Case Study – Shannon Ferry
Brief Case Study
Shannon Ferry Group, founded in 1969, is an Irish company that operates the busiest Ro-Ro ferry on the island of Ireland. The company operates two ferries, the Shannon Dolphin and the Shannon Breeze. It operates between County Clare and Kerry and is a very popular tourist route.
Shannon Ferries wanted to add web sales, on- board credit cards and account holder key fobs while continuing to support the 80+ ticket types in their portfolio. They needed to replace their aging ticketing systems and as part of this upgrade wanted to source the best solution possible. In 2011 they selected the eirpoint TicketManager solution.
- Ro-Ro Ready: Designed by Ro-Ro Ferry operators that understand how to combine modern technology with best practice ferry operations.
- Multi-Channel: Sell tickets online, onboard or on account with all tickets validated by scanning on board.
- Rugged Weather Proof: Solution delivered on proven rated hardware that will withstand the toughest weather conditions.
- Card Ready: with our PCI accredited mobile card payment solution you can offer cards as a payment option and reduce cash handling issues.
Solution Overview
The solution we offer combines the best of mobile retail technologies with business management software in order to give ferry operators a 360 degree view of their business and operations.
The rugged handheld on-board ticketing system uses modern communications links to download web sales, update business management systems and process card payments.
The system is designed for ease of use allowing ticketing staff to quickly adapt to the new technology. After upgrading to this technology staff will never wish to return to the old system!
CUSTOMER QUOTES:
“We spent 5 years assessing likely solution providers – eirpoint™ were the only company we thought could deliver – and they did.”
Mr. Eugene Maher, Shannon Ferry Group
SOLUTION DELIVERED
Using our existing mobile retail technologies we delivered a system that satisfied all of the client needs. We integrated all of the sales channels into one cloud based business ERP package and added a ticket management system to allow Shannon Ferries see and control all ticket sales in real-time.
Onboard eirpoint™ implemented a Windows Mobile Motorola MC9500 highly rugged and water proof handheld that connected to an O’Neil mobile, printer over Bluetooth™
The latest release and upgrade of the software (April 2014) implemented a cashless key-fob ticketing system, for frequent travellers.
BUSINESS VALUE TO THE CLIENT
Sales from the Shannon Ferries online e-commerce platform have grown to account for over 30% of total sales since the solution went live. On-board cash transactions have decreased to a point where cash management is easier and more accurate. The business has seen the time spent serving customers on-board reduce by a factor of 40%
The Shannon Ferry Group appreciate the value, comfort and economies of scale that they are getting a turnkey solution for their core business technologies from one provider. All of the hardware software and ecommerce technologies and support are supplied by eirpoint™ . Dealing with one solution provider gives Shannon Ferries the comfort of knowing all of their technologies are supported 364 days a year.
