Irish School of Motoring moves into the cloud – drives 25pc increase in online bookings

2 Oct 2012

Karl Walsh, MD of the Irish School of Motoring and Martin Cullen, director of small and mid-sized partners at Microsoft

All of the Irish School of Motoring’s offices across Ireland have been connected to a new cloud computing system based on an integrated Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 platform.

The new system means that franchised driving instructors no longer have to contribute to the upkeep of costly shop fronts or manual booking systems.

Since moving to the cloud, almost a quarter of all sales booked by Irish School of Motoring (ISM) instructors have been made online.

Using the system, instructors enter their availability using the Microsoft Office diary on their mobile phones and this information is available to call centre staff.

As soon as an enquiry comes by text, email or phone call, appointments are scheduled based on instructor availability.

Instructors are notified immediately by email if a booking has been placed and learner drivers receive a text message with all the contact details of the driving instructor.

“We needed to find ways of becoming more efficient and cost effective, not only for our clients but for our franchisees,” Karl Walsh, managing director of the Irish School of Motoring, explained.

“Cloud computing and smartphones make it easy to access information and lead to more cost-effective and efficient collaboration between us, our clients and our franchisees,” Walsh added.

Ireland’s digital leaders will gather to discuss cloud computing and the big data revolution at the Cloud Capital Forum on Friday, 23 November, at the Convention Centre Dublin

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com