Carzonrent Becomes the Only Company With an Automated RMS

Summary:

Carzonrent puts in place a robust revenue management system after it loses track of 1.4 percent of its transactions.

The Organization: 

Carzonrent has the numbers stacked on its side. The Delhi-based firm, which drove into the car rental business in 2000, operates over 6,000 cabs ferrying 2,000 passengers everyday, and has raced ahead to become India’s largest car rental company. To fortify its position, it is adding 23,500 cars to its fleet, over three years, at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.

We are the only company in the industry with an automated revenue management system. Now, we are streets ahead of our rivals.

The Business Case: 

But its expansion plans needed more support from the company’s revenue management system, whose inefficiencies resulted in revenue leakages. The company, which offers multiple payment options including cash, credit, direct payment and float (advance payment from corporate clients), sees, on average, 53,000 transactions a month. But due to its revenue management system, around 1.4 percent—about 735—transactions went missing, leading to direct losses. 

“Due to erroneous processes a significant number of transactions were going unnoticed,” says Rajesh Munjal, VP-business operations, EasyCabs. “This happened for various reasons including if a chauffeur failed to submit a bill to the backend, if there was a time lapse in the submission of bills to a customer, or if a company was unable to collect bills from its branches punctually.” 

Also its set-up failed to meet customer needs. “Some customers demanded post-journey payment, cash payment and customized MIS—along with supporting documents—to suit their ERPs. With the manual system we were incapable of meeting these needs,” he says. 

The Project: 

The only way forward was a robust revenue management system which could track every transaction from end-to-end, across various modes of payment and various customers. (Carzonrent offers chauffer-driven cars, self-driven cars, a limousine service, and an operating-lease service, apart from its cab service, EasyCabs).

But this required an organizational push. So, Munjal rounded up multiple stakeholders. “I constituted a team of people from finance, collection, operations and IT. Over five months we carried out a gap analysis of the manual system and drafted a project blueprint,” he says. 

Based on the team’s inputs, the IT team built an automated revenue management system on a .Net platform. Today, Carzonrent’s revenue management system is an online, real-time mechanism that tracks every transaction and ensures that each is closed, revenue is booked, and payment is received.

The Benefits: 

The project, which cost Rs 2 lakh, delivered ROI swiftly. By plugging revenue leakages,  it saves the company Rs 1.6 crore a year. The automated system cut manpower needs at central and branch locations from 26 to 13 saving Rs 23 lakh a year. Perhaps more importantly, the solution enhanced customer satisfaction and put Carzonrent miles ahead of its competition. “We are the only company in the industry with an automated revenue management system. Now, we are streets ahead of our rivals,” says Munjal. 

We are the only company in the industry with an automated revenue management system. Now, we are streets ahead of our rivals.