SERVITEL

Servitel powers taxis, Kordia powers Servitel

In seeking a solution provider, Servitel needed an organisation capable of delivering quality voice, as well as data connectivity.

While cloud computing solutions undoubtedly deliver advantages of cost, flexibility, convenience and ease of deployment, they come with a requirement for always-on connectivity. That’s why Servitel Communications selects Kordia to provide a range of connectivity solutions in support of New Zealand Taxi Communications (NZTC) and other Servitel clients within the New Zealand taxi industry.

Servitel Communications specialises in business solutions delivered from hosted cloud infrastructure. Wholly owned by Australia’s Aerial Capital Group Ltd, Servitel NZ began operations in New Zealand in 2011 establishing the unified communications and data hosting business through a relationship formed with the taxi industry.

Problem

Alan Shannon, Servitel’s General Manager, says that NZTC is effectively a cloud-based bureau service.

“Leveraging the cloud, we’re able to extend technology directly into taxi cabs throughout the country. The service provides the necessary management and communication for dispatching, linked to a contact centre in Palmerston North. It enables any taxi operator anywhere to access state-of-the-art technology cost effectively, without any maintenance or management overhead,” he explains.

Client taxi operators are located everywhere in New Zealand: Wellington, Queenstown, Napier, Christchurch and many more towns and cities. Servitel’s solution provides them with tablet computer or smartphone apps, which to operate rely on a combination of voice over IP and data services.

“Without connectivity, however, the solution simply doesn’t work. This necessitated engaging with a service provider that could not only provide a reliable link, but could also provide the flexibility and portfolio to meet the varied requirements of different taxi operators, in sometimes quite out of the way places,” Shannon explains.

Solution

Taxi operators handle dispatching through voice technologies – radios or cellular communications; and NZTC’s digital dispatch solutions have a heavy requirement for always on", says Shannon.

“In seeking a solution provider, we obviously needed an organisation capable of delivering quality voice, as well as data connectivity. Kordia came to our attention through its background in broadcasting, radio, and television. Transmission has something in common with voice in that they really have to be quite robust,” he notes.

“Kordia’s ability to reach nationwide to match where our services are used was also a significant factor in the selection.”

Kordia’s solutions, including its wholesale voice and internet gateway services, OnKor WAN, Business Connect and Business Connect Lite, are extensively used by Servitel, says Shannon.

“A range of connectivity options is important, as not every operator is the same size. Some will therefore require a lower capacity connection, such as Connect Lite, with the attendant lower cost. Others might wish to trial Servitel Cloud Services, in which case it is easy to do so inexpensively, before provisioning to a higher capacity line for a full scale rollout.”