Acushnet Case Study

Leading golfing product distributor saves time and money with bespoke mobile package.

Established in 1949 Acushnet Europe Ltd is the name behind leading golf brands such as Titleist®, Cobra® and Footjoy®.  Acushnet Europe Ltd is based near Cambridge, UK and employs around 300 staff.   The company sells its products to its customers within UK, Ireland, Mainland Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Efficient mobile communications is important for the field based sales staff to communicate with customers and Head Office while out on the road and for the office based staff who are frequently travelling within the UK or abroad on business.

The Challenge

Cheryl Collinson, IS manager is responsible for selecting the mobile communications service providers for the UK based operations. Collinson explains: "We were using one network provider in the UK which provided mobile handsets to our sales team and head office base staff for use while travelling in the UK and abroad. Having a single mobile service provider meant that some experienced poor network coverage within their sales territory.  The challenge lay in finding a mobile communications solution that  met all our requirements, reduced costs and provided good coverage in all areas.  Collinson explains: "It's very difficult and time consuming to compare service providers' offerings and find the right fit for all requirements. With the demand for more sophisticated mobile communications technology and better coverage, it became apparent that no single network provider could fulfill all our needs for coverage, tariff options and technology. We needed to take a detailed look at the market and ensure that we secured the best deals available". 

John Jones, sales manager at Jelly Communications comments: "The process of researching the best deal can become quite complicated and time consuming.  Especially if more than one network provider and tariff are needed to get the best overall deal for a business. Outsourcing this task saves time and money for businesses."

The Solution

To keep the process as simple as possible, Collinson decided to outsource the brief to independent mobile companies that could do all the research and account set-up work for her.  Jelly Communications was one of the independent specialists that put forward a proposal. Collinson explains: "After going through our needs Jelly went away and came back with a detailed package which consisted of the right technology, and plans from three network providers."

"We chose Jelly Communications because of the cost savings and tailored package it recommended.  The added benefit of Jelly Communications being part of a bigger mobile distributor, Frequency Telecom, meant that we would have fast ongoing access to all the latest handsets and mobile communications technology for upgrades and replacements."

Technology implemented and tariffs

Jelly selected T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2, giving improved network coverage to all mobile users. Acushnet sales and senior executives now use one or more of the following devices: 3G USB Dongles, BlackBerry® handsets and voice mobile devices.  The sales staff who are often out on the road have found the USB broadband devices help them use their time between customer visits more effectively.  The 3G devices are also used by the senior management team while travelling within the UK and it is considerably cheaper than paying for internet access in hotels/airports or using Hotspots. 

Collinson comments: "Having the ability for the sales team to send through orders and keep up with email during the day saves them having to log on and do this when they return home at night."

BlackBerry handsets have also made a difference to the productivity of the senior management team.  They have instant access to email and no longer have to worry about finding and hooking up to HotSpots which can be expensive and unreliable.

Jelly selected mobile tariffs that included free calls between colleagues in the UK.  The tariffs also enabled the calls made from the UK to Europe to be included within the monthly minutes, thereby reducing roaming costs. 

Of the service Acushnet received from Jelly, Collinson comments: "The team at Jelly were very helpful, they were immediately onto any teething problems we had during implementation and dispatched the devices very quickly. I'm really pleased with the simplicity of the process and feel that we have the right solution for our needs."

Results

Acushnet selected Jelly Communications in 2007, and in the first year made a saving of £2,441.31 on the previous year despite adding BlackBerry handsets and 14 additional staff members to the agreement.