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68 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

costs will decrease, enabling it to decrease its prices PDA: A PDA client was developed to connect to the
and further improve its quality to become even more server in order to allow Mashaweer representatives to view
convenient for a larger number of people. and update their assigned orders via an XML-based web
Mashaweer is the only company of its kind in service. Except for the PDA client, the solution is based
Egypt that operates on this scale. However, there is a on open source technologies (PHP, CodeIgniter, MySQL,
company called Wassaly that was established in Cairo jQuery, Ubuntu Linux). The PDA devices will be a main
after Mashaweer’s success in Alexandria. This com- factor in integrating the operational team with the fleet of
pany operates on a much smaller scale. Their indirect riders.
competitors include other courier services (e.g. DHL, Hardware: Windows Mobile PDAs were used for view-
UPS, TNT, and FedEx). However, they have posi- ing and updating orders on the move. Each PDA is paired
tioned themselves as the flexible courier in contrast to a Bluetooth mobile printer for printing receipts. The
to the couriers available in the market today; they printer is also equipped with a swipe card reader module
offer same day delivery rather than next day delivery. so that it can be used in the future for credit card payment
Mashaweer has several other advantages that make it collection, and for promotion cards. Mashaweer server is a
very hard for others to compete: Linux VM hosted on a cloud solution provided by Innov8,
• Database of thousands of loyal clients. the sister company that developed the entire information
• Self-investment is manageable. technology system.
• Highly qualified and carefully selected riders due Head Quarters: The decision was made to buy a new
to the high salaries compared to the delivery sec- headquarters instead of renting an existing one.
tor in the Egypt.
• Various revenue streams. Mashaweer’s future strategy is as follows:
• Being the owner of the IT company Innov8 fos- Mashaweer Market: Mashaweer Market is an online
ters technology integration in Mashaweer. supermarket that will enable people to do their grocery
Mashaweer has several unique selling propositions. shopping through Mashaweer’s website and get it deliv-
The main two aspects are being the first in the mar- ered by its representatives within 30 minutes of placing
ket, and the only of its kind. Also the most important the order. This will be made possible by having access
differentiator is the flexibility of their service, which to a large number of supermarkets around Cairo and
addresses all of their customer’s needs and requests. Alexandria, so that representatives can pick the order from
Unlike new entrants or copycats in the market, the closest outlet and deliver it to the customer as quickly
Mashaweer have invested highly in the systems they as possible. All products will be displayed on the website.
use. They invested in PDAs to enable the opera- Mashaweer is hoping to reach an average of 4000 orders
tions process to be monitored accurately since it daily in return for a delivery charge of 5 Egyptian pounds
provides data like GPS tracking to track each order per order.
and the location or stage the messenger is located. Call center: Mashaweer’s call center is expected to
Through this technology, Mashaweer decreases the make up an important revenue stream for the company
amount of errors due to the fact that the messenger in the near future, as the company starts introducing mar-
is tied to an automated process where he receives keting campaigns. In addition, Mashaweer is planning to
his tasks through the PDA handheld. Meanwhile, a expand its call center to include other companies other
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) than Mashaweer.
system presented on a big screen will be available at Geographical Expansion: Using the technology they
Mashaweer headquarters to monitor all live orders have invested in building their infrastructure, Mashaweer
and measure the traffic in case of rush hours, thus now has the potential to easily enter and penetrate other
enabling the operation team to react and try a preven- markets in different regions at a very low initiation cost.
tive and corrective action. They plan to expand to other regions within Egypt, in
addition to expanding to other countries within the Middle
Mashaweer’s infrastructures includes the following. East. In October 2013 they will open their first franchise in
Equipment: 130 motorcycles units and 10 cars. Beirut, Lebanon. They are also looking to expand to sev-
Software: A logistics management solution system eral countries in the Gulf.
was developed specifically for Mashaweer, and served
from a cloud-hosted server. The solution consists of a
Sources: Mashaweer web site, http://www.mashaweeronline.com/,
web-based portal where call center agents, logistics, accessed Novemeber 2012; interviews with Mashaweer owners, con-
and managers can add, edit, track, and view reports. ducted November 2012.

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