Octo Telematics has good reason to celebrate today, as it’s heavy expansion into new markets has net it a big upswing of customers, to the point where now it has reached over three million in total, making it one of the world’s biggest telematics firms.
As FleetNews explains, a lot of this growth comes from Italy, where Octo’s HQ is, but it’s also seen a lot of growth in other markets like the UK, as people and enterprises accept the idea of telematics and are looking to benefit from its cost savings and efficiency improvements. In the UK specifically, part of the expansion in telematics has been down to the acceptance of it by insurance firms that hope it can open up whole new customer markets, especially for the elderly and young drivers, which traditionally are the most likely to have an accident while driving.
With telematics however, those accidents can be avoided as speeding or excessive acceleration can lead to the policy of a younger driver becoming invalid, which is something no new driver wants to happen – especially if the expensive policy had been paid for up front.
Octo has also branched out its advertising
On top of keeping the young adult safe though, parents have also been pushing telematics technology as it allows them to keep an eye on their kids. Where they’re going and how their driving is on the way there.
Jonathan Hewett, CMO said; “Insurers are very comfortable with the idea that telematics can help them rate policies more accurately, but increasingly they are starting to really see the benefits of proactive FNOL (First Notification of Loss) and claims management services”.
“Consumers will continue to drive telematics into the mainstream,” he said. There is a huge global phenomenon around the quantified self, self-tracking and wearable devices. Consumers are beginning to understand the information they can collect on themselves allows them to trade that for a better deal or service.”
Traditionally telematics has been restricted to enterprises and fleet managers, with the obvious benefits of being able to know where your vehicles are at any time. However in recent years, as the cost of the technology has come down – and with the introduction of smartphones everywhere giving end users the cheapest option – it’s become a far more inclusive technology.
Other benefits of it have also been discovered in the past few years, such as improving driver safety by tracking information about their driving habits and then either correcting it live with a smart telematics solutions, or calculating it later and sending those particular drivers on training courses. There’s also the added benefit of being able to track a vehicle if it’s stolen, which has become very important for certain companies and farmers, who often employ very expensive machinery.
