Ireland’s leading delivery company believes significant new investment in its IT infrastructure with Zetes Ireland will lead to even greater advances in its ability to handle rising parcel volumes as the volume of goods purchased over the Internet continues to rise.

Nightline’s CEO John Tuohy confirmed the thinking behind his company’s growth strategy as he unveiled a further €900,000 spend on equipment which will see the firm’s drivers and warehousing staff equipped with state-of-the-art mobile terminals and mobile printers.

Mr Tuohy added that the initiative - which also includes the installation of a more comprehensive wireless network across all of Nightline’s depots – would make the firm’s increasing share of the country’s parcel market even more efficient.

The latest spend brings the total sum invested by Nightline on improving its technological capabilities to more than €1 million in less than 12 months.

“Given the sort of volumes which we’re looking at, there is a necessity to make sure that both our drivers and those individuals processing parcels at our network of depots right across Ireland are able to do their jobs as efficiently as they can to deliver the service clients and their customers deserve.

“That means being able to augment our award-winning Smartship® system with the very latest equipment. Even more than merely keeping pace with current parcel numbers, we have built capacity into our new arrangements sufficient to cope with projected volumes into the future.”

The new spend marks the latest deal between Nightline and Zetes, Europe’s leading system integrator of mobility and data capture solutions, who also provided Nightline’s original proof of delivery solution. The initiative with Zetes will see all of Nightline’s drivers and many of its warehouse staff given Motorola MC9500 series handheld devices and Zebra QL420 mobile printers, enabling them to handle both stock control and deliveries on behalf of clients even quicker than before.

Together with a more robust wireless system, the new equipment will make for better data transmission between employees on the road and Nightline’s seven facilities, five of which - at Dublin, Belfast, Sligo, Cork and Limerick – have been the subject of expansion during the last year.

The new investment follows a separate €200,000 outlay on hardware late last year.

Mr Tuohy said both projects underlined the impact which growing volumes of home deliveries generated by contracts with leading e-commerce brands were having on Nightline.

“When we started business in 1992, we were handling 1,000 transactions each week. Now, we process around 130,000 transactions per day so capable IT is a must.

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to count on a specialist like Zetes for its support for half of the time we’ve been trading. We feel that we both understand the value of effective technology in delivering real benefits for clients.”

Mr Tuohy’s comments were echoed by Robert van Vliet, MD of Zetes Ireland. He added that “as an early adopter of proof of delivery technology, Nightline has secured a reputation for service excellence and become a very successful player in a highly competitive market.”

Importantly for Nightline, as a specialist mobile solutions provider, Zetes was able to offer the flexibility of a fully managed and supported service, based on a monthly fee covering all hardware, ongoing maintenance and full mobile device management. The managed service approach benefits Nightline by increasing the amount of working capital the company has available for other initiatives and lowering the risk associated with such a significant financial investment. Instead of accounting for the expenditure as a one off capital (CAPEX) expenditure, the cost can be spread over three years as an ongoing operating expenditure (OPEX).

Zetes Ireland employs 24 people and is expanding the local team with offices in Dublin and Limerick. The Zetes Group has its headquarters in Belgium and employs more than 1100 people across 15 countries within Europe, the Middle East and Africa.