Text: Bhargav TS
InfoTrack Telematics, a Singapore headquartered telematics provider plans to open the track of temporary telematic solutions which are a pioneered one. The company has over 10 years of experience in the field of telematics which develops applications based on wireless technology with an objective of delivering intelligent solutions unhindered given any circumstances. The company contemplates a proposal to have a tie up with OEMs to have their vehicles monitored from the exit of warehouse to entry of dealer destination. The mobile application is built in such a way that the dealer receives first hand information on the vehicle status and the arrival. This eradicates the chaos and hassles for the OEMs and dealers respectively. The same device could be uninstalled post getting delivered in the dealer centre. The value proposition has got increased through this and the company will execute this idea into action in 2016 and plans to get connected with 2-3 OEMs with this service.
Ramakantha, MD, InfoTrack Telematics
Speaking more on this ideation Ramakantha, Managing Director, InfoTrack Telematics highlighted that, “Nobody ideates thus far that telematics could be utilised temporarily and the toss of us would definitely favour our pocket. The devices are claimed as waterproof and dustproof and for us it is CAPEX based and for the OEMs it would be OPEX based. We are already in touch with Toyota and we do supply for them telematic solutions. Now we are also targeting 2-3 OEMs in India. In a long run this is going to be a sustainable business for OEMs as they incur only service cost month on month.” When Government takes necessary steps to make telematics as statutory it would fuel the company’s business and in-turn the society would also be much more organised.
In 2013, a Japanese company Zenrin took over the major stake in the 13 year old InfoTrack. It holds the major stake of 51% and the rest with Infortrack Telematics. Telematics is a word specific to automobile industry concerned with automation of vehicles and remote monitoring. Tracking is not the only attribute associated with telematics but the other attributes such as monitoring the efficiency of the engine, performance maintenance monitoring are also included in this. Tracking is one of the layers of telematics. The company’s core area is telematics, logistics solutions and supply chain management solutions.
“The fleet management which we deal with could not be matched with Volvo, Man and Benz as they have their telematics built in the vehicle. We do service for such segments who are cost conscious and the GPRS device would be a fit in the vehicle post purchase and will not come inbuilt. The built-in telematics from the major players will have the attributes which may not be customised and at times may not be required by the customer. Hence if the business is outsourced we would take it ahead alongside,” added Ramakantha. As of now the company concentrates in transport, travels and tours, school bus, employee vehicles where the telematics comes as a retrofit and the company does that.
The company also plans to foray in construction (CE) and mining equipments and it would bell the cat for the same as an aggregator who would map the needs of the fleet owners and the clients who are in need of the construction equipments. As the construction business recuperates and flows now in full swing the number of construction equipments usage also scales high. When the volume increases the down time, the rental parameters need a hinder less monitoring and that solution is delivered by the company to the construction equipment owners and users. The entire process of the leasing equipment is monitored using GPS device fitted by the company and the output of the same is reported daily or hourly basis to the respective person. By this way the health of the vehicle is also inspected and proactively measures are taken for any disturbances. Ola’s business is scaling high with this aggregator model in place, explained Ramakantha.
For imbibing the aggregator model the company does not require any capital expenditure from the CE owners but the service cost alone would be borne by them. It gets into contract for 3-5 years for doing the same and initially the company would not be able to see the profit but in a longer run this business would definitely fetches the intended outcome. The company could take this initiative in 20 countries where it is established in Middle East, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Gradually OEMs started realising the need for telematics and the importance of players like InfoTrack who would retrofit the system. Ramakantha said, “Markets like Europe accepts OE fitted telematics where cost plays a role only to some extent and will not over weigh safety. But markets like India is very much conscious and let the customers decide their needs and map it with the deliverables. The growth on this segment is schematically represented as 38% YoY. Taxi markets are 60% telematics driven. Ola cabs are making it mandatory. Certain states like Maharashtra and NCR have made telematics compulsory in their school and employee vehicles,” he added.
Coal fleet operators in the mining segment have started using telematics. The weight will be monitored with the GPS device communication with the weight bridge and in turn the reading will be calibrated in the real time. Any discrepancy will immediately be sorted out. The telematics with basic and advanced features are available in the market. But Indian markets stick on to their basic needs and they would least consider the driver behavior and other parameters which are subtle to them. If the government intervenes and standardise the needs it would be better for the segment to get organised soon.
In CV segment the company has done telematics fit in Man, Scania, Volvo and Mitsubishi trucks. The life of the device would be around 5-8 years. The company normally buys hardware and integrate telematic application and fit in the vehicles. “Our R&D continuously is watchful and poised. Every country has their own GPS system and India is also going to have it very soon. The GPS in every country is meant for their military operations and it will come free of cost. But when the same is used for CVs and passenger cars the accuracy parameter will be revised and there incurs the cost. The built-in hardware receiver and the built up software layer gives energy to telematics to function efficiently. In Europe telematics has already been redefined with the players partnering with dealers exhibiting the choices of telematics and the customers will map their mandates. Our current growth is 20% YoY and we expect good growth in Indian market and the turnover as of now is recorded as Rs 16-17 crore,” concluded Ramakantha.
