After a year out due to Covid regulations, PHTM Expo is back on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th September.
The two day event will see key partners in the taxi and private hire industry back in the Marshall Arena (formerly Arena MK), Milton Keynes to meet with clients and potential clients alike.
We’ve summarised some of the main challenges facing operators in the UK right now with some information on how Sherlock may be able to support your business. If you’re attending the show this year, visit us on Stand 40 to see how we can help.
Driver recruitment and retention
This is huge for operators right now - as the UK ‘opens up’ again following Covid restrictions, many companies have lost significant numbers of drivers who have found work elsewhere to survive.
What features are available in your dispatch system to make sure you can a) optimise the drivers you do have to cover as much work as possible through configurable allocation and b) ensure that driver earnings are maximised so they want to work for you and not your competitor! There is a lot of functionality within Sherlock for this, some of which is highlighted in this blog: https://www.sherlocktaxi.com/blog/keeping-your-drivers.
Staying ahead of the competition
How do you make sure that passengers are choosing you over another operator in your area? An intuitive, user-friendly app is a good starting point. It may seem obvious but does your app work how it should? Does it give accurate ETAs (the same as if a passenger called your call centre, for example?)
Maybe you’re concerned about other local providers working with their supplier to take on Uber work. If the demand is there for Uber, then why can’t you service the work directly yourself without losing a percentage of the profit? For more information on this, read Mike Tobin, our Business Unit Director’s piece: https://www.sherlocktaxi.com/blog/changing-taxi-industry
Difficulty growing/scaling your business
We all want to take advantage of new demand to recoup some of the losses of 2020. If your dispatch doesn’t work as it should, then it is holding you back. You don’t want to increase your overheads dramatically through additional admin staff to cope with higher volumes of work, the system should be doing the laborious work for you.
Additionally, if you’ve opted to remain working from home for the foreseeable future, or are offering your staff flexible working, then you shouldn’t be paying any extra for ‘at home’ licences of dispatch technology - your system should be accessible wherever you are.
Consistent service, reliable tech and a trustworthy partner
You need confidence that your technology partner is investing in your product to give you taxi dispatch that is always at the cutting-edge of technology. You need a partner that is sustainable - not driven by a race to the bottom on price which doesn't benefit anybody.
Our Technical Sales and Implementation team will be onsite at PHTM Expo to talk about any of the above with you, give you a demo of Sherlock and show you some of the new features we’ve been working on since we last exhibited, which include big ticket items such as electric vehicle support and our loyalty scheme, Retention & Rewards Programme.
We hope to see you there!
The Sherlock team
