Touch ‘n Go uses VSA to Support Millions of ePayments
Overview
Touch ‘n Go (TNG) is the largest epayments company in Malaysia – driving all the payments for the country’s highway system and replacing cash tolls with electronic,card-based payments so motorists can cruise through, greatly easing traffic. That means Touch ‘n Go’s 200-plus endpoint systems have to be up and running to help process 7 million transactions per day and up to 800 vehicles per hour.
About
Founded in 1996, Touch ‘n Go (TNG) provides the smart card and electronic payment system for the Malaysian toll expressway and highway system. Today, this ePayments system processes between 800 and 1,200 vehicles per hour.
“Implementing Kaseya is part of our roadmap for ensuring Touch ‘n Go remains relevant to our customers. We continuously explore new technologies to achieve a vision of being the No.1 provider of electronic payments towards realizing a cashless society.” Noor Farilla AbdullahChief Operating Officer
Challenges
- Support hundreds of geographically dispersed endpoints
- Scale IT to handle growing base of endpoints and entry into new market sectors
- Transform IT operations for efficiency and automation
These endpoints, which take the form of card reloaders, allow consumers to put cash onto their cards so they do not run out of funds and have transactions rejected. Reloading stations can be found in bank ATMs, TNG hubs, petrol stations, and highway service stations. Touch ‘n Go has also expanded into retail outlets, parking, and theme park locations – with more outlets to come.
With this expansion comes a greater need for endpoint reliability. Endpoint problems mean confusion for customers and unnecessarily blocked transactions.
This need for reliability drove TNG to adopt VSA, the remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution from Kaseya to monitor, manage, troubleshoot, repair and maintain its growing base of endpoints.
Raymond Wong, head of operations support for TNG, takes care of all these reloading devices and cash points. Not only are there many of these devices, but they are scattered across the country. “Prior to Kaseya, whenever there was a request for maintenance, we were required to be onsite to manage and troubleshoot the problem,” Wong remembers.
“Given average traveling, it takes about two hours to be onsite. Then there is the troubleshoot-ing. Then it takes about another two hours to get back. So traveling alone is about four hours,” Wong explains. There is also the traveling cost, including tolls, and resolving the issue, which takes 30 minutes to an hour.
“After implementing Kaseya, I don’t need to send my people down to do the troubleshooting. We can do this remotely from our headquarters,” Wong says.
VSA helps TNG reach across other networks to keep these endpoints running. “We have over 200 post machines installed nationwide. These are not on our proprietary network.
Solutions
- VSA allows for quick troubleshooting of endpoints remotely from headquarters, eliminating most site visits
- With VSA’s remote capabilities, Touch ‘n Go can handle its growing base of endpoints
- VSA’s automation enables Touch ‘n Go to streamline IT operations and focus on more strategic tasks
They are on our clients’ networks. After deploying Kaseya, all of our initial troubleshooting is done at headquarters using the central console. If the issue warrants that the work be done onsite, only then will an engineer be assigned. Simple problems like password resets are now being assigned to our helpdesk agents whereas before a field engineer had to go on site to reset them,” says Noor Farilla Abdullah, chief operating officer.
This is not a benefit just for TNG, but users as well. “The users benefit from having the problems resolved in a timely way with less downtime to the host machines. End users have their host system up in a very short time,” Wong says.
TNG is now taking maximum advantage of these newfound man hours. “As for my team, we can redeploy field engineers to manage other devices like terminals and ATM readers. This improves our turnaround time in resolving these other problems,” Wong says.
That quick, efficient, and remote troubleshooting technology also supports deep monitoring and analysis. “Kaseya enables us to proactively monitor our assets in the field. We are now able to take corrective action in the event the device is near full capacity because we have that information at our fingertips. As a result, we are better able to service our customers, our customers are more satisfied, and we also exceed our service-level expectations towards our partners,” Abdullah remarks. “We are able to deploy our precious resources on more strategic matters and tasks that are more value adding in nature as opposed to six hours on the road.”
VSA by Kaseya Part of a Larger Transformation Strategy
VSA is about more than convenience and saving man hours. It is changing the very way TNG operates. “Touch ‘n Go is in the process of transformation as we go into sectors apart from just transit. But we have inherited some legacy manual processes. We are continuously looking for areas and opportunities to automate our processes to become more productive and efficient. Kaseya has come at the right time for us to automate some very manual processes,” says Abdullah.
“Implementing Kaseya is part of our roadmap for ensuring Touch ‘n Go remains relevant to our customers. We continuously explore new technologies to achieve a vision of being the No. 1 provider of electronic payments towards realizing a cashless society.”
