LTT Vending: Delivering first class service with the aid of mobile ...

LTT Vending: Delivering first class service with the aid of
mobile working
Overview:
• 10% increase in productivity
• Increased responsiveness
• Considerable cost savings since switching to Business 1-Plan
• Mobile broadband access key to client relationships
Industry: Catering (vending operator)
Number of employees: 160
Number of locations/offices: 3 (Leeds, Leicester and Lewes)
Solution: T-Mobile BlackBerry® Curve 8310 Smartphones; T-Mobile BlackBerry® Bold 9000 Smartphones;
Business 1-Plan
Key Quotes:
“We have been a long-standing customer of T-Mobile due to the low prices T-Mobile offer and the service
provided. The T-Mobile BlackBerry smartphones have enabled LTT Vending to react quicker and respond
more efficiently to the demands of customer needs. We can now respond in real-time, which is an
invaluable benefit.”
Chris Sutcliffe, Group Finance Director
Company Background
LTT Vending Group is the UK’s number one independently owned vending company. Established in
the 1960’s, today LTT provide comprehensive national coverage from its three regional depots – Leeds,
Leicester and Lewes.
LTT Vending’s customers span a range of industries including education, healthcare and retail including the
Body Shop, Next, Leicester and De Montford universities, Harrow Hospital and the TV shopping channel,
QVC.
The company turns over on average £12 million per annum and operate from three regional depots. These
comprise 85 merchandisers whose role is to replenish and check the vending machines are in full working
order, supported by 20 technicians and 20 sales and office-based staff.
The Challenge
The nature of the business requires vending machines to be regularly refilled, serviced and installed in locations
throughout the UK. Merchandisers and technicians need to be in constant contact with each other
and their customers in order to be informed of service updates.
In the past, the company’s vans were equipped with radios for communication between the technicians
and merchandisers. However, they now require downloadable information in real-time and the radios were
clearly not able to offer this.

Furthermore, a technician’s job includes a lot of travelling, which creates deadtime and LTT Vending was
keen to improve the technicians and merchandising staffs’ daily productivity.
LTT Vending is no stranger to mobile working practices, having been a customer of T-Mobile for over six
years. As with all its contracts, its mobile communications contract is constantly reviewed to ensure the
company continues to receive the best possible value for money.
“We needed mobile technology that would significantly improve the efficiency of our staff’s working patterns
and enable them to handle all queries and order updates as and when they occur. It was also vitally important
that we could increase our use of mobile communications without significantly increasing our spend,”
says Sutcliffe.
The Solution
While LTT Vending has been a customer of T-Mobile for nearly six years, the company had been using
standard mobile handsets with no access to email on the move. Introducing smartphones required staff
to change its working practices and learn to use a new technology. Therefore, the company rolled out its
BlackBerry offering (T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8310 Smartphones and T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9000
Smartphones) to its staff, starting with two to three devices to each of the locations signing up to
T-Mobile’s Business 1-Plan tariff. The Business 1-Plan tariff allows companies to purchase an allowance of
minutes, text and data services to share across a number of users, removing the complexity surrounding
mobile technology costs, providing one simple plan and one bill for all mobile communications.
“This new technology was a new way of working for us. We wanted to ensure that the adoption of these
new smartphones was seamless for our staff and we adopted a soft approach with the introduction of these
devices. However, through word of mouth, we began receiving more requests for the smartphones and
found that they proved very popular,” remarks Sutcliffe.
Each member of staff was trained in using the BlackBerry smartphones.
“Despite the fact that this was a new technology and a new way of working, our staff found them easy to
use and they could get to work enjoying the benefits of mobile working straight away,” comments Sutcliffe.
The Benefits
Improved daily productivity for merchandisers and technicians
With a demanding workload, LTT Vending’s employees need to have the flexibility to manage their high
workloads and be responsive to issues which arise throughout the day. Due to the nature of the business (a
high proportion of vending machines contain hot drinks) adhering to health and safety laws is a key consideration.
Vending machines require frequent cleaning and servicing, which means that not only are there
numerous machines to service weekly, but any issues need to be responded to rapidly before they cause
inconvenience to LTT customers. Certain vending machines require multiple services a month and being
able to reschedule services in real time has really improved the productivity of the operations staff.
“Our operators are now able to receive data about the machines in their territory in real time via their Black-
Berry devices and can now reschedule visits more easily. In fact, we have calculated that they are saving
over two hours a week of lost time, which equates to a 10% increase in productivity,” notes Sutcliffe.

Cost savings
LTT Vending undertook a cost/benefit analysis and found that switching to T-Mobile’s Business 1-Plan
saved them a considerable amount of money.
“We have stayed with T-Mobile over the last six years, mainly due to the price of their tariffs. However, we
noticed a significant saving when we opted for the Business 1-Plan and increased the number of Black-
Berry smartphones on our contract. Despite our number of BlackBerry smartphones and mobiles rising
from 30 to 120 devices, the cost each month remained the same. Our T-Mobile account manager continually
aims to ensure that our tariff suits our usage and this is one of the reasons we have been a customer of
theirs for so long,” comments Sutcliffe.
Flexible working among staff
Much of LTT Vending’s operations staff is made up of mothers and the company’s flexible working policy allows
them to start and finish work early to fit in with the school run. Furthermore, there is the option for staff
to work from home for two or three days a week. There are also a number of employees who work flexibly
every day in order to avoid the commuter traffic.
“We understand that our staff work better if they have the flexibility to choose their hours of work. We have
a number of staff members who avoid the morning and evening rush hour by working different hours to
the usual 9-5. Having the right mobile technology in place to allow them to plan their jobs in advance from
home means they can work more efficiently and avoid long working hours,” remarks Sutcliffe.
Key differentiator in competitive pitches
LTT Vending finds that having the ability to promote their mobile and flexible working abilities has proved
key in differentiating themselves from the competition in pitches.
“It seems that the use of BlackBerry smartphones is pretty new in our industry and this has helped in winning
new business. Prospective clients like to know we are responsive to their needs and we have managed
to win business on the back this. We have also been able to get a deal signed as a result of our salesman
having access to his emails. This particular salesman was leaving a pitch and checked his emails on
his Blackberry while in the car park. He emailed over revised quotes and the prospective client asked him
to return: within five minutes the deal was signed,” notes Sutcliffe.
The future
The current economic climate has not affected LTT Vending’s IT spending plans and the company aims to
roll out the BlackBerry devices to all field-based staff.
“In the current economic climate we know we need to keep a close eye on our spending. We are aiming
to move all our mobile users over to T-Mobile BlackBerry devices as we can see the benefits for both staff
productivity and our own bottom line,” concludes Sutcliffe.
T Mobile
Unlimited UK calls, texts, email and internet on our Business Unlimited plan.
Visit us at t-mobile.co.uk/business.