For more than five years, Sprint has helped towPartners, an industry association that provides a variety of value-added services for tow companies, and its more than 11,000 member companies and state associations realize the power of mobility solutions. The towing industry has benefited from using rugged devices that operate on the Nextel National Network with GPS services to efficiently manage fleets and walkie-talkie solutions for easy communications between drivers and dispatch. Now more advanced technology allows them to wirelessly process credit card payments, track inventory and reroute trucks as needed to help towing companies further experience increased revenue and productivity.
Building on this long-term relationship, towPartners recently signed a contract with Sprint to allow its member companies to take advantage of Sprint Custom Network Solutions (CNS). Depending upon the location of a tow company or the way in which their facility is constructed, they may need enhanced in-building coverage so employees can easily access wireless voice and data services within the facility. This contract provides a turnkey process for tow companies to easily request and receive in-building solutions, which is critical since their primary means of communication is through wireless devices.
towPartners offers members discounts on the best products and services used by towing and road services. "The walkie-talkie, ruggedized handsets are popular with our members," said Jeffrey Godwin, vice president, towPartners. "In our field, data accuracy and bar coding (for automobile identification and storage-yard inventory control) in real time is crucial. Credit card swiping is gaining acceptance as towing companies are trying to make it easier for their customers to pay, as well as method to reduce bad debt."
Sprint also helped towPartners arrange a new discount program for members for Xora GPS applications. Xora and other GPS solutions enable towing companies to manage their fleets more efficiently through dispatching, asset tracking and routing a truck to a particular location. Tow companies also benefit from SMS/2way messaging which is often utilized for electronic dispatching through an application developed by towPartners parent company, towXchange. The TOPS dispatch and towing company management product from towXchange includes several data offerings designed for the Sprint Nextel network.
