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Given the prevailing global credit crunch, a potential saving of R63 000 in fuel costs is hard to ignore. This is precisely the amount Primedia Face 2 Face recouped last year after installing a new fleet management software tool called UBWhere.
This is according to Alan Ellis, CEO of the ST Group, a local software solutions company, which provides multiple software solutions - - using Location Intelligence to help businesses operate more efficiently. UB Where is a hosted service using PBMapInfo ‘s location intelligence and our own mobile technology
As an ideal operations tool for commercial fleet owners, UBWhere integrates workforce operations with other data collection activities under a single software platform to provide a spatial view of a company’s fleet in real time.
“Because the product includes multiple features like vehicle tracking, GPS navigation and vehicle monitoring and reporting,” explains Ellis, “clients no longer have to purchase a number of different software products to access different layers of information.”
In the last ten years, Primedia’s Face 2 Face business channel has expanded significantly, assisting major consumer brands to penetrate the rural market. With a fleet of just 36 vehicles, servicing 10 400 retail points around the country, Primedia has come under increasing pressure to optimise delivery turnaround times.
”The locations we service are typically independently owned township general dealers and community-based supermarkets that do not always have a definitive street address”, explains Ant Cowling, Primedia F2F Operations executive.
“By geo-coding our delivery points, we have been able to calculate the shortest delivery routes and become more efficient with planning our call cycles.”
Overlaying this geographical map of Primedia’s retail points with marketing information derived from census, Primedia has not only been guided by LSM groups and population demographics on how to stock its retail points more intelligently, but has also been able to provide projections to its clients on how they can grow their brand footprint.
Through the product’s Live Map Tracking service, Cowling and his operations team are now able to track the movements of each individual vehicle as well as individual driver behaviour in real time.
Cowling reports that on two separate attempted hijacking incidents, UBWhere helped Primedia deliver immediate and accurate information that led to the recovery of the vehicles in both cases.
For Cowling though, one of the biggest benefits that the UBWhere software has delivered has been the ability to identify patterns of abuse. “As most of our delivery points are far from our regional depots, we entrust our vehicles to our drivers overnight. Until we had a chance to monitor the vehicle’s movements, we had no idea how much the vehicles were being used after hours” explains Cowling.
“Now that we have installed UBWhere, we have saved 7000 litres of fuel in the last year and an equally impressive amount on vehicle maintenance costs.”
“We have really appreciated the level of commitment and service we have received from ST Group. Because they took the time to assess our business needs properly, we have freed up capacity, sharpened our marketing prowess and virtually stamped out abuse of our vehicles” enthuses Cowling.
“We are proud that our UBWhere solution has been so effective in helping this major South African distribution and communications company to make substantial cost-savings and achieve improved operational efficiencies, which are two of the most important factors in continuing to be successful in today’s challenging economic climate,” concludes ST Group’s Alan Ellis.
About ST Group
Founded in 1994, Spatial Technologies is above all a solutions company, focused on the delivery of location-based business intelligence value to clients. The company’s technology harnesses the power of location to deliver a competitive advantage to their clients in the shortest time and as cost-effectively as possible by using Pitney Bowes world-class software and technology.
Today Spatial Technologies is part of the expanded ST Group, which also comprises UConnect (focused on mobility solutions), Connected World Solutions (development support and training) and M&S Track (fleet and personnel management). ST Group strives to be the group of choice for providing location intelligence and mobility solutions across the enterprise. The group places a high value on developing long-term relationships with all stakeholders. Clients come from, among others, the banking, retail, logistics, finance and telecommunications sectors.
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