Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team

“Upon our initial interaction with ATOM Mobility, we were immediately drawn to their interface and impressed by the quality of their customer service. Throughout the process, they exhibited great flexibility in their approach and were able to assist us with any difficulties we encountered.” 

– Deroy De Bordes, founder of Wheelz

Launch date: October 2021
Country: Ghana
Web page: https://wheelzgh.com
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/lt/app/id1590136064
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wheelzgh.app

Wheelz was founded by Deroy De Bordes – an entrepreneur with a diverse background in business, including experience in HR and property development. Originally from Ghana, West Africa, he realized the potential of expanding into emerging markets while residing in the UK. During a trip back to Ghana, he recognized a potential market opportunity for a car-sharing service company.

During that time, traditional taxi services and a laborious car rental process that required your physical presence were the main options for customers in the country. The founder saw the opportunity to fulfill an unmet demand through the creation of a car-sharing service – which led to the launch of Wheelz.

In preparation for the launch, they evaluated multiple software providers and eventually went with ATOM Mobility. According to Deroy, they chose ATOM Mobility because of its superior customer service and user-friendly interface. Its integration with Geotab's fleet management platform was also a significant factor.

Overcoming implementation hurdles

In the process of starting their business, Wheelz faced numerous challenges that required careful consideration and planning. 

The company's journey began in the early 2020s when they traveled to Ghana to investigate the local market, identify any potential risks, and gain a thorough understanding of the relevant local laws and regulations.

As a company that heavily relies on connectivity, Wheelz had to address the associated risks of providing convenient and accessible services to its customers.

One significant challenge Wheelz faced was the unique characteristics of road infrastructure in Ghana compared to Europe. This situation necessitated the establishment of safe roadside parking zones, especially as many houses in the target market have gated compounds. To prevent any potential disagreements with other customers and ensure safety, Wheelz had to remind people not to park within these compounds. 

Additionally, people may park on backstreets or narrow roads, potentially causing damage or injury to the vehicle. Therefore, Wheelz took extra caution in selecting parking zones and worked closely with their team to identify suitable locations within 10 to 15 minutes of each other. This effort aimed to ensure customers' easy access to their services.

Disrupting traditional services

Introducing a new product to the market posed a significant challenge for Wheelz, as it was unlike the traditional car hire services that customers were accustomed to.

“Our concept was new in a way that it depended solely on smartphones as the main way of accessing our service. The first thing we had to do was test the technology thoroughly to ensure its stability and security before it could be deployed in the field. Then, we needed to familiarize potential customers with the app's functionality.” – Deroy De Bordes

For marketing purposes, the company used a multi-phase approach. The first phase focused on creating brand awareness through billboards, radio, and television ads. The second phase involved marketing campaigns on various platforms, including YouTube, Google, Instagram, Facebook, and banner ads. This generated a significant amount of interest in the product.

Wheelz's pricing strategy was significantly more competitive than traditional taxi services. For instance, a one-hour journey in their most affordable vehicle costs 60 Ghanaian cedi, while a half-hour ride in a traditional taxi would cost around 50 to 60 Ghanaian cedi. This pricing strategy proved to be an attractive offer, as customers sought value for their money.

"Essentially, customers who choose Wheelz can get twice the travel time for their money," Deroy explains. 

By introducing this new product and pricing strategy, Wheelz established itself as a disruptor in the market. Now, as the company continues to grow and expand its services, they remain committed to providing excellent customer service and safe, reliable transportation to its clients.

“Though we faced early obstacles, we persevered. Today, our innovative approach to car hire services has earned us a favorable standing in the market.” – Deroy De Bordes

Moving forward: plans for ongoing improvements and expansion

The success of Wheelz thus far has not led to complacency, and the company has no intention of resting on its laurels. In May 2023, they have plans to participate in a trade show in Ghana – this will allow the company to promote its brand and explore the possibility of expanding into new markets across Africa. They are also considering a franchise model to facilitate their expansion efforts.

Wheelz also plans to expand to other cities in Ghana, including Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi, and Cape Coast. Each of these cities will have a minimum of 10 cars assigned to them. But in the nearest future, the plan is to explore opportunities to increase the number of parking zones across the capital city, Accra.

Corporate car-sharing schemes are becoming an increasingly popular way for companies to provide transportation for their employees while also reducing costs and improving sustainability. In this blog post, we'll look at the benefits of corporate car-sharing schemes and how ATOM Mobility software can help companies deploy their own car-sharing scheme for their employees.

What is corporate car sharing and how does it work?

Corporate car sharing is a transportation solution that allows companies to provide access to a fleet of shared vehicles for their employees. Employees can reserve a car for a specific time period and use it for business-related travel. The cost of the rental is typically paid for by the company.

There are 2 main ways that corporate car sharing can be implemented:

• Company-owned fleet: The company can use its existing fleet, or purchase and maintain a fleet of vehicles specifically for sharing. Employees can reserve and use the vehicles as needed.

• Car rental partnership: The company can partner with a rental car company to provide access to a fleet of vehicles for car sharing. Employees can reserve and use the vehicles as needed.

In both cases, the company will need to set up the software for managing the car-sharing scheme, including reserving and booking vehicles, tracking usage, and handling payment processing. This can be done through an ATOM Mobility software platform.

What challenges corporate car sharing solves

Corporate car sharing can help to solve a number of challenges that companies may face:

• Maximize fleet utilisation and minimise fleet size: The high cost of owning and maintaining company vehicles can be significantly reduced. Companies can save money on car expenses such as purchase, maintenance, and insurance by using a car-sharing scheme to consolidate their current fleet size and maximise fleet utilisation.

• Limited parking availability: Car-sharing schemes can help to reduce the number of company-owned vehicles, which can be beneficial in situations where parking is limited or expensive.

• Environmental concerns: Car-sharing schemes can help to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental impacts of transportation.

• Employee mobility: Car-sharing schemes can provide employees with access to a vehicle when needed, even if they do not have their own. This employee benefits package is valued highly when new job offers are considered.

Here’s what to look for when it comes to corporate car-sharing software:

1) Vehicle reservation and booking: Employees should be able to view available vehicles and make reservations for the times they need to use a car. This can be done through a mobile app.

2) Keyless go via the app: The software should allow employees to locate available vehicles, unlock and use them without needing to go and collect the keys from god knows where.

3) Payment processing: The software should handle payment processing if the corporate compensates their trips partly, including the calculation of charges based on distance or time.

4) Vehicle maintenance and repair log: The software should allow the company to input any info about the cars and track the maintenance and repair needs of the shared vehicles. This info should be easily accessible by the car service provider as well.

5) Usage tracking and reporting: The software should provide detailed monitoring and reporting on the usage of the shared vehicles, including metrics such as the number of trips, distance travelled, and fleet utilisation by hours. This information can be used to optimise the car-sharing scheme and reduce costs.

6) User management: The software should allow the company to manage the users of the car-sharing scheme, including adding new users and different user roles and revoking access as needed.

7) Administrative controls: The software should provide the company with administrative controls to manage the car-sharing scheme, including the ability to set rules and guidelines, set rental rates, and so on.

Overall, the functionalities included in car-sharing software will depend on the specific needs and goals of the company and the car-sharing scheme.

If you would like to learn more about how to set up a corporate car-sharing scheme for your company, get in touch with our team here: book a call.

ATOM Mobility is a software provider with a corporate car sharing software that helps companies to deploy their own car-sharing scheme for their employees. Our software includes a range of features to support corporate car sharing, including online booking, vehicle tracking, payment processing, usage reporting, and user management.

🔥 We're excited to announce that the first-ever "ATOM Mobility Hub" program has concluded with Shrink Scooters taking home the main prize 🎉

ATOM Mobility will set them up with a free software solution for a year to accelerate the launching and growth of their business of bringing shared mobility to UK university campuses.

Congratulations also to the four runner-ups: Swap City, JETT, Mobi-EV, and Drop, as well as all the other teams successfully completing the program. 👏

We can't wait to see what you'll achieve in the future!

👏 Finally, we'd like to express our gratitude to the program's lead mentors and the program partners without whom the program would not be possible: Dr. Johanna Braun, Mario Gamper, KNOT // docking and charging for micromobility, Fluctuo, Funderbeam, ACTON, Anadue, Sumsub, movmi - Shared Mobility Consultants, Helve, EIT Urban Mobility

ATOM Mobility Hub is a free venture-building program meant to help ambitious entrepreneurs to build their mobility companies from zero. The nine-week programme ended with participant business pitches to mobility industry experts and investors on early December, 2022.

Read more:
https://labsoflatvia.com/en/news/student-led-company-triumphs-at-atom-mobility-hub

You can learn more about ATOM Mobility HUB here: 
https://atommobility.com/hub

If you are interested to start your own vehicle sharing/rental business – head over here to request a demo and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

ATOM Mobility has broadened the scope of its services by adding rental software to its platform. The new module allows car, bike, and scooter rental companies to automate and digitalize their rental business with ATOM Mobility's platform which features digital ID verification, keyless vehicle access, calendar booking and prepayment, automated hand-off inspection, and much more.  

This effectively allows ATOM Mobility customers to create an all-in-one Superapp for the on-demand mobility market, after the company also added ride-hailing/taxi software to its platform earlier in the year which gives companies easy-to-use solution to manage their customers, drivers, and operations, all from one place. The platform can facilitate virtually any vehicle, be it a scooter, bike, car, moped, or even golf cart, for on-demand short-term, one-off trips, as well as for month-long rentals, and everything in between. 

It can benefit your mobility business, too

In addition to giving traditional vehicle rentals a simple and highly-efficient way to digitalize their operations and improve customer experience, integrating a rental module also serves to unlock new business opportunities.

Fleet owners can have all the different modes in one app, serving tourists and locals with the types of vehicles and services in need at any given moment, e.g. a scooter for a short trip on a sunny day, a taxi on a rainy one, and a rental car for a weekend getaway. Mobility service providers can mix and match the various modules to suit their offerings. For example, new market entrants can start with one operational model, and diversify their services as they grow by adding other modules to their existing app. 

The rental business model doesn't necessarily require adding new vehicles – it has the potential to maximize revenue from existing services. For instance, bike rentals can benefit from adding rental options alongside their on-demand, free-floating model, by allocating part of their fleet for renting purposes. To illustrate, depending on the location, an e-bike could bring in 15-25 EUR when rented for a full day, as compared to an average of 3 EUR per on-demand ride, with one to five uses a day. Accordingly, the rental model can be more profitable for the operator, as well as more convenient for the user, as they get the bike for the full day. 

Another chief benefactor of the new rental module is traditional car rental companies. For one, they can digitalize their operations and offer a fantastic, fully digital self-service experience to their customers, making it easier to pick up and drop off vehicles. Service digitalization also enables car rentals to open remote automated branches by partnering with hotels, parking lot owners, gas stations, etc. This may imbue extra convenience in your operations, as clients don't have to travel halfway across the city just to pick up their vehicle. 

A solution that works for everyone

As with previous products, the rental module is fully white-label, allowing the app to be customized with your brand design and colors. All whilst offering a smooth and convenient in-app rental experience for your customers. 

With ATOM Mobility's rental module, operators will also gain access to a powerful dashboard for managing their fleets, bookings, and customers. In it, you may:

1. Track vehicle information in real-time, e.g. for cars – location, errors, battery/fuel level, odometer data, engine status, door status, and more,
2. Set up your preferred pricing system, be it fixed, hourly, daily rental, distance-based, or otherwise,
3. Get reports and analyses on everything from users and revenue to the utilization of vehicles by different periods, vehicle models, and locations,
4. And more.

ATOM Mobility's all-in-one platform is the first of its kind, offering operators an opportunity to provide an excellent mobility service to their local community and visiting tourists. By listening to its customers and staying a few steps ahead of the market, ATOM was able to create a comprehensive, all-inclusive SuperApp. Accordingly, all components integrate seamlessly ensuring a smooth, hiccup-free, and user-friendly experience for both operators and their customers. 

Learn more about different solutions and modules: 

Vehicle sharing module (on-demand, mostly short trips): https://atommobility.com/products-share
Rental module (pre-booking, mostly weekly and monthly rentals): https://atommobility.com/products-rent
Ride-hailing/taxi module: https://ride.atommobility.com

Let us show you how it all works – head over here to request a demo and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.