Fast-growing African multinational company improves productivity and cuts communication costs by 40% with help from a BlackBerry solutionShoreline Energy International (SEI) is a leading energy and infrastructure company based in Lagos, Nigeria. It has a diverse portfolio of holdings in construction, oil and gas, power, telecommunications, engineering, and manufacturing. Founded in 1997, it operates across sub-Saharan Africa in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Angola. It has a current valuation of over $120m and employs over 4,000 people. The company’s chief executive officer, Mr. Kola Karim, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader 2008 honoree and an active member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals.

Key Benefits

• Helped to reduced telephone costs by 40%

• BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for instant communications

• Improved customer relations

• Greater business efficiency

The Challenge

SEI has grown rapidly through strategic acquisitions. In recent years its solid performance has made

it the partner of choice for many multinational companies eager to do business in the region and on the

look out for a reliable local partner. SEI’s geographical expansion made communications with colleagues,

customers and partners a real challenge. In the past, it was difficult for senior management to keep

up to date with business operations in the various countries, executives travelled extensively in Africa,

Europe, North America and Asia. SEI headquarters did not always have a clear picture of what was

happening on far-reaching project sites and this lack of communication was affecting the group’s productivity.

Doing business in Africa was an additional challenge. As Mr. Karim explains, “one thing you don’t do

on the continent of Africa is complicate the matter. Make things as simple as possible, so it’s very easy

for everyone. So we keep it simple.” Also, mobile communications, especially when roaming, can be

very expensive in Africa.

BlackBerry Customer Success – Manufacturing & Logistics Mobile Communications

K1202-Shoreline Case Study (UK).indd 1 15/08/2012 12:44

The Solution

Mr. Karim and his team of senior executives decided it was time to unite all the managers from SEI’s

different companies on to a single, secure mobile communication platform. SEI equipped its middle

and senior managers with BlackBerry® smartphones. In doing so, SEI hoped that managers would

rely less on voice calls and more on email and BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) for communications.

The goal was to reduce costs, improve communications and increase productivity.

The Benefits

The arrival of the BlackBerry® solution has improved the quality of communications at SEI. “I can sit

in my office and get a clear overview of what is going on throughout the company,” says Mr. Karim.

“BlackBerry email is efficient and fast. Just this morning I received an update on a project from

our team working in Port Harcourt, in the south of Nigeria. We’re building a power plant there.

They gave me an immediate view of the project’s progress, complete with photos. And they did

it all from their BlackBerry smartphones.”

Improved communications has helped SEI with greater business efficiency in various ways,

“For example, we use our BlackBerry smartphones to record the minutes of client meetings,”

says Mr. Karim. The minutes are then transcribed and sent to the participants by email. “This helps

to make sure everyone remembers what was said during the meeting. It helps avoid problems down

the road, which can save lots of time and money on the kind of complex projects we work on.”

The BlackBerry solution has also generated significant cost savings. According to Mr. Karim,

SEI’s telephone costs have been cut by 40%, thanks mainly to BBM replacing calls and texting

for instant messaging, and the BlackBerry solution’s very efficient use of data networks. These

cost savings will allow SEI to extend the BlackBerry solution to more employees. “We now have

a platform that creates a value advantage the more people use it,” says Mr. Karim.

Finally, SEI credits the BlackBerry solution with helping to improve relations with its partners.

“It’s a first-hand advantage for us. Our BlackBerry solution is helping us build our business

on the sub-continent. Don’t forget, we’ve come from a very unsophisticated telephony structure

to a first-world type infrastructure, which makes it easy to

communicate with all our international partners. They appreciate

the speed and quality of their communications with our teams,

thanks to BlackBerry,” concludes Mr. Karim.

Industry: Manufacturing & Logistics

Region: Africa

Company Size: Large

Solution: BlackBerry® smartphones

BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™)

“It’s a first-hand advantage for us. Our BlackBerry solution is helping us build our business on the sub-continent. Our international partners appreciate the speed and quality of their communications with our teams.”Kola Karim CEO, Shoreline Energy International

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