SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Khova has launched a performance platform for multi-location retail and hospitality businesses, designed to help frontline teams work more consistently across sites.

The Amsterdam-based company says the platform brings operational data into a single system and turns it into daily action plans for individual locations. It is aimed at retailers and hospitality groups running multiple sites that want store or venue managers to act on live information before the trading day begins.

According to Khova, the platform draws on sales figures, staffing levels, audits, customer reviews, and external factors such as weather and local events. Managers then receive a prioritised view of the issues and opportunities that need attention at their site.

The product enters a market where operators already use multiple dashboards, planning systems, and reporting tools, but often struggle to turn those inputs into clear actions on the shop floor. Khova argues this can leave performance varying significantly between locations, depending on who is on duty and how information is interpreted.

Daily priorities

Managers using the system can review what happened the previous day and what should be addressed next. That may include recognising strong results, responding to customer feedback, or dealing with an operational issue identified through incoming data.

Recommended actions can also be turned into tasks through integrated communication and training tools, with those tasks assigned directly to team members. Khova presents this as a way to connect analysis with execution at site level, rather than leaving managers to decide unaided how to act on incoming information.

The platform is positioned around operational consistency rather than data collection. Khova says many employers in retail and hospitality already have extensive information available but lack a practical way to convert it into a short list of priorities for each location.

That challenge is particularly relevant in sectors with high staff turnover, changing rotas, and dispersed estates, where local execution often shapes sales and customer experience. In such environments, one location may respond differently from another to the same pattern in trading, staffing, or feedback.

Sector focus

Khova says the platform was built specifically for the retail and hospitality sectors. Its team has more than a decade of experience across both shop-floor operations and software development.

The company also says Khova emerged from work carried out within MobieTrain. Those experiences, it says, showed that managers often need clearer direction in the moment rather than access to more information.

Khova cited Gallup research on the effect managers can have on differences in team performance and engagement. It argues that fragmented information and administrative demands can reduce the time managers spend leading daily operations.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer Guy van Neck said the company developed the platform in response to the volume of data managers face from multiple sources.

“What we consistently see is that managers are overwhelmed by data from all kinds of different sources. This makes it difficult to determine what really matters today to improve performance. As a result, you see the same figures leading to very different decisions at location A compared to location B. That is why we developed Khova,” said Guy van Neck, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Khova.

Van Neck said the platform was designed to combine a wide range of operational and contextual inputs into a simplified briefing for site leaders at the start of each day.

“We bring all that data together, from sales and planning to reviews, weather information, and what is happening in the surrounding area. Every morning, the manager receives a clear overview of what happened yesterday and a short list of priorities for the day. Sometimes that means celebrating strong performance with the team. Sometimes it is a very targeted action based on customer feedback, directly linked to the people who were working at that time. Because we combine context and data, we can also see what those actions do to results over time. In that way, you help each location operate more consistently, based on what actually works on the shop floor,” said Van Neck.

Charlotte Botham and Belinda Sinnott join the firm as part of its ongoing expansion across the Thames Valley and South East, with offices in Swindon and Oxford.

With nearly 20 years of experience each, Ms Botham and Ms Sinnott bring expertise in portfolio management and residential development respectively.

Greg Humphreys, partner and head of the real estate team at Gardner Leader, said: “The appointments of Charlotte and Belinda mark an important step in the continued growth of our real estate team.

“Both bring a depth of experience and sector knowledge that will be of real benefit to our clients.

“Their arrival also supports our continued investment in the team, where we are seeing increasing demand for specialist real estate expertise from businesses, developers and investors across the wider South East and beyond.”

Ms Botham joins from Horsey Lightly, where she was head of property.

She advises on acquisitions and disposals, landlord and tenant matters, secured lending, and property-related corporate transactions.

Her experience includes the £64 million sale of a public house portfolio and advising institutional investors, pension funds, and a global charitable foundation on complex property matters.

Ms Botham said: “Gardner Leader has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality, commercially focused advice.

“It’s exciting to be joining the firm as it cements its position as having one of the leading real estate teams in the south of England.

“I’m looking forward to supporting both new and existing clients and adding my expertise as we continue to strengthen our services.”

Ms Sinnott was previously a legal director at Gateley Legal.

She specialises in residential development and has advised many leading UK housebuilders.

Ms Sinnott has extensive experience with greenfield and brownfield site transactions, including conditional contracts, sub-sale, option, and promotion agreements.

She also advises on overage arrangements, affordable housing disposals, and related matters.

Ms Sinnott said: “I was drawn to Gardner Leader’s strong presence in the commercial property sector, the depth of experience within the team, and its clear commitment to supporting clients across the full lifecycle of their projects.

“The firm’s practical, commercially focused advice and long-term client relationships strongly reflects my own approach, and I’m pleased to bring my experience in residential development to further strengthen the team’s offering to housebuilders, developers and landowners across the region.”

Gardner Leader has expanded into Oxford and Swindon as part of its growth strategy, increasing headcount by more than 50 per cent in five years to over 200 staff.

The firm was recently certified as a B Corp, reflecting its emphasis on balancing commercial success with positive social and environmental impact.

Pelion has published research on international IoT connectivity trends among business users, pointing to rising cross-border device deployments and growing operational strain.

The survey, produced with ABI Research, covered 676 IoT decision-makers at major businesses worldwide, including 255 in the UK. It found that organisations expect the share of internationally connected devices in their fleets to rise from 29 per cent today to 49 per cent by 2030.

That shift marks a move away from domestic deployments in sectors including energy, logistics and manufacturing. Businesses in those industries use connected devices to track assets, monitor equipment, manage supply chains and automate processes across multiple markets.

The findings suggest that the main pressure point in IoT roll-outs has moved beyond basic network access. Companies are now grappling with the practical demands of running connected fleets across different mobile networks, jurisdictions and compliance regimes.

A shortage of skills emerged as the biggest single obstacle to successful deployments. Some 60 per cent of respondents said a lack of internal or external expertise delayed or blocked projects, ahead of budget constraints and connectivity issues.

Operational complexity also ranked above simple coverage gaps as a day-to-day problem. Nearly two-thirds, or 65 per cent, said managing deployments outside their core cellular coverage area was their biggest scaling challenge, while 41 per cent cited coverage limitations.

Security concerns

The survey also highlighted growing concern over security as connected estates become larger and more dispersed. Almost one in four organisations, or 24.6 per cent, said they had suffered an IoT-related security incident in the past year.

Among those incidents, 30 per cent resulted in losses of more than USD $100,000 and 8 per cent led to losses above USD $1 million. The figures suggest that security failures in connected operations can have material financial consequences for affected companies.

The report also tracked a shift towards newer eSIM standards for connected devices. It forecast that SGP.32-compliant profile downloads, described as the first eSIM standard designed specifically for IoT deployments, would account for 45 per cent of deployments by 2030, up from 7.6 per cent today.

That points to a market in which businesses want more flexible ways to provision and manage connectivity across borders. It also aligns with findings showing buyer interest in service models that span several networks under a single management structure.

Buying patterns

More than three-quarters, or 77 per cent, of respondents not currently using a mobile virtual network operator said they would consider one for their next deployment. They cited flexibility, simpler management and access to multiple networks.

In the UK, the findings come as the IoT sector remains closely tied to wider digital industrial policy. The digital technology workforce is estimated at 1.3 million people and generates more than £158 billion in Gross Value Added for the British economy, equivalent to about 6 per cent of current output.

Pelion, which began in Scotland as Stream Technologies in 2000, says it now serves more than 1,000 enterprise clients across a range of industries. The company focuses on IoT mobile connectivity and management services.

Chief Executive Officer Dave Weidner set out the company’s view of the market in comments released with the findings.

“Connectivity itself is no longer the difficult part of enterprise IoT. The challenge comes when enterprise customers take their fleets internationally, grow in scale, and operate across multiple networks, jurisdictions and regulatory environments. Organisations are increasingly looking for partners that can simplify that operational complexity rather than add to it,” Weidner said.

“The potential for an IoT revolution is significant, but only if we can overcome some of the critical infrastructure, security and expertise barriers holding deployment back. If we can overcome some of the short-term challenges, the future of enterprise IoT connectivity will be increasingly borderless, managed and eSIM-enabled, with buyers placing greater emphasis on security architecture, advisory services and unified management platforms when selecting connectivity providers,” he said.