Batteries Plus Powers Growth with Managed Services and Support from Hughes
Customer
“Hughes was very transparent throughout the migration. We knew how long everything would take and what the capabilities were, and when we needed creativity and ingenuity to get it done, Hughes delivered. They went above and beyond. They quickly analyzed issues that came up in the first couple of installs and they course corrected so subsequent rollouts didn’t experience those challenges. Their support and responsiveness post-migration has also been fantastic, and our partnership gives us the right resources to confidently expand our store network.” – Kranthi Malreddy, CIO, Batteries Plus
From one store almost 40 years ago to more than 800 locations nationwide today, Batteries Plus helps consumers and business customers diagnose problems and find the right battery, lighting, and device repair solutions. The brand’s commitment to delivering outstanding service to the community also drives its Power with Purpose charitable giving program. In partnership with Toys for Tots, Batteries Plus donated more than 1 million batteries during the 2024 holidays and expanded to helping disaster-impacted families power critical household items in 2025.
Challenge
Batteries Plus envisioned significant franchise network growth beyond its existing footprint, and its regional MSP partner lacked the nationwide scalability necessary to support expansion. Recent development had already exposed a mismatch of needs and capabilities with the existing vendor, with technical skills gaps particularly evident around engineering. The brand was also experiencing extended response and resolution times for network problems and routine service requests.
As the store footprint grew and the technology stack became more complex, it was increasingly challenging to manage the enlarged portfolio from a technical perspective. The regional MSP didn’t offer a portal or dashboard to monitor network health or performance across locations, and the lack of visibility resulted in a variety of negative impacts. Franchise owners didn’t receive alerts when store networks failed over to more expensive backup circuits and the retailer didn’t have critical insight into service performance or ROI.
Hughes Solution
Applying our expertise and resources, Batteries Plus can now pursue aggressive expansion with confidence. The brand can count on our nationwide coverage and operational capacity to bring swift responses to requests and trouble reports, and to execute rapid, large-scale deployments with minimal disruption to stores.
After Hughes executed a high-quality, five-store proof-of-concept deployment in just 30 days, Batteries Plus chose us to migrate the rest of the brand’s store portfolio. Successful deployment to 700 remaining sites across more than 400 different franchise owners was completed in just two months, a tightly calibrated timeline that allowed Batteries Plus to avoid costly contract overlaps and licensing extensions. Careful planning and strategic communications kept sales floors operational throughout the cutover process.
Batteries Plus now has visibility into store network performance through the HughesON portal that provides real-time network health monitoring across all locations. Help desk staff can view live network status, diagnose and troubleshoot issues in real time, and reboot devices remotely, all without store-level intervention. Remote power monitoring further reduces mean time to resolution with automated power cycling.
The brand’s franchisees receive notification when local store networks failover to backup circuits, insight they lacked previously. This empowers in-store personnel to take action directly to avoid expensive overage costs and better manage their local resources.
Tickets and requests no longer linger or fall off the radar. Issues are typically addressed within a few business days, and when more urgent or widespread problems arise, emergency meetings are established within 30 minutes to develop action plans. Customized reporting delivered within 72 hours of request offers insights into performance and costs that the brand couldn’t easily gather with the previous provider. Batteries Plus also now enjoys a dedicated support structure to assist with migration issues and infrastructure architecture optimized for continued growth.
Hughes Technology
The Hughes technology and services deployed for Batteries Plus include:
- Access to the HughesON portal, which delivers visibility into network health across all locations and enables help desk staff to troubleshoot issues in real time, often without requiring store-level intervention.
- Extensive Fortinet engineering expertise, including design/build support across the entire network architecture.
- Innovative hardware solutions, custom-developed to work universally across diverse store environments.
- Active Power Edge Managed Power Distribution Units (HS54) that automatically power-cycle devices when connectivity issues are detected. This active remote power monitoring and remediation capability resolves many common issues without human intervention, reduces mean time to resolution, and minimizes the help desk burden.
- Managed services, spanning networking and installation, proactive monitoring, and fast remediation, plus onsite and field technical support personnel when needed.
- Round-the-clock 24/7 support and a nationwide team of field technicians.
Get more information about Hughes Managed Network Services.