HATS Group

The Challenges

HATS Group operates its own fleet of specialised transport, from minibuses to wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Due to changing client demands and a clause within new contracts, the company required a solution that would enable management to track the vehicles taxiing children and patients to and from their destinations.

HATS Group runs a multitude of contracts, primarily home-to-school runs and dialysis patient transfers. Both types of journeys require the business to log and report the pick-up and drop-off times, as well as monitoring journey durations in order to meet contractual stipulations.

Additionally, the company also needed a way to track the use of employees’ privately owned vehicles which were being used within the business.

The Solution

In 2014, HATS Group felt it was necessary to turn to the vehicle tracking market to find an appropriate solution that would address its business challenges and help win new contracts.

Following detailed market analysis, HATS Group implemented Crystal Ball’s FleetTracker and MobileTrack Pro solutions mid last year.

With FleetTracker the business now has full real-time visibility of all vehicle locations. The company can now also accurately track privately owned vehicles through MobileTrack Pro which sits on employees’ smartphones – thereby avoiding the unnecessary inconvenience of installing hardwired units to vehicles that the company does not own.

With both solutions the business now has access to a full reporting suite allowing them to create detailed journey and snail-trail reports based on the drivers’ daily journeys.

The Outcome

With Crystal Ball’s vehicle and mobile tracking solutions in place, the business can now effectively meet client requirements and win more contracts going forward.

James Hearty, Transport Manager at HATS Group comments:

“We have noticed huge benefits since having Crystal Ball. It makes us more transparent as a business and allows us to present KPI reports to potential clients with hard evidence to support them. When we tell clients that at least 90% of vehicles will arrive within 10 minutes of their designated time, we are now able to present Crystal Ball’s reports to evidence this.”

The company has also recognised that it is now in a much stronger position when managing customer complaints and issues. James Hearty adds:

“There are stipulations in place regarding how long a child or patient can be in the vehicle at any one time. Now, if we receive a complaint from a client stating that their child was dropped off late at school or a patient was late to their dialysis appointment, we can use Crystal Ball to understand whether they were late and, if so, why. Once we have this data we can relay the information back to the client, thereby eradicating many complaints and issues. For this reason alone, Crystal Ball is a huge benefit to the business.”

Furthermore, HATS Group has also noticed a decrease in complaint rates because drivers are now able to identify and avoid problem routes, and can better ensure that children and patients are not in the vehicles for any longer than contractually agreed.

Implementing FleetTracker and MobileTrack Pro has also increased workforce productivity and efficiency:

“Now the drivers have realised the vehicles are being tracked, we have noticed a shift in their driver behaviour, and it seems to have encouraged them to take shorter, quicker routes rather than congested ones. The guys know they are being tracked and this has eliminated a lot of problems our end. They can no longer tell us they are somewhere they’re not.”

Additional Comments

James Hearty comments:

“I would 100% recommend Crystal Ball to anyone! My department has pioneered its implementation. The results are fantastic and eventually my intention is to push for it to be rolled out across the whole company.”