THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
24 | P R FACILITIES MANAGEMENT LIMITED
Before our exit from the EU becomes
a reality, it was my decision to open
a facility somewhere in the EU, which
resulted in one of our facilities now
being situated in the north of Romania.
The move towards this part of the
world was also motivated by a concern
for the prospective rise in the minimum
wage in the UK by 2020 – a move by
the government that will make us far
less competitive as an industry (more
on this later).
It quickly became apparent to me that,
without our production taking place in
a cheaper labour market, our market
share would decrease considerably.
We already compete with fulfilment
companies in eastern Europe, so
moving in this direction was a sensible
step, especially when considering
the talent and infrastructure already
available there.
The crux of what we do: data
management
At its simplest, we are a company
that packs SIM cards. This, however,
conceals the core of what we do –
which is data management. SIM cards,
after all, are physical embodiments of
data – data that our clients often place
very high value on. This means that,
in addition to packaging, we have to
be experts in data management and
reporting (the latter being especially
important when we are audited by
large companies). As part of this
expertise, we use our very own
software platform with which our
clients can interface. This software
allows for direct communication
between us and our clients regarding
orders, specifications and logistics.
This data management aspect of the
business will only increase as the IoT
features ever more in our daily lives.
Importantly for us, one of the ways
in which this will occur is via the
introduction of e-SIM devices – that
is, devices that no longer require the
standard physical SIM card to which
we are so accustomed. Instead, the
necessary data will be stored remotely
and accessed via the internet. This
change (which we believe will reach a
significant level of penetration within
three to five years) redoubles for us
the importance of mastering data
management. Indeed, anticipating this
shift is a crucial part of our investment
for the future.
Our challenges at present include
making sure that the SIM cards we
send out to large retailers, wholesalers
and individuals have been correctly
allocated and have the appropriate
information on the label and that the
accurate return files have been sent
to the client, without fail. We often
send out these SIM cards in large
bulk orders, which adds yet more
priority to the task of making sure that
the information is wholly accurate.
Employees skilled in data
management
This data
management
aspect of the
business will
only increase
as the internet
of things
features ever
more in our
daily lives
“
“
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
