Custom iPad Application Development For Taxicab Service Provider
- Custom Software Development
- $50,000 to $199,999
- Aug. 2010 - Oct. 2013
- Quality
- 4.5
- Schedule
- 3.5
- Cost
- 4.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
“I felt very comfortable with their expertise."
- Automotive
- Madison, Wisconsin
- 11-50 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Promet Source built an iPad app for taxicab drivers. The app is highly customizable, allowing drivers to process credit card payments and rapidly communicate with customers.
The ability to easily contact customers and calculating precise costs increased efficiency, improved driver pay, and grew the business 35 percent. Promet's proactive system built the app within 30 days. The team displayed responsive communication, solid management, and resourceful collaboration.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Could you briefly describe your organization?
I own a company called Green Cab of Madison. We started that company in September of 2010. I’m one of the owners. We serve Madison, Wis., only.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
Could you describe the business challenge(s) you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Promet Source?
Currently, we own a towing company. My husband’s grandfather owned a taxicab company way back in the ‘60s and kind of got out of the business. Back in 2010, we decided to get back into the taxicab business. We wanted to start out with a hybrid. We wanted to do a rideshare taxicab service. Of course, we needed a way in which to effectively communicate with our cab drivers. We started looking at some of the traditional taxicab programs, hardware companies that used the meter cabs and two-way radios and all sorts of different options. What we found didn't really fit with our whole model of a shared service, green service, hybrid cabs, state-of-the-art cars in transportation. We needed a state-of-the-art communications system in place. It was then that we started thinking about using iPads. Why not use something that was flexible and intuitive, something that could processes credit card transactions, reliably communicate between drivers and customers, and allowed for all kinds of customizations.
It was during our evaluation of this idea that I thought of Andy, who is the cofounder and owner of Promet, and who we already had a relationship with. We had worked on projects in the past. I reached out to him and said, “Here is what we’re thinking about doing." I basically described our project and requirements and asked him if it was something they could deliver within a 30 day timeframe. Andy took our project specifications and reviewed them with his team. He reconnected a few says later and said, “Yes, we can do it. We’ll put it together for you.” It’s gone into three stages now. And we were successfully up and running with 10 operational cabs in 30 days.
SOLUTION
Could you describe in greater detail the scope of this project? For instance, did it involve custom visual design, backend development, training, support, etc.?
They didn't have experience working with a taxicab service before. We exclusively in the towing business. We certainly knew what we wanted it to do going into the project. We would put it all together and say, “Here is what I think it should look like. Here is what I think our dispatcher should see. This is what we want to pass along to the drivers.” We'd provide them with very rough drafts of our requirements, mostly in PowerPoint format. They would come back and say, “This is how it can be done,” and often offer us suggestions on how to modify the process in our favor. It’s definitely been a collaborative effort. It’s our vision and they made it a reality.
How did you select Promet Source as your solution partner?
It’s simply because of my past business relationship with Andy. We worked with a company called Sundial.com during the whole .com craze. I was working for Bell Cells at the time. I’m not actually even sure where Andy was, but there were about three or four initial partners that started Sundial.com, and we built an e-commerce site for the sales distribution of cellphones.
That particular relationship lasted almost five years. We had different ownerships along the way. Everybody parted their own ways after about four and a half years. That’s how I met Andy. Knowing what he could do when I was working with him at Sundial, how our site was working, and all the different firms that we partnered with, was an important factor. I was impressed with how all that happened and knew that he had started this company, Promet, and reached out to him. Also, prior to building our green light, which is what we call our dispatching software, they had built our SchmidtAuto.com site, our towing website, too. I knew that he could build websites, but this was a different kind of project.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?
Taxicab software could range anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000. It was all dependant on what you wanted to spend. We originally went in and said, “We had a budget of $75,000. Let’s get this up and running,” which included of the ability to book online through our primary site, as well as through our dispatch software, run on our iPad application. That was our initial budget. We ran that for a year and a half, almost two years. We always knew we wanted to make enhancements because we’d certainly like to market this. I’ve had numerous people contact me about it. We’re the first one to use iPads as a full dispatch solution. There are various Droid versions out there. I think we might be one of the few companies that use iPads as primary solution. We went in this last year and rewrote everything. We did Drupal 7. We did a lot of enhancements to it. Now, we’re in the six-year range. When all is said and done, we're talking about the $150,000 to $200,000 range.
When was this iPad application completed and launched?
Phase 1 was completed within thirty days. By September of 2010, we were out the door with 10 cabs completely operational. We ran on that for a good year. As we began to add more taxicabs, we knew we wanted to build an enhanced version. They then worked on phase 2 for a good year. We just rolled out phase 2 in September of this year. Actually, it might have been the first part of October of 2013 when we completed phase 2. We probably won’t go much further than phase 2, unless something changes significantly within our business plan. We’re currently operating 35 cabs. It’s a great system for a small- to medium-sized cab company. If we were to get into the thousands of cabs, we'd probably need to do perform some additional systemwide enhancements. For now, we’re set. With software, there are always a million things you can do. In the end, it's really about what brings the most value.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they've delivered?
We have certainly grown this business. Obviously, that growth is attributed to a lot of different things. One of the things that we do is we have the ability to tell consumers that they can know what their fare is going to be before they ride. That’s the beauty of a zone-based pre-calculated fare system. Instead of getting in a cab and going into the city, so to speak, and not knowing exactly what the trip is going to cost, you can know before the cab even arrives. This is great because many people get out of the airport, hop in a cab, and they have no idea what it's going to cost them by the time they get to their final destination. We completely remove that uncertainty. We think that we've been able to capture not only our share of the market place. We have put some serious pressure on the other three existing cab companies in this area. We have grown the business in the first two years by 35 percent. And our current projection for this year is a growth rate of 25 percent. There are a lot of things that contribute to that, but this software allows us to offer rides in the most efficient manner. All of that contributes to more rides, which means more revenue for our drivers, as well as the company. We've provided more than a half a dozen permanent jobs through dispatch.
When working with Promet Source, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors you’ve worked with?
We have a very strong relationship. I'm completely comfortable calling up Andy directly, or simply stopping by their office if issues arise, or if I have questions or concerns. Our relationship is unique in that sense. They’ll put a product manager on with you. In our case, it’s Johnny Fox. He’s been very attentive to us. With other vendors that I’ve worked with, I would say that they've never been as attentive to us and our needs. Issues have and do arise, but they always go out of their way to address these things in a timely and responsible manner. I felt very comfortable with their expertise and their ability to effectively allocate their resources during the entirety of the project.
In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve upon, or are there things you'd do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?
We’re a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365-day business. It never stops for me, whereas there are a lot of companies that work Monday through Friday, the typical nine-to-five. That's not how we operate; in fact, we can't operate that way. Issues and problems can arise at 3 o'clock in the morning. The ability to maintain consistent and reliable communication is essential, because we’re running around the clock. We need to ensure we have that customer service access around the clock. The other thing would be responsiveness. Everybody wants everything done yesterday. All of our tasks come with an extreme sense of urgency, because in the taxicab business, time really is of utmost importance. From our end, making sure we devised reasonable and attainable timelines was a challenge to begin with. The more complex the issue or task, the more time and resources it takes. There were definitely times when we established some unrealistic timetables for completion, but we got through it.
RATINGS
-
Quality
4.5Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
3.5On time / deadlines
-
Cost
4.0Value / within estimates
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"Very willing.
