Partner Article

Behind the business with Ritesim.com

John Butterfield, director of Ritesim.com, takes Bdaily behind the business.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

How best to use your mobile when abroad, be it business or leisure, is confusing for a lot of travellers. Many find it daunting and return from their holiday to an extortionate mobile phone bill. There are a number of companies offering different mobile solutions, but Ritesim.com is the only company in the UK to supply local pay-as-you-go sim cards to those travelling abroad. Having just launched in July 2012, our key challenge is differentiating ourselves from other businesses offering mobile solutions to ensure travellers understand the different options available.

To keep it simple, we launched Sim Expert in November, an online service to help our customers pick the best sim card or communication package depending on their usage. This has really helped educate our customers and differentiate Ritesim.com in the mobile market.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

Since launching in July, we have already increased the number of countries we offer local sim cards to. We now offer local sims to 49 countries and have met our goal of covering 90% of the world’s travel by the end of 2012 providing sims for countries that previously have been tricky to navigate such as India and Dubai.

What is your main focus for the coming year?

We will continue to increase the number of countries that we offer local sim cards for in 2013. Being a start-up company, we aim to increase sales and drive repeat business from loyal globetrotters. We believe that once someone has used Ritesim.com once and realises the ease and savings involved, they will continue to come back and use local sims for all their trips.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone just starting out in business, or is currently operating within your industry sector, what would it be?

We live in a fast paced world where communication is key – both socially and in business. The rise in social media means the way in which people communicate and go about their daily life is constantly evolving. To run a successful business, it is essential to evolve with it and embrace it.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in your region or generally, and where your organisation sits within it?

As I mentioned in the previous question, the rise in social media means that people are always connected and in communication. Gone are the days that people would ‘switch off’ at the weekend or on holiday; it is now quite normal to be checking emails or writing a status update on Facebook while talking to your wife over dinner. By offering an affordable mobile solution for people travelling abroad means that travellers need no longer worry about talking to friends back home or checking their emails while they’re out the country, as they won’t be stung with high charges.

Having worked abroad for the past few years, myself and my business partner noticed this gap in the market and wanted to provide a solution to help leisure and business travellers like ourselves

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .