Testimonials Orange Business enables time registration

Mergroup started 20 years ago as a family business in Asse in Flemish Brabant, offering track & trace solutions for vehicles. Over the years, its range has grown more diverse, with solutions including automatic tachograph reading for trucks, dashcams and time registration systems.

This expansion also changed the company's connectivity needs, says managing director Kristof Vanbelle: "Where SIM cards for track & trace in vehicles used only a few megabytes a month, we now need gigabytes a month for dashcam footage."

Flexible solutions 

In 2017, after growing dissatisfied with its mobile provider, Mergroup looked for a new partner and decided to run a trial with Orange Business. "That trial mainly focused on track & trace and was a great success," recalls Kristof Vanbelle. "We also had a good relationship with Orange Business from the start, and we’ve found that we can always turn to them whenever we run into problems or challenges."

He gives a recent example, when a client suddenly had to send 15 vans to Morocco. "Since we equip our clients with SIM cards for Europe by default, we had to find a solution quickly. Orange Business added the country to the subscription immediately after we contacted them, and two days later our client could use track & trace in Morocco."

From the start, we had a good relationship with Orange Business.

Time registration, wherever you work

Since the announcement that time registration will become mandatory in Belgium from 2027, Mergroup has seen rising demand for its registration systems. The company already offered this solution but has since reworked it and will refine it further once the government publishes the exact requirements of the obligation. 

"Alongside an app for time registration on a smartphone or tablet, we also offer a physical time clock, both at fixed locations and in vehicles,”Kristof Vanbelle says. “We always fit these with an Orange Business SIM card. Thanks to reliable connectivity, employees can always clock in and out, wherever they are."

Mergroup develops all its applications as end-to-end systems. For time registration, that spans the time clocks and mobile apps through to the web-based management platform for employers. "On that platform, the employer can request real-time information, generate reports and make corrections,” Kristof Vanbelle explains. “If a client has specific requirements, we adapt our software accordingly." The system can also be linked to any social secretariat in Belgium.

"Orange Business always delivers the right connectivity at the right price." 

Growing together 

Over the nearly 10 years that Mergroup has worked with Orange Business, the company has grown significantly. "In that time, the number of SIM cards we take from them has doubled," says Kristof Vanbelle. "On top of that, we've recently acquired two companies, so the number of subscriptions will rise further soon."

He also values Orange Business's flexibility: "Our various solutions each have different connectivity requirements. Orange Business manages to deliver the right connectivity at the right price for all of them."