A fleet soln that allows the business owner to take measured decisions

BANGALORE, INDIA: Logistic companies have been increasing exponentially, cluttering the arena. Serving the customers and prioritizing their safety at this juncture is crucial to soar high. CK Ramakant, managing director, Infotrack Telematics, explains how logistics is growing and what has been the prospects in the country.

CIOL: How does this Fleet Management solution work and what are its parameters?

CK Ramakant: Fleets are of various kinds. Commonly known are logistics companies, car rental agencies, corporate employee transport, buses – government, private, school buses, trucks, last mile delivery for online commerce businesses. Besides mentioned there are vehicle fleet for ATM cash vans, ambulances, movers and transporters, food chilling vans, cement rollers vans, petrol tankers and so much more.

The challenge common between all fleet managers/ business owners is making sure their fleet is optimized which allows profitability to the business or running and managing the fleet. Besides that every fleet vertical has different requirements which range from safety to efficiency of the vehicle, passenger and the driver. A fleet management solution address the challenges allowing the business owner to be in control and take measured decisions.

CIOL: A lot of similar solutions have come out in the logistics tracking arena. How do you differentiate yours?

CK R: We are a 14 year old company founded in Singapore with the India office starting in 2008. 2006 saw our first customer in Meru Cabs for whom we worked in a BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model. Infotrack sells across 16 countries.

InfoTrack prides in catering to the customer requirements and provides the solutions accordingly delivering what is assured. The Hardware used is of high quality and comes from Israel, Europeon countries and from Singapore. InfoTrack Telematics is also known for its servicing arm and a Command Center for which currently there is no one else providing a similar service.

We work with our customers as partners to increase their productivity and provide a solution and would not like to be seen as technology or box pushers. Infotrack associates with the customer during entire life cycle of the solution. InfoTrack works across various business models where the customer can buy the solution outright, or rent as SAS (Software as Service) model which is on rental basis. For several major corporate customers we work on BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model.

CIOL: Currently to which verticals are you providing it? And what has been its growth prospects in India?

CK R: Infotrack Telematics has customers across 15 verticals in India where for each we have built the process and built a customised solution. Besides known and traditional fleets, some of the work we are proud of is 108 Ambulance service runs on our Emergency Dispatch Solutions . Taxi Industry, Car rental segments , ATM cash vans run on video incorporated logistic solution. Cement roller vans, food chillers run on our solutions where besides tracking the operational manager is alerted in case of any customer defined events based on the defined Service Level Agreemets (SLA) InfoTrack has been in the newly coined IoT (Internet of Things) space since long.

India no doubt is a promising market. We have seen in the last few months how two logistic trading companies have raised money – so logistics is here to stay. Logistics industry is bound to grow by leaps and bounds –a report we read has commercial vehicle fleet: 7 million vehicles; growing at 9% per recent years and it is said that the Fleet Management Solution market in India will double from 2013 to 2017.

CIOL: What are the enhancements that you are trying to bring to this solution?

CK R: Infotrack is trying to engage with customers to provide full cycle solutions from supply, install, monitor and support functions rather than technology pushing solution providers. Considering the low level of technology penetration in the Transport & Logistics industry, we wish to engage customer from the beginning ad study their requirement provide right solutions and help them to achieve better ROI, increased efficiency and productivity in to their business.

CIOL: How do you ensure safety through the solution you provide?

CK R: Infotrack Telematics has from the beginning incorporated ‘safety’.  Our logistic tracking solution has been created in such a way that the Admin in-charge of the fleet gets alerts throughout the travel time till the woman team member is in her house behind the door. This solution was implemented two years back.

For ATM cash vans we have built a video solution which captures records in case of an unfortunate incident besides making sure the money is deposited safely.