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Cost was a factor; it’s very cost beneficial.
Fleet tracking
Bolton-based Aptus Utilities Ltd started in 2010 with a single employee. Just five years later, they have expanded to employ over a hundred people, offering streamlined gas, water, electricity and street lighting solutions for residential, commercial and industrial developments across the North and Midlands. They currently have 65 vehicles in their fleet, all of which are fitted with Quartix Vehicle Tracking.
Having grown frustrated with the bureaucracy that surrounded their industry, owners Jonathan Holden and Andrew Reay set out to create a ‘one-stop’ utilities package that would eliminate production delays and increase efficiency for their construction client base.
Customer service is at the heart of Aptus and they prove this by assigning a manager to handle each project in its entirety, in order to facilitate communication between themselves and their clients. This allows the client to focus on their own development works. Thusly, Aptus counts house builder and construction heavyweights amongst their clientele, however they are equally proud of the support they provide to local, independent builders.
Improving driver behaviour
In the past year, Aptus has extended its operations to include North Tyneside and the Scottish borders—from Merseyside to Yorkshire and into Wales and Staffordshire. Having established a solid reputation in the North West, Aptus have now turned their attention towards the North East and Midlands.
With growth comes the need for additional support. To that end, in 2013 Aptus partnered with Quartix to monitor the vehicles that make up their fleet. When citing the reasons for their decision to install trackers, Operations Director Lisa Kerford points to security purposes and lower insurance premiums, but primarily driver behaviour. Vehicle tracking is instrumental, she says, ‘in ensuring driver speed and behaviour could be assessed on the rare occasions of a complaint’. When asked how the drivers felt about the trackers, she admitted, ‘Initially they had some scepticism, but now they realize that the system is not constantly monitored only reviewed after an incident or complaint’.
The price is right
What attracted them to Quartix specifically was the ‘flexibility and capability of the system,’ Lisa says, ‘Cost was a factor; it’s very cost beneficial.’ The aspects of the system that they appreciate the most are vehicle and driver management. On the rare occasions of an incident or complaint, Quartix Vehicle Tracking can act as a witness, providing a wealth of information on the circumstances.
It was also the management of resources that propelled Aptus into installing trackers, and their investment paid off when one of their vehicles was stolen. As it was fitted with a Quartix tracker, they were able to recover the vehicle within 50 minutes and prevent a major loss that could have costs thousands of pounds and significant disruption for the company. But, as Lisa says, ‘You can’t really put a price on that.’
‘Every vehicle that is added to the fleet will be fitted with a tracker’ she added, when asked about their future with Quartix.
It’s just another way that Aptus Utilities is growing and succeeding in a competitive market.
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