So much going on!

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.

Simplytrak are pleased to announce two new S.American distributorships, expanding our overseas operations further in the region. SimplytrakBrazil and SimplytrakColumbia offices both open before Christmas 2011. Both countries will be selling the full range of vehicle tracking, asset tracking, generator monitoring and other GPS tracking related products.

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.

Simplytrak recently completed a major trial of our new driver behaviour monitoring systems in Europe with a blue chip document management company as part of their green initiative. The results were astounding – surprising even us!

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.

Simplytrak, the Gps tracking, generator monitoring, cellsite monitoring and asset tracking specialists… are expanding again. The group, which already encompasses tracking and telematics, a media arm, M2M sim specialists, a property company and a generator monitoring specialist division is to add cross platform app development and SEO arms.

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.

OK, so it has been a while since I blogged and there is certainly some catching up to do. When I last checked in Simplytrak was still predominantly a vehicle tracking and lone worker tracking company. We had interests in a lot of countries but integrated generator monitoring, mobile phone tracking and mobile phone apps were fairly new to us.

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!

Simplytrak have long been established as one of the most adaptive companies in the industry. In fact, this industry moves so quickly sometimes we wonder how any of the larger companies in the marketplace can ever expect to make any money at all – with the speed at which the leviathons take to turn.

Back in the day, GSM and GPS were the way to go for the originators of this industry. Add to that basic locally held mapping software, dedicated PC’s and single or multiple dial up modems and it might as well have had a hamster running in a wheel shouting instructions to the user. But back then it was all that there was. Then came broadband and GPRS. With broadband came faster Internet and with GPRS came multi-unit updating. ‘Live’ tracking became more, well, live – though many companies charged extra for faster updating. Faster than the 10 minutes that you got when you signed up to headline rates anyway!

Customers changed from logistics companies to white van man, from the courier to the service engineer. Nowadays sales fleets and landscape gardeners are just as likely to have vehicle tracking as Eddie Stobart; Peninsula Business Services as likely as UPS. But it is not just about vehicles anymore either. All kinds of assets from trailers to generators, horseboxes to caravans are tracked too.

Software is expected to be 100% web accessible now. Google maps and Virtual Earth with satellite and street views are more likely to be found than maps held on local computers. Everyone logs in via username and password protected web pages. Software is old hat and java rules the waves.

Third party lease providers, ING, Shire and GE Capital have had their cake throughout the history of tracking. Now that credit is crunched and companies that relied on up front income have fallen thick and fast. It is the sort of radical change that big companies can struggle with, yet the smaller and more agile quickly adapt.

CanBus has become more standardised too. Over-revving, harsh braking and impact sensing are all possible. Now Formula 1 telematics is starting to hit the mainstream. If this pace keeps up then you can expect to be dialled in to on-board camera action before you know it.

And all this has happened within a few short years. Sea changes in methodology, hardware and software, financing, data delivery and in-vehicle information. Faster, everything must be faster. And that is the key and the reason that the big players will always struggle. What they do best is sales. However, with so many niche players offering specialised services now, their traditional market is squeezed and adaptation is difficult.You cannot turn an oil tanker around on a dime.

The old business models no longer work now. Only the swift will survive. Consolidation has been mooted as the way forward. But we don’t think so. Specialisation is the way to go. The market is more likely to be dominated by niche players than leviathons by the end of this decade… and the end of this decade is just around the corner.

If you think you have seen the last of the big names disappearing then think again. Watch out for the specialist providers. They are the ones to fear.

Following on from a number of recent distribution contracts signed for individual countries on the African continent, Simplytrak have recently signed up a Master Distributor for the whole region.

Africa and Simplytrak are developing a long and fruitful relationship based on distributors meeting strict criteria for representing the company in their individual countries. These criteria include minimum standards of customer service, price levels, authorised use of the Simplytrak brand name and minimum quarterly order levels. “The model had far proved successful in seven African countries and so we felt it was time to bring them together under one umbrella” said David Coleman, joint CEO.”We were already active in Ghana, Nigeria, Libya, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Tunisia. It made sense to sign a Master Agreement to allow for more efficient distribution of products on the continent and to assist in supporting our successful regional resellers” he continued.

In signing the new agency, Simplytrak aim to increase penetration of the continent by both selling in additional countries and increasing sales in those already established. The new Distributorship will cover all Simplytrak products from the stolen vehicle systems through to the advanced fleet management and generator products that have all been developed in house. Simplytrak Asset Managers, the new Master Distributor, are based in a number of African Nations and have strong relationships with a number of Government agencies and industry groups. They are particularly strong in the oil, banking and mining sectors.

Simplytrak Asset Managers can be contacted via the website www.simplytrakassetmanagers.com

Simplytrak can be contacted via www.simplytrak.com