Sweeney Oil uses several types of innovative technology, such as a GPS tracking system, to keep costs down and to allow staff to work more efficiently.
Round-the-clock orders
Sweeney Oil outsources some of its IT services to a UK company, and also relies on the expertise of in-house staff including Stock Controller Ray Kennedy and the marketing department.
Sweeney Oil's office-based staff have broadband-enabled PCs, while some of its sales and support staff use laptops and mobile broadband connections. Sweeney Oil uses two servers to power the computer systems deployed in its vehicles and in the office. The company's IT provider maintains these through a remote access connection. "We receive excellent back-up from our software provider in the UK," says Kennedy.
On the Sweeney Oil website customers can order and pay for domestic fuel supplies 24/7, sign up for e-billing and contact the company. The site was created by a web development company in Galway and the marketing department maintains it using a content management system. Sweeney Oil also processes orders through a call centre, but has found that a significant amount of customers are now using the website to place orders and receive invoices electronically, instead of by post.
According to Kennedy, this has resulted in substantial cost savings in administration, stationery and postage. "A large proportion of our monthly invoices are now being sent through e-billing. [This] doesn't require vast technology, it just requires a bit of thought, and it results in increased customer satisfaction and lower costs and administration," he says.
Cornerstones of efficiency
One of the most important aspects of Sweeney Oil's IT infrastructure is its E-POD tanker-based system. This consists of handheld devices installed in delivery trucks that are networked to each other and the local office. The system provides drivers with customer information and facilitates easy and accurate billing.
The system also provides the office with near real-times updates about the status of each truck and how much fuel each one is carrying. Before, Sweeney Oil had to rely on the physical delivery of invoices and dockets to customers and head office for this information - a process that could take up to three weeks.
"Everything was manual in the past, whereas now everything is automatic. I had to wait on driver sheets and dockets before I could reconcile stock, but that process has now been eliminated. Effectively, every morning customers are invoiced, and all the stock is accounted for," says Kennedy.
The system has saved the company a substantial amount of time and money and, according to Kennedy, has allowed it to expand significantly without additional costs. "The amount of physical work that would have to be done without [the E-POD system] would be incredible. We would have had to employ people dedicated to going through dockets, going through driver sheets and so on."
The other cornerstone of Sweeney Oil's IT infrastructure is its GPS system, supplied by telematics provider Celtrak. The drivers navigate using the system and Kennedy says it has drastically improved customer service. "We pinpoint where a particular driver is located when a customer rings from a particular area. It is just a case of the customer service agent in the call centre checking the computer screen, seeing where the driver is and routing the order."
Sweeney Oil is currently upgrading the GPS system to calculate the fuel usage of each vehicle and work out the most efficient way to deploy its vehicles. "It is now a case of us using that technology for further cost efficiencies. These systems are expensive so we have to try and use them to their maximum capacity," says Kennedy.
Lessons learned
Kennedy believes the company has derived a huge benefit from technology. He advises SMEs starting down this road to have both the discipline to follow through with any deployment and the foresight to show staff the potential benefits.
"We showed the drivers the benefits of using the E-POD system. They had a driver sheet to fill in each day, which could take them an hour to do. The carrot was if you can operate an E-POD system properly you can eliminate the driver sheet completely," he says. "It comes down to the determination to do it as well as discipline. The changes have to be driven from a management level."
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