IoT Solutions for the Construction Industry
CASE STUDY #1
One Tuesday afternoon sat in a high street cafe, Phil and Jon were debriefing after a meeting.
They had accompanied a Zest4 partner to see a customer – a major construction supplier – who were working on a brownfield site locally. Their contact, let’s call him Mr Standards, was complaining about how hard it was to give his team onsite connectivity (so they could access their data and stuff) without breaking their security policies. Mr Standards was a real stickler for policies.
“What they need”, said Phil, “is a way to give all the workers on site a safe and secure way to connect to their internet?” “I agree”, said Jon – “and a proper office to work in – like a pop up office that could quickly and easily be set up and then taken down when the site is finished”
Thankfully for the construction supplier, Phil and Jon really did know what they were talking about. Phil works for Arkessa who are really rather good at enabling IoT connections anywhere they are needed. And Jon, he works for Zest4 who have been providing communications solutions to resellers for the last 20+ years.
“And when the work’s finished, simply unplug it and move it to the next site”
“That’s the beauty of IoT”, remarked Phil. “We can build a fully loaded enterprise grade router in a box. It can take multiple SIMs for any carrier so can be used absolutely anywhere. And when the work’s finished, simply unplug it and move it to the next site.”
“No more waiting around weeks and weeks for a fixed line to be put in…”
“That’s brilliant” said Jon. “Never thought of using IoT to fix that problem.” We can provide the network connectivity, our partner can manage the end-to-end support and the customer can get up and running as soon as they come on site.
And that is exactly what happened. The Zest4 partner, supported by Jon and Phil pulled together a really compelling proposal. Phil helped them demonstrate a proof of concept and now rather than waiting weeks for a fixed line to be put in, all Mr Standards needs to do is plug in the router box, configured to his security requirements, at his temporary site offices and his teams can access the information they need across the internet safely and reliably. No long term contracts or patchy mobile broadband. The workers are happy, Mr Standards is happy and the Partner is earning on-going revenue. Everyone is a winner!
CASE STUDY #2
Hi, I’m Ben. I’ve just secured up to 7 years of revenue by closing my first IoT deal with a logistics firm.
I was taken a back by how much my customer was being charged for connectivity by their incumbent supplier and so wasn’t surprised when they asked me to help them. Their SIMs were across two networks which made things complicated and they were being over charged as they were locked in on their devices as well – the ones you have to sign when you get a parcel. They were one of my biggest accounts – only problem being, I’d never sold IoT solutions before. I knew I had to do something pretty quick though to stop someone else taking these SIMs. Especially as there is always the risk they would then go and quote for the other solutions I already provide the customer.
That’s when I turned to John at Zest4 and Richard at Arkessa. I liken them to avenging action heroes. John and Richard were unstoppable in their quest to help me and my customer no matter what the incumbent supplier put up in their way. This included insisting on being on every client call which was quickly addressed – no problem!
“…Zest4 stepped into the rescue with a solution of providing and connecting new SIMs…”
And when they blocked our ability to move the SIMs over, Zest4 stepped into the rescue with a solution of providing and connecting new SIM’s. One of Arkessa’s technical brains even built me a magic box of tricks that programmed the new SIMs one device at a time with the customer’s settings. They then supported us to install the new SIM’s in devices in warehouses across the UK. Who knew you couldn’t just port them over with a simple PAC request like a mobile phone?
And guess what? We closed the deal. It took hours of phone calls and hundreds of emails between me and John but his constant communication meant I, and my customer always knew what was going on which helped me sleep at night! And at the end – I got guaranteed recurring revenue for the next 3 years and as most IoT solutions don’t move once in situ , that is likely to stay for 7 years! And I know a lot more about IoT now!
The lesson I learnt? That IoT opportunities already exist in your user base so you don’t need to go hunting for them – they are there and they are not scary.
All you need is good team behind you prepared to go the extra mile. Mine did that quite literally – finishing work, jumping in their cars and installing 1000+ SIMs across the country in just over 2 weeks! I can’t wait to do the next deal now!
IoT Solutions for the Logistics Industry
IoT Solutions for the Taxi Industry
CASE STUDY #3
I’m Ray. I’ve protected my future business by installing IoT in my cabs.
I’ve been in the taxi business for 15 years and boy – have things changed. Back in my day, people just called the office to book a cab and paid in cash when they got to where they wanted to go. But not anymore – everyone wants to book online, pay for it on their card and even see where we are. Talk about control freaks!
But seriously I am getting a bit worried about my business – we’ve just lost Bob, one of our longest standing corporate customers because he wanted his staff to be able to pay by company card. I keep getting all these emails telling me I’ve got to ‘go digital’ or risk losing even more business. And don’t even get me started on Uber.
So I picked up the phone to Tim, the guy who had been sending me the emails and the first thing he told me was not to worry. His business works with loads of taxi firms just like mine and he was confident he could help. He asked me lots of questions and you know what, it’s not as complicated as I thought – and it sounds a lot cheaper too – you can even lease the kit.
“…he wanted his staff to be able to pay by company card”
Tim works with Zest4 and together they have loads of experience and contacts to help us select the right solution, get it installed and even train me and Donna in the office how to use it.
“I always worried about them carrying cash”
Do you know our cars only had to be off the road for 30 minutes for them to install the tracking device and software – and it’s so easy to use. But the thing that has really done it for us – is card payments. It was so easy to set up. We started it first with our night drivers – I always worried about them carrying cash – and then our daytime cabbies. We now even take payment online with bookings.
Best thing – I managed to take my first holiday in years without worrying about the business. Package trip to Benidorm with the lovely wife – and I left Donna in charge. I mean with all this techno kit everything practically runs itself but someone’s got to water the plants.
The lesson I learnt? Not to be afraid of technology but instead to work with the experts who understand it and how it can protect my business for the future.
CASE STUDY #4
I’m Darren. I’ve smashed my annual target by putting free Wi-Fi on buses.
The first ever customer I sold to – 8 maybe 9 years ago was a company that sold equipment into buses. Back then I sold them just 75 SIM cards to track how much money each route makes and where the bus was – I’ve now sold them over 5000 and do the same for most of the major bus companies.
I chatted to them a few times about putting free Wi-Fi on their buses – everywhere you go now people expect it. I had even heard one of my customer’s competitors speak about how they had done this and all the extra marketing and insight it had brought them.
“…It all seemed a bit techie but Zest4 translated it for me…”
I’ve been working with John at Zest4 for a while – in fact they got in contact about that very same customer not long after about an out of contract SIM. So I chatted through what the bus company wanted and they went off and spoke with Richard, an expert in doing this type of thing at their partner Arkessa. It all seemed a bit techie but Zest4 translated it for me and straight away I could see the opportunity for both me and my customer. This could be massive!
“…you can’t just stick a router on a bus”
I thought I had them when I pointed out you can’t just stick a router on a bus. Where would you put it? What would power it? Wouldn’t it just drain the battery? And what about the aerial – you can’t go around drilling holes in bus roofs can you?
But you know what – they did it. Richard and John came up with a technical solution and looked after all the testing for me. They helped me package everything up – made it all really simple and straightforward which meant I could easily explain it to my customer. And now, I am taking the same offer out to all my bus company contacts – what a result!
The lesson I learnt? There are always opportunities to do something different and take a risk – but partnering with people who really get the technology minimises the risk and allows you to focus on what you do best.
Creating Public WiFi Solutions Using IoT Technology
IoT Solutions for Pop-Up Offices
CASE STUDY #5
I’m Mandy, the Operations Director for Zest4. We prevented disruption to our operations and our customer service by using IoT technology ourselves.
Business has been great since we launched in 2013 and we were really excited to be able to move our team to smart new offices in Cheshire. But, as our partners are so important to us, we needed to make sure that our relationships weren’t affected by the relocation. It was crucial that we had constant connectivity, so we could continue to support our partners with no disruption.
Unfortunately, it took a bit of time to sort the contracts for our new offices and we couldn’t place an order for connectivity until we’d actually signed the lease. And even after placing the order, we knew it might take at least 3 months for our ethernet connection to be installed but we were moving in 8 weeks!
What could we do?
With our knowledge and expertise in IoT, we knew that the answer was simple. An IoT solution would provide us with a failsafe and secure connection, which could be deployed really, really fast.
Our fabulous team put together an Enterprise-Grade Router containing multiple SIM slots. This meant we could connect to any network and programme the router however we wanted, and be sure of consistent service.
The result was a fully secure connection for our network and the ability to run our Customer and Partner Portals at effective speeds. It was business-as-usual in our lovely new offices, whilst we waited for our fixed connectivity to be installed.
But that’s not the end of the story!
Even though we’ve now got our fixed EFM circuit, we haven’t put our IoT solution away. We’ve simply dropped the tariff to a lower monthly rental with less data and are using the solution as a failover.
I can honestly say that IoT was a saviour for our business during our move and our own personal experience has highlighted even more than ever what a great solution it is. Whether it’s an office move, an Openreach delay that you want to overcome, a pop up office on a construction site or a solution for festivals – we have a range of solutions to meet all requirements.
The lessons I’d like to share? IoT solutions provide Zest4 partners with a fantastic opportunity to add real value to their customers. IoT can help take the stress out of moving premises and ensure operations keep on running despite the physical move. IoT isn’t just a temporary fix in an office environment – it can be a valuable part of a permanent installation to provide flexibility of data usage and a failsafe back-up plan.