With the support of Psion partner, Spirit Data Capture, CLC evaluated a range of rugged devices from all our major competitors and Psion. The company chose the rugged enterprise PDA from Psion, the EP10, because it met all the company’s requirements for a usable keypad, screen size and durability. The device also gives them the option of connecting to a card processing system should they decide to take payments by debit card payments in the future.
“Spirit Data Capture proved an excellent partner in this project in all respects because they took time to guide us through all the available rugged mobile options on the market today,” explained Julie Dowling, Area Manager, CLC Finance. “Together with Spirit, we did our homework by talking to our industry peers and by researching online forums. Psion rose to the top consistently in terms of customer service, device performance, quality and durability, so we were happy to choose Psion for our full project roll-out.”
“We’ve been encouraged by the consistently positive feedback and interest in the EP10,” said John McMeeking, UK Managing Director, Psion. “We’re delighted that CLC is having such a positive experience of Psion thanks in no small part to their partner, Spirit.”
CLC employs more than 100 people in management, back office and as self-employed agents. Through its network of agents, it offers home credit to a catchment area that spans as far as Manchester, South Yorkshire to Lincolnshire and Hull. Originally family-run, the more than 60 year old company recently completed a business restructure under new ownership. As part of the restructure, the company investigated the deployment of mobile devices to improve the accuracy and speed of home collections.
In what was a significant 18-month product trial, the company initially tested small form factor smartphones with touchscreens. However, the user response to these devices was not positive. It proved hard to enter information on a touch product and there were concerns about the durability and battery life of a smartphone-based product. In fact, the success of the trial was under some doubt until they started to explore the rugged device marketplace.
“Our agents and managers can now be more effective because they don’t have to complete all their paper work at the end of the working day. This provides extra validation of our choice of Psion,” said Dowling.
CLC now runs the Anchor Journeyman software on their EP10 devices for the management of home collections. Payments are processed over the mobile network in batches and the entire reporting process has been improved as a direct result of choosing Psion.