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Working in Partnership to Deliver Best in Class Solutions

Over the past 3 years, safety technology experts, Contel and service management systems providers, Bartec Municipal Technologies have developed a joined-up partnership; providing a streamlined and data- driven solution to enhance their customers’ operational efficiency and safety standards. Their shared understanding and appreciation of the importance of a ‘service first’ approach has led them to evolve their solutions to maximise the benefit realised by their customers.

The working relationship first began in 2019 where Bartec’s Managing Director, Tim Hobbs explains that “although I’d known Contel’s Managing Director, Andy Kelly since 2013 and worked with him on a few projects, it wasn’t until he launched Contel and explained their focus on service, that it really struck a chord with me.’

Since starting the business in 2017, Andy’s focus has been to provide market- leading fleet safety and security solutions with a ‘service before sales’ approach. Tim explains that “I was surrounded by businesses that had cameras fitted, but no one was really using them. They were a bit like the sandwich toaster at the back of the cupboard. They were brought out from time to time to satisfy an insurance requirement or a sales enquiry, but then went straight back in the box. They were never really part of the daily operations.

“Part of the issue with the this is that people tend to check their cameras when there has been an incident – only to find out that they haven’t been working for the past 3 months. Speaking to Andy, this was something that he’s identified early on and was therefore focussing on the service element, and this really differentiated him and Contel.”

The underutilisation of camera technology was something that Andy had identified whilst working with Biffa – “their cameras were only being used to evidence an incident, rather than taking advantage of all the other operational benefits that they could offer”, explains Andy. At the same time, Tim had noted that Bartec’s solution for Biffa and other waste collection operations would benefit from the additional data available from a camera solution. This synergy was the first example of the partnership in action.

Tim and Andy began discussing whether they could develop a ‘complete safety monitoring service’ suitable for local authority collection activities.
Tim explains that “working with the team in the Biffa control room, we trialled multiple versions of our systems over a 1-year period, until we developed a solution that worked for their operation. Since the successful implementation of the system, further rolls outs in Cheshire West Recycling and Canenco have taken place.

Feedback from customers using the joined-up solution is that benefits such as evidence surrounding instances of missed bin collections would not have been possible without the footage collected and presented within the software.

“Contel are experts in what they do”, says Tim. “If you want to know more about camera and telematics technology, they know what works in a way that we never could. They are subject matter experts.”

Commenting further on the benefits of the partnership to end users, Tim says that “Contel bring with them all their fleet, camera, and telematics experience, whereas Bartec are more central to waste management operations and processes, so there is a good balance of our experience and knowledge. Bringing all this together, we have been able to provide users with the best of both worlds – a solution that actually works in the way they need it to. It’s a good marriage of technology, process, and expertise.”

Andy also adds that “no one company alone can provide everything that a user needs, so by developing strong partnerships with businesses like Bartec, it is a fundamental part of developing solutions to satisfy the growing needs of our customers”.

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