Minimax...
Technology means new era in Top End service
When the staff of Townsville-based asset management firm NQCCS make a service call, it's more than a quick trip across town.
For them, a service call can mean traveling thousands of kilometres to some of northern Australia's most remote and unforgiving areas. There, in the heat, the cold, the rugged terrain and the sheer isolation of it all, they service the facilities and infrastructure of clients from a range of sectors including government, defense, mining, telecommunications, power and broadcasting.
They inspect buildings, transmission towers, airstrips, plant and equipment for damage and wear and tear. They fix fences, gutters, doors and water tanks. They service generators, air conditioners and fire extinguishers. They control pests such as termites and ants that can damage infrastructure and put critical services out of action. Even painting; cleaning; clearing noxious weeds, mowing lawns and general maintenance are all part of NQCCS's service. They're arguably the most traveled fix-it and cleanup teams in Australia.
It's a job that takes them right across the Top End – from Townsville, traveling north to Cairns, Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait, down to Bourke in northern NSW, across to Tennant Creek and all points north to Darwin and over to Broome in WA. ands with minimum of disturbance or damage to the remnant mangrove vegetation.
NQCCS's service teams are thorough, not only in terms of attending to the tasks at hand, but also in compiling detailed reports for clients of everything they do during their visits to these remote areas. Before and after photographs taken onsite are central to these service reports, enabling clients to see that their assets and facilities are being appropriately managed by NQCCS.
But with a service trip taking typically up to four weeks, with 400 sites serviced, around 8,000 kilometers traveled and more than a thousand photographs taken, it can be several weeks after their return to the office in Townsville until reports are available for clients. And it takes longer again for NQCCS to be able to invoice the client for the remote service call. Hardly ideal for clients or for NQCCS.
But now, thanks to stunning new communications technology, all that has changed – and changed dramatically. Introducing Telstra 
Mobile Broadband, the new wireless data service that provides super-fast connection to the internet for people on the move.
Equipped with laptop computers fitted with amazing Maxon MiniMax modems, NQCCS's service teams are using Telstra Mobile Broadband to push data at high speed over Telstra's state-of-the-art mobile networks. In areas where there is CDMA 1xEVDO coverage, speeds average 300-600Kbps – with no connecting wire in sight. Elsewhere in the CDMA network, signal is seamlessly handed over the high-speed service operating at 80 to 100kbps on average.
Telstra Mobile Broadband and MiniMax represent cutting edge technology and a truly innovative mobile solution that provide high speed wireless internet anytime, wherever there is CDMA network coverage – The CDMA network has almost three times the geographic coverage of any GSM network in Australia and covers more than 98 per cent of the population, or more than 1.6 million square kilometres across both rural and metropolitan areas.
The MiniMax modem eliminates the need for a wire line computer modem .Telstra Mobile Broadband and MiniMax hasn't just improved NQCCS's business, it has revolutionised it!
Telstra Mobile Broadband and MiniMax enables users to send and receive voice calls, emails, faxes and SMS messages and access the internet at high speed anytime, anywhere, as long as there is CDMA coverage. They can upload and download large image files, detailed web pages, lengthy documents and photographs.
NQCCS staff access the internet to check critical weather information, including local flooding, research a range of information from specifications for repairing plant to the local council's rubbish disposal regulations, or to simply keep in touch with family and friends – all as if they were back in the office.
Traveling teams compile service reports onsite and email them to clients in real time. They take digital photographs, email them and they are with clients thousands of kilometres away almost instantaneously. Clients can examine damaged assets immediately after a cyclone has ripped through and make quick decisions about repairs and insurance claims while the service team is still onsite. Staff can email photographs of a potentially hazardous cleanup site to an OH&S expert, who then advises on suitable safety procedures, clothing and equipment. Staff can dial a government department to get instant information on noxious weeds or pests, or alert them to quarantine issues. Everything is done in real time, rather than in days or weeks.
There are other benefits – NQCCS's head office in Townsville can email more service work to staff while they're on the move. Jobs get closed off more quickly, which means the accounts department can send invoices for payment. All so much more efficient.
“This has revolutionised our business and the service we give our clients,” NQCCS owner Joe DiBella, says. “We had been looking around for a product like this for eight years – and then we found Telstra Mobile Broadband and the MiniMax. It is absolutely amazing.”
Joe has five MiniMax modems for use by his field staff and has plans to purchase more.
“Telstra Mobile Broadband has changed the whole basis of how our business works,” Joe said. “Before we would wait four or five weeks for our guys to come back from a trip and download hundreds of before and after visuals to show clients. Now, clients can get a full service report and digital pictures virtually instantaneously. And, though I'm back here in Townsville, I can be just about anywhere where my teams are. CDMA coverage means I can have my office in 1.6 million square kilometres of Australia.
“Staff time is optimised, efficiency is increased, head office has greater visibility and customer satisfaction is enhanced – what more could you ask for from any business tool?”
It is not just the technology that has Joe so enthusiastic. He is also highly impressed with the ongoing after sales service he gets from Telstra Country Wide. Locally-based Belinda Windle, from the Telstra Licensed Store in Castletown Shopping Centre, Townsville, is his portfolio manager.
“It's all about personalised attention and building a real relationship,” Belinda said. “Joe doesn't even have to come to the store if he doesn't want to – he's got a business to run. I take the product to him and make sure it is set up correctly, all connected and running smoothly. If there is anything he needs to know, he has got me to call directly instead of a call centre, so he's pretty much guaranteed an answer almost straight away.”
Joe said a local telecommunications service was very important to his business.
“Local presence is definitely important,” Joe said. “It is very good having someone like Belinda who can come out to the office and see what we are doing. Having her around is an absolute plus as far as our business is concerned because she asks us how the business works, what our requirements are, what's on our wish list, and then finds the right products and pricing plans for us.
“Telstra Country Wide understands customer needs: they are listening, which is great. And they are doing, which is even better.”
- Telstra Country Wide Web Site
Cleaning Up Pallarena
Telstra ensures property is in perfect condition before handing back to Government.
The Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park is located 10 kilometres from the Townsville GPO in Far North Queensland. Its open woodlands and vine thickets support a variety of animal and bird life and its walking tracks, picnic areas, and historical Quarantine Station and Museum make it a popular destination for tourists and Townville residents alike.
Building rubble and vegetation dumped in mangroves
A small portion of this area was leased to the Telstra Corporation to site an antennae array used to maintain contact with ships at sea. Over the years changes in technology have made this installation obsolete and in May 2004 the lease on this parcel of land was transferred from Telstra to Australian Air Support Services. Prior to the lease transfer it was discovered that a part of the lease area, a wetland adjacent to the boundary of the park, had been polluted by the illegal dumping of building rubble and waste vegetation. Damage caused from illegal use of quad bikes within the park was also evidenced. Telstra made the immediate decision to rehabilitate the area and contacted Thiess Waste Management System to coordinate the project.
The rehabilitated site
With Thiess overseeing the project, NQCCS was contracted to perform the required works. Joe DiBella of NQCCS used satellite imaging to pinpoint the affected area of the park and to identify through colour differential imaging any possible leaching of toxic runoff into the wetland basin. In close consultation with Townsville City Council and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, a plan was developed to remove the waste and to restore the original profile of the wetlands with minimum of disturbance or damage to the remnant mangrove vegetation.
Satellite imaging used to pinpoint affected area of park
By using a long reach excavator, NQCCS was able to remove the dumped material layer by layer without encroaching on the delicate wetland floor. Each layer of waste was inspected by onsite staff to ensure that no hazardous materials were concealed under soil or concrete slabs. Silt traps and chemical skimmers were deployed around the operating zone as an added precaution.
Over a three-day period almost 50 tonnes of material was removed from the wetland. Original watercourses were restored, and the native vegetation will regenerate over time.
The area was inspected at the completion of activities and Townsville City Council has now signed off all rehabilitation work. Council thanked Thiess Waste Management System, Telstra, and NQCCS for our cooperation in this issue and for our quick response to correct the problem.
Although the persons responsible for this act of environmental vandalism may never be identified, thanks to Telstra these delicate wetlands survive for the future enjoyment of the community.
Another Dirty Deed…Done Just Right!
Make an Enquiry ...
