As we move into 2022, accelerated growth in the digital market has become a growing trend across Southeast Asia. According to Google e-Conomy SEA, almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic the internet economy in the region has grown by 40 million new users, increasing digital service use to 75%. After the onset of the pandemic, people more frequently turned to e-commerce and ride-hailing apps to simulate the lifestyle they once led, before quarantine measures were enforced. These new practices and habits have continued to this day.
Southeast Asian transport’s shift online
One of the industries transformed by the growing internet economy is the transport sector. Before COVID-19, digitalised transportation was already budding in the region, but with the start of the pandemic, the transport sector’s shift online has sped up. However, this shift in Southeast Asia is still in its early stages and is ripe for growth and innovation.
The digitalisation of the transport sector will require a centralised and efficient means of connecting drivers and riders to the internet. While digital platforms exist today in the region that grant access to urban transport, a single ecosystem has yet to be developed.
Creating efficient solutions with Geotab
Geotab, a global leader in IoT and connected transportation, is one of the companies guiding the transport sector in Southeast Asia into the digital era. Established in 2000, the company has grown from a modest start-up to a global titan, connecting over 2.5 million vehicles worldwide and processing billions of data points daily. The company aims to connect vehicles to the internet and provide cloud-based analytics to help customers improve productivity, enhance driver safety, achieve regulatory compliance and optimize fleet operations to help reduce and eliminate CO2 emissions.
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Geotab is helping to lead the transport sector in new directions by processing and providing telematics data. As electric vehicles continue to make waves in the transportation industry, vehicle owners and manufacturers will benefit from telematics data and telematics-driven technology innovations. Geotab currently has a complete suite of green technology to help businesses and organizations better manage and more efficiently the transition to electric vehicles.
In an interview with Geotab CEO and founder Neil Cawse, e27 gained insight into the inner workings of the world’s largest telematics company. Geotab highlights six key pillars to deliver business impact through data-driven insights and solutions. These pillars include productivity, safety, fleet optimization, compliance, sustainability, and expandability. Cawse told e27 that most customers start with engaging just one or two of these pillars but later employ all pillars holistically and experience great results. For example, customers can use solutions to improve productivity, such as routing solutions or fleet management reports.
Company successes, opportunities, and challenges
Recently, Geotab has publicly announced its commitment to climate action in its inaugural sustainability report. The report outlines the company’s corporate sustainability priorities and ambitious targets, including a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Along with its own sustainability targets, Geotab is also committed to providing innovation that helps organizations do things better and do better things for the environment. Between monitoring driver performance for better fuel management and delivering data insights and green technology that can help businesses and organizations make the switch to electric vehicles, Geotab is in the unique position to help decarbonize the transport sector worldwide. Fleet managers who have worked with Geotab, particularly in its customer base in North America, have leveraged tools like the electric vehicle suitability assessment (EVSA) to switch to electric vehicles smartly and efficiently.
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“Geotab has set its own climate goals and is working hard to achieve them. However, we can have 1000 times the impact by helping other companies achieve theirs. We are delivering data-driven insights and technologies that can help fleets understand, take action upon and scale efforts in reducing carbon emissions,” said Cawse. “The only way to a net-zero carbon future is together – businesses, all levels of government and communities across the globe – must collaborate to reimagine the way the world moves and to leave the world a better place than we found it.”
Engaging Southeast Asia as a tech hotspot
Cawse identified Asia as one of the world’s up and coming tech hubs that Geotab could best engage to achieve its goal of creating a global operating system of connected vehicles. While the Asian market would be a different terrain altogether—something Cawse acknowledges—Geotab foresees the adoption of telematics by most countries in the near future. Data-driven insights are necessary in reducing carbon emissions by the transport sector and forming smarter, safer and more sustainable cities, all of which are in the interest of most corporations and governments, no matter where they are in the world.
With Geotab extending its services to Southeast Asia in 2021, local businesses can now expect its services to be within reach, allowing them to harness the power of data to improve their services and become more efficient. As Geotab leadership notes, things are quickly changing in the transportation sector and Geotab is eager to help empower the region with access to telematics and data.
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“Last-mile delivery and the ridesharing industry represents a significant opportunity in the region,” said Louis De Jong, Chief Revenue Officer at Geotab. “These verticals would benefit greatly from connected vehicle technology. With access to vehicle data, businesses can equip themselves with the right tools to help boost their efficiency and implement more sustainable driving practices – and as a result – improve the landscape of the transport sector in Southeast Asia overall.
More and more organisations are turning to data to shape the future they see for the world, and any business that wants to get in on this trend should invest in IoT technology to help improve processes. For more information on what Geotab has to offer and how you can boost your business with their services, check out Geotab’s page.
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Geotab
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