As a leading roadside and vehicle insurance provider, the AA must keep digitally transforming to process data and keep drivers on the road. Customers need the confidence that the AA can get them moving again. Thanks to connectivity provided by Gamma, the famous yellow van just got a significant upgrade.
“Everything needs to happen quickly”
Gamma’s relationship with the AA began when the AA sought a provider to streamline their non-geographic numbers (NGN), ensuring greater flexibility and efficiency. This came down to the “excellent commercial deal” presented by Gamma when tendering for the work.
This initial project was completed well within the set timescales, demonstrating Gamma’s agility and ability to support the AA’s evolving needs. For Gavin Hall, Head of Unified Communications and Network Operations at the AA, it became clear how Gamma “[allowed]… that flexibility to be agile… we absolutely found that out with the first real piece of real business”.
It set the foundation for taking on further, more complex projects.
“Fixing the foundations and making sure that what we did was excellent”
The AA’s Group CIO Anthony Hausdoerfer described their long-term plan as a “three-horizon strategy”, which included:
- “Fixing the foundations”
- “Thinking about the opportunities for growth”
- “Looking at how we continue to support our customers”
Addressing that first horizon set the scene for the connected vans project.
AA vans previously relied on devices limited to 3G or 4G connectivity. With the 3G network now shut down, it limited the capabilities of these devices. Anthony mentions how patrols were unable to connect and deliver vital services to their customers.
An important question was asked – “how [does the AA] deliver the right level of connectivity to [their] patrols to ensure that they can deliver a base level of service?”. Where does that fit in with the second horizon and that focus on improving future services for customers?
With so many moving parts in terms of resolving customer issues, the AA needed help of their own.
“If [patrols] don’t have connectivity, they can’t access those key vital pieces of information”
Connectivity is vital for AA patrols looking to deliver key services. Knowledge management systems and diagnostic platforms are all cloud-based, with devices and cameras all relying on “data to be transmitted one way or the other”.
The amount of technology in these vans meant each one was potentially using different networks and spectrums depending on the equipment itself. That goal of the connected van was “fundamental for them to get consistency of service”.
The AA’s IT Operations Improvement and Innovation Manager, Wendy Richardson-Brooks, highlighted how each piece of technology, including tablets and cameras, all require data transmission functionalities. Network coverage was lacking; considering “data is key for [the AA]”, more needed to be done to get that connectivity. A single SIM embedded in each device wouldn’t be enough to leverage 5G and those wider network possibilities.
The solution for these vans was through a dual modem router. These devices have two SIM slots, with the primary SIM running off Three’s award-winning 5G network thanks to Gamma’s close relationship with the network provider. For added resiliency, there’s a backup multi-network IoT SIM, which automatically switches to the next strongest available network if that primary network is weak or unavailable.
It’s a game changer in terms of getting drivers moving again. Anthony mentions that, although each patrol has got “incredible levels of experience”, they won’t know absolutely everything about each individual vehicle. Patrols rely on various capabilities to diagnose problems, but there’s a 1 in 10 chance that they won’t have access to that information and must go on experience alone.
It might not sound like a lot, but when dealing with thousands of jobs a day, that’s still a high number of drivers who are stuck on the roadside. Tow trucks will have to be deployed to rescue them and take them back to a garage, where a patrol may find that having access to vehicle data would have solved their issue. A reliance on mapping and reaching stranded drivers in good time only drove that need for greater connectivity.
“We had a target in mind”
The connected van rollout began as a six-vehicle test which, after good feedback from patrols, extended to 350. It provided a baseline of what kind of improvement the AA would expect as they sought their target of operating at the Ofcom average for a particular network’s coverage. Again, the feedback was excellent, and the capability provided to patrols exceeded expectations.
Part of that rollout contained 50 patrols who struggled with their own connectivity. These patrols were stationed across the country, providing as much empirical data the AA needed to assess the connectivity for each of their vans. Again, the feedback was excellent, and patrols that operated in areas where “they’d had some really poor experiences” stayed connected.
The dual SIM solution reduced the possibility of downtime and packet loss, and Wendy mentions how the fleet performance’s connectivity score increased by approximately 10%. For patrols operating in remote areas, that’s “a big win”. Time isn’t lost trying to find signal or a customer in distress, ensuring that issues are resolved quickly, and the patrols can move on to the next call.
Anthony also describes how this solution can provide insights into each individual patrol. When a connectivity problem does arise, the team can analyse what’s causing this problem through “very specific data”. Whether it’s an issue with the network or the device, those analytics can be shared with Gamma to assist in overall network performance and connectivity.
In Gavin’s opinion, relying on anecdotal evidence was “just not good enough… the insight we’ve got now gives us hard facts as to what’s happening where”.
“This patrol… is going to be bored of me telling this story”
To demonstrate just how powerful connectivity is, Wendy speaks of a particular incident in the Welsh valleys. One patrol ventured out to a home that had a man-made antenna attached to it due to the patchy connection. This patrol “rocks up with [the] van connected, very happily able to do his job”.
The homeowner was left “absolutely astonished” by the van’s ability to achieve connectivity in such a black spot of an area. Thanks to the selection of antenna that is used on the van, the patrol could “hang on to those connections for as long as possible, as far as possible”.
Not bad at all for a yellow van.
“You’ll always need the yellow van”
Breakdowns will always occur. Whether in the mostly densely populated cities or the Highlands, drivers are always at risk of coming to a stop on the roadside. AA patrols need to be ready to respond and address the situation in front of them – and connectivity is vital for that.
There’s a reason why the AA positioned itself as “the fourth emergency service”, of course.
Anthony notes how having the ability to access multiple networks means patrols can “get to them, find them… and get them on their journey again”. If an immediate fix isn’t possible, then those patrols still have the means to get the right backup from the AA. Quite frankly, “if any signal’s there, [the patrols] will get it”.
That kind of seamless connectivity translates to greater satisfaction amongst customers and employees themselves. The AA has already been working hard behind the scenes to improve that technical experience and provide drivers with confidence that patrols have all they need to resolve their issues. When they see the yellow van, they know that they’re in safe hands.
Anthony’s goal is to get another “5 to 10% of those customers going at the roadside”, which would be a fantastic result for the AA and their customers. It’s “exactly the experience that we pride ourselves on doing well to deliver.”
“When we talk about customer promises, you delivered on that customer promise”
The AA were already a Gamma customer, and their connected van project was “quite a complex solution [with] multiple suppliers… and capabilities involved”. Anthony praised Gamma’s responsiveness and initial support in piecing everything together. The previous experience when working together made such a big investment more “believable”.
Previous investments with existing suppliers hadn’t solved those connectivity issues, but Gamma was able to understand the pain points and what the AA wanted to achieve. Gavin notes how the AA had to work with an organisation that could give them “the innovation moving forward in terms of mobile and investment in 5G and whatever comes next”.
Boxes had to be ticked; “Gamma provided that with their partnership with Three”.
When looking at suppliers from a proof of concept, Gamma’s flexibility put it ahead of the competition. Wendy highlights how Gamma had that flexibility to manage the AA’s needs, as well as what they needed from the solution, the provider itself and the speed to manage everything. In Gavin’s own words, the AA aren’t unique, but they’re demanding on the partners they work with for a good reason.
“Gamma is a nice fit for that… not just in connected vans, but in all the business we do”.
“We’d like to grow and take further advantage of what we’re working on”
Much like the AA itself, technology never stops moving. The potential around IoT and its ability to improve business efficiency and data-driven decision making is enticing for many organisations. Wendy is certainly keen to build that functionality into the AA’s fleet moving forward, as “the possibilities really are endless”. Whether it’s satellite connectivity or predictive vehicle diagnostics, the AA are always looking forward.
Anthony speaks on the AA’s forward focusing attitude and how they’re always looking to support their customers. He wants to “delight them and take that fear away” when it comes to the shift to electric vehicles and beyond into the realms of hydrogen. That focus on the future is based on “[giving] those customers confidence to move forward in their driving journey”.
For Gavin, that close collaboration between Gamma and the AA must continue. He wants to know where Gamma is innovating, what’s happening in the market and how that applies to the AA’s long-term roadmap. “Come to us with what you can do”.