Dive Brief:
- Convenience retailer and wholesaler Golden Oil Company’s partnership with Mako Networks cut the retailer and wholesaler’s tech spend by 50%, the companies announced on Friday.
- Mako’s services include cellular failover, secure payment processing and firewall protection at Golden Oil’s eight company-owned and 32 dealer locations. The partnership began in 2021.
- Convenience stores have increasingly turned to providers that unify their technology stacks in order to improve operations and save money.
Dive Insight:
Golden Oil had previously used five different vendors for its tech systems, so unifying everything under Mako’s platform lets the company improve its efficiency and compliance, as well as support its stores since technicians and IT specialists need to utilize fewer systems.
The new system also offers remote management and connectivity, meaning workers can access critical data like fuel readings and transaction logs in one place and remotely access and control any web interface in the system. This makes tech support easier, replacing many service calls and site visits and cutting field service spend by about $400,000.
Golden Oil also streamlined the system through building in redundancy instead of requiring secondary backup systems and swapping traditional phone lines with voice over protocol lines.
Mako and Golden Oil began discussions in 2020, a spokesperson from Golden Oil said. After a six-month planning phase, they tested the program at select stores and then spent about six weeks rolling it out to all Golden Oil’s locations.
Mako Networks is also working with TXB as the Texas-based retailer looks to double its store count.
