of companies in South Africa to have been awarded this expert status.

Why ATG recommends using Google Cloud and Google Workspace within your business for managed services

Google Workspace was rated as the #1 most popular app among users on their Net Promoter Scores, outshining Microsoft Office 365.

Google Workspace transforms business because it is user friendly, easy to adapt to and simple to use. Real-time collaboration is powerful and effortless making the cloud benefits stand out and become a necessity.

The linked applications such as Gmail, doc(ument)s drive, calendar and other applications allows one to make work processes more cost-efficient and productive.
The use of Google Workspace is becoming increasingly popular. New companies are adopting Google Workspace at an overwhelming rate.

Team emails and accounts are managed by the organization allowing for greater control and when an employee leaves, removes the common pain point of uninterrupted access to information and emails.

Document Sharing

Online collaboration is key for businesses today and having a team drive is the way to go. Security access levels allows how files can be used, edited and viewed, ensuring that the right information is available to the right people at the right time, from anywhere.
Real-time editing and viewing of documents is an absolute pleasure for collaboration, plus the simple sharing function which gives complete control of whom can see and edit documents.

Increased file storage

Massive amounts of data can be stored in the google cloud drive allowing for full collaboration on all document types. Get up to 30GB cloud storage per user on the basic plan and tiered cloud storage on the business or enterprise licenses.

Multiple email alias’s and domains

All lead to the same email accounts

Single sign-on

Google Workspace allows for single sign-on for other cloud-based applications as well i.e. DocuSign

Seamless experience to all devices

All files are synchronized across all your devices (Microsoft, Mac or Android) – Desktop, table or mobile. Allowing for improved connectivity and responsiveness

Added security

With a 2-step verification process, user information is secured across devices and applications, securing data and information in the cloud. POPIA compliance is automatically catered for.

Have your own domain name

This is ideal for building your brand and identity. Previously always an additional investment which was required and sometimes out of pocket for smaller organisations.

Google meet and hangouts

Powerful tools for video conferencing and chats. A useful feature is having a VC diary dashboard, all meetings show on your screen without having to remember codes and search for diary entries.

Tools with Google Workspace

Automatically when using Google Workspace you have access to:

  • Gmail
  • Calendar
  • Docs (Word conversion)
  • Sheets (Excel conversion)
  • Slides (Powerpoint conversion)
  • Drive (for storage and collaboration)
  • Google Meet (for video conferencing)
  • Google Hangouts for chats (text and video)
  • Google Forms (a survey tool)

When using Google Workspace you can get rid of Dropbox / Office 365 / Onedrive / Evernote / Confluence to name a few….
A huge plus is real-time collaboration on the Docs/Sheets/Slides functions, with the added advantage of easy conversion to and from Microsoft formats if needed.

Migration across from existing mail, contacts and calendars is done easily allowing for a quick rollover time.

Are you looking for a way for your organisation to work and operate seamlessly? Then you should seriously consider contacting us to know more about Google Workspace and Google Cloud. Allow your business today to focus on what you do best, your business and let us handle the rest.

More Google case studies on Google Workspace 


For more information contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com

Brief Bio: Tanya Long – Chief Operating Officer, Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya has 30 years of industry experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Argility Technology Group.

Tanya’s career in the IT sector started in 1988 in IT Support for Point of Sale solutions. She moved formally into software development with UCS/Argility in 1989 as a developer and progressed through to team leader; account management; project, and development management roles.

Tanya is an internationally Certified Consciousness Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, and leadership speaker and facilitator.  She is considered a specialist in the fields of culture and engagement and often presents at conferences on the topic of engagement, leadership and coaching.  Her strengths lie in her exceptional people management abilities and dedication to precision and execution.

In 2017, Tanya was appointed Human Capital Executive at Argility where she reunited her Retail, IT, Leadership, HR and coaching knowledge to drive her zeal for transformation.  In her capacity as COO, she heads up the Sales and Marketing and HR teams whilst driving performance and processes within the group.

Tanya’s vision is to ensure that the Argility Technology Group is filled with engaged, skilled and innovative individuals delivering outstanding customer-centric solutions.

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Richard Knight CFO Podcast

All systems go with Richard Knight, CFO Argility

COVID-19 disrupted many companies on their digital transformation journey. Only to find out that they hadn’t really implemented a digital strategy that allowed their staff and operations to operate through turbulent times. Even the most flexible and resilient operations proved to be only as strong as the weakest links of their value chain. As we start 2021 off, many companies will have invested or are planning on investing in technology to speed up their digital journey in order to remain relevant, accommodate a hybrid of remote working and adjust their supply chain operations to changes in buying patterns. Financial leaders have had to ensure cash flow forecasts are robust and able to adjust for future unknown pressures to enable business to operate more efficiently in the future without jeopardising the liquidity position of the business.

It has been stated by multiple experts that Covid-19 accelerated the need for digital transformation by an estimated three or four years. At the forefront of this rapid transformation has been the move from clunky capital-intensive investment into private on premise data storage to pure cloud computing. Making use of economies of scale through efficient and effective offerings from the mega global cloud platform service providers. Business is now able to scale data storage and processing power at the click of a mouse once on cloud computing services. This is a game changer and a must for businesses that want to remain relevant in the future.

According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study, the internet and mobile technologies drove the first wave of digital, known as the Internet of People. However, analysis carried out anticipates that the data generated from the Internet of Things (IoT) will outstrip the data generated by the Internet of People many times over. Experts are predicting dramatic changes in the IoT over the coming year. Key technologies are coming together for scalable networks of low-cost sensors that will enable the promise of the IoT. According to IoT Business News, “this is down to both key technology developments in low power wide area networks (LPWAN) and the cloud”. The integration with cloud technologies for the management of the vast amounts of data is vital, and this is one key area that will expand dramatically this year. Rapid development of solutions are being rolled-out to various industries due to wireless technology becoming seamless. These digitalisation advances will see the promise of industry 4.0 becoming realistic as the advantages from scale act as a catalyst for creating smart retail, smart factories, smart supply-chain and smart farming to name a few for the future.

The increased data created by the Internet of People and the Internet of things is already resulting in standardisation, which naturally leads to automation, and the personalisation of products and services, which is setting off the next wave of digital. According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study, AI will exploit the digital data from people and things to automate and assist in what we do today, as well as find new ways of doing things that we’ve not imagined before.

PwC expects that global GDP will be up to 14% higher in 2030 as a result of the accelerating development and take-up of AI, the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion. It is predicted that the economic impact of AI will be driven by productivity gains from businesses automating processes, productivity gains from businesses augmenting their existing labour force with AI technologies and increased consumer demand resulting from the availability of personalised and higher-quality AI-enhanced products and services. PwC predicts productivity gains in the near-term, to become the biggest potential economic uplift from AI. COVID-19 has propelled the need for Robotic Process Automation (RPA’s), which includes automation of routine tasks, augmenting employees’ capabilities and freeing them up to focus on more stimulating and higher value adding work.

In order to harness these key technologies for your business, the leaders of the business need to commit to a real digital strategy that doesn’t entail mere-speak, but entails real intent on implementation. Businesses that prefer to update their digital strategy management report rather than committing to the journey will quickly start to lose their competitive edge over their rivals. If not started already, in order to remain relevant and provide improved future shareholder returns, management will need to embrace technologies such as cloud computing, the IoT and AI in 2021. Digital transformation is not a buzz word or nice statement to have on a management report anymore. It’s a matter of remaining competitive and relevant in the new digital age post the start of COVID-19.

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Google Cloud Build Partner

ATG is now officially in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program!

Officially in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program!

By Marko Salic, CEO of Argility Technology Group

It is not without some excitement that I bring this news to you. Really it was a natural progression considering the majority of our SaaS or web-based software solutions are already deployed inside Google Cloud Platform, making them highly scalable and cost-effective. We aim to continue delivering innovative software solutions utilising modern technologies to solve modern business challenges.

Every business will need to become more digital to flourish; we all understand that notion; Covid only accelerates it. If you are thinking 3-5 years ahead, Cloud is the way to go. Argility Technology Group has been around for over three decades, focusing purely on technology, software, hosting etc. You could say we have the experience and expertise. Over the last three years, we closed all our data centres and moved most of our servers, hundreds of servers and applications, into the cloud. The benefits are significant and risks minimised. Many blog posts are listing the pros and cons in great detail. I urge you to google this topic or reach out to our experts if you want to know more. The three leading cloud platforms are Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. And they are all great platforms; you can’t go wrong with either.

Marko Salic CEO ATG

Marko Salic CEO ATG

We prefer open-source platforms and utilise Linux and Java predominantly; it enables us to keep our software mostly 3rd party dependency and licence free. We use the Kubernetes engine for microservices deployments, and we utilise AI and data analytics cloud tools in multiple applications. We felt that Google is the most active contributor and integrator of our Linux and Java-based technology stack, and the Kubernetes engine pioneers. Google Clouds data analytics tools are top-notch and built to integrate and work as a useful cluster of services, making our platforms highly flexible and robust. The local and international Google teams we worked with were friendly, easy to work with, eager to help and committed to creating a joint success. These were the defining factors in our selection of GCP as our Cloud Platform of the future, and we are excited to work with Google’s team and our customers to create new and exciting applications on top of GCP.

Our PredictIT (PredictCustomer, PredictInventory and PredictRetail) data analytics products are developed using best-of-breed data analytics and machine learning services from Google, including services and tools such as Cloud AI, BigQuery, Data Studio, Data Flow, TensorFlow etc. The PredictIT product suite will soon be available in the Google Cloud Marketplace for rapid deployment and prototyping of existing and new machine learning modules and visualisations.

Finally, working with Google gives us access to high-quality ready-built services that enable us to leverage that invaluable insight to pioneer solutions that future proof our clients’ businesses confidently and rapidly – and deploy them in the most cost-effective way.

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DAMSense Argility POPIA Act

POPIA 2020 and Digital Asset Management

POPIA 2020 and Digital Asset Management

The much anticipated SA Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) came into effect on the 1st July giving businesses one year’s grace to get their compliance ducks in a row and align their controls and protection of customer sensitive personal information with the conditions of lawful processing of personal information. After the 30 June 2021 businesses will face severe penalties for non-compliance.

Whilst most of us have been aware of the looming PoPIA and have started to take the steps required to ensure alignment we can no longer hide behind the lack of finalised dates to formalise the internal actions required.
At ATG, the gap analysis and POPIA risk mitigation reviews have raised various streams for action, one of which is protecting the rights of internal data subjects, another is ensuring we comply on behalf of our customers and lastly looking at how we can assist our customers with their compliance needs.
A stark reality is that paper based customer credit applications, credit agreements, supplier take on documents and other contracts are still active in the South African business space. Many organisations are lagging in terms of secure digitisation of these artefacts.
The below documentation storage limitations come to mind:

  • Destruction
  • Lost or misfiled documents
  • Compromised information security and access control
  • Inefficiency in searching for documents
  • Labour intensive manual filing and administrative health checks
  • Manual document management restricted to one user working on a customer file at a time
  • Poor auditability of user activity related to sensitive information
  • Cost of physical storage space for manual storage.

These weaknesses and imminent implementation of PoPIA are a compelling reason for the secure digitisation of sensitive paper documents.
Digitisation of the documents alone is unfortunately not enough and should be augmented by a control system that complies with digital asset management/PoPIA standards.
The implementation of paperless processes is contributing to additional volumes of what needs to be stored in digital format. Digital assets are set to grow in sheer volume due to increased digitisation and the need for getting the balance right between security and cost savings requirements.

Argility’s DAMSense Digital Asset Management System is a trusted and optimised solution for the secure storage, search, and controlled access, to sensitive digitised assets. By utilising DAMSense on the Google Cloud Platform many boxes are ticked; from General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) compliance, from which POPIA has evolved; through to the flexible and cost-effective digital asset storage options.

DAMSense Features

Features & Benefits of the DAMSense system

Explore DAMSense as an innovative solution to making sense of your digital assets by visiting our website: DAMSense or by dropping us a mail to: info@argility.com

*** Source: IT Web

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PredictRetail Argility

PredictRetail accepts the challenge to improve business

PredictRetail accepts the challenge to improve business

Retail has faced many hurdles due to the economic climate which has been further compounded by the impact of lockdown. This, of course, is very challenging. Argility’s artificial intelligence predictive analytics tool, PredictRetail, is the answer.

This cost-effective cloud solution improves business insights, supports growth, plus it enhances your knowledge of your business and customers. It heightens shopper retention and empowers retailers with the ability to boost sales to current and new customers. All of this in turn leads to boosted profits and sustainability. Key dashboards enable you to keep operations running smoothly and maximise profitability.

Given the current COVID context and the fact that all patterns and consumer behaviours have changed, now is an ideal time to utilise analytics, based on machine learning (ML), to quickly pick up on the new trends. These tools are designed to aid business leaders to make informed decisions and as such to counter the disruption caused by COVID.

PredictRetail comes with several standard predictive models that are focused on key areas, these include customer: lifetime value; forecasting (propensity to buy); segmentation; product recommendations and more. There are extensive descriptive dashboards based on key forecasting models including: sales; stock management and selling patterns.

PredictRetail applies data science and predictive modelling based on historical data, to extract trends and patterns which will aid informed decision making.

Descriptive dashboards are created from existing customers’ historical data. ML models are then used to generate new data sources i.e. predictions/classifications etc., and then predictive dashboards are redeployed on top of the new datasets. This is a defining differentiator between PredictRetail and the average business intelligence (BI) tool which is designed mainly for visualising data and descriptive analytics without ML.

The power to slice and dice information at lightning speed by organisational and product hierarchies, is enabled through the Google Cloud Platform, allowing for a pay-as-you-use model, and alleviating the need for massive infrastructure investment.

Once we have transformed your data, and with a little training, you will be ready to take advantage of trends and patterns never before seen which could transform your business with dynamic effect.

Want more information as to how this can work for you – Contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com 

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SkyData – Temperature Monitoring and Control for SA’s Pharmaceutical

SkyData – Temperature Monitoring and Control for SA’s Pharmaceutical sector

SkyData – Temperature Monitoring and Control for SA’s Pharmaceutical sector

Eamon McCann, CTO, the Argility Technology Group, outlines some of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical and medical sectors with regards to thermolabile products.

The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) strictly governs the procurement, storage, and distribution of thermolabile – defined as a product or substance readily destroyed or deactivated by heat – pharmaceutical products. These rules are in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) specifications.

Companies that store and distribute these products must ensure that they comply with SAPC GPP (Good Pharmacy Practice) regulations of ambient, fridge or cold room temperatures, making it essential that the temperatures are constantly monitored in order to remain within optimal range otherwise the efficacy of the products can be compromised and a broader range of pharmaceutical products cannot be stored.

It’s also necessary to guarantee adherence to compliance requirements including diligent temperature recording and history so implementation of an automated system capable of monitoring and raising timeous alerts is crucial.

The significance of the Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT has opened-up a world of possibilities in the medical and pharmaceutical arenas and Argility’s SkyData platform provides IoT remote monitoring and alert capabilities for devices at designated fridges and storage units.

What does SkyData do?

The platform empowers companies to connect devices and deploy applications that enable automated data collection and analysis, remote device management, contextual and real-time decision making. It permits businesses to monitor and manage any number of data points presented from various devices and may be used to scrutinise and administer anything on a dashboard from temperature; humidity to: utilities – electricity; water; gas usage and assets such as vehicles, billboards, machinery and more.

In the pharmaceutical use-case the platform monitors devices that are connected to the fridge to monitor the internal temperature and the external ambient temperature.

Once data is communicated from the IoT devices Argility’s Skydata platform will take care of device management, business rules, security, alerts, notifications, dashboards, and reporting as well as the storage and management of historical data.

Given the device agnostic nature of the SkyData IoT platform, any future business monitoring needs can be satisfied by deploying additional IoT devices and sensors into the physical environment which can then feed additional data points into the platform without requiring another software platform. SkyData can monitor humidity, pressure, CO2/air quality, gas, water and electricity usage, GPS location and more.

Multiple notification mechanisms are available allowing SMS, email and mobile app. push notifications to be configured for any level of alert severity, this typically managed from low through to critical levels of alerts.

Reporting – leading to compliance

Access to real time dashboard and daily/monthly exception reports are made available to designated people.

SkyData platform dashboards

SkyData platform dashboards

Three standard reports are distributed daily by email to either designated stores: regional or national facilities:

  • Exception summary report – provides a summary of min, max, average temperature per asset, including recent alarms raised.
  • Alarm report – provides a list of threshold breaches as per the defined rules
  • Daily temperature report – list of the temperature readings for the preceding 24 hours – compliance report for inspectors.

Data is stored on SkyData for a period of three years and can be made available when required.

Key Features and Benefits

  • Web based administration, configuration dashboard and third-party device management.
  • Secure User and role-based authentication and notifications.
  • Scheduled and automated extracts and reports.
    Multiple pre-integrated wireless and wired devices and sensors.
  • Communicate wirelessly via long range battery powered device.
  • No connection required to electrical circuit – fridge can be moved without affecting the device.
  • Cross platform mobile friendly data visualisation dashboards (Android and iOS)
    • Dashboard summaries and drill down features
    • Ability to view data across multiple stores
    • Ability to view detailed data points within a specified store/location

SkyData is functionally rich and an application fit for many environments including pharmacies; hospitals; clinics; veterinary clinics and more.

Click here for a detailed case studyInformed Decisions and SkyData partner to deliver greater efficiencies for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Laboratories.

For more information contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com

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As a retailer, isn’t it time to embrace artificial Intelligence?

As a retailer, isn’t it time to embrace Artificial Intelligence?

By Sonja Leoncini

Retailers need to stay current and with the impact of COVID-19 and downturn of the economy, the game has changed. Now, like never before is the time to keep competitive and sustainable; don’t wait, act now. Retailers are always scrutinising ways to improve profits and grow business and AI is an essential tool . You have data – yes? Then make it work for you in a way that will allow you to engage and improve your relationships with your customers through personalisation. Create loyalty by running targeted campaigns focussed on the customers’ preferences, improve stock management, cut costs, release capital. Ultimately, grow your business and improve your bottom line. Within 3 days of loading your data onto Argility’s PredictRetail solution, you can start to see results.

How do you do this, is it so simple? Start using Argility’s PredictRetail solution which has been developed to address retail and supply chain challenges and affordably make the best use of data both current and historical.

PredictRetail Solution

Argility PredictRetail Solution

 

What is this and how does it work? Let me elaborate:
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Science (DS) are all underlying disciplines of the PredictRetail solution. Modern technologies like AI, ML, DS and big data have become popular by words which everybody talks about but not everyone fully understands. People often get confused.

First let me give a view of what Artificial Intelligence is; simply put it is the simulation of the human thought process by machine. This is achieved by creating a neural network that is able to reason learn and self-correct. What makes AI attractive is that it does all this with lightning speed.

Machine Learning learns and improves itself without the need for direct programming. Instead ML focusses on algorithms which learn to understand things from structured data in order to get the insights that can be used to make predictions. In simple terms use the lessons of the past to predict the future.

Data Science is the ability to extract useful insights from the data which includes many skills including, mathematics, machine learning, statistical modelling, data engineering visualisation and pattern recognition.

To summarise; Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of the human reasoning by machines. Machine Learning is a subset of AI that focusses on a specific activity. Data Science uses ML to achieve its ultimate goal which is the real world application of Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to provide solutions.

Some common business applications include behaviour forecasting, recommendation engines, anomaly of fraud detection, personalised marketing, customer service and chat bots.

PredictRetail is a software solution that has been developed to provide decision support for retailers. It used the aforementioned skills to of AI, DS and ML techniques to provide actionable insight from data. PredictRetail is part of a larger ecosystem and aims to supplement business processes both existing and new.


Want more information as to how this can work for you – Contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com 

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MultiTrax retail driver delivery solution

MultiTrax – delivery and driver management solution

MultiTrax – delivery and driver management solution

MultiTrax, delivery and driver management solution

By Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Planning deliveries, scheduling and tracking drivers have, at no other time in history, been more important as retailers jostle to retain and grow trade and move to online purchases with timeous delivery.

MultiTrax – developed in-house by Argility – empowers businesses with the ability to schedule deliveries and track drivers.  This easy to use App permits efficient route planning, proactive customer notifications, enhanced proof of delivery (PoD) processing and maximisation of driver availability.  It is a comprehensive delivery system hosted in the cloud that enables drivers to effectively execute deliveries allocated to them through their smartphones. Moreover, it achieves this with real-time visibility on a management dashboard that enables central planners to effectively schedule deliveries.

MultiTrax has now been expanded to include an additional module that automates driver delivery scheduling (DDS). This is a powerful addition to this innovative product facilitates uploading of outstanding delivery lists – per store or across multiple stores; selection of available drivers; deliveries for selected drivers are added directly to their individual calendars via a drag and drop capability. Through the DDS feature-rich additional module, driver deliveries can be placed on an area map which automatically location tags customers’ addresses for easy route viewing. It also automatically calculates the route and expected delivery time, as well as unload and assembly time. Driver progress can be viewed by planners via an online map view.

The DDS module is not only valuable for warehouse transportations, but can also schedule supply on behalf of stores, or can be used directly within a store for management of its own deliveries.

Integration with current retail or warehouse management solutions is available – removing the need to rip and replace current solutions to move one’s business forward. PoD’s can be integrated in real-time, speeding up processing time, and removing the need for PoD data capture confirmation.

The selection process for the MultiTrax DDS delivery scheduling is enabled through user-friendly drag and drop functionality, providing planners with visual and easy to understand views.

MultiTrax DDS allows customers with no POS or e-commerce integration to obtain all the foregoing benefits. In the case of manual smaller environments, DDS permits customers to pull the data from a manually captured Excel spreadsheet or capture deliveries manually into the system for planning allocation and execution. MultiTrax DDS is, therefore, is a valuable and attractive proposition for small and large enterprises.

MultiTrax DDS functions and features:

  • Upload outstanding delivery lists – per store or across multiple stores.
  • Select the drivers available.
  • Deliveries for selected drivers are added directly to the drivers’ calendars via drag and drop functionality.
  • Drag and drop the drivers’ deliveries onto an area map, which automatically location tags the customers delivery address for planners easy route viewing.
  • Automatic calculation of route times plus added functionality, that includes unloading and assembly time.
  • Proactive calculations of actual expected delivery time to customers.
  • Driver progress can be viewed by planners via an online map view.
  • Additional functionality is available to include item assembly time requirements allowing maximisation of delivery routes and maintained customer satisfaction levels.
  • Future releases of MultiTrax will include item dimensions for delivery vehicle space volumetric planning.

By using the existing MultiTrax driver application features on their smart mobile devices, drivers have:

  • Clear route plans.
  • Delivery timing targets.
  • The ability to communicate directly via SMS with customers allowing for proactive customer notifications of delivery time, or delays, or requests for estate access codes – without intervention from central planners.
  • Contactless proof of delivery ability via the use of image uploads and customer own device SMS authentication.

Benefits

  • Central planner decreased telephone costs.
  • Driver route planning and management is enhanced.
  • Customer experience is maximised through improved customer notifications and direct driver contact – no more unnecessary customer waiting.
  • Manage your own delivery fleet efficiently or drive down operating expenses related to salaries plus fleet costs by controlling and using owner-operated private transporters that are pre-vetted to represent your brand on deliveries.

For more information contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com

Brief Bio: Tanya Long – Chief Operating Officer, Argility Technology Group

Are you feeling the heat? Calling all Retailers of Pre-Cooked; Frozen and Refrigerated FoodTanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya has 30 years industry experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Argility Technology Group.

Tanya’s career in the IT sector started in 1988 in IT Support for Point of Sale solutions. She moved formally into software development with UCS/Argility in 1989 as a developer and progressed through to: team leader; account management; project, and development management roles

Tanya is an internationally Certified Consciousness Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, and leadership speaker and facilitator.  She is considered a specialist in the fields of culture and engagement and often presents at conferences on the topic of engagement, leadership and coaching.  Her strengths lie in her exceptional people management abilities and dedication to precision and execution.

In 2017, Tanya was appointed Human Capital Executive at Argility where she reunited her Retail, IT, Leadership, HR and coaching knowledge to drive her zeal for transformation.  In her capacity as COO, she heads up the Sales and Marketing and HR teams whilst driving performance and processes within the group.

Tanya’s vision is to ensure that the Argility Technology Group is filled with engaged, skilled and innovative individuals delivering outstanding customer-centric solutions.

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Are you feeling the heat? Calling all Retailers of Pre-Cooked; Frozen and Refrigerated Food. SkyData

Are you feeling the heat? Calling all Retailers of Pre-Cooked; Frozen and Refrigerated food.

Are you feeling the heat? Calling all Retailers of Pre-Cooked; Frozen and Refrigerated food.

By Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

What is your worst nightmare this week? Whilst Covid-19 related challenges may be all-consuming at present, temperatures not correctly set or monitored resulting in non-compliance with health regulations and stock losses could be adding unnecessary stress! Temperature control is a business imperative for all retailers stocking pre-cooked, frozen, refrigerated food and cold beverage products. It is crucial that these products are stored in optimal environmental conditions to preserve quality and guarantee customer satisfaction. For products that are subject to formal regulation, it may also be a requirement that historical temperature data is logged and stored for compliance reasons.
Argility can help you achieve this goal through our IoT management solution, SkyData. The SkyData platform links to device-agnostic probes that constantly monitor fridge and freezer temperatures, logs historical data, and triggers alerts when thresholds are breached to authorised users.

SkyData platform supports capabilities such as email/SMS notifications, data visualisation, dashboards, and reporting, which can be further enriched with predictive analytics and machine learning. By utilising the wealth of data available from Skydata, businesses will be able to take swift action from insights gained.

SkyData platform - how it works

Argility SkyData Platform – how it works

 

What does SkyData do?

The platform empowers companies to connect devices and deploy applications that enable automated data collection and analysis, remote device management, contextual and real-time decision making. It permits businesses to monitor and manage any number of data points presented from various devices, and may be used to scrutinise and administer anything on a dashboard from temperature; humidity to utilities – electricity; water; gas usage and assets such as billboards, machinery and more.

Businesses are increasingly pressured to optimise returns on assets, increase productivity, and improve operational efficiencies. As you move to introduce new refrigerated and frozen food products to meet growing demand, you need to ensure that environmental conditions are monitored and kept at optimal ranges. It is also vital to ensure that you comply with regulations specifying temperature ranges at which different food products must be stored and keep a record of the temperature readings.

If the specified storage temperature range is breached, SkyData notifies you immediately by SMS and email. This allows you to immediately take corrective action and prevent products from being damaged or compromised. It also prevents stock loss and of course, most importantly removes risking the health of customers.
The SkyData platform registers each fridge and freezer individually, and each one can have its own unique temperature range settings, with detailed dashboard reporting where required.

Who should be looking at this product?

  • Supermarkets and speciality food stores
  • Liquor stores, Taverns, Bars
  • Restaurants
  • Store types:
    • Individual stores
    • Chain stores
    • Mall stores
    • Hyper stores

SkyData can integrate into any business operational system, feed from and to multiple data sources and deliver data sets to any mobile device. It provides for web-based administration plus configuration and it includes mobile apps for both Android and iOS for remote access – anytime, anywhere.

The bottom line is that this IoT platform is set to transform asset and resource monitoring management – now that’s something to keep the nightmares at bay!


For more information contact our Business Consultants on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website, www.argility.com

Brief Bio: Tanya Long – Chief Operating Officer, Argility Technology Group

Are you feeling the heat? Calling all Retailers of Pre-Cooked; Frozen and Refrigerated FoodTanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya has 30 years of industry experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Argility Technology Group.

Tanya’s career in the IT sector started in 1988 in IT Support for Point of Sale solutions. She moved formally into software development with UCS/Argility in 1989 as a developer and progressed through to team leader; account management; project, and development management roles

Tanya is an internationally Certified Consciousness Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, and leadership speaker and facilitator.  She is considered a specialist in the fields of culture and engagement and often presents at conferences on the topic of engagement, leadership and coaching.  Her strengths lie in her exceptional people management abilities and dedication to precision and execution.

In 2017, Tanya was appointed Human Capital Executive at Argility where she reunited her Retail, IT, Leadership, HR and coaching knowledge to drive her zeal for transformation.  In her capacity as COO, she heads up the Sales and Marketing and HR teams whilst driving performance and processes within the group.

Tanya’s vision is to ensure that the Argility Technology Group is filled with engaged, skilled and innovative individuals delivering outstanding customer-centric solutions.

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How do retailers get a piece of the delivery pie MultiTrax

How do retailers get a piece of the delivery pie? by Tanya Long

I would hazard a guess that at the moment if one was to hold a 2 am online webinar, there would be countless heads of businesses awake to attend. Sleep has been evading many due to worry and planning on how to survive this Covid-19 pandemic.

Questions like: “How do I pivot my business?” “How do I make up for lost revenue?” “How do I draw customers back in spite of decreased ability to spend?” and be smart about it all?
You may also be asking yourself “With my current cash flow how do I get a piece of the delivery pie without it costing me an arm and a leg?” “How do I retain my existing customer base?” “How do I make my business attractive to new customers?”

Let’s be honest with ourselves about two things: now is the time and speed of implementation is vitally important. Covid-19 is a digitisation catalyst that cannot be ignored. Goods delivery as primary customer touchpoint is now more important than ever.
As tempting as it may be, it isn’t a matter of hiring 5 drivers and sending them off into the sunset with deliveries, but rather investing in a driver delivery application for optimal scheduling and tracking.

One that allows you to efficiently plan your deliveries. One that proactively informs customers of arrival times and upon delivery allows contactless delivery confirmation (especially important during these Covid-19 times). Exceeding customer expectations and delivery efficiency is vital. The absence of which the bitter taste of the delivery pie could hurt your business more than help. We all know that an unhappy customer could spread poor customer service news like a brushfire through social media platforms.

What I’m suggesting is that in order to smartly transform you’ll need to invest. Surprisingly the investment doesn’t need to break the bank.
Smart technology businesses are rising to the challenge with affordable solutions to goods delivery as an optimised process.

Argility’s customer-centric MultiTrax delivery application gives you control over the quality of your delivery touchpoint. Why not drop one of our team a message to get your business quickly into the running – info@argility.com? Or check out the solution at www.argility.com/multitrax/


Also read: Home Delivery – The new normal

Brief Bio: Tanya Long – Chief Operating Officer, Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya has 30 years industry experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Argility Technology Group.

Tanya’s career in the IT sector started in 1988 in IT Support for Point of Sale solutions. She moved formally into software development with UCS/Argility in 1989 as a developer and progressed through to: team leader; account management; project, and development management roles

Tanya is an internationally Certified Consciousness Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, and leadership speaker and facilitator.  She is considered a specialist in the fields of culture and engagement and often presents at conferences on the topic of engagement, leadership and coaching.  Her strengths lie in her exceptional people management abilities and dedication to precision and execution.

In 2017, Tanya was appointed Human Capital Executive at Argility where she reunited her Retail, IT, Leadership, HR and coaching knowledge to drive her zeal for transformation.  In her capacity as COO, she heads up the Sales and Marketing and HR teams whilst driving performance and processes within the group.

Tanya’s vision is to ensure that the Argility Technology Group is filled with engaged, skilled and innovative individuals delivering outstanding customer-centric solutions.

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Home Delivery MultiTrax Argility

Home Delivery – The new normal by Tanya Long

Home Delivery – The new normal by Tanya Long

During this 8th week in Covid-19 lockdown, as with probably many others, I’ve realised that I need to be more creative in fulfilling my personal shopping demands. Just popping down the road to the shop, is not an option at present. Sadly what I think the next few months will bring is more of the same. Times are definitely ‘a changing’.

Like thousands of other consumers, I’ve resorted to online shopping. Suddenly the war for connectivity has started in my home. Where I used to bemoan that WiFi was on my teenager’s Maslo hierarchy of needs, I’ve started to congratulate myself for foresight and great parenting. What is true is that whilst my generation may be slightly slower on the uptake of technology, crisis brings about change.

Last week, confronted with no lockdown end in sight, I forged ahead and took the online delivery plunge. In under 30 minutes I managed to order printer cartridges from one retailer; groceries from another and dinner from my local takeout. That evening dinner promptly arrived and during the next three days the goodies appeared hassle free on my doorstep. I have to admit it felt a bit like Christmas.

Would I do it again? Absolutely.

After doing the sums, I realised that the ROI of the small delivery fees, superseded possible petrol costs, time and frustration. I found myself focused on buying what I needed and not overfilling my shopping basket (in spite of it being easy with just one click). Not to forget the convenience of it all. Definitely a reason to smile.

I wondered to myself, what had been holding me back from online shopping before? I realised it was habit and the perception that I would pay more. Trust also came into the picture. Once I ordered online, only to receive the goods 10 days after the promise date and upon opening the box to find the wrong item!!! Well, with my most recent purchases, I was impressed. The providers had gotten the experience right. And as we can all agree positive customer experience is everything.

So heads up to all those constrained retailers out there, I’ve decided that online shopping and home delivery will become my new normal. And I think that there are many other consumers who feel the same.

As a retailer, are you ready for it?

Why not take a moment to investigate the benefits of the Argility MultiTrax delivery application or contact us today on info@argility.com to explore options with one of our team.


For more information visit our website, www.argility.com

Brief Bio: Tanya Long – Chief Operating Officer, Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya Long, COO Argility Technology Group

Tanya has 30 years industry experience and is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Argility Technology Group.

Tanya’s career in the IT sector started in 1988 in IT Support for Point of Sale solutions. She moved formally into software development with UCS/Argility in 1989 as a developer and progressed through to: team leader; account management; project, and development management roles

Tanya is an internationally Certified Consciousness Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, and leadership speaker and facilitator.  She is considered a specialist in the fields of culture and engagement and often presents at conferences on the topic of engagement, leadership and coaching.  Her strengths lie in her exceptional people management abilities and dedication to precision and execution.

In 2017, Tanya was appointed Human Capital Executive at Argility where she reunited her Retail, IT, Leadership, HR and coaching knowledge to drive her zeal for transformation.  In her capacity as COO, she heads up the Sales and Marketing and HR teams whilst driving performance and processes within the group.

Tanya’s vision is to ensure that the Argility Technology Group is filled with engaged, skilled and innovative individuals delivering outstanding customer-centric solutions.

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Retail South Africa - The landscape and opportunities Argility

RETAIL SOUTH AFRICA – The landscape and opportunities by Sonja Leoncini

RETAIL SOUTH AFRICA – The landscape and opportunities by Sonja Leoncini

For the many years I have been involved in the supply of retail solutions including software and hardware, I have always found it difficult to get lists of store retailers in South Africa. I tried many sources such as, market research agencies, large hardware, and software vendors – all to no avail.

So, I recently conducted research of my own and came up with some results based on information from stats, various shopping malls and small retail strip malls. Granted, I did not go as far as remote areas and concentrated mainly on the larger provinces but as my information grew and I viewed the charts, as I added more information the one point that came through clearly was that the vertical market share remained the same throughout.

Let me explain: FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), Hospitality, Fashion, Building, DIY, and homeware have the larger share of the market along with the many retailers I named as the “specialty” sector. The larger Tier is, of course, the Corporate or Blue-Chip retailers, such as The Foschini Group, Pick n Pay, Shoprite, PEP and so on. The next Tier forms our well-known multi-store and often multi-chain retailers and includes the likes of Busby and Cape Union Mart. You will find that most shopping malls are made up 70% of these types of retailers’ operations with the balance being independent single stores or small multi-store operations. The rest of the market, whether they be multi-store, single store owners or district specific – are often difficult to source and solutions tend to be sourced through vendors supporting these specific markets.

I also found that up until recent years, retailers “sweated” their solutions, seeing them as a necessary expense, but not as particular value adds to the business and often not keeping up to date on market and customer demands, which in this day and age changes at the speed of lightning. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced retailers to urgently revisit their existing technology strategies, making gaps more apparent. Today, however, retailers are increasingly reaping benefits by fast-tracking the implementation of new technology offerings and digitally transforming their solutions in order to survive. This in turn enables them to provide support systems that improves their business operations allowing them to acquire customers and provide superior service.

Technology driving retail growth

In today’s world of new technology, increasing innovations, customer expectations, plus an often complicated supply chain – make retailing a challenging arena in which to function. However, new technologies often offer optimal affordable solutions making it easier to implement a seamless operation.

The advent of big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), bringing up to date wide scoped information to manage the business and make educated decisions based on machine learning, have produced results no one could imagine a few years ago. This is all to the benefit of Retailer, Supply Chain and Customer.

South Africa tends to lag with some of this modern technology because of various obstacles such as: infrastructure, high cost of investment, skill sets and length of time to see ROI. In today’s economic tough times investment decisions are tough and difficult decisions to make but, in the end, it translates into sustainability and growth for your business – so, it’s worth it. South African technology businesses such as Argility are steaming ahead with world class competitive solutions at an added benefit of rand based pricing plus engaging local skills.

The SA e-commerce platform has been slower to adapt than in other countries, although some local retailers and e-commerce operations have got this right, e.g. Takealot, One Day Only, Pick n Pay and Woolworths. These retailers understand the market needs of fast turnaround, efficient delivery and the many options e-commerce offers a customer in terms of buy online and collect in store, order and receive, buy online and return at the store, buy online and return collections.

Retailers selling through brick and mortar stores, on-line or through the various social media platforms, must get the right systems in place. I am being bold in suggesting that you need efficient stock management making sure you have stock in the right place, at the right time. However, if you are wise you need to go beyond the standard information provided in your ERP systems. You want stock to satisfy customers but also to keep optimum levels and not waste capital on excess stock that could be used in other areas of business. Argility’s PredictRetail provides a next level Artificial Intelligence tool delivering improved information and forecasts keeping optimized stock, satisfied customers, and improved bottom line profits.

Using the Loyalty System to Best Advantage

Retailers want to take every opportunity to gain information and grow their customer database. With loyalty schemes in circulation consumers carry many cards to receive benefits. Why not use this information at another level. You can increase customer traffic and bottom line profits through Beacon technology. By installing a small Bluetooth device within a range and a software management platform, you can proactively communicate with your shoppers. All they must do is download your store application from an App store onto their smart device, Apple or Android and they become available to you. You can inform them of specials, new stock, promotions, product information etc. In addition, applications can also be made available to your staff to further provide customer satisfaction and service such as product and technical information, stock availability, even going as far as placing an order to be finalized at the till point.

Argility offers many solutions to support retailers in their journey through the Digital Transformation of their businesses with core and value-added software and services.

Retail SA - The landscape and opportunities ATG Ecosystem

ATG Ecosystem

PredictRetail using AI and data science, offers a multitude of ways in which to analyse data being captured. This is achieved regardless of whether it is about: improving business operations; stock control; loyalty; promotions; customer information etc. PredictRetail displays information on many different views of dashboards with drilldown capabilities.

A Beacon of Advantage amidst a Sea of Competition

SenseView is our Beacon technology platform that offers enticing information to shoppers and sales associates and results in superior customer service. Think about knowing whether your loyal customer is in your store and greeting them by name plus knowing what type of goods they could be interested in.

We support on-line shopping through our digital asset management platform Damsense. Managing and storing whatever media you are using by linking to a central database of digital assets such as images, videos, packaging for stock products.

Argility also provides a digital delivery solution (Multitrax) to manage deliveries and collections from start to finish with seamless ease. We can engage either directly with your stores, warehouse or with your chosen courier service to provide them with a superior tool to enhance their operations.

Fleet solutions

If you have your own fleet of vehicles, we can go one step further and manage your fleet for you through our subsidiary company, Fleet Domain.

These solutions are owned and developed by the Argility Technology Group, based on over 35 years of delivering successful products to the South African retail, supply chain and fleet markets.

We welcome your engagement to discuss our solutions and how they can add value to your business.


Give us a call and let us tell you more. 011 712 1300; email info@argility.com or visit our website www.argility.com

ABOUT

Aegility Technology Group (ATG) Logo

The Argility Technology Group – is a leading innovator and implementer of customised enterprise software solutions for the retail and supply chain industries. Our vast experience combined with a depth of proprietary software and skills enables us to address the multitude of challenges facing businesses in today’s digital transformation era.

We solve complex business problems by supplying and supporting various customised software solutions such as Point of Sale, ERP, Warehouse Management, Fleet Management, IoT management software, Proximity Marketing, Data Science (Artificial Intelligence) solutions and more. We strive to become an extension of our client’s businesses and not just another solution provider.

The group’s origins trace back over thirty-five years as a leading software supplier to the retail sector. Decades of long, prosperous customer relationships bear testament to our customer-centric culture, exceptional service, and innovative thinking. From single systems to the digital transformation of an entire organisation – we have the solutions, skills, and experience.

The Argility Technology Group is comprised of: Argility; Cquential Solutions, Fleet Domain; SkyData Communications, and strategic partners, Ashanti AI, and Neo Retail Solutions. All are foremost technology developers and suppliers of customised enterprise software solutions for the Retail, Supply Chain, Fleet industries as well as a comprehensive IoT framework that enables local enterprises to integrate, manage and optimise their growing IoT ecosystems.

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AI Supercharged retailer PredictRetail Argility

AI and Supercharged Retailers by Sonja Leoncini

After lockdown …. what next?

Sweating out existing technology, expecting customers to return to their old ways of shopping will not be an option in the aftermath of Covid-19. Retailers need to be quick on the draw to respond to this new era. Customers have had time on their hands to browse or shop online and I believe there will be a dynamic change in the way they custom shop, bringing more challenges and competition for your market share. This is going to be an exciting time to use technology at its best to sustain and grow your business.

It’s not a time to miss opportunities. Many retailers have centralised data for information, and put tools in place to support product plans, stock optimisation and customer intelligence. However, few have thought about moving beyond these measures, but make no mistake, the retailers who have will be the winners in the race for market share.

Everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) but how many retailers are utilising this incredible technology?

Very few I think – which is short sighted. Argility has a super intelligent affordable solution to support retailers in this quest, called PredictRetail. It is based on predefined data learning models – where data has been trained to correlate and thus provide meaningful information linked to a situation, supported by data-science (using scientific methods, processes, and machine learning algorithms), specifically focused on retail business goals. The Argility team has harnessed years of retail solution experience with the goal of extracting information and thereby provide realistic and usable analytics to solve business problems more efficiently and effectively.

Retailers can use data to gain valuable insights regarding stock demand, and customer analytics. This will enable businesses to become more customer centric with personalised messages and focused product offerings which will be more likely to enhance customer interest and sales, through promotional and marketing activities. PredictRetail helps businesses to identify relationships between customers product transactions and services by analysing data and producing results that enable you to better predict supply and demand by identifying trends and hidden patterns. This will also empower you with optimum stock holding and enable you to release capital for use in other areas of your business.

South Africa tends to lag when it comes to implementation of some of these modern technologies, due to various obstacles such as – infrastructure, high cost of investment, skill sets and length of time to see ROI. However, this is not the time to dawdle. In today’s economic times this is often a hard decision to make but it is also very much in keeping with the old adage “snooze and you lose” – this is the time to act and outstrip the competition.


Give us a call and let us tell you more. 011 712 1300; email info@argility.com or visit our website www.argility.com

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Beacon Technology proximity marketing Senseview

SenseView a Beacon for future growth by Sonja Leoncini

SenseView a Beacon for future growth

In an increasingly competitive market we all – regardless of the sector in which we are operating – want to capture every opportunity to engage with existing and potential customers. Products or services – it doesn’t matter what we are offering – the goal is customer engagements that result in sales.
Knowing where and how to target customers with relevant (to their interests) information, is the name of the game. For example, in a shopping mall there are a multitude of options.
How many times as a consumer yourself, have you been in a store intending to purchase but because the sales assistant could not provide information on a product – frustrated – you leave. The scenario is irrelevant but possibly familiar, it can happen in a car dealership or any retail outlet.
Therefore, as a business owner, you want your sales assistant to have the right product information and specifications available on the spot so that they retain the interest and follow through to closing the deal. You want/need to be able to distribute information on new: products; services and promotions to your customers – but the trick is getting the right information to the right customer.

If you are in the hospitality industry you want to inform guests of activities; restaurant menus and promotions. Imagine the beauty of being able to provide intelligence on artifacts via mobile phones in, for example, a museum.
Examples abound regarding the application and need to provide on the spot details such as: specifications; pricing or new services – the latter could be delivered to clients sitting waiting for an appointment in a bank.

John Sanei’s exploration of digital trends notes – the digital revolution is futile without a customer focus* and going forward, should be the changing “need states” of consumers. He details five defining need states as follows:

  1. Hyper-personalisation
  2. Hyper-convenience
  3. Hyper-trust
  4. Hyper-recognition
  5. Hyper-value.

He goes on to say that without taking these factors into account, digital cannot have its required impact on business. In essence, hyper-informed consumers are driving purchase decisions and patterns.

The technology exists and is available for you to drive information to a specific targeted customer category such as loyalty shoppers. Industry becomes more technology driven as each day passes and customers and clients are expecting the best service from you or they will go elsewhere. Many of the new technology opportunities to improve business often require large investments. This includes gearing up for a full omni-channel environment (bringing solutions together), moving to 4th Generation technology and of course, AI and the Internet of Things (IoT). The intention with all of these technologies is, of course, to bring business benefits to enable you to run efficient business operations and this they do. But sometimes at a cost.
With today’s economic climate your business wants to ensure that your spend on technology will bring a return on investment (ROI) without capital outlays and lengthy implementation roll out. Your goal is to see a fairly immediate bottom line improvement.

How do you achieve this?

Beacon technology is one technology solution that allows you to do all of the above. It is part of the IoT ecosystem. It brings real benefits that provides value add to you and your customers in a relatively short space of time, and without the need for costly investments. Beacon technology has the power to change the way consumers access information and personalises the relationships between organisations and their customers. Customers can tailor settings to receive notifications according to their individual preferences and behaviours.
Whether you are in retail, hospitality, banking and financial services, car dealerships or shopping malls both you and your customers will benefit.

Argility SenseView – Merging the Digital and the Physical World

Argility SenseView is a powerful cloud-based platform that allows consumers to receive opt-in, proximity based, communications via their mobile devices. Using state-of-the-art, easily deployed beacon technology, getting the right content at the right time is now a reality.
Argility’s latest innovation, SenseView, delivers content-rich messaging in real time through the Argility-built platform. Using low energy Bluetooth to connect smartphones to strategically placed beacons which trigger messages when someone approaches, enters or leaves a specified location.


Please contact us for more information about this exciting new technology: 011 712 1300; email info@argility.com or visit our website www.argility.com

* Digital revolution is futile without a customer focus

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CEO Marko & CFO Richard revealing next-generation innovations

CES & NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show

Marko Salic, ATG Group CEO shares experiences from Global Retail Conferences in the USA – CES (The Consumer Technology Association) and the National Retail Forum (NRF) 2020.

I was very excited at the prospect of visiting these incredible retail showcase platforms hosted annually in the USA. I kicked off my trip at CES in Las Vegas – this exhibition is renowned for revealing next-generation innovations and has been doing so for the past fifty years.
Approximately 4400 consumer technology companies exhibit at this conference, attracting more than 170,000 delegates from 160 countries. It is billed as the global stage for innovation. CES is the world’s gathering place for all companies watching the consumer technologies development space. It certainly proved no disappointment.
New York City hosts the National Retail Forum (NRF) regarded worldwide as The Retail Big Show that aims to assist retailers to attract and retain customers by dazzling them with innovative retail technology and store designs.

Exhibitors Themes

There were prevalent and repeated themes from exhibitors at both conferences and I have summarised below some of the most significant ones:

  • Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud are becoming the basis of most new products with big names all building specialised retail offerings. SaaS and cloud is the future and the feeling is that anyone not on that bandwagon will be left behind.
  • Image and video recognition: There were also a large number of products and concepts based on image and video recognition technologies, in my opinion, most are not yet production ready but enough was displayed to forecast what the future will bring in this space.
  • Machine learning was marketed strongly with the main ML/AI themes being the following:
    • Forecasting and self-learning algorithms
    • Demand, planning, assortment, replenishment
  • Customer behaviour analytics and hyper personalisation
    • Recommendations, e-commerce analytics, basket analysis, propensity modelling
  • Image and video recognition
    • Magic mirrors for clothing, shoes and cosmetics
    • Automated checkouts, data collection (foot traffic, sentiment, where the customer is looking, crowd analytics, heat maps etc.)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): Every product seemed to have the words ‘AI’ in its marketing messaging, however, it was interesting to note that when I asked vendors to elaborate there did not appear to be much solid context to prop up the marketing language. This served to endorse my opinion that ATG is further advanced on the AI path than many.
  • Workforce Management: This was another prominent focus at the NRF with many suppliers offering products in this domain. It pleased me to see that our group company Ashanti AI with their ML powered Warehouse Workforce Management analytics application is on the right path.
  • Self-checkout and self-service: As expected this was well represented, with many retailers in the US already offering self-checkout in their stores. You self: scan, pack, pay and leave. There are fail safes in place, like cameras with machine learning (ML) checking items, weight sensors validating basket against what was scanned etc.
    Generally, self-service seems to be big in the USA, European Union and Australia.
  • POS Systems: Most of those on display were really just more of the same – some with slightly more modern user interfaces. Again it was interesting to note that nothing outstripped what we have developed at ATG – we are right up there with the global best.
  • Interactive screens: My team tell me it takes a lot to impress me but I find this technology exciting. It facilitates the creation of virtual showrooms with 3D models of products, that can be scaled, rotated, and customised etc. I’m sure you can just imagine the great potential for this 4th industrial Revolution (4IR) technology for a range of retail applications including furniture and appliances as well as specialised products such as: smartphones, tablets, jewellery etc. retailers.
  • Augmented reality and virtual reality: were also very interesting but as with AI product slogans lacked substantive real life use cases, or were not production ready. However, one of the displays was quite impressive – it was a mobile app that can be used to scan an item like a couch from a printed brochure into a 3D model; then using your app and camera you can overlay the item into your home to see how it will look, including changing of colour, fabric etc. Fantastic tech with great potential.
  • IoT for Retail: In this space there were three dominant areas:
    • RFID but in quite a broad selection of use cases
    • Beacons and tracking of customers on the floors via sensors and cameras
    • Environment sensing such as temperature, humidity, air quality etc.
    • With the exception of RFID the ATG group already has all of the above capabilities in-house.
  • Chat Bots and Voice Assistants: Last but not least, chat bots and voice assistants were well represented with many good use cases in customer experiences and help desk scenarios. This is an area where there appears to be a lot of investment world-wide.

I would have to conclude by saying that contrary to popular belief we – South Africa and specifically the ATG group – are not far behind global technology trends. In general I saw very little that we are not either doing or capable of doing in ATG or SA which was very encouraging. Many of the companies I engaged with on the trip do not have a footprint in Africa and are seeing this as an untapped market.

So, watch this space as the ATG group continues to build and improve software solutions on our journey to digitally transform retail and supply chain using Google Cloud Platform, AI and IoT.


For more information contact our Sales on 011 712 1300, email info@argility.com or visit our website: Argility

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