In my blog post earlier this week, I mentioned that it’s important to remember that all of this discussion about convergence is not just about the equipment or the “promised land” of a single box. An information flood coming from these “connected” devices poses the added challenge of how to derive valuable insights from the data. Since most in-vehicle devices weren’t designed with interoperability in mind, the data silo problem is only getting worse.

An open and connected platform ensures that true convergence can occur across technology, data and services—allowing fleet managers to seamlessly integrate a multitude of solutions and obtain a holistic view of the vehicle, driver and operational performance. The result is a converged infrastructure that reduces total cost of ownership, minimizes interoperability issues between in-vehicle devices and opens up new frontiers for data-driven decision-making based upon new, actionable intelligence.

The Promised Land is Now a Reality

The good news is that the “promised land” is no longer a promise. It’s reality. And, it’s come at the perfect time since our industry is facing its biggest telematics technology disruption …

By 2023, 71% of today’s connected fleet vehicles will face obsolete connected on-board devices from the decommissioning of 2G and 3G networks.*

With today’s solution, you can ditch the complexity and rely on convergence – the opportunity to bring your data, telematics devices and connectivity touchpoints into a common hardware and data platform. A platform that combines video safety with compliance, tracking, smart sensors and advanced analytics – in a single box that powers it all. As a result, you can:

• Lower technology costs and complexity by reducing the number of on-board systems
• Improve operational results with a unified single source of truth of driving metrics and performance—no matter who (or what) is doing the driving
• Add or upgrade capabilities incrementally, as it makes sense to transition services to a converged platform
• Be well positioned for future in-vehicle capabilities, like understanding driver readiness as vehicles become more autonomous

With convergence, fleets are increasingly likely to consume telematics data across a variety of mobile devices, creating additional opportunity to tap the power of applications that are powered by, and benefit from, a unified data trove. Convergence gives fleets the freedom to replace redundant equipment and on-board hardwired connections, along with the ability to choose best-of-breed solutions from any provider. Fleets that choose converged technology are in the best position to reap the benefits of integrated data streams today, and will be prepared to implement new, advanced solutions introduced in the future.

If you’re going to be replacing multiple black boxes, why not simply replace it with one? And, while you’re at it, why not take advantage of rolling out best-of-breed solutions as contract timing occurs and your operational realities allow?

Learn more about the power of convergence or contact us today.

*Market Insight: Implications of 2G and 3G Switch-Off on IoT Project Planning. Gartner.

With more than 25 years of technology and leadership experience as an entrepreneur and technology thought leader, SmartDrive CTO Ray Ghanbari, has a deep understanding of analytics and data-driven value creation across multiple industries. Most recently, Ray was VP, Product Development for FICO. Previously, he was the CTO and EVP of Product Development for PatientSafe Solutions, EVP Strategy and Products for Vital Images, CTO at Ingenix (a $1.3B subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group) and CTO for the Performance Marketing division of Yahoo! Ray earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. In addition, he earned a Master of Science degree in physics from Cambridge University in England and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana.