One Point of Contact for IT Support Across 46 Stores in Seven Overseas Regions 

Each store uses a range of equipment, including POS and payment terminals, self-checkout systems, and store servers. Sales data flows from stores to regional offices and servers in Japan. With equipment configurations, operating practices, languages, and communication channels differing by region, the customer needed a common point of contact to quickly identify incidents and data inconsistencies and minimize the impact on sales.

Keep sales data flowing: Monitor data integration from store terminals to servers in Japan, and address inconsistencies and transmission errors.

Support equipment across the store: Provide one contact point for equipment needed to operate stores, including POS systems, payment terminals, printers, UPS units, and networks.

Accommodate regional differences: Document differences in languages, store formats, configurations, and communication channels across 7 regions to create a common support process.

Advange Support Central serves as the first point of contact, handling intake, status checks, initial investigation, and daily monitoring. Cases are escalated to IT departments in Japan or locally, or to product and equipment vendors, according to defined criteria and the nature of the issue.

Advange Support Central: Receives store inquiries, incident reports, and system alerts, and performs initial investigation and first-line resolution.

IT Departments in Japan and Local Markets: Application changes and equipment faults related to each local environment.

Product and Equipment Vendors: Provide specialist assistance, including product-specific fault investigation, software changes, and equipment replacement.

Support is available 365 days a year in English, Japanese, and Chinese through Microsoft Teams, email, and communication channels suited to each region.
 
 

Key Support Areas	Covering the IT Needed for Store Operations
Retail Applications and Sales Data Integration	Support for Microsoft Dynamics NAV / LS Retail usage, data inconsistencies, uploads and downloads, and synchronization failures.
Store Hardware	Incident intake and replacement coordination for POS systems, payment terminals, self-checkout systems, store servers, printers, UPS units, CCTV, and other equipment.
Daily Checks and Monitoring	Checks of servers, logs, data synchronization, CPUs, memory, networks, and more using Zabbix, Grafana, and other tools.

We document differences between regions and stores, along with complex data integrations, and consolidate error messages, screens to check, response procedures, and related tickets into knowledge articles. Weekly ticket reviews and training expand the range of issues that can be resolved at the first point of contact.

Standardization: Document supported equipment, data flows, integration conditions, and escalation contacts
Knowledge documentation: Create clear, actionable procedures for each screen and error
Review and improvement: Continuously apply findings to ticket analysis, FAQs, automation, and training

Examples of Improvements	Expanded operating procedures from 19 to 81
Clearer Escalation Criteria	Listed issues, owners, contacts, and decision criteria to shorten handoffs from L1 to L2 and L3.
Phased Training and Quality Checks	Combined classroom instruction, self-study, shadowing, hands-on support, and reassessment to develop staff with broader skills.
Routine Task Automation and FAQ Development	Advanced automation of repetitive tasks and publication of user FAQs to reduce inquiries and encourage self-service resolution.