Maxson Goh heads to Northampton to explore a promising new partnership between Ferdia and Country Lion
The modern coach operator understands that now, more than ever, is the time to embrace the myriad of new technology available to obtain an advantage in today’s competitive market. Enter Ferdia, a Norwegian company which aims to transform the coach industry with its digital solutions. The company provides coach operators with online capabilities, interactive quoting systems and AI-driven tools designed to to optimise efficiency and profitability. With an established presence in the Scandinavian coach market, the company recently demonstrated its commitment to expansion in the UK by appointing a dedicated UK manager to facilitate its plans for more UK coach operator partners. To date, Ferdia has established partnerships with three UK clients; Marshalls of Sutton on Trent, Centurion Travel, and, most recently, Country Lion, which generously hosted today’s meeting at its Northampton depot. Additional agreements have been signed, says Ferdia, with further collaborations currently in progress.
Two of the CBW team were present at the meeting, myself and Senior Sales Executive Amy Greaves. Country Lion, established in 1966, performs its own maintenance in-house and has a diverse fleet of just over 60 vehicles, the newest of which being a couple of Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMC double-deckers. On the other end of the scale, there are also a few ALX400-bodied Volvo B7TLs workhorses still out there earning their keep. Over steaming cups of warm tea and coffee, CBW was formally introduced to Ferdia and Country Lion’s leadership teams in the comfort of the depot’s meeting room.
Initial overview
The meeting commenced with Ferdia CEO Håkon Sæther providing CBW with an overview of the company’s background. “We’ve got two large operators in the UK live on our system, both having migrated from another software provider, and they are pleased with the change,” he said.
“We have gone from partnering with one small operator in the UK to now having three partners, and the latest two are larger operators. Another milestone for us is the recent appointment of our UK Country Manager Daniel Morton. Until now, I’ve been the Account Manager for the UK, and that was not a good way of moving forward, having to be constantly travelling to the UK from Norway to visit the customer. That’s not sustainable. We now have a very experienced new colleague from the industry who will be representing us in the UK.
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