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PÚCA NEWS
 M-platform gets to work at Teagasc
Puca Technologies has developed a group text messaging system for Irish farming agency Teagasc based on mPlatform, Puca’s web-based text messaging application that allows organisations of all sizes to manage their text messaging requirements.
Teagasc personnel are in regular contact with farming groups, farmers and other individuals associated with the farming and food production area. Traditionally, this contact has been by letter, email or telephone but Teagasc saw the potential for a text messaging system that would allow it to manage group text mailings easily and cost effectively.
 Puca’s mPlatform system allows Teagasc staff to create and edit multiple mailing groups, from dairy farmers in Monaghan to a tillage discussion group covering the whole country; send out a group text to single groups or a number of them; send a message from a mobile phone back to the system instructing it to send out a group text; conduct surveys, analyse the results and then send the findings back out to those polled; and receive a variety of reports based on usage patterns etc.
The system was piloted in three areas within Teagasc – Sligo/Leitrim, Meath/Louth/Dublin and the ‘eCollege’ or educational division during the summer. A national county-by-country rollout is now complete which means the system is available to all 1,600 Teagasc staff nationwide.
Teagasc has found the system to be a very efficient and cost effective way of communicating with its target audience, many of whom are mobile workers of one sort or another.
Joe Lawler, applications analyst within the ICT Group at Teagasc in Carlow, says he is very satisfied with the performance of the system so far and expects it will deliver considerable business benefits in the future. “It’s going to improve communication and data sharing with our clients. It should cut down on communications costs as well because it should mean fewer phone calls and letters – sending a text is cheaper and more convenient.”
Regarding mPlatform itself, Lawler has this to say: “We looked at different options such as building a system ourselves or hosting it internally but we felt the Puca system was the most cost effective.”
Teagasc is the national agriculture and food development authority and has 1,600 employees nationwide. As well as offering advice to farmers, it has a research and development arm and also a training and development division, which runs courses in a range of agricultural and horticultural disciplines.
Want to find out more? Just email sales@puca.com
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