Acumen Software, the asset and resource management firm that created the My Smart City platform, has acquired 25% of the commerce platform provider, Kinektek.
Acumen Software plans to integrate Kinektek into My Smart City as it accelerates the rollout of the service delivery management platform.
Kinektek is a black-owned fintech business with a cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platform. The platform provides convenient and secure 24/7 self-service terminals (SST’s) in various business outlets and mobile POS devices that serve customers on the move or over the counter.
Kinektek’s integrative product will further enhance the My Smart City services.
Based in Cape Town, Kinektek has developed services aligned to local market requirements, ensuring that convenience and value drive consumer behaviour and business success. Success is enabled through automated delivery of products to customers and the augmentation of core services with additional value-adds.
With the investment in Kinektek, Acumen Software will bolster public service offerings to users of My Smart City with Value-Added-Services (VAS). These services include purchasing lotto tickets, airtime, data bundles, electricity and the ability to pay Municipal accounts.
“Kinektek is the perfect complementary technology for the My Smart City platform,” says Joao Zoio, CEO of Acumen Software. “It allows the two platforms to seamlessly integrate and offer customers a wide range of services with easy and secure payment options. Our vision is for smart cities to bridge the digital divide and improve service delivery from the private and public sector.”
The introduction of Kinektek’s suite of Biome, Orca, and PoS device solutions scales up the digital sales capability of businesses.
Biome is a pre-certified omnichannel commerce platform for processing digital sales and service transactions. The Kinektek distribution platform will assist retailers in delivering convenience and value through unified omnichannel retail automation, reducing operating costs and complexity.
Kinektek’s Online Retail Content Access (Orca) is a complete value-addedservice (VAS) platform. It assists retailers in growing their customer base by providing lifetime value with a complete VAS delivery solution at a zero fixed cost. The company will also supply specifically-designed devices to optimise functionality.
Omnichannel retailing has become the gold standard for success in the retail environment, which provides a seamless, continuous customer experience across any device or location.
My Smart City has integrated this bouquet of impressive capabilities using the Kinektek platform. My Smart City is currently available in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Steve Tshwete and eThekwini, with plans to roll out to other municipal areas during 2022.