RAC case study

RAC
www.rac.co.uk
With over 7 million customers the RAC have their work cut out. Not only did their
roadside patrols attend over 3 million breakdowns in the UK last year, they were
also busy selling car insurance, offering advice on new car purchases and selling
a diverse range of motoring accessories. With their web site receiving thousands
of hits a day and a call-out service operating 24/7, the RAC needed a state
of the art web site which wasn’t going to let them down.
The Challenge
Industry
Association & Automotive
Partner
Adactus Ltd
2 St Andrews Court
Thame
OX9 3WT
United Kingdom
www.adactus.co.uk
Chris Hall
chris.hall@adactus.co.uk
01844 269090
During the summer of 2011 they had to adjust to new ownership under the Carlyle
Group, who in turn had ambitious plans for growth including maximising their
on-line presence. So not only were they having to establish an identity separate
from Aviva, one that had been closely interwoven for six years, they needed
a better way of managing the wealth of motoring information available on their
web site whilst retaining the ability to embrace new technology. With the growth
of broadband and ever increasing web-savvy customers, the RAC realised the need
to fully maximise their on-line presence and to do so quickly, with as little pain
as possible.
The Solution
Enter Adactus, a recognised Microsoft partner with a proven track record
for developing high performance systems within a tight timescale. Having spent
years working with the likes of Pizza Hut where they developed a system that could
handle over two orders per second, they were well placed to deliver a scaleable
web presence that could be sustained throughout peak trading. Also they were
an existing approved and established supplier to Aviva for 7 years, so already
understood the technology environments and partners involved and could hit
the ground running. Working within a fixed time frame of six months, they initially
carried out an audit of the existing systems whereupon it became apparent that
they needed to introduce fresh technology to reduce long term operational costs
and provide the scaleability and flexibility needed for future growth.
Value
Route Planner, one of the main sources of visits to the RAC website in Europe, was
completely overhauled enabling customers to plan their routes using the latest
automated traffic feeds. This site was extensively stress tested to ensure it could
handle the huge number of hits and was designed in such a way as to cope not only
with the current load but to also allow for future growth. During the first six
months that the newly enhanced website was operational it transacted thousands
of online orders for both new and renewing customers in everything from
breakdown insurance to other highly competitive products such as legal services.
A Continuing Partnership
Thanks to this judicious overhaul, the in-house digital marketing team at RAC can
now manage all the key articles and imagery on their website using the award
winning enterprise CMS system, a sophisticated but effective content management
solution system based on Kentico CMS. They’re better placed to manage
the wealth of motoring information offered and can, through their working
relationship with Adactus, depend upon the around-the-clock support and backup
necessary to guarantee future success.