Petroleum POS System Installer and Technician Improves Service and Capabilities for Unbranded Marketers Using Hughes Secure Connectivity Services

Customer

PWI, Inc. is a comprehensive one-stop-shop for petroleum and natural gas dispensing and management systems. PWI offers a wide variety of retail, fleet and on-site commercial fueling products and services, as well as design and installation services for fuel management and dispensing systems.

Challenge

As an authorized installer and technician for several industry leading point-of-sale (POS) systems, such as Gilbarco and VeriFone, PWI works with hundreds of retail petroleum brands, both major and unbranded. Typically, major brands dictate all aspects of an enterprise network for their marketers, including which POS system and service providers to select. For unbranded locations, however, the owner needs to address all aspects of the network on their own — even if their operation spans 100 or more sites.

PWI recognized that many of its customers with unbranded marketer stations were struggling to achieve consistent, high- performance networking across their locations. For example, the unbranded marketer might have locations that suffer frequent broadband/internet connectivity outages -- impacting the POS system and sales, and ultimately the bottom line. The marketer’s only insight into the problem might be that they were unable to process credit cards; but they could not pinpoint whether the issue was with the POS system or their connectivity. Each time the PWI team dispatched a technician to resolve an issue, it cost the station owner time and money.

Hughes Solution

PWI wanted to find a solution that enabled customers with unbranded locations to enjoy the same benefits and enterprise-grade, high performance network and cybersecurity protection as the major branded stations. The company sought a Managed Network Services Provider (MNSP) that could ensure consistent connectivity – without having to switch broadband service –and be able to safeguard transactions and customer data.

PWI selected Hughes Secure Connectivity Services (SCS) as an add-on service offering for its marketers with unbranded locations.

• Through SCS, PWI can provide seamless integration to protect locations against cyber threats and outages.
• Marketers use their existing broadband connections, with no changes to their infrastructure.
• SCS ensures connectivity through a reliable 4G backup connection and automatic failover switching so that stations can still process transactions at the pump even if their primary network connection fails.
• On behalf of their customers, PWI uses the Hughes portal for visibility into all sites using the service, providing the ability to troubleshoot, view tickets and manage billing.
• PWI uses SCS’s remote access to identify and resolve issues that may be happening with a POS system or a site’s broadband connectivity. This is a more efficient approach, saving both time and money for the customer.

With Hughes SCS, PWI can provide unmatched support to its unbranded customers through this easy-to-use, secure and flexible networking solution.

Hughes Technology

Hughes SCS uses the award-winning Fortinet security platform with self-install and self-configuration options. When a customer opts for the SCS offering, PWI can deploy a managed firewall with easy plug-and-play installation so stations can get up and running quickly.

For more information, visit Hughes SCS.