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ACI Infotech

Enterprise data and AI, engineered and run in production.

ACI Infotech is an enterprise data and AI engineering firm headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, with delivery hubs worldwide. We build the data foundation, put AI on top of it, and run both in production for enterprises in financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and energy.

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All playbooks

/ Data Engineering playbook

600 Stores, Real-Time

Multi-Location Real-Time Data Platform

Battle-tested architecture for real-time data across 300-1000+ locations with zero tolerance for payment downtime.

  • 47x deployed
  • Data Engineering
  • 9-15 months typical
  • 18-30 consultants

/ Typical outcomes

<5 min

Data latency

99.97%

Uptime maintained

3x

Peak capacity handled

23%

Revenue lift

/ Overview

What this playbook is for

When you operate 300-1000+ physical locations, your data challenges are unique. Every store generates thousands of transactions per hour. Payment processing cannot fail, ever. Marketing wants real-time customer behavior insights, but your legacy batch ETL creates 12-24 hour latency. Weekend traffic spikes hit 3x normal volume, and your infrastructure buckles. This playbook, deployed 47 times across retail chains, QSR franchises, convenience stores, and hospitality groups, provides the battle-tested architecture for distributed real-time data at massive scale.

/ Challenge pattern

When this playbook applies

This playbook fits organizations facing these common challenges:

  • 01300-1000+ physical locations each generating thousands of daily transactions that need central visibility
  • 02Zero tolerance for payment processing downtime. Even 30 seconds of failure means lost revenue and customer trust.
  • 03Marketing and operations need real-time customer behavior insights for personalization and inventory decisions
  • 04Legacy batch ETL creates 12-24hr latency, meaning yesterday's data drives today's decisions
  • 05Weekend and holiday traffic spikes hit 3x normal volume, overwhelming infrastructure designed for average load
  • 06Store-level connectivity is unreliable. Systems must work when the network doesn't.

/ Solution approach

How the pattern runs

  • Dual-Write Pattern: Payment data captured at both POS and central platform simultaneously. If central fails, POS continues. Data syncs when connection restores.
  • Event-Driven Architecture: Kafka/Kinesis streams process transactions in real-time. Events flow to analytics, inventory, and customer platforms within seconds.
  • Auto-Scaling Infrastructure: Pre-configured scaling policies anticipate predictable traffic patterns. Black Friday, weekends, and lunch rushes handled automatically.
  • Edge Processing: Critical business logic runs at store level for resilience. Stores operate independently when disconnected, sync when reconnected.
  • Customer Data Platform: Real-time customer profiles enable instant personalization. Purchase history, preferences, and segments updated within minutes.
  • Observability First: Dynatrace integration with automated anomaly detection. Issues identified and alerted before customers notice.

/ Key learnings

Hard-won lessons from 47 deployments

01

Payment integration requires dual-write pattern. Never create a single point of failure for revenue-critical systems.

02

Auto-scaling must be pre-configured for predictable spikes. Reactive scaling is too slow for Black Friday.

03

Dynatrace observability prevents 90% of production issues before customer impact. Invest in monitoring early.

04

Store-level edge processing is essential for resilience. Network connectivity to 600+ stores will fail somewhere, always.

05

Start with 5-10 pilot stores, validate for 4-6 weeks, then roll out in waves of 50-100 stores.

06

Change data capture (CDC) from POS systems is harder than expected. Budget 30% more time for POS integration.

/ Stack

  • Kafka/Kinesis
  • Databricks Lakehouse
  • Delta Lake
  • Salesforce/Braze CDP
  • Dynatrace
  • Real-time Dashboards

/ Industries served

  • Retail
  • QSR/Fast Food
  • Convenience Stores
  • Hospitality

/ Results

What the pattern delivers

<5 min

Data latency

Reduced from 12-24hr batch processing to near real-time streaming

99.97%

Uptime maintained

During rollout across all locations with zero payment disruptions

3x

Peak capacity handled

Weekend and holiday traffic spikes managed automatically without intervention

23%

Revenue lift

From real-time personalization and inventory optimization

/ More patterns

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Let's Walk Through This Playbook