In a deal worth R28 million over a four-year period, Siyathetha Transact has partnered with Unisys to provide GPRS point-of-sale terminals to retailers countrywide, particularly those serving the rural areas.
Siyathetha Transact is a joint venture between Siyathetha Holdings and its empowerment partners.
Marc Bosman, portfolio sales executive, Global Infrastructure Services (GIS), Unisys Africa, says the deal entails a 12-month contract for the sale of 5 000 GPRS terminals, followed by a three-year managed services agreement.
Alan Harvey, a director of Siyathetha Transact, says the downstream value of the project is R38 million in hardware over a year, with services totalling in the region of R200 million a year.
The 5 000 terminals are being sourced by CyberNet, and Unisys has been appointed as the exclusive managed services partner. Services will include hosting, service desk and support of the terminals countrywide.
Harvey says the units allow retailers to offer their clients a multitude of services on one platform, instead of a merchant having to invest in multiple terminals to offer prepaid airtime, banking functionality and other virtual services.
Bosman says the primary target market for the units is the unserviced and unbanked. "We are not looking at removing banking terminals from where they are now. This is a whole new market consisting of those areas where the Telkom infrastructure is nonexistent, poor or unreliable, due to reasons such as cable theft."
Geoff Tuck, regional sales director, GIS, Unisys Africa, says: "The terminals will assist in the empowerment of the rural areas, as we can now take solutions of this nature to these regions that haven`t been able to take advantage of them in the past for a variety of technological and commercial reasons."
Currently there are five services loaded onto the machines:
* Banking functionality, which allows for credit card transactions, ATM emulation, cheque verification, smart card applications, third-party payments, and remote procurement of credit for the merchant`s machine.
* Prepaid services include airtime from all three mobile operators and Telkom, as well as international providers, electricity (only in some areas), branded gift vouchers for retail chains (specifically smaller chains), and event ticketing.
* Loyalty and customer relationship programme offerings such as tracking of purchases/attendance, loading data, administration, earning and redemption.
* Reservations for the handling of enquiries, bookings and payments for the travel, tourism and leisure industry.
* Distribution services include health, welfare - pension payouts, and biometrics facilitation for identification.
Harvey says the target for resellers is merchants, schools, hospitals, corporate canteens, factories, tuckshops, shebeens, taxis, and street vendors.
Because the system is mobile (GPRS), it does not depend on conventional modes of communication, so it can be used in rural areas where there are no landlines.
Regarding the branded loyalty and gift vouchers, Harvey says these can be personalised for a vendor of any size. "We do everything for them in the back office, with the terminal as their interface, allowing them to offer their customers the same as what bigger retailers do."
Other services, particularly those aimed at welfare sectors, will allow for the vendor to be the client interface for some of the banks, though the reconciliation will still be done via the bank performing the transaction.
The system is based on annuity income, rather than on big commissions upfront, and relies on the interdependence of all parties concerned.
Bosman says Unisys GIS specialises in managed services, taking the best technologies available and providing a package around those and the infrastructure to deliver.
He says of the need for the service: "The market has diverged to a great extent and now people are looking for convergence. It is difficult for a small rural retail outlet that is privately owned to provide different vending machines for prepaid time and electricity, banking, credit and debit card facilities and a host of other facilities, as they have to buy each of those machines and pay the phone calls and service charges that go with them."
Harvey says: "As opposed to traditional merchant units, retailers do not have to buy this terminal. It is offered on a rental basis. The cost is fixed and includes all communications, regardless of whether the merchant does one transaction a day or hundreds. With other systems, the cost of phone calls is usually extra."
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