BostonCoach is a premier provider of executive sedan, limousine and event
transportation services. Thousands of business executives, leisure travelers,
and corporate travel managers worldwide depend on them. When the company
went looking to increase revenues by maximizing the efficiency of its cars,
drivers and dispatch centers, they approached IBM. Working with IBM's T.J.
Watson Research Lab, IBM Business Consulting Services partnered with BostonCoach
to develop an automated Fleet Operations System. The system takes various
data, including BostonCoach business rules, reservation and driver information,
travel times and even FAA information feeds, and generates the most efficient
staffing plan for matching drivers to each ride. Now, BostonCoach consistently
and constantly maintains near-optimal fleet assignments, and is able to provide
customers the highest on-time performance in the industry. With on demand
business, it's a smooth ride.
How they became an on demand business
Services
IBM's Boston Center for e-business Innovation and the T.J. Watson Research Lab
developed the rules and algorithms for an automated Fleet Optimization System
(FOS) based on data supplied by BostonCoach. IBM implemented the system and provided
integration with the rest of BostonCoach's systems. FOS provides real-time utilization
data on drivers and coaches, and capitalizes on GPS technology for location tracking
of coaches, based on mapping software from ESRI and custom applications developed
by IBM.
More about this story
 Case
study: BostonCoach aligns customer service with demand in real time
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