Nominations for Telematics Update Awards '10 are heating up. Telematics Update talks to previous winner and judge Roger D. Dewey

Krystyna

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25th February 2010

Before that, Dewey held the position of vice president of product and business strategy in the M2M Com Business Unit (BU) at Sony Ericsson.

What does your company do?
M2MV is a consulting firm that assists clients with the strategic business aspects of the machine-to-machine (M2M) and telematics industries.

How do you differentiate your offerings from your competitors?
M2MV specializes in the strategic and business dimensions of M2M and telematics deployments, while partnering with technology-based companies to provide services. M2MV has chosen this approach because, in the firm’s experience, the technology required to successfully develop and deploy an M2M solution has been available for a number of years; what has been missing is the vision and knowledge of how to deploy M2M solutions, which is M2MV’s niche.

What trends will impact the industry in the upcoming years and why?
There are a few different broader economic and societal trends converging that will have an impact on the telematics industry in the near future: the drive for greater fuel efficiency, for both economic and ecological reasons; the need for businesses to increase the productivity and efficiency of their fleets in these tough economic times; the emergence of new business offerings such as Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) insurance and Buy Here/Pay Here auto financing.

You are an experienced judge for our Telematics Awards. What benefits do winners incur?
I am fortunate enough to have been not only a past judge but a past winner of the Telematics Update Leadership Award. I have found there to be both long- and short-term value in winning the award. Because of the wide audience and industry participation at the Telematics Detroit event itself, in the short term, the award is a prestigious, widely recognized industry achievement. In the long run, winning the award becomes something of well-recognized industry reference due to the inherent integrity of the process that the judging follows.

How has quality and competition improved over the years?
As the technology and business prospects for telematics improves, we are seeing some world-class innovation that has real business value in the targeted sub-segments. This, combined with the large numbers of nominations, creates a very competitive environment, ensuring that the winners are deserving.

In your opinion, how innovative has the industry been over the past 12 months?
Innovation in the space is accelerating year over year as solution developers understand better that they can’t simply push “cool” technology, but that to be successful they have to offer a compelling value proposition for the purchaser.

What are the highlights for the industry this year?
I am a big fan of the growth in telematics driven by established businesses that have nothing to do directly with the manufacture or operation of a vehicle. These would be the PAYD and Buy Here/Pay Here auto finance solutions. Applications such of these are illustrative of the broader potential of this technology, almost like in the early days of the Internet.

Finally, which gadgets, gizmos or cars are on your current wish list?
There is not enough space to list them all, and I refuse to even begin to rank my wish list, as in the words of Freddy Mercury: “I want it all, and I want it now.”

Click here to nominate your company today for the annual Telematics Awards 2010. Nominations will close on the 19th of March.