2015 global light detection and ranging (lidar ......best practices research © frost & sullivan...

2015

2015 Global Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2015 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Entrepreneurial Innovation and Customer Impact ..................................................... 3

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 7

Significance of Entrepreneurial Leadership ..................................................................... 8

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................... 9

Best Practice Award Analysis for Quanergy Systems, Inc. ................................................ 9

Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................... 9

Entrepreneurial Innovation .................................................................................. 10

Customer Impact ............................................................................................... 10

Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 11

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 12

Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 12

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 13

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 14



Background and Company Performance

Industry Challenges

The increasing demand to detect objects and execute digital mapping, surface modeling,

and distant imaging has positively impacted the usage of Light Detection and Ranging

(LiDAR) scanners. LiDAR scanners are popularly used across diverse industry verticals,

such as archaeology, agriculture, autonomous vehicles, military and maritime

transportation, and security surveillance. In this context, Frost & Sullivan points out that

the lack of awareness about the potential in LiDAR deployment is one of the industry’s

greatest obstacles deterring the market from booming at optimum capacity. This situation

has been further worsened by technology companies’ inadequate knowledge about

including LiDARs in their solutions. Consequently, the goal to provide end users with a

significantly improved quality of experience has been discarded due to the absence of

functionally rich attributes in LiDAR scanners.

However, in order to address the aforementioned challenges, Frost & Sullivan notes that

market participants are expected to incorporate innovative LiDAR capabilities within their

existing range of products. This will help them to maintain a competitively superior

position in the global arena.

Entrepreneurial Innovation and Customer Impact

Competitive Differentiation

Founded in 2012, Sunnyvale-based Quanergy Systems, Inc., (Quanergy) holds a

competitive advantage in the global market for its efficient capability to manufacture

state-of-the-art, mechanical and solid-state LiDAR. The company’s ability to manufacture

Time-of-Flight (TOF) LiDAR sensors for diverse industry verticals, such as security

surveillance, surveying and mapping, automotive (both autonomous vehicles and

advanced driver assistance systems or ADAS), and manufacturing and warehousing has

helped it to secure an advantageous position in the market — unlike similar participants.

Quanergy’s unique, solid-state LiDARs are recognized for their design precision and

proprietary sensing capabilities and have secured eight patent applications. These LiDARS

have unveiled multifarious deployment possibilities in a market space dominated by

mechanical sensors - and also helped the company to assert its competitive differentiation

with a superior foundation.

While most manufacturers are still struggling to integrate six key criteria—performance,

reliability in all weather conditions, pricing, size, weight, and low power consumption—in

their products, Quanergy’s keen interest towards innovation has made the complicated

manufacturing process a seamless one. Its exclusive Stage Gate process, meant for

managing product development processes and customer relationships, has also played a

key role in this context. Featuring five different stages, the Stage Gate mechanism drives

the company to undergo an extensive product review procedure. Stage Gate is a process



that helps in perfecting the final manufacturing outcome by specifically pointing out

product limitations, implementing core 3D mapping, integrating TOF technologies,

incorporating product aesthetics and supply-chain mechanisms, and deploying expert

resources and marketing plans.

Frost & Sullivan independent analysis reveals that Quanergy’s technological superiority in

producing solid-state LiDAR and its extensive Stage Gate review process are business-

critical factors in providing the company with a distinct competitive differentiation in the

global LiDAR market.

Market Gaps

Understanding unmet customer needs has been a key challenge for Quanergy to develop

solutions to complement gaps in the global LiDAR market. In order to overcome this

limitation, the company entered into value-enhancing collaborations with experts across

different industry verticals. Therefore, based on input provided by its partners, Quanergy

develops in-depth knowledge about customer demands in the market and accordingly

prepares its production plan to meet this demand. For instance, based on its partnership

with prominent leaders in the automotive and ADAS industry (i.e., Mercedes-Benz,

Hyundai-Kia, and Renault-Nissan), the company recognized the limited scope of

integrating LiDAR in passenger vehicles. Moreover, the size, weight, and high power

consumption of mechanical LiDARs are critical factors that compel vehicle manufacturers

who thus far had to include these devices in their products at the cost of compromising

visual aesthetics and raising production expenditure.

By introducing its second-generation, solid-state detection and ranging sensors, Quanergy

has taken the right step towards addressing the increasing demand for autonomous

driving in passenger vehicles. Apart from being less expensive than the traditional options

available, Quanergy’s LiDARs are aesthetically superior as well. These improvements are

expected to not only reduce the production costs of autonomous vehicles but also the

necessity to implement any noticeable design changes to vehicle structures.

Subsequently, these innovative developments have been critically influential in finalizing

contractual agreements with global leaders in the passenger-vehicle manufacturing

industry, such as Daimler AG and the Hyundai Motor Group. In addition, Quanergy’s

collaboration with the Renault-Nissan Alliance is expected to help the company become

the preferred solid-state LiDAR supplier.

Quanergy’s proactive role towards guaranteeing the fit of the physical characteristics of its

LiDARs has helped it to address unmet customer requirements concerning LiDAR weight,

portability, and low consumption of power. Unlike traditional LiDARs, the dimensions of

Quanergy’s products range from the size of a credit card to a postage stamp. The smaller

size makes it significantly convenient for automotive or handheld-device manufacturers to

insert the sensors into their products. Furthermore, the uncompromised accuracy in

design also makes these LiDARs less power-consuming than their traditional counterparts,



thus allowing users to enjoy remarkably higher battery life.

Passionate Persistence

Quanergy’s passionate persistence in manufacturing best-in-class LiDARs is based on

three strategic steps: to develop a critical understanding of market Mega Trends, to

partner with market leaders, and to manage the product development process in detail.

In order to expand its understanding of the latest Mega Trends in various market verticals

and learn about the customers operating in those domains, Quanergy adopts an extremely

systematic procedure in following up with market leaders. To start with, the company

focuses on monitoring performance and market share to select leaders from a specific

market segment. Resources like Salesforce.com also assist the company in identifying its

potential customers and partners. In the next step to develop resourceful partnerships

with these market leaders, Quanergy organizes workshops that are attended by leaders

from different market verticals. These workshops act as knowledge-sharing platforms,

whereby the partnering companies demonstrate the key capabilities needed to penetrate

their market spaces. From this platform, Quanergy elaborately explains the need to merge

its LiDARs with its partners’ existing systems, as this can provide clients with a distinctive

edge in the market competition. Finally, Quanergy deploys a task force to gather the

necessary knowledge about the hardware or software support that customers want from

their partnering company.

Quanergy’s sincerity in perfecting its Stage Gate process for product development and

customer relationship management is also a brilliant example of its passionate persistence

for product development. By perfectly combining the principles of Lean Manufacturing and

Six Sigma, the company has formulated a highly structured, gate review process that

instantly identifies anomalies at any stage of the product development lifecycle, thus

broadly enhancing the customer satisfaction quotient.

Price/Performance Value

Quanergy’s real-time 3D ToF LiDARs facilitate a comprehensive view of detectable objects

within the sensing space. The sensors are embedded with up to 300 meters measurement

range, 1.5 centimeter measurement accuracy, 0.1 degree angular resolution, and 30 hertz

(Hz) update frequency or frame rate. Furthermore, these LiDARs guarantee customers

flawless tracking and object detectability, identification, and classification. Preloaded with

a user-friendly interface and extreme operational flexibility matched with plug-and-play

features such as ease of installation, Quanergy’s technology provides customers with an

out-of-the-box experience for effortless deployment. Furthermore, empirical data indicates

that by using Quanergy LiDARs for ADAS and autonomous driving systems, risk of

accidents could be reduced by as much as 80%, which will be a remarkable improvement

of the end-user safety and security.

Apart from offering stand-alone sensors, Quanergy’s product line also incorporates



comprehensive sensing systems that facilitate strategic placement of components, such as

the 3D LiDAR, Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU),

and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for 3D mapping and visualization. Beyond

deployment in the automotive, and security and surveillance sectors, these LiDAR sensors

can also be used by home automation companies to offer consumers a life-changing

experience through the use of enhanced smart-home solutions. The intelligent analytical

capacity of this solution gathers data from the owners’ in-home behavioral traits and

determines the appropriate functions needed based on its intuitive learning about the

user’s preferences. Therefore, Quanergy’s offerings create an all-encompassing ecosystem

that provides customers with optimal security, enhanced energy efficiency, and almost

human-like intelligent support in exchange for an affordable investment.

Compared to the traditional LiDARs currently available in the market, Quanergy’s products

are significantly inexpensive. Furthermore, while the existing price range of LiDARs may

vary from $8,000 to $80,000—the company’s groundbreaking technological expertise is

expected to bring down the price points of upcoming LiDARs in the range of $250 to $100.

Customer Purchase Experience

Quanergy’s customers stand to benefit from the company’s three tenets on the customer

purchase experience: its ability to educate customers about the benefits of using LiDARs,

its willingness to work on a one-on-one level with customers, and its capitalization of

media resources to reach a larger, potential customer base. The company’s ability to offer

in-depth knowledge about the versatile deployment of LiDARs in different market verticals

has also strongly contributed towards helping customers and end users make judicious

decisions based on their purchasing patterns. Frost & Sullivan estimates that penetrating

the global LiDAR market, which is dominated by traditional LiDAR suppliers, can be

successfully executed by informing customers about the superior options otherwise

available. Quanergy has been clearly successful in addressing this challenge by its

personalized communication with customers. For instance, the company ensures that the

first delivery to a customer is always executed in person by a company representative.

The company also makes sure that the systems are in perfect working condition even after

completing the installation of stand-alone sensors, software, or sensing systems by

providing periodic assessment and maintenance services. Quanergy sends technicians to

visit customers on-site and recheck whether the systems are seamlessly operating on a

continuous basis. It also makes sure that customers are having a hassle-free experience

with its products.

In an effort to sustain its exceptional customer purchase experience, Quanergy stresses

upon retaining close contact with its global customer base. By opening satellite offices at

major global locations, such as Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Dubai, Detroit, Shanghai, Paris, and

Munich, it has extended the scope of its reach to customers. Quanergy also provides a

great deal of importance to learning from customers about their evolving needs through

face-to-face interaction. These personalized interactions have made it simpler and more



effective for the company to evaluate its offerings and provide customers with an

unmatched purchase experience.

Customer Ownership Experience

To offer customers an exceptional ownership experience, Quanergy has adopted an

uncompromising approach towards guaranteeing high quality outputs. Price, performance,

and reliability are the three key factors that the company constantly strives to improve

upon. Furthermore, the seamless, plug-and-play experience it generates through its

revolutionary 3D sensing and mapping features is striking evidence of its capabilities. In

addition, Quanergy’s expertise in merging Big Data analytics and cloud processing

capabilities has played a noticeable part in extending an enriched ownership experience to

customers. In the Point Cloud coordinate system, the company allows data to be

preprocessed within the system itself. The critical post-processing and storage of the data

is also performed in the cloud. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon S3 are two

important storage systems that Quanergy uses to address the data (post and

preprocessed) storage needs.

Frost & Sullivan applauds the fact that Quanergy’s resolution to provide customers with

the best facilities has not only provided it with global recognition, but has also created

excellent brand equity. Furthermore, Quanergy’s capitalizing on media resources has

played a key role in reaching out to its globally expansive customer base. For instance,

the company’s exceptional achievements are expansively covered and then updated to its

website, where news about its participation in major events and tradeshows can be

accessed by existing and potential customers. This helps instill a pride factor among

customers. Increased brand reputation among customers has also contributed to earning

brand loyalty and in turn, has created more opportunities for the company’s growth.

Conclusion

Quanergy has been committed to exhibiting unmatched entrepreneurial skills in

understanding unmet customer needs and has simultaneously fused its passionate

persistence with deep technological knowledge to manufacture best-in-class LiDARs.

Deviating from the conventional approach of integrating costly LiDARs in heavy

machinery, Quanergy has focused on producing user-friendly devices that can be

integrated with handheld devices. Moreover, Quanergy’s strategic thinking in terms of

adding analytical capabilities to its LiDARs has also broadened the scope for Internet of

Things (IoT) enablement. These improvements are not only significant from the

perspective of popularizing LiDAR usage in daily life, but are also strongly indicative of the

vast improvement that it can render to the overall quality of life.

With its strong overall performance, Quanergy Systems, Inc., has earned the 2015 Frost &

Sullivan Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award.



Significance of Entrepreneurial Leadership Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from a

company, and then making the decision to return time and again. In a sense, then,

everything is truly about the customer — and making those customers happy is the

cornerstone of any long-term successful innovation or growth strategy. To achieve these

dual goals (customer engagement and growth), an organization must be best-in-class in

three key areas: understanding demand, nurturing the brand, and differentiating from the

competition.



Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts

independently evaluated two key factors—Entrepreneurial Innovation and Customer

Impact—according to the criteria identified below.

Entrepreneurial Innovation

Criterion 1: Market Disruption

Criterion 2: Competitive Differentiation

Criterion 3: Market Gaps

Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy

Criterion 5: Passionate Persistence

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Best Practice Award Analysis for Quanergy Systems, Inc.

Decision Support Scorecard

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool

allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to

the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that

basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;

ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

RATINGS GUIDELINES

The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Entrepreneurial Innovation and Customer

Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions

for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team confirms the

veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small

changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the

overall relative rankings of the companies.



The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the

interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players

as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)

Entrepreneurial Company of the

Year


Customer Impact

Average Rating

Quanergy Systems, Inc. 9.5 9.7 9.6

Competitor 2 8.0 8.2 8.1

Competitor 3 7.8 7.6 7.7


Criterion 1: Market Disruption

Requirement: Innovative new solutions that have a genuine potential to disrupt the

market, obsoleting current solutions and shaking up competition

Criterion 2: Competitive Differentiation

Requirement: Deep understanding of both current and emerging competition to create and

communicate strong competitive differentiators in the market

Criterion 3: Market Gaps

Requirement: A clear understanding of customers’ desired outcomes, the products that

currently help them achieve those outcomes, and where key gaps may exist

Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy

Requirement: Strategic focus in creating a leadership position in a potentially

“uncontested” market space, manifested by stiff barriers to entry for competitors

Criterion 5: Passionate Persistence

Requirement: A deep belief in the “rightness” of an idea, and a commitment to pursuing it

despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that

addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience



Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a

positive experience throughout the life of the product or service

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty

Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at

best-in-class levels.

DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD

High

Low

Low High

Customer Impact


Quanergy

Competitor 2

Competitor 3



The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-

in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS

Technology

Obsolescence

Disruptive

Technologies

New

Applications

CEO

Demographics

Needs

and

PerceptionsSegmentation

Buying

Behavior

Branding

and

Positioning

Competitive

Benchmarking

Emerging

Competition

Competitive

Strategy

Capital

Investments

Availability

of

Capital

Country

Risk

Economic

Trends

Crowd

Sourcing

Growth

Strategies

Career

Development

Growth

Implementation

Industry

Evolution

New Vertical

Markets

Industry

Expansion

Industry

Convergence

Emerging

Technologies

Smart Cities

Sustainability

New Business

Cultures

GeoPolitical

Stability



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate Award candidates and assess

their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are

based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify Award recipient candidates from around the globe

• Conduct in-depth industry research

• Identify emerging sectors • Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

• Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

• Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

• Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

• Confirm best-practice criteria • Examine eligibility of all candidates

• Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

• Brainstorm ranking options • Invite multiple perspectives on candidates’ performance

• Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

• Share findings • Strengthen cases for candidate eligibility

• Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized Award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on Award candidates’ eligibility

• Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

• Pressure-test fit with criteria • Confirm inclusion of all eligible candidates

Final list of eligible Award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official Award consideration materials

• Perform final performance benchmarking activities

• Write nominations • Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice Award recipient

• Review analysis with panel • Build consensus • Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform Award recipient of Award recognition

• Present Award to the CEO • Inspire the organization for continued success

• Celebrate the recipient’s performance

Announcement of Award and plan for how recipient can use the Award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Upon licensing, company may share Award news with stakeholders and customers

• Coordinate media outreach • Design a marketing plan • Assess Award’s role in future strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s Award status among investors, media personnel, and employees



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