Visits to Autocab sites proved useful

Max Cabs, based in Accrington, are an established private hire firm with ambition. This was evident when they recently made the switch to Autocab, opting for a complete system change to Ghost dispatch and Minos data terminals, to replace their tired old system that was hindering their progress and failing to meet their requirements for development. Andy Baxter, (Operations Manager) at Max Cabs, and his team had decided that their previous system had taken them as far as they could go. In order to fully research and ascertain exactly which system would be best suited to their needs,

they visited numerous Autocab sites to see the system working in a live environment something which has proved useful for many other firms in the UK and abroad. After doing so they had enough evidence to justify a switch and it was time for a change for the better. It was time to switch to Autocab.

170 drivers & 20,000 bookings per week

Max Cabs made a successful start with Autocab by improving their level of service to an expectant customer base averaging 20,000 bookings per week (which keeps their 170 drivers busy).

It soon became apparent that the switch had brought with it not only a more effective dispatch engine, in the form of Ghost, but a welcome new working environment providing a calm and relaxed atmosphere for the operations team. This is a perfect match for their clean and modern office (now kitted out with the state of the art technology supplied by Autocab).

Ghost is the best thing we have invested in

More than happy to deliver positive feedback was Operations Manager Andy Baxter who kindly invited us down to receive his comments in person, with an exuberant tone, he told us…

“…Ghost is the best thing we have invested in. It has completely changed the mood of the office. Previously we had struggled with the stresses caused by an underperforming system but it’s as if Ghost has eradicated that bottleneck and replaced it with a calm and collective working environment resulting in a much happier workplace. This is all to do with the simplicity of Ghost. Being completely customisable we can edit, amend, remove, replace all fields in Ghost to suit our individual needs. It is a very user-friendly system yet packed with an array of features which just don’t appear in other systems…

Ghost lightning fast compared to old system

...the speed at which Ghost operates is phenomenal. The short-cut functions make dispatching, and other operations, a dream to use. With a one-key command we can recall job details, copy details, search and perform many other functions (for example the address editor which is unreal) that make life much easier. The old system would grind to a halt when attempting similar tasks.…

Minos over the PDA for Max Cabs

…we decided on the Minos over the PDA as it is a far more advanced terminal. It has a sim for GPRS but also has radio for a backup. If the PDA loses signal for some reason, perhaps if the tower were to go down, it’s gone. The Minos always has that radio back up.

100% pick up rate with the App

Jobs booked with the App are done almost instantly. I can do a test with my phone and immediately the job is through the system. What’s more we have a 100% pick-up rate with jobs through the App. All in all we love the Autocab system and everything that comes with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering a dispatch system. In my opinion, the perfect solution for any private hire firm is Ghost and Minos and I am willing to back it up with pre-arranged visits to our site from other firms.

The future certainly looks bright for Max Cabs who are looking forward to developing their business to accommodate a new and exciting era. With Phantom phone system on its way along with the Automatic Back on Phone (ABOP) feature, that automatically updates customers on their taxi’s status (freeing up phone lines), it would appear that achieving their ambition of becoming a more prosperous and efficient firm has already begun.

Great oaks & little acorns...

It was 2001 when Martin Smith and his team at TC Cars took the Autocab system on board - then, they had just 80 cars! Today the company is one of the largest in Birmingham with a fleet of 300 cars including luxury limousines - that’s an amazing growth of 375% in twelve years. What a testament to Martin’s energy and initiative but, as he says, he couldn’t have done it without the Autocab system in place.

During this time, TC cars moved into a state-of-the-art building which has enabled them to cope with their exponential growth.

Into the future with Ghost

To consolidate and move forward, TC Cars have now installed Autocab’s most advanced booking & dispatch system, Ghost. This will enable them to take advantage of all the very latest advances in technology and also to work in an environment that will communicate naturally through networks and internet environments.

Ghost’s ability to create a paperless

environment by exporting / emailing documents and files means that the Accounts department at TC Cars will have less paper to deal with and they will be able to issue invoices, statements and driver ’s pay sheets instantly. Ghost’s accurate and ‘smart’ pricing structure also means lots less dockets to check!

It’s all change but all the same

Operators have also been pleasantly surprised by all the new features such as instant Airport Arrival panels & Google Streetmap. The nice thing is, they haven’t had to learn any ‘new tricks’ as Ghost has kept all the same essential keystrokes for navigation that they were used to with Classic.

The management team have also had some pleasant surprises, editing and inserting addresses is as simple as clicking on a map. Plots can be changed and sent to mobiles.

Martin and his team believe that the effect of all these new features on his business will be brilliant and be the vital next step to take the company forward.

Minos to match

To compliment the new system the company have upgraded from their tried & trusted Sigma data terminals to the Minos. So now, drivers can also enjoy some of the advanced features such as the Airport Arrivals and on-board navigation - so those sat-navs are now redundant. Fast dismount means the drivers can remove the terminals in seconds for security.

Phantom - the perfect partner

TC Cars have decided to go the ‘whole hog’ and have also installed the Phantom phone system (specially developed over 18 months to work with Ghost).

Phantom incorporates voice recording of customers calls and also has unlimited IVR (automatic call-handling) as standard.

One of the advanced features of Phantom is the abilty to automatically handle status enquiries for existing jobs. When the customer rings, the system will intercept the call and give them a status update. For many companies, particularly at busy times, these status enquiries can represent up to 30% of their call load. That’s a significant saving in resource.

A final word from Beccy was to compliment the Autocab engineering team who he thought were fantastic thoughout with a special mention for Deepak!

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Max Cabs Accrington – switch to Autocab – installing Ghost & Minos

TC Cars, Birmingham grow an amazing 375% and now install Ghost

GPC Computer Software, Cheadle Royal Business Park, Oakfield Road, Cheadle, SK8 3GX +44 (0) 161 491 7777 info@autocab.com autocab.com

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autocabInternationalwelcome to the future

autocab expressautocab expressTel: +44 (0) 161 491 77 77 Fax: +44 (0) 161 491 77 11 Email: info@autocab.com Web: autocab.comTel: +44 (0) 161 491 77 77 Fax: +44 (0) 161 491 77 11 Email: info@autocab.com Web: autocab.com

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Just over a month since the PHTM exhibition was held in Manchester, the Autocab sales and marketing team (including the Managing Director) were ready to showcase the Autocab brand ‘down south’ at the LPHCA conference on Thursday June 27th.

The conference was hosted by the prestige Marriott Hotel ,London Heathrow airprot which offered us a delightful lunch and guest experience.

Attendees were greeted at the door by welcoming hosts, after which a badge was provided so breaking the ice between industry leaders.

Furthermore attendees had the opportunity to meet the Managing Director Safa Alkateb, as well as product managers, sales and marketing staff.

The Autocab team would like to thank the organisers and attendees, who made the event a success.

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Autocab ‘goes south’, to the annual LPHCA conference at the Marriott Hotel

Green Light Cars - Kent Switch to Autocab & save time on invoicing

Trevor Parker, Green Light Cars – Kent (formally To and Fro Cars), took over the business nearly seven years ago. Previously, they used a system from another supplier until switching to Autocab’s Ghost booking and dispatch system and PDA’s.

The reason for the switch, as far as Trevor and Green Light Cars were concerned, was that their previous system had taken them as far as they could go and was even hindering the company’s future progress.

Trevor, with an eye to the future and an excited tone to his voice, was quick to sing the praises of Autocab with his enthusiastic feedback. However, this brought us to the reasons why the company had switched in the first place and, wishing to express some of the points briefly before returning to the subject of Autocab, with slightly less enthusiasm he began as follows …

Regular updates available from Autocab

“…Time had simply stood still with our last supplier. Installed more than five years ago and we were still operating with the same system we had then. This was largely due to a lack of updates and empty promises of new technology that never arrived.

The old system did not contain anywhere near the volume or standard of features that are available to us in Ghost…”

Autocab have the most experience at system

change-overs

Many firms considering a system migration are sometimes put off by the fear that it will cause too much disruption to their business and, in some cases, the fear is so great that they will tolerate the shortcomings of their current suppliers (almost to the point of disaster) before making ‘the intelligent choice’.

This is obviously counterproductive especially when you consider that switching to Autocab is simple and causes an absolute minimum of disruption to your business. In fact, we are the most experienced system providers in the market when it comes to installations. With more than 1000 systems worldwide (nearly 200 of those a ‘switch’ from another dispatch system) we have the expertise to handle a changeover of any size, ensuring an efficient and seamless process. Green Light

Cars certainly benefitted from this and they were delighted with the installation. Once more, Trevor was enthusiastic as he happily commented on the switch itself, saying…

Easier & cheaper to switch to Autocab than to upgrade

with present system

“…We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it was actually easier and cheaper to switch to Autocab than it was to upgrade with our last supplier. Furthermore, the installation made for a smooth transition. It was a lot less stressful than we expected…”

Save 1 day per week on invoicing with Ghost

accounts

Ghost booking and dispatch software, used by Green Light Cars, is the ideal platform for reducing overheads, in this case in the form man-hours, whilst increasing productivity. The extensive management and accounts package is fully equipped to maximise the efficiency of your accounts work. This had an immediate effect for Green Light Cars which was recognised imediately by Trevor…

Green Light Cars delighted with Ghost

“…I can’t tell you how pleased I am with Ghost. I am over the moon! Even after only two days I had noticed a huge reduction in time spent doing invoices for accounts customers, 6.5 hours in fact.

As each week goes by I am noticing further

reductions in time spent doing work. Two hours here, two hours there, it’s all adding up. Ghost is a very efficient system. It is saving time and money. This is partly due to the ingenious function of emailing invoices.

Previously we were printing and scanning them which was laborious and time consuming. Even our account customers are impressed as they receive their invoices much quicker…

Ghost is the best thing we have done in business

…Overall we are amazed by the system. Compared to our last system it is far easier to operate. Even our 62 year old operator learned more in six hours than she did in six years with the last system.

We used to get calls every day from staff having issues and now we receive none. Ghost is the best thing we have done in this business.

Even the drivers love the PDA’s and we can now process drivers rent in minutes instead of hours…”

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