ebbie.jpgAs the pressure builds on businesses to be ever more productive both within the enterprise and on the move, Spirit Data Capture offers the answer – tailored solutions to help clients capture and manage data so they can improve profitability, accuracy and all-round customer service. With over a decade’s experience in mobile data capture software, hardware and an in depth knowledge of GPRS, 3G, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and private APNs (Access Point Names) for direct access to company networks, Spirit Data Capture can provide consultancy on every aspect of a mobile data project. Spirit has extensive application experience in many different industry sectors – field service, logistics, government, education, postal services, utilities, manufacturing and healthcare, and offers communications packages that include hardware, software and pre-and post-sales service and support. WLN spoke to Ebbie Khadem, Managing Director of Spirit Data Capture.

WLN – When and where was Spirit Date Capture founded, and who by? Are they still involved in the business? Who owns SDC now?
I founded Spirit Data Capture in the UK in May 2004, with two partners. We are all still involved, and the same three partners are co-owners of the business.

WLN – How big is SDC now? Which countries do you operate in?
The company has grown substantially over the past two years in the UK and Ireland, where the core of our business is done.

WLN – How big is SDC now in the UK? How do you sum up what you do?
We have 19 employees, encompassing the three parts of our business: Spirit Data Capture, for hardware and sales support, Intelligent Support, for technical, repair and services, and Spirit Software, for bespoke and off the shelf software packages. Our focus is to provide the best service and support we can to our ever increasing number of customers.

WLN – As MD, what are your most exciting challenges?
My role as MD is to ensure the company continues to grow and provide the highest quality service and support. The main challenges for us are making the best of the current economic situation and maintaining our continued growth, in line with the market demand for new technology, competitive pricing and products.

WLN – How are your solutions different from the other mobile data capture integrators?
We tend to have a real focus on what the customer needs, rather than just what can be provided. The solutions have to meet the exact customer requirement. We always try to give as much guidance as we can without departing from the principal requirement.

WLN – What are the possible elements of one of your data capture strategies for a client?
A data capture strategy from Spirit can include technology platform and architecture: security for hardware and data communication: GPRS, UMTS, WLAN or Bluetooth options: mobile infrastructure, including central administration of mobile devices: a choice of hardware platform: integration with the client’s other business systems:  tailored software requirements: and service and maintenance support.

eon-004.jpgWLN – How do you go about helping a potential client decide which technologies to invest in? What kinds of hardware do you offer?
We always try to analyse what they want to do currently, and what their goals are over the next two to three years. The hardware and technology will have to be able to cope with both today’s and tomorrow’s requirements. The hardware needs to be future proof, or if not, our offer will always include a technology refresh to ensure the needs of the customer are met.

WLN – Do you offer a fully integrated service, or does the client have to deal with vendors to any extent?
We can offer as much as the customer needs: if we do not have the skills ourselves, we provide them through our extensive partner alliances. We will of course be fully responsible for the total solution.

WLN – If a client has an ongoing relationship with a particular vendor for other parts of their IT, but wants you to integrate their mobile solution, will you happily take on the task?
Absolutely. We provide open platform solutions, and always encourage potential customers to look for such solutions so they can develop the requirement internally, as well as using their existing vendor relationships in conjunction with ourselves.

WLN – How mature is the UK market for mobile data capture solutions – are you now installing second or third generation systems, or are you still selling to many ‘first time’ customers?
This all depends which particular vertical you look at. The transport and logistics sectors are quite far ahead of the rest of the market, and most of them are on second or third generation products. First tier retail is also in the same situation. The field service, warehousing and manufacturing sectors are now moving forward. Basically the market for mobile is still growing, however the feature demands from the products are becoming more and more complex, hence our emphasis on technology refresh and continued product replacement.

WLN – What different technologies do you offer?
We offer wireless mobile computing, barcode scanning, barcode printing and printing consumables, RFID technology, biometric identification and card technology.

WLN – I’d like to talk specifically about your work for customers in field service, warehousing and logistics. What sort of organisations are your clients in these sectors? Can you name any of them? Do you publish case studies about your projects?
Yes, we have case studies for quite a few of our customers. In utilities we work with E.on, United Utilities and ESB, who provide field service and meter reading services in the UK and Ireland. In transport and logistics, we have Initial, City Link, Tuffnells and many more. Our warehousing and retail clients include JJB Sports and Selfridges, just to name a few.

WLN – Can you name any of the various hardware manufacturers whose products you supply?
We are solution partners for Motorola, HHP (Honeywell), Zebra and Intermec, and we also sell exclusively the Mobile Compia and Gotive products in the UK and Ireland.

WLN – What influence do you have over the hardware suppliers’ product specifications and so on?
We have an excellent relationship with all our suppliers in terms of giving them user feedback. Most of this is considered with feedback from elsewhere and used in developing future products. The manufacturers have to listen to what the market needs and wants.

WLN – What software do you offer?
We offer bespoke software development, consultancy and systems integration, as well as our own range of ‘off the shelf’ pre-developed solutions.  We offer bespoke mobility applications for transport logistics and field force data collection. In conjunction with this we have developed a range of off-the-shelf products, which includes label printing, warehouse applications and many more.

candh1.jpgWLN – What off the shelf solutions are those? What does each of them do?
We have various solutions for particular applications. Looking at our warehouse and logistics portfolio, SpirITWherehouse? is a powerful and comprehensive warehouse management system for tracking stock locations and movement:  SpirITTrack-IT is a highly effective asset management system: SpirITLabel-IT is a low-cost entry level barcode printing kit, ideal for printing linear barcode labels quickly and easily. SpirITon the Move keeps you in touch with your mobile workers, and ensures they are up to date with the latest project developments, customer information and product details.

SpirITInspect-IT grades any type of item, product or service in terms of its quality and records the information quickly, reliably and accurately.

SpirITMobile Delivery is a fully comprehensive package featuring Proof of delivery, vehicle tracking, messaging, and traffic, warehouse and vehicle management. SpirITTrack Trans is a mobile workforce and delivery management system, which improves delivery and load accuracy, reduces customer queries, saves on fuel, employee costs and vehicle fleet size, and improves delivery and load accuracy.

WLN – Do you offer any third-party software?
We regularly work with third parties to develop joint solutions.

WLN – What bespoke software development do you carry out?
Our development teams’ activities encompass custom software development, application design/development, database design, functional/test specifications and application re-engineering services, including new platform transitions.

WLN – Where are your development teams based?
They are based here in the UK. We have both our own developers and exclusive sub-contractors.

WLN – Do you offer device management tools of any kind?
Yes we do: we offer Soti, MSP and Mprodigy.

WLN – What security applications do you supply?
We can provide applications with all kinds of security levels and performance.

WLN – What technical standards do you work to?
We operate to all Microsoft Standards and follow, and have trained all our team to, the latest standards. We have ISO9001 certification for the whole of our process.

WLN – What are the steps in arriving at a data capture solution for a client?
First of all we carry out a business process review, and site surveys to identify the wireless requirement for particular sites. Once we agree to go ahead with the solution, we carry out hardware surveys to support our hardware installation and integration, we configure all new equipment prior to installation, and we test and prepare systems fully, prior to implementation.

WLN – What does the installation stage involve?
Our team of qualified engineers carries out hardware and software installation and all project management. We also provide a range of customer end-user training packages, both on and off site.

WLN – How long does it take before the client sees a return on their investment?
It’s hard to say: depending on the applications, we expect this to be within the first few months after completion of the roll out. We provide our customers with calculations of the total cost of ownership and return on investment.

WLN – What post-installation support do you offer?
We run a help desk to assist with all support enquiries. We provide wireless LAN site surveys as health checks, to prevent any degradation in the performance of the WLAN system. We provide service programmes delivering repair and maintenance packages for your hardware, and our upgrade service ensures systems are running with all the latest manufacturer upgrades.

WLN – Do you offer post-installation customer care for clients who have bought systems from other vendors who are no longer able to service them for whatever reason?

Yes we do, as long as we are familiar with the products they have bought.

WLN – How easily adapted are your solutions as customers’ businesses grow and change?
This is a key point of difference for us: we make our solutions as independent as possible, so the customer has the option to grow, hopefully with us or any other supplier. We follow open platform standards

spirit-logo.jpgWLN – What do you see as the most important external influences on your business? Are you seeing any signs of a downturn in the economy, in your business?
The economy will always have an effect, however we are continually trying to stay ahead of the situation by focusing on efficiency and competitiveness in our offering.

WLN – Are you planning any enhancements to your services?
This is always the case: we listen to our customers and try to implement what they need and enhance our products as a result.

WLN – Finally, where do you see Spirit Data Capture going from here?
We hope to continue to provide the best solutions we can, and ensure our team is trained and familiar with the latest technologies and always provide the best solution to our potential customers. We hope to continue the excellent growth we have enjoyed so far.

Spirit Data Capture
Tel: 0845 337 3243
www.spiritdatacapture.co.uk

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