Media Release
26 August 2004
AA / Vodafone Partnership Wins Major Mobile Service Award
A partnership between the New Zealand Automobile Association and Vodafone has won the top Mobile Service Award at the
annual TUANZ Innovation Awards.
The top award, which is sponsored by Computerworld, is voted for by TUANZ members and recognises innovation, customer
responsiveness and marketing skill.
The award acknowledges innovative technology for communicating with a mobile workforce utilising the latest Panasonic
Toughbook, which the AA developed in association with Vodafone, Panasonic and ECONZ.
The AA receives over 500,000 callouts a year and each of the 1000 AA Roadservice Officers have the Panasonic Toughbook
installed in their vehicles providing ‘real-time’ access to all job and membership information as well as detailed GIS
mapping data and GPS tracking .
David Van Kampen, National Manager Road Service says the award recognises what a successful business partnership can
achieve.
“It is great to have industry recognition for a service we believe will be of great benefit to members and customers.
This is a fantastic example of how modern technology and strong business partnerships can deliver better customer and
member service.”
The Toughbook technology, developed by the AA and Vodafone, was also recognised in the ComputerWorld Excellence Awards
in June when it won both the ‘Excellence in the Use of IT for a Mobile Workforce’ and ‘Excellence in the Use of IT for
Customer Service’ awards.
The NZ Automobile Association provides a nationwide 24 hour / 7 day a week roadside assistance service to over 1,000,000
members. More information can be found at www.aa.co.nz
ENDS
The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the
interests of road users who collectively pay over $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges
and GST