Aliaksandr Kuushynau, Head of Wialon at Gurtam discussed the evolution of fleet management in the latest episode of IoT Unplugged.
Gurtam, a company that was founded in 2002, began as a small startup which has since grown to manage more than 5 million vehicles worldwide with partners in 160 countries. This kind of growth is reflected in the fleet management market, as technologies have evolved and developed significantly since their creation.
GPS tracking, for example, represented one technological breakthrough for the industry. Another was mobile use, and the growth of cellular networks, as 5G has supported greater bandwidth and lower latency, meaning even more data concerning fleets can be transmitted.
The next breakthrough will be integrating AI into fleet management, where AI will be able to process the huge amounts of data being generated from monitoring fleets, so fleet managers are provided with actionable insights without having to devote extra time to drilling deep into reports.
Kuushynau described Gurtam’s platform, Wialon, as a “Swiss Army knife” in that it has a number of tools that can cover the wide-ranging needs of its customers, operating in sectors such as passenger transportation, logistics, and waste management. These tools include mapping geofencing, and driving behaviours.
Notably the platform is interoperable with GPS devices, so that its customers don’t have to be lcoked into using specific hardware, a strategy that it nurtured from day one.
Not all industries have adopted fleet management at the same pace, which presents opportunities in the market for Gurtam. Food delivery, for instance, still involves certain human interaction, while transportation and logistics are arguably operating much more effectively thanks to their open embrace of fleet tracking.
“It takes more time to adopt new technologies in some of the industries with higher regulation requirements or industries where technology was introduced at an early stage, and who still stay what what we can call … outdated technologies,” noted Kuushynau.
Keeping this in mind, Kuushynau challenged listeners to consider the technologies that are out there, and to challenge the current approaches being taken with the tools they’re using.
“My goal here would be don’t stay where you are and move forward in all aspects possible,” he concluded.
To hear more from Kuushynau about the state of the evolution of fleet management and more, listen to the full podcast episode available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and at the link below.
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