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Vodafone Business and Geotab have agreed a strategic collaboration to create a new fleet management tool.

The partnership combines Vodafone’s automotive connectivity and service delivery capabilities and its expertise in vehicle safety and security with Geotab’s open telematics platform to create Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics.

This will give fleet customers access to vehicle data and insights to monitor and enhance the safety, performance and security of their drivers.

Ric Vicari, Vodafone Automotive head of sales, Northern Europe, said: “We’re effectively in the transition as a business moving from ‘more than mobile’ or a telecommunications company to
becoming a technology company.”

Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics will allow organisations to develop shared mobility solutions, where companies rent their vehicles to the public or other businesses when not in use.

Vicari said this has possibilities for fleet in a range of sectors, such as car rental and leasing, utilities, construction and heavy equipment management.

Telematics solutions can help fleets reduce fuel consumption and carbon footprint by up to 30% with driver behaviour improvements, as well as improve safety and help reduce insurance premiums.

Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics dashboards will show an overall picture of the fleet, as well as information like speed scores, road type scores, acceleration and braking scores, as well as data on time spent idle.

Telemetry information includes mileage tracking through the odometer, fuel levels and consumption, battery status on plug-in vehicles, as well as speed, revolutions per minute (rpm) and engine coolant temperatures.

Vodafone had been working on its fleet telematics offering for the past two years and after initial success in the market it looked at partnering with the right business to speed up growth.

Vicari says the collaboration between the two companies will see development on engineering, operations, device manufacturing and consultancy on a global scale.

Vodafone is able to offer ‘plug and play’ telematics solutions, as well as hardwired telematics solutions dependent on customer needs.

Vodafone already has approximately 640 million mobile customers, 89 million customers with connected IoT SIMs, 20 million of which are in connected cars. It is going to use its brand recognition and experience in industry over the past 34 years to boost growth in the fleet telematics market.

Vicari said: “We’ve been a leading force in the change towards connected mobility, leading the market on areas like insurance-based telematics and vehicle tracking.

“We’re now looking to build our presence in the fleet analytics market and the collaboration with Geotab is the next phase of that.”

Vicari said fleets are undergoing major changes, whether that’s switching to electric vehicles, or changing their mix of funding options for vehicles through contract hire, rental or moving to business mobility services.

He said fleet telematics is no longer just about operational efficiencies, but about creating a platform that can address multiple mobility needs.

Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics will look for growth in the fleet market from fleets all across the board, from those with around 20 vehicles, to medium-sized fleets with up to 500 vehicles, to large corporates with thousands of vehicles.

Vicari said the collaboration between Vodafone and Geotab means that rather than having to focus on one area of the market, they can develop solutions for all sizes of businesses.

Fleets can choose a from a modular system to tailor Fleet Analytics services to meet their needs.

This includes customisable dashboards, fleet safety and driving style reports, fleet location-based services, crash, claims and emergencies, maintenance and fleet telemetry.

Fleets can also decide if they want a plug-and-play solution, or if they want Vodafone to handle installed telematics.

Fleets can also install and manage telematics installation themselves if they prefer and manage the lifecycle online through a fleet portal interface.

He said: “With new customers it’s a step-by- step process where we discuss their requirements and pain points and then we formulate what technology solutions would be best suited to help solve those issues.

“We’re open for business to deliver solutions now and we’re in advanced discussions with some major customers already.

“Even for those that might already have a telematics supplier, we’re hoping to have discussions with fleets to discuss their requirements and how we might be able to help provide a solution best suited to their business now and in the future.”

For more information visit www.vodafone.com/business/iot or email salesuk.telematics@vodafone.com

A Tier One partner to major manufacturers in Europe and Asia

Ric Vicari, head of sales, Vodafone Automotive Northern Europe

Vodafone Automotive is a leading provider of automotive products and services – including in-car telematics, stolen vehicle recovery, usage-based insurance and fleet solutions.

The company brings together unrivalled expertise, end-to-end service delivery and a comprehensive range of solutions delivering world-class connected car services and products for the automotive (both factory and aftermarket installation), fleet and insurance industries.

Operating in nine countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and employing more than 900 people, Vodafone Automotive operates through distributors, licensees and national service providers.

 Customers of our stolen vehicle tracking and location-based services include insurance companies and 35 leading vehicle manufacturers. 

Vodafone Automotive is a Tier One partner to the main European and Asian car, truck and motorcycle manufacturers, developing bespoke solutions: anti-theft, parking assistance and telematics systems. It is also a part of the Vodafone Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio, which enables the exchange of real-time information.

 To continue to provide a best-in-class service, Vodafone has partnered with Geotab, bringing together Geotab’s open fleet platform capabilities and Vodafone Automotive’s expertise in vehicle safety and security, powered by Vodafone’s global IoT network, operations and service delivery. As a result, Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics launched this September.