MACHINA

TRUCK & TECH

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I t is one of the most fascinating success stories of modern transport technology: A mere decade after GPS tracking started becoming more widely available to a

civilian audience, telematics has evolved into a global megatrend that will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of commercial road transport.Yet, there is still a widespread lack of understanding as to what telematics can and can’t do – especially in Australia, which has historically shown tendencies of “technological inertia” when it comes to the uptake of new technologies, according to a 2015 study by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA).With a rapidly maturing market, however, telematics is now on the brink of becoming the new normal in Australian road transport, with traditional perceptions of a ‘black box’ or ‘dot on the map’ solution being replaced by new,

more multi-faceted notions of what tracking technology can achieve.One company trailblazing the rise of ‘next generation’ telematics in Australia is up-and-coming technology company, BIGmate. Based in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and with more locations already in the planning, it can draw on more than a decade of experience in developing cutting-edge GPS tracking and productivity solutions for a variety of industries in Australia, and has quickly realised that telematics must take on a ‘big picture view’ to truly add value to today’s increasingly demanding transport community.“Telematics is not just about tracking and tracing equipment anymore, but about using data to help operators make more profound business decisions,” says Managing Director, Mark Shield, who has been instrumental in developing and delivering software enhancement solutions for many an Australian

TELEMATICS HAS EVOLVED FROM BUZZWORD TO BUSINESS TOOL IN LESS THAN A DECADE – BUT IF YOU BELIEVE GPS SPECIALIST, BIGMATE, THE TRANSPORT COMMUNITY IS STILL ONLY JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE.

D A T A E X

Story by Sebastian Grote

BIGmate Managing Director, Mark Shield.

pr imemovermag .com.au 51 50 apr i l 2016

business and is a strong advocate of using

GPS technology as a driver for corporate

innovation.

“With BIGmate, our goal is to harness

what used to be fairly basic GPS data

to introduce our customers to a whole

new world of information that could

fundamentally change the way they go

about business. Instead of just placing

a moving dot on a map, we help them

understand what’s moving it and why.”

According to Mark, utilising telematics

to streamline local Australian transport

businesses is the next logical step in

a fascinating tale of technological

evolution. “Throughout the years we have

witnessed a marriage of informatics and

telecommunications to create telematics.

We have witnessed telematics accomplish

everything from improving health care

quality to reducing the environmental

impact of heavy vehicles,” he says.

“Now we are harnessing it to make

Australian fleets more efficient, more

compliant and – most importantly –

future-proof. We all know a megatrend like

telematics can’t be ignored, so our goal is

to help local businesses set themselves up

for the long haul instead of just offering

a cheap Band-Aid solution that will leave

them stranded in a year’s time.”

Agrees Rohan DeSilva, General Manager

of BIGmate’s transport division, who has

more than 36 years of experience in the

transport industry and is widely considered

one of the country’s leading authorities in

the ever-more complex telematics field. He

explains that BIGmate can collect highly

relevant information like vehicle location,

engine data, brake usage, load weight

and even driver ID and cross-reference it

with data from the truck’s or trailer’s own

telematics unit and any other third-party

supplier to paint a complete picture of

what’s going on out on the road.

“Put simply, our job is to demystify all

those buzzwords you are confronted with

every day – from machine-to-machine

(M2M) communication to Big Data

and the Internet of Things (IoT). We

handle it for you and break it down into

usable information, and we can even do

the actual interpreting for you. A lot of

businesses are just as smart as they were

before implementing telematics when all

they get out of it are spread sheets that no

one has the time to decode. Too long has

telematics just been a buzzword; we want

to make it a business tool that will allow

you to take action.”

With the on-going rise of the TCA-

administered Intelligent Access Program

(IAP) and new regulatory provisions like

On-Board Mass management (OBM),

Intelligent Speed Compliance (ISC) and

the much talked-about Electronic Work

Diary (EWD) on the horizon, Rohan says

now is the time for local businesses to put

systems into place that can handle future

complexities without putting the whole

operation on hold every time regulations

are updated.

“The whole notion of M2M and IoT can

be very daunting for small and medium-

sized businesses, so we want to enable

them to handle these developments in a

sustainable, future-proof way,” he explains.

“There’s nothing worse than investing in

a telematics system and then having to

renew it before it even started to pay its

own way. The technology we’ve developed

doesn’t just lock you out for the sake of

asking you to pay again.”

According to Rohan, the BIGmate

approach to telematics will see the

company become a “proactive service

partner” that cannot only support

transport businesses in the tracking

and tracing arena, but also help with

fatigue and compliance monitoring. “The

difference is that we’re using telematics

to make life easy for the client, not more

complicated than it already is. A bit like

a mate you can turn to when you have

a problem and who will help out with

genuine advice.”

To facilitate such a complex service,

BIGmate has set up a high-tech Live

Monitoring and Data Support Centre

that is able to track and record vehicle

movements nationwide. “The amount

of data available via modern telematics

is crazy, so we have created a Support

Centre to analyse it for you and translate

it into information you can actually work

with. It’s the real deal – a fully functional

support centre to provide any kind of

information you possibly need.”

As such, it’s safe to say BIGmate has done

its homework both on the technology

and the business front, says Mark – even

though it is only just starting to build a

presence in the transport and logistics

space. “We have done a lot of work

behind the scenes to really understand the

industry and the challenges it will have

to face down the track, so we’re excited to

come to market with a new and different

value proposition,” he says. “At this stage,

we have not really gone out and tapped

on doors or pushed to generate leads, just

from word of mouth the customer base is

building quite rapidly.

“What’s making BIGmate stand out to them

is the vast experience we have gathered

across various industries before developing

our transport product, as well as the

professional network we have built on the

back-end, where we work with globally

renowned satellite service providers and

extremely talented, highly skilled local staff.

“We believe we’ve created the ideal

framework for what could be a game-

changing service offering that goes far

beyond the old notion of telematics. It’s

the dawn of a whole new era in telematics,

if you ask me.”

TRUCK & TECH

FAST FACTAccording to Rohan DeSilva, BIGmate’s General Manager of Transport, the up-and-coming company is aiming to win over market share by employing “the most talented individuals” and secure direct partnerships with global leaders in the area of telematics, M2M, IoT, IoE, regulatory telematics and related solutions. “As the world becomes more connected, we’ll keep evolving with imagination, passion and with an entrepreneurial outlook.”

Inside BIGmate’s Live Monitoring and Data Support Centre.

Rohan DeSilva, General Manager of BIGmate’s transport division.

For enquiries:1300 477 787www.bigmate.com