Background
From 2003, Phantom has grown to become the UK’s outright specialist provider of vehicle tracking units designed exclusively for the leisure market. Initially focusing on the motorhome sector, the organisation quickly extended its offering to take in caravans. Today, it is estimated that in excess of £500million worth of UK leisure vehicles contain a Phantom tracker unit. The entire fleet is connected through Wireless Logic, with thousands of SIMs across all of the major UK networks.
The Challenge
In 2007 Phantom had reached a point in its dramatic business growth where a review of all aspects of airtime agreements was required to ensure best value. In addition, the reliance on a single network was limiting the company’s intended plans to move into new sectors employing GPS tracking.
- A rapidly growing base of tracker units required a review of connectivity management
- Financial remodelling identified as a way of reducing costs
- Diversification in product offering requiring multi-mobile network approach
The Solution
Phantom Ltd was introduced to Wireless Logic through a recommendation by UK network, Vodafone. Working with them for two years, it has adopted a contracted SIM model which has seen a dramatic streamlining in costs. Jon-Paul Clarke of Wireless Logic explains: “Having reviewed Phantom’s connectivity programme, we identified a number of cost reductions by adopting a more simplified contract business model away from multi-various tariffs. We further recognised that a single network approach whilst easy to administer, was not appropriate to them moving forward. By delivering a multi-network offering, Phantom can ensure optimised network coverage, particularly in hard to reach areas where formerly a single network might be challenged.” The multiple network proposition has been additionally useful to the organisation as they pursue new markets. Trials are currently underway with a number of UK Police Forces for personal alarms – here, roaming SIMs are being used in this growing area of the GPS market.
Service was another area which required a thorough review. “Our market is an interesting one in relation to user error,” explains Steve Cherry, Managing Director of Phantom Ltd. “There are often occasions when tracker units are unintentionally activated resulting in a SIM de-activation request to the network. Delays have been costly. We needed to find a connectivity partner who could respond quickly to our requests, and further, look to an automated provisioning system that can remotely control the ‘on-off’ functioning of the SIM. We’ve found this with Wireless Logic via their SIMPro platform, and further, have developed a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in relation to other provisioning requests.”
SIMPro will also be used as Phantom increases its factory-fitted activity with tracker units integrated into leisure vehicles at point of manufacturer. Steve Cherry continues: “More and more we are embedding our units months in advance of final delivery. Wireless Logic ship SIMs directly to vehicle factories in both the UK and Europe, with activation controlled by us on the day of delivery to the proud new owner.”
As an organisation that has built its reputation on customer service, Steve Cherry firmly believes that companies should be measured on quality of service – when things go right… and wrong. “You really see a company’s true colours when a problem needs addressing. Working directly with a major network, our relatively small SIM base meant we had to wait our turn if there was an issue. I think that has been the biggest benefit in switching to an aggregator like Wireless Logic. Our requests are always ‘top of the list’ and their response times, if something were to go wrong, demonstrate that our relationship is important to them.”
Phantom’s strategy for growth sees the organisation consolidating its position within the UK leisure vehicle sector and forging ahead with new GPS tracking applications in the UK and Europe. Its reputation is already legendary with plaudits received from insurance companies and the police. “Locating and repatriating a stolen £50k leisure vehicle in less than 30 minutes means that many interested parties are satisfied,” explains Steve Cherry.
I’m pleased that Phantom has the Wireless Logic infrastructure behind it, enabling us to have multiple network choice and singular billing. It’s a win-win for us.