Hungry for sales? Here’s how to empower your people to optimise productivity

Martin Blignaut, Head: Workforce Management at Altron Digital Business.

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People, artificial intelligence (AI) and data can be a powerful combination to drive sales – just ask Hungry Lion. When the fast-food chain noticed that one of its stores in Alex was selling more ice cream on hot days than other outlets in the same area, it reviewed workforce management data, powered by UKG’s Pro WFM. The secret to sales success? One particular cashier. So now, when hot weather is forecast for the area, management makes sure that individual staff member is at work.

“Hungry Lion is pushing the limits of our software to elevate the employee experience, and it shows in their product,” says Wendy Wood, Senior Director​, EMEA Alliances and Channel at UKG. A couple of days earlier, Wood had heard the story about the ice cream sales at a workshop hosted by Altron Digital Business, where Hungry Lion won an award for 2025 innovator of the year.

Now operating in six African countries, with 400 stores, the fast-food chain is an intriguing case study on how the right SaaS platform, accessible on cellphones, can improve employee satisfaction and customer service from Angola to Zambia – and everywhere in between.

Simply put, Hungry Lion staff know which shifts they’re committed to, whether a colleague needs to swap with them, any important updates from head office and whether overtime has been approved, all at the touch of an icon on the screen in their hands.

UKG is a leading provider of HR, payroll and workforce management software. More than 80 000 organisations around the world use UKG solutions, among them South African companies, including those in retail, healthcare, quick service restaurants and, of course, Hungry Lion. “UKG is a masterpiece of engineering. We’ve been with the solution for 30 years,” says Martin Blignaut, Head: Workforce Management at Altron Digital Business. “They know what they’re doing, and we know what we’re doing.”

In the session, Russell Howe, UKG Group Vice-President EMEA, told the audience that we were in the age of the employee experience economy and that companies that invest in their employees are four times more profitable. “Happy employees mean happy customers, which leads to growth,” he pointed out. Because employees are customers of other brands, they’re familiar with what makes for a good customer experience – and, increasingly, they expect that from the companies where they work.

Howe shared three workforce megatrends from UKG’s January 2025 report, which include:

• An escalating global labour skills deficit.
• The amplified employee experience is imperative.
• The human-AI advantage.

AI is a hot topic, and Howe explains that UKG sees its impact as a force for good. Rather than a threat to workers, it’s a force multiplier, freeing people from the cognitive load of mundane, repetitive tasks and promoting both more innovation and a better work environment. Less administrative work can mean more focus on upskilling, more time with family and reduced stress in the workplace, all of which have a positive effect on morale. A worker with a sick child to take care of can now swap shifts in a matter of a few clicks on their phone, instead of asking for permission or filling in paperwork. This is just one example of how the system makes life easier both for frontline workers and managers.

The key to the human-AI advantage is data, and that’s the strength of UKG, with its years of working with organisations across a wide variety of industries. AI’s ability to unlock access to unstructured data will be a growth driver, says Howe. “Seventy-three percent of the world’s data is information we are not effectively using today. AI unlocks access to this incredibly insightful and valuable asset, and that is where the potential of a human/AI future is.” This is also why UKG is strongly focused on agentic AI, where output will be unique and specific to a company’s industry. Forget large language models, Howe argues. Small language models, focused on your own data, is where you should be looking.

One South African who knows UKG solutions very well is Noluthando Tanase, Specialist: Pre-Sales at Altron Digital Business. She has worked with UKG both on the client side and the sales side, and when she addresses an audience of finance and payroll professionals, she speaks the language of her fellow South Africans. As she likes to say: “Trust is good, control is better.

“We can now do the impossible: we can stop overtime abuse at the source,” she told the audience while taking them through a demonstration of the UKG interface. The system, accessible on every employee’s mobile phone, ensures that overtime can only be worked if it is pre-authorised and budgeted for. “Redirecting the resources currently spent on overtime to our team will allow us to implement meaningful solutions and deliver long-term value,” she advises.

Pre-authorised overtime is just one feature of the UKG solution, which empowers employees to take charge of their work-life balance in a way that was not possible before. Now the device that’s with you whether you’re at work or at home, or travelling between the two, gives you instant access to your manager, your colleagues and information that affects both of you. Not only that, you’re the one who tells the system what you want and need.

As Tanase points out: “How do we bring employees to the forefront and ensure they follow through on strategy? AI can apply rules fairly, using inputs like availability to guide decisions. This helps employees feel included because choices aren't based on emotion.”

If there’s one message from UKG’s international leadership, Altron Digital Business and their clients, it is this: employees across Africa are more than ready for this kind of platform. “These tools are about a partnership between labour and management, who work together to ensure that the company is profitable,” Tanase says. “The tools are here; it’s up to you to use them. They have the power to change your world.”