Customer Details

Customer:  Thuo Gaming South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Website: www.thuoslots.co.za
Country or region: KwaZulu-Natal and Western  Cape,  South  Africa 
Industry: Leisure & Entertainment 
Partner: Datasmith   

Company Profile

Thuo Gaming South Africa places and manages in excess of 1 600  Limited Payout Slot Machines in more  than  340  different pubs,  restaurants and clubs across South Africa.  As legislated, the machines can accept  a maximum “bet” of no more  than  R5, and  may not  yield a maximum  payout  of more than R500.00 per any one game.

Thuo Gaming is wholly owned by  Grand  Parade Investments Limited, a Western  Cape-based black owned and controlled  company  (as defined in the  Codes  of Good  Practice). It is listed on the JSE, and is a formidable player in the  gaming, tourism and leisure industry in South Africa.

Thuo ups its service game, with Microsoft Dynamics

With more than 1600 slot machines at different entertainment venues throughout South Africa , Thuo Gaming South Africa has found a new way to provide faster, more efficient technical service to its customers.

Business Needs

Thuo Gaming South Africa is one of the country’s leading operators of Limited Payout Slot Machines (“LPM”), currently managing around  720 and  900 slot machines. These machines are installed at independently owned  entertainment venues through the region. While the venue owner and his/her staff handle day-to-day operation, Thuo provides maintenance and technical support through a team of help desk agents and field technicians. 

Tanya Martin, help desk team  leader, explains that  this support  is provided on three  levels. “At the outset we provide training to the  relevant gaming  employee/s  at the venues where  we place our LPMs, to equip them  with basic operational skills,” she says. “We  then  offer continued refresher training as the need arises, and  as new staff are employed or when  gaming employees  change.

“Once  the  LPM site is operational and if a situation  arises that  the relevant venue owner or employee is unable to resolve, the second tier of support – our help desk – kicks in. Through the help desk we are able to telephonically resolve the bulk of all technical queries. 

“The third level of support is provided by our field technicians who are dispatched, via the help desk, to attend to unresolved  faults and queries on site.”

This help desk service – and the information that  is gathered during each call – is a critical component of the support service that Thuo Gaming offers its clients. However, as the business has grown, the help desk’s spreadsheet system for managing this information had  become large and cumbersome.

“It was difficult to track incoming calls properly, access client information quickly, or monitor service trends and issues like the resolution  time of field technicians,” says Martin. “The system was not productive or efficient. We needed  a far more sophisticated, controlled and integrated approach.”

Solution

Thuo Gaming consulted Microsoft partner, Datasmith, who recommended Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a  package that would not only facilitate their client contact and information management requirements, but which could also expand to provide additional CRM value-add as the business continued to grow. 

“We  have worked  with the Datasmith team before, so we were confident that they understood our business and that  they would be able to provide and customize the most effective solution for our needs,” says Duncan Pollock, Thuo Gaming’s Group  Commercial Manager.

“We opted for a two-phase installation process.” 
Pollock explains that the first phase of the project took six months, from design and testing through to final  implementation. The second phase involved integrating Dynamics CRM with Thuo’s PABX system so that help desk staff could instantly identify incoming callers. The Datasmith team accomplished this within the  required time-frame, ensuring that  the  help desk team had the full functionality they were expecting.

Benefits

As with any business, good customer relationships are a top priority for Thuo Gaming. However, while the new Dynamics CRM system will enable them to add an even more personal touch to their client service, its real value lies in the performance improvements that the business has been able to achieve. 

“Our help desk agents are now instantly presented with a client’s information when they phone in, showing when last they called and why, and providing technical and service background information that helps us to resolve queries more quickly,” explains Martin.

“We can use the same system to identify and deploy field technicians, who in turn can receive new service requests and update the status  of existing ones  instantly via Microsoft CRM Mobile, while in the field.  We are also able to log specific information about any technical queries on any particular machine, which helps us to pinpoint common trends or potential problem areas.

”In essence, this means that Thuo’s help desk team can anticipate technical or environmental concerns in advance, and liaise directly with the venue owner or conduct pre- emptive maintenance before this concern manifests as a problem.

“The solution has given us greater control over our machines – despite their geographical spread as well  as deeper insight into the trends  that emerge from each machine and site,” adds Alisha Almeida, Thuo Chief Operating  Officer: Slots. “Coupled with being able to track customer interactions more efficiently, this means we can provide a far better, more effective overall service solution.”