Service Level Agreements

Stowe Holdings and Wincor Nixdorf conclude Retail Service Cooperation Agreement

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Stowe Holdings announced today that they have formally concluded an agreement with Wincor Nixdorf to cooperate as partners in providing services for Wincor Nixdorf hardware and software products in the Southern African region.
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Sasol recognises Stowe performance

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Relationships with Sasol have been an important part of Stowe’s growth within the Fuel and Oil Industry. Stowe has been providing support to Sasol for more than 20 years. The letter below is recognition of Stowe’s continued levels of service.

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Stowe’s Highest Award Goes To Robert Jansen Van Vuuren

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Stowe Holdings (PTY) LTD congratulates Robert Jansen van Vuuren for receiving the Year 2008 Chairman’s Award for Performance and Service Excellence.

This prestigious award is handed out each year to a Stowe employee nominated as the top performer in the Company. Candidates are evaluated and selected against the highest standards of work performance, dedication and loyalty, as well as the individual’s contribution towards the improvement of his/her working environment. Continue Reading →


Stowe secures multimillion-rand BP deal

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Stowe Holdings (PTY) LTD, a broad based, black economic empowerment (BBBEE) company that provides forecourt and retail information technology (IT) services to the petrochemical industry, has been awarded an extension of its existing service contract with BP for the servicing of BP’s more than 180 Express Retail convenience outlets – amongst others – throughout Southern Africa.

BP Business Information Manager, Lester Japhta, at time of signing agreement with Stowe

Stowe is primarily involved in front-end IT, which includes the design, installation, commissioning and provision of hardware and software support (via a 24-hour call center) and solutions tailor-made for retail and commercial petrochemical markets.
Stowe’s Chief Executive Officer, Henk Stander commented “While we value and appreciate BP’s confidence in Stowe Holdings – in awarding an extension to the services we are already providing BP – we are well aware of the renewed challenges to maintain our excellent service level results to this customer.”

Stander continued…”This agreement signifies the successes of our efforts in servicing BP since 1991, but also re-enforces the evident confidence from this corporate Customer to now expand the relationship between our organizations…”
In concluding this agreement, Stowe Holdings’ shows its willingness to continue on its strategy to increase its product and service offerings to the Open Fuel Industry – and in particular, the technical support of 3rd party software & peripheral products together with its own proprietary products.

Stowe Holdings (PTY) Ltd is a private Company, based in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa and operates as an IT specialist in the integration of Electronic and Peripheral products to its proprietary Fuel & Shop Management solutions. Founded in 1989, Stowe initially developed Point-of-Sale and Forecourt Controller solutions for the open Oil-Industry, while providing professional open industry services of Project Management, Product Implementation, Research and Development, E-Commerce services, as well as comprehensive IT product Support and Maintenance.

Released by the Stowe Public Relations Department
Contact: Stowe InterActive Editor, Patti Hart (patti@stowe.co.za). or telephone on +27 +21 +595-2766


Octane Technology (PTY) LTD outsources call centre to Stowe Holdings (PTY) LTD

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Following Octane Technology’s decision to outsource its Support & Call Centre, Stowe Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Octane proudly announces the formal conclusion of a service agreement, effective 01 November, 2007.

The Stowe Support & Call Centre
The agreement is designed to provide a focused Support & Call Centre to the Octane Customer Database and enables Octane to provide its clients with the highest level of support and services, placing them in a more advantageous position for delivery.
Stowe Holdings (Pty) Ltd has a top class infrastructure, technological background and expertise to manage and meet with Outsourced Call Centre requirements of this nature.
The Stowe Support Scope includes 1st line contact, ticket logging, problem classification and 2nd line in depth problem classification diagnosis, support of modem connectivity and file retrieval, monitored through stringent service level criteria and guidelines.

Octane Technology (Pty) Ltd is a technology company skilled to deliver Financial and Business Solutions to the Retailing Industry, with specific expertise and solutions for the Fuel Industry.
Octane’s decision to appoint Stowe Holdings (Pty) Ltd as its preferred Business Partner for the provision of Helpdesk Support and service excellence to its clients, is in line with its strategy to focus on its core development and solutions’ activities.
Christo Oosthuizen, Managing Director of Octane comments “….Octane continuously strives to increase customer service levels and I am confident that the partnership with Stowe will permit enhanced service offerings and peace of mind to our customers…. “

In concluding this agreement, Stowe Holdings’ continues
its strategy to increase its product
and service offerings to the Open Fuel Industry and support
of 3rd party software & peripherals.
Stowe Holdings (PTY) Ltd is a private Company, based in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa and operates as an IT specialist in the integration of Electronic and Peripheral products to its proprietary Fuel & Shop Management solutions. Founded in 1989, Stowe initially developed Point-of-Sale and Forecourt Controller solutions for the open Oil-Industry, while providing professional open industry services of Project Management, Product Implementation, Research and Development, E-Commerce services, as well as comprehensive IT product Support and Maintenance.

Released by the Stowe Public Relations Department
Contact: Stowe InterActive Editor, Patti Hart (patti@stowe.co.za). or telephone on +27 +21 +595-2766


Stowe Holdings and Apollo Brick conclude service agreement

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Brenda Murray (Stowe Divisional Head – Logistics) with Marc Conradie (Appollo Brick Financial Director)

Further to its strategy in developing comprehensive Fuel Management solutions to the Oil and Energy Industry – but in particular to the Corporate Fleet Customer – Stowe today announced the successful conclusion of a comprehensive service level agreement with Apollo Brick.

The formal agreement covers stringent service level criteria and guidelines for fuel management, reporting and data upliftment which includes the remote support of Stowe’s products. Besides the ongoing high performance based services to be rendered under this agreement, one of the key enablers to this goal is the use of the Stowe Interactive medium.
Brenda Murray, Stowe Divisional Manager (Logistics) on the left and
Marc Conradie, Apollo Brick’s Financial Director.

This dynamic, real-time and web-based product facilitates remote logging of support calls from various geographical regions. Further, it allows secure access (to Apollo Brick registered personnel) for detailed projects information, Fuel Management exception reports, support-and core-logging details, as well as other information of business aspects on-hand. Stowe’s goal is to ensure an open and transparent service delivery at all times.

 

Apollo Brick is a principled clay brick manufacturer in Gauteng and Western Cape and supply NFP & NFX bricks to the construction industry, merchants, builders and private buyers.

Approximately 33 units of mobile equipment are utilized in this labour intensive process to transport the bricks between the various departments and subsequently to the customers via a fleet of 21 trucks owned by sub-contractors, therefore resulting in the application of the Stowe system.

Sandra Langenhoven of Apollo Brick Atlantis expressed her satisfaction with Stowe’s products and service. She commented: “.I am very impressed with the service received thus far and the system definitely alleviated my day-to-day workload.” Sandra further said “…the system is easy to use and the comprehensive reports permits quick and effective resolutions to my fuel management queries and requests.”
The Stowe Support & Call Centre

Seen as an opportunity to jointly add further value-added services to its offers to the Vehicle Fleet Industry, Stowe combined forces with Silver Creek Energy Group cc, signifying a new era of fuel supply and management.

In another unique application of specialist technologies, with the non-stop aim to improve industry offers related to the fleet-and fuelling industry, Stowe announced their latest breakthrough in their Industry offer as the Single Point Of Trading (SPOT) service, offering customers’ a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ that includes fuel supply, fuel management systems, data-upliftment & supporting services on pumps, tanks & computerised systems, amongst others.

The confidence expressed by Apollo Brick in concluding this agreement confirms Stowe’s position in the industry as a professional service provider that continues to deliver on its promise to its customers & other stakeholders.

Stowe Holdings (PTY) Ltd is a private Company, based in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa and operates as an IT specialist in the integration of Electronic and Peripheral products to its proprietary Fuel & Shop Management solutions. Founded in 1989, Stowe initially developed Point-of-Sale and Forecourt Controller solutions for the open Oil-Industry, while providing professional open industry services of Project Management, Product Implementation, Research and Development, E-Commerce services, as well as comprehensive IT product Support and Maintenance.

Released by the Stowe Public Relations Department
Contact:     Stowe InterActive Editor, Patti Hart (patti@stowe.co.za). or telephone on +27 +21 +595-2766

 

 


Dale Clemitson claims highest award at Stowe

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Henk Stander (Stowe Chairman) with Dale Clemitson

This prestigious award is handed out each year to a Stowe employee nominated as the top performer in the Company. Candidates are evaluated and selected against the highest standards of work performance, dedication and loyalty, as well as the individual’s contribution towards the improvement of his/her working environment.

Dale joined Stowe Holdings in October 2000 as a Field Technician in at our Gauteng branch and by his second year, was promoted to Senior Field Engineer. Just one year later, Dale was then transferred to our Head Office in Cape Town, where he began working as a Call Center Engineer and within a very short period of time, he was promoted to Call Center Supervisor.
In early 2006, Dale was offered the challenge of running the Stowe Training Department, which has since – under his direction – become a far more viable and energetic area of Stowe’s business, running regular successful internal, as well as external training courses, and making great strides in skills upliftment.
In June of 2006, Dale was promoted to Call Center Manager, where he continued to excel and even with his additional responsibilities, has not allowed the training department to lose its momentum.
The Call Center has also continued to operate as a strong and successful unit, which is reflected in its contribution to the Company’s above-average performance and formal Service Level Agreement (SLA) results.
Dale’s technical schooling and further training within the IT stream has stood him in good stead to comprehend and cope with the high demands of our industry. Dale was also awarded the Best Dressed Gentleman Award in 2004 and obtained formal accreditation on various fuel management systems and related technologies, such as NetPOS, PEC8850 and OTI’s Radio Frequency (RF) tagging equipment.
In addition, Dale was nominated by the Stowe employees to represent them on the board of trustees for the Stowe Employee’s Trust, the latter of which holds 20% of the total equity of Stowe Holdings (PTY) LTD.


New, modernised DataWise on-line to be launched

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Stowe InterActiveis an extension of Stowe’s professional services and is specifically designed to offer real-time, up-to-date and dynamic information to the customers and users of Stowe’s products and services. This service also forms the basis of managing the complexities of product support & maintenance in an innovative and truly world-class manner.

Stowe Datawise – Online Management Tool

This web-based system (developed and hosted by Stowe) covers all aspects of our Support & Maintenance services that are rendered throughout the use of any of our products and to which the customer and/or user has subscribed. As a result, access to any information about services rendered to a location, about a particular product and the status thereto can be gained from anywhere in the world … up-to-date and accurate from the minute the call was logged at Stowe!

Further, a vast amount of management information is available through Stowe InterActive , such as Service Level reports, statistical reports on product category maintenance, customer biographies (site listings with related information) and other project reports and charts.

DataWise
One of the most critical components of this interactive web site is DataWise, which is used for actual hosting of Fuel Management reporting systems via networked stations within a close, corporate environment, but also on the Internet for Web-based solutions of fuel transaction reports and site statistics.

A number of changes have been made in order to enhance the product and offer our valued customers a more user-friendly product:

  • Conforms to a more modern design and fits aesthetically with the rest of the Stowe Interactive portals
  • Improved navigation
  • Clearer, more concise menu’s

Once the New version of DataWise has been launched on the 20th November 2006, the current version will no longer be available to our users. Stowe will endeavour to contact all our users in order to assist with any queries you may have.

In addition to this, there are a few minor enhancements within the software, which may also create a need for refresher training for some of our users, even though we will be making certain that all users receive a brief document which will detail all the changes and offer an explanation for each one.

Training
Should any of our customers feel that they require additional training, please contact our 24 hour call centre on 0860 25 24 23

 


Sasol Oil & Stowe extend Services Agreement

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Following the official, tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (June 2004) between Sasol Oil (PTY) LTD, Exel Petroleum (PTY) LTD and Stowe Holdings (PTY) LTD, it was announced today that negotiations were formally concluded to extend the Agreement in its practical application of services and related fee structures.

Jan Wentzel, Sasol’s Procurement Advisor on the left; and Darryll vd Westhuizen, Stowe’s Marketing Manager

Stowe’s strategic drive to establish itself as a professional and versatile service provider to the open Oil and Fuel Industry provided Sasol the opportunity to benefit from its investment to-date in Stowe’s proprietary products for its site system applications at Service Centre Forecourts, Shops, Homebases and depots. Further to this, Stowe’s expansive knowledge and experience on peripheral product devices, which are implemented in conjunction with Sasol’s choice of site systems technologies, now facilitates a quality of implementation and supporting services that not only are optimised in aspects of product procuring, but also in problem resolution and overall service level management.

Jan Wentzel, Sasol’s Procurement Advisor reflected on the historical relationship between Stowe and Sasol as a “win-win” relationship and continues to explain: “… in general Stowe provided Sasol Oil and Exel Petroleum with outstanding services to-date, which greatly secured an extension of Sasol’s investment in this service provider’s products and services.”

Wentzel continued to comment: “The value-added services offered by Stowe, its expansive technical and project management capabilities, together with its willingness to support peripheral and 3rd party products, now provides Sasol with an opportunity to optimise its product procurement and project implementation efforts in one of the aspects of our broader strategy of site system automation.” Sasol found value in Stowe’s ongoing strategy of formal accreditation on a number of specialist devices, ranging from RF Tagging components, to Tank Gauging and other electronic equipment generally sought after by corporate Oil Companies. To facilitate improved service offers, Stowe has also formed various collaborative relationships with other, specialist Service Providers to the Fuel Industry and continues to seek further expansion of such relationships.

In addition to Stowe’s services that will be rendered on Sasol’s choice of Site Systems technology, peripheral services now included in the various, formal Schedules to the Agreement, covers:
• Enhanced Support & Maintenance , now including Sasol fuelling locations outside of South Africa
• RF Tagging devices, as configured from the kiosk/site office to the forecourt
• Tank Gauging interface boxes and probes
• Various Attendant Tagging devices, including controllers and readers
• Pump interface boxes/assemblies
• Transaction Data upliftment from selected Sasol/Exel sites on it network of Retail Service Stations, Depots & Homebases.
• Site Connectivity via GPRS modems
• The hosting of Stowe’s proprietary DataWISE website for on-line viewing by Sasol’s stakeholders of daily transaction data, MIS reports, exceptions and more.
A key decision as part of the negotiation process was to implement a low-cost site connectivity solution to Sasol’s existing (and growing) network of fuelling points supported by Stowe under the Agreement. The official appointment of Stowe to implement and maintain a Virtual Private Network (VPN) on behalf of Sasol, kick-started the roll-out of the necessary hardware and software components at site level , as well as the implementation of Access Point Networks (APN) by Stowe.
Benefits of GPRS Site Connectivity to Sasol under the extended Agreement include, amongst others:
• Stowe will maintain nominated Sasol sites’ connectivity 24hrs a day, cost effective & secure
• Stowe will facilitate & perform data uploads from sites (where and when required by Sasol) and guarantees connectivity at a competitive rate
• No civil engineering & structural investment required in the implementation and maintenance of the connectivity process
• Stowe will maintain a daily, 24/7, single-point of contact (SPOC) for all site connectivity issues
• This will allows for improved preventative support & maintenance actions
• It will also allow for more consistent and guaranteed remote support
o by Call Centers, Help Desks, Site Managers (Franchisees) and Corporate Franchisors under the employ of Sasol
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Access Point Network (APN) management from the SPOC, hosted by Stowe
Further to this, Stowe will also continue to host their Stowe InterActive website as a value–added service to Sasol. This, recently enhanced service by Stowe allows customer access to various business Web Portals (such as DataWISE, Stowe Knowledge Base and others) that stand to benefit Sasol, its associated businesses, stakeholders and other interested parties as an enhanced service that remains difficult to be offered by other service providers to the same Industry.


Stowe releases enhanced version of its Stowe InterActive web-portal

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Diversified IT group Stowe Holdings today announced the official release of the next version of its “Stowe InterActive” web-architecture.This announcement follows a further commitment from Stowe to its stakeholders to provide an interactive, web-based medium through which business information can readily be shared, in a dynamic and real-time manner.

The release of further functionality through this freely available, value-added service by Stowe also shows a return of the investment made by the Company to develop and host Stowe InterActive internally; and not to sub-contract development thereof to outside parties.

Online Management Tool

Says Raymond Swartz, Stowe Technology Manager: “We are particularly keen to expand our own service offering, and Stowe InterActive has now been developed to include various business Web Portals that stand to benefit our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders as an enhanced service that was previously difficult to offer.“Key to some of the enhancements is our firm commitment to display an open and transparent approach to the industry exposure of our previously, proprietary information and knowledge bases.”

“As a result, registered users of Stowe InterActive can now enjoy up-to-date information of Stowe business agendas, technical specifications of a variety of our products and service offering, management information on current, day-to-day projects and other initiatives … as well as various other information sets that previously would have been forwarded and delivered to our customers and product users via standard e-mail correspondence, spreadsheets and other means of reporting.”

 

 


Datawise Online

Datawise Online is a leading tool for fleet owners and managers. Users can now view accurate, up to date reports on all aspects of their fleets' fuel performance.


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Support Centre

Stowe Support Centre provides call logging, ticket tracking, customer information and reporting services through a simple, globally accessible interface.


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Stowe M.I.S.

The Stowe MIS system provides detailed reports from all our different departments. A forum system is also active, as well as important Stowe announcements.


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Knowledge Base

The Stowe Knowledge base consists of a varied repository of information regarding methods & practices.



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