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RAC Software Solutions celebrates 21 years of its award-winning Tranman Fleet Management Software
CV Show marks a coming of age for the class-leading software package
This year’s CV Show at the NEC marks 21 years since the launch of RAC Software Solution’s flagship fleet software package – Tranman. It shared its debut in 1984 with the arrival of the Apple Mac, Madonna’s first appearance on British TV, the Filofax becoming a yuppie essential, Torvill and Dean winning gold at the winter Olympics and slogan T-shirts became fashionistas’ must haves.
But, enough of the nostalgia, here is a more serious look at the history of Tranman:
1984–1988
Tranman was born out of an internal Allied Breweries system known as ABCAS (Allied Breweries Cost and Analysis system). Its first users were brewers, millers and retail organisations where transport was a high proportion of commodity cost. One of its early customers, Heygates, is now the company’s longest established reference site.
Also keen to invest in technology at the time were Utility organisations – Tranman’s first client in this sector was Portsmouth Water who still uses the system today. This became a strong sector and clients now include United Utilities and Scottish Water. George Webb, Managing Director explains: “We customised our product for these customers by starting with the local government standard and then taking it one step further”.
Fuel costs reached £2 a gallon and the monitoring of fleet costs became increasingly important. Tranman was targeted at the public sector, a highly successful decision, which started with Salford City Council and led the software to be a dominant player, with now 150 local authority customers. Tranman also won its first bus company – Newport Transport Ltd and its first fire brigade – Cornwall Fire.
1989–1993
Driver safety was working its way up the fleet managers agenda. Tranman kicked off its success within UK police forces, winning its first deal with Wiltshire Police. Tranman is now in use in 33 out of 52 UK forces and had become the undisputed leader in the provision of public sector systems and a major player in the private sector with organisations such as Silentnight Beds, Nestle and Argos implementing the system in the early 90’s.
Steve Botham of Wiltshire Police explains his decision, "The introduction of Tranman meant that workshop efficiency could be measured, parts usage and vehicle availability looked at and most importantly whole life costing and pence per mile figures could be checked. Overall the choice of Tranman has stood the test of time for us and will continue to serve the fleet for many more years”.
Growth in the private sector continued and Heathrow Airport became the first airport customer to introduce the system; today the product is used in nearly every airport in the country.
1994–1998
Northern Ireland becomes Tranman’s latest market success story when it secured contracts with the police force, Department of Agriculture and Department of Environment. This followed with major sales in the Republic of Ireland where we now support the fleet activities of the postal service, electricity, utility, police and various local government and private sector clients.
1997
Tranman bought by management team and set on track for significant growth.
Market needs were changing, with a requirement for a range of fleet software to suit all fleet sizes. In response Tranman launched three additional systems; RapidFM, RapidFMPlus and FM2000, later renamed as Tranman Series 1, 3 and 5.
1999–2005
The Tranman team achieved its first six-figure deal, a contract with the Ministry of Defence. This success brought Tranman to the attention of Lex Service Plc, now RAC plc who in December acquired the business.
The Millennium was an extremely important time for Tranman and led to a high level of activity - both the customer base and the external market place rushed to upgrade older versions of fleet software to ensure compliance and avoid the dreaded Millennium bug.
Tranman Solutions was renamed as RAC Software Solutions.
Private sector fleets now equate to 54% of our customers. Fleet contracts won include Wincanton, who required an integrated logistics solution, Tibbett & Britten (now Excel), Onyx – where Tranman is installed across 100 sites in the UK and Morrisons (Safeway) – where supermarket trolleys are included as part of its fleet.
2005
RAC Software reports a strong start to 2005. New business deals include Provident Insurance plc, Mann Island Finance plc and a range of public sector organisations including Northamptonshire Fire Service, North Wales Police and Fife Council.
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