I was at a BNI Meeting yesterday where I saw a very interesting presentation from Gerry Kidd of Streetlink Couriers. I have heard nothing but good reports about Gerry. His company has a great reputation for reliability. It perhaps wasn’t a massive supprise to find out that Gerry had been looking at ways to streamline his business further using technology. He wanted to do this on two fronts. The first was for his account customers - allowing them to book couriers online rather than calling into the office. The potential pay off here could be huge in terms or ROI. If Gerry could reduce the number of staff answering the phones, or increase volume without taking on more staff, it would make a massive difference to his bottom line.

The second foray into the online world was with www.onceoffdeliveries.ie. Once off deliveries is something that isn’t usual fair for Streetlink. It can be awkward to collect payment and there is generally more hassle associated with them. There are however plenty of people who don’t use a courier regularly enough to have an account but still need to get stuff from A to B. The online service allows people to get an up front quote for a once off delivery and pay there and then by credit card online. It allows streetlink to take on jobs with payment up front - and because of the once off nature of the service - they can charge a premium.

It was fascinating to see the two approaches compared. The former had great potential for reducing cost and increasing volume. The latter would see to be some ‘icing on the cake’. In reality - the onceoffdeliveries.ie site has turned out to be the bigger success. His existing customers had become used to dealing with account handlers over the phone. There was also the extra reassurance of confirming the delivery by voice which the web seemed to lack for some. Several existing customers at the meeting expressed a similar worry about ordering online. Maybe these people were just on the wrong side of the bebo generation but there was a definte point to what they were saying - despite the fact you could also track your order online.

While the account system has increased the amount of volume, it hasn’t reduced staffing requirements. On the other hand - Gerry gets cash up front - at a premium - for once off jobs that he never would have never had before. A little online google advertising has lead to a turnover of €500 a week. Better still, he has opened up the service to two other courier companies and receives commission for every job they pick up from the system. In this way he has managed to scale his business beyond his existing capacity. This new online income is also independent of his real-world activities. It’s a system that could be maintained from anywhere in the world - or indeed operated anywhere in the world. The cost of the system was €8,000 and with a turnover of €20,000 per annum, it won’t take long to turn a profit. This has all been without any concerted marketing of the system. Gerry is currenlty looking for an overnight courier to extend the range of the service available.