The thrill of wild waters and super-fast fibre
Fibre broadband has helped Tongariro River Rafting deliver a seamless customer experience.
Garth Oakden, the founder of Tongariro River Rafting (TRR), has always been drawn to the great outdoors. In 1988, his love of New Zealand’s rugged natural beauty and the thrill of river rafting led him to Tongariro for a six-month stay, and after meeting his wife Leigh, he’s still there more than 34 years later.
The husband and wife team built their white water rafting business from the riverbed more than 28 years ago. Since then, more than 200,000 paddlers have enjoyed the white knuckle ride along Tongariro’s scenic riverways, creating lifetime memories with the TRR crew.
Rafting and being on the water comes naturally to Oakden and the team, but TRR has always strived to go one step further and deliver a brilliant customer experience. Over time, TRR has added extra services to ensure the postrafting fun is as memorable as the time on the river.
TRR offers digital photos and videos to make the river experience as epic as possible. Photography and videography are a key part of the customer package, creating visual memories for people to take home to their friends and family.
However, creating great photos and videos hasn’t always been easy. In the past,
technology has limited what TRR could offer, and how quickly.
In days gone by, the TRR team had to race to a local motel to upload and produce GoPro videos for customers, creating daily stress for staff.
“They had beamed the internet across from the school,” Oakden recalls. “We’d have this really tight turnaround after we got to the motel, which wasn’t the ideal way to do things.”
Last February marked a major turning point for TRR. The business installed fibre, delivering fast, reliable internet for the team. While uploading rafting videos might have taken up to 2 hours previously, the company can now perform the task in 10 minutes.
Since getting fibre installed, TRR has been able to cut turnaround times when creating video and photo packages. The business is able to produce and upload more photos and videos than ever, enhancing its add-on for customers when they get off the raft.
“We thought the motel had fast internet, but when we brought fibre into the office, that’s when everything changed,” Oakden says. “The time we used to spend waiting has just disappeared. We had a hard time for a while trying to get everything done. Fibre has changed our lives.”
Fibre has prompted TRR to develop its video production capabilities further, Oakden says. The TRR team are now video wizards as well as rafting experts.
“We’ve built a special computer to do the GoPro work because it’s massively memory hungry. We upload our videos to Vimeo and share them with clients, who can download them when they want. So things have really moved along.”
“The speed of the process with fibre makes things so much easier,” Oakden adds.
The efficiency and speed of a fibre connection have enabled TRR to include photos and videos with every rafting package it sells — a great selling point with customers.
Including photos and videos with every experience helped the company win new customers when the New Zealand border was shut, Oakden says.
“We’ve included the digital photos and videos with the price of our standard trips, so
they’ve become a giveaway,” he explains. “All because we can deal with that so efficiently now. That’s an effective marketing tool for us.”
TRR has taken online bookings for several years, but Oakden says the fibre connection has also helped the company communicate more quickly and efficiently with new customers.
“It’s so much easier for us to respond to queries and organise the business,” he adds. Tongariro River Rafting is one of many Kiwi businesses to see the benefits of fibre.
Dean Pointon, head of networks and business at telecommunications infrastructure provider Chorus, says: “A faster internet connection is crucial for companies like Tongariro River
Rafting, which need to move at a fast pace to keep up with their customers. Having fibre can help business owners like Garth and Leigh become more productive, save time, and work more efficiently. Technology has helped them focus on what they do best — deliver a thrilling experience out on the water.”
“Kiwi businesses need reliability, capacity and quality with their internet connection,” Pointon adds. “Business Fibre can boost growth and make companies more competitive than ever. Whether you’re a white water rafting company or one that works in an office, the benefits are plain to see.”