Simplytrak, the bespoke vehicle tracking and M2M specialists are to demonstrate our latest generator monitoring suite of software and hardware at the Middle East Electricity show in Dubai on 7th Feb. 2012.

Simplytrak will be demonstrating our integrated generator solutions to the energy world and offering a one stop shop for customers looking to purchase and remotely monitor their generators online. The solutions are integrated with major control board manufacturers allowing both usage and automated alert information to be fed back to the customer in real time.

Customers can now purchase the generators directly from Simplytrak complete with onboard monitoring systems or have existing units fitted to provide an overall monitoring solution.

Data from many peripheral units can be fed back via various onboard protocols making bespoke solutions straightforward. Simplytrak monitor entire telecom cellsites on various continents using this structure and feeding the data back to command centres.

Whatever your remote power monitoring needs, Simplytrak can help. Our new software suite is the latest in the line of cost saving solutions for industry worldwide and we look forward to demonstrating this at the show in February.

SimplytrakBrazil has been a long time coming as it is not the most straightforward country to become established in. However, perseverance has won through and we look forward to a rapid rollout of operations in the country through 2012. SimplytrakColumbia is being run through our USA offices in Florida and Colorado.

Expansion into additional continents is always an exciting time and we look forward to supporting our offices in these new markets through 2012 and on.

The new system is geared around encouraging drivers to ‘drive green’. It utilises a set scoring algorithm to determine the most efficient driving style and then scorecards this to promote competition between employees to improve the efficiency of the whole fleet.

The initiative, which took place over a three month period across three European countries, was so successful that the company immediately ordered the whole fleet to be installed with the system across the board. This is now being rolled out internationally.

We are not revealing full trial details at this time in order to maximise the return on our investment and safeguard against plagiarism. Suffice to say that any company would be delighted with the 18% savings on the fuel bill that resulted from the systems use during this trial.

Companies interested in such savings should contact Simplytrak as soon as possible. The system is now fully integrated into the new software suite available to customers from Sept 1st 2011.

Simplytrak are currently the only company in the market to have mastered a fully fledged green driving initiative and integrated it into our solutions for all customers. It is an amazing breakthrough and will form the bedrock for all additional innovations moving forward into 2012 and beyond.

The Simplytrak Green Driving and Monitoring solution is available for preorder now.

It used to be that we specialised in GPS tracking and remote generator monitoring. Now we also have Iphone and Blackberry tracking App’s for personal and lone worker tracking. We used to write vehicle tracking software for PC’s. Now we write cross platform programs for multiple operating systems. We used to rely on Google to provide new leads. Now we use multiple new media methods (yet still get a large proportion of leads from recommendations).

Finding the time to promote our business used to be more difficult than it is today. But if you have a passion for your business, embrace change, recognise when the goalposts have moved and welcome the advances and opportunities that social media brings then speeding up the world can take on a good form.

But it also makes business more accountable. It is harder for poor service providers to hide when social media brings instant accountability. (Have you seen the Twitter feeds on Google’s first page?) And that’s a good thing.

Twitter and Facebook, Linkedin and Yelp! are out there for all to see. The power is with the people and service levels should rise in across industry as a result.

As accountability becomes ever more instant, we need to embrace that as a good thing. An unsatisfied customer used to tell 10 others. Now they can tell the world.

So we embrace social media as a force for positive change in our industry and our business. Change is good and social media the latest white knight.

Software innovations are generally rapidly copied by competitors anxious not to give any disadvantage to their sales teams. Hardware innovations are less easy to reproduce. For example, when Simplytrak launched our green strategy back in 2009, complete with CO2 reduction calculators and driver behaviour modification suggestions, it was rapidly mimicked. When we brought out our OBDII device though, copying it took a little longer.

That device wasn’t without it’s issues. In the USA, where ideas can be patented without any kind of working product, our unit was faced with a choice of fighting a lawsuit by a major US corporation or simply not selling in the States. It is not great to be on this side of a patent. Much better to be on the favourable end. Which brings us nicely to our latest vehicle tracking innovations.

Whilst I would be premature to announce the first of these actual products until it’s official launch date in a week, I thought it might be interesting to whet the appetite by announcing that both the USA and European patents are in place and will be vigorously defended. We believe that this is a game changer for the industry and should be treated as such. Why? Because it removes the part of the traditional hardware that causes the most issues and relies on 3rd parties to keep service constant. Something that has proved ‘taxing’ for them to do over any consistent length of time.

Take away as many 3rd parties as possible and service levels can inevitably improve. If we can control it, we can manage it.

Launching in about a weeks time, the first of the new generation hits the market. In the USA and Europe initially, other territories will follow after testing is completed in each locale.

We live in exciting technological times. More to follow.

In the UK the SIM card is traditionally part of the lease package. Most other territories in which we currently sell do not do this. More often than not the SIM is locally sourced and the GPS tracking system purchased outright. However customers now appear to be looking to alternate ways to do things and as a progressive company we need to be flexible to a shift of this nature.

Across 5 continents, falling hardware costs are encouraging suppliers to offer one off deals with no ongoing costs. This must package up license fees for mapping, server running costs and other fees that the supplier has to pay as an ongoing into expected lifetime costs. Should an asset tracking provider not do so then it is behaving little better than a Ponzi scheme – with new sales paying the fees for existing customers units. To ‘hope’ that your customer doesn’t use your system for more than a couple of years seems a poor way to run a business.

However it is possible to offer one off payment deals that do stack up – and still not hide ongoing costs. We are managing it successfully now in 14 countries so far. But it takes careful structuring and a real depth of local knowledge to do it with integrity. Simplytrak are leading the way on this and many other areas of GPS tracking and the telematics arena.

Customers should be aware that providers could be selling systems with short warranties in order to get around the length of service issues. It isn’t right but there will always be rogue elements in any paradigm changes of this kind.

Stick with providers with long histories and strong customer bases and you should be OK. But there are no guarantees- which is really the point in a lot of ways.

David Coleman CEO of the group believes that these additions will round off our software offerings nicely to cover all areas of our business and give our customers a ‘one stop shop’ for all their media and software requirements.

‘The model will produce a great deal of cross market opportunity for the group which until now has been largely composed of independent divisions. The move should bring it all together to better serve our new and existing customers’.

Simplytrak can be contacted via http://www.simplytrak.com

Blu-Media can be contacted at http://www.blu-me.co.uk

All divisions will shortly be under the new group structure which will be announced shortly.

In August 2009 we were yet to start our largest contract to date in Ghana, yet to let our full ‘green’ credentials run riot and yet to join with the Carbon Fund to help companies become more environmentally friendly. We were yet to add 10 further international distributors making the total number of countries 31 (32 as of today with Malawi) in which we operate. And we were yet to work with the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer to track bikes in the UK and Europe. It is hard to believe that at that time we hadn’t even signed Blackbox Telematics as our UK distributor.

A whole lot can happen in the Telematics and GPS tracking arena in 18 months. So it is time to start informing everyone about it again.

And then there is Blu-Media Limited, which specialises in all kinds of media buying and lead generation for a wide range of industry. From Bluetooth Marketing to Radio airtime solutions, the company (formed around the time of my last post) has quickly become a real powerhouse for its customers and a great contributor to the groups progress.

Watch this space for more regular updates – starting today!

1) By far the biggest issue has been the ready availability of credit to lend to almost anyone. The lightness of the regulation and the pressure to meet/exceed targets by the finance houses has led to every shaky business being lent money to purchase a vehicle tracking system. Vehicle and asset tracking companies made hay whilst the sun¬†shone and sold third party leases by the thousand. Pay nothing now but commit to ING or Shire Leasing for 3-5 years.¬†Tracking companies took the whole lease value up front from the lender – and spent it. Post credit crunch, the finance houses have¬†applied the brakes in no uncertain fashion and companies are now left with little new income from leases, no pot of money to dip into to self-finance and no way to pay their fixed costs. The lesson from this is simple – if you make hay whilst the sun shines then you had better store some away for when it rains. If you didn’t then you are done.

Now it is raining, the tracking companies are struggling at best and closing at worst. And their clients will be paying for years for their greed or short-sightedness. (Leases are payable regardless of the system working or not – ING an Shire lent only money not the system and are not responsible if your system no longer works).

2)¬† Economic downturn. Whilst vehicle tracking and fleet management are, done properly, a way to save a large amount of money for a client company, it is often seen as an expense! Systems are sold on price rather than value. The perception is that all systems do basically the same things. The reality couldn’t be more different. Asset and vehicle tracking companies need to come out of the ‘double glazing’ mindset and establish clear benefits with a consultative approach, long term commitment from them and serious customer service. Until they do this, the ‘cost’ of the system will be the killer for the provider. Sell for nothing and you gain nothing.

3) Barriers to entry. The market is busier than ever. Almost anyone thinks that they can make money from tracking these days. But sound businesses are not built on shaky foundations. The companies established over 7 years ago that are still around are still there for a reason. Very many have fallen by the wayside in the interim. Those that have prospered and grown have done so through sound business models (public companies excluded as the evidence is completely the reverse). The bottom end of the market is flooded and the participants drowning. Barriers to entry used to be the very technology which has now become mainstream. But they are re-establishing themselves now. Advances in technology offer added benefits to clients and the long term winners are embracing the new technologies to offer new features and benefits. Selling on price is the way to destruction, the smart companies are moving to selling on value and the worthwhile customers look for value.

So what is the CEO’s job throughout all this?

CEO’s of tracking companies need many¬†skills to cover all areas of the business. Their job is to steer the ship through the choppy waters of change. Set the sails right and they sweep ahead of the flotsam and jetsam that sells basic systems on price. Set them wrong and they¬†sink in the melee.