Tracker manages virtual office with Vodacom`s Messenger

Tracker, South Africa`s largest vehicle tracking organisation, uses Vodacom Messenger to manage a virtual office to keep its 80-plus field fitment technicians in close touch with each other and the central co-ordinator.

"The SIM card technology on which the Messenger product is based has been extremely useful to us. It has improved customer service and productivity through a virtual, mobile office," says Claudio Grippa, national technical manager of Tracker, the only police contracted, nation-wide Stolen Vehicle Recovery System in South Africa.

"Vodacom Messenger enables us to communicate with one another on a real-time basis rather than having to use fax. It is far more efficient, quicker, less liable to error and relatively inexpensive at 15c a message.

"Field workers complete installation reports from their motor cars and download SMS messages with our own modified customised hand held computers. They can operate effectively from their home base without having to converge on a central office and without any loss of management control."

Koot Naude, Director - Corporate Solutions of Vodacom Service Provider Company, says the potential profitable applications of new data technology have not yet been fully maximised. Our business unit provides specialist business-to-business wireless communication solutions to transform business. They provide executives with cost-effective ways of managing their companies` cellular investment.

"Messenger subscribers pay a fixed monthly charge of R34.20. All SMS messages sent are charged at 15 cents per message. They have free access to voicemail retrieval (121) and the 112 emergency service. Messenger subscribers do not pay for voice unless they use it," he concluded.