Octo Telematics Milestones in 2016
As the year comes to an end, it is evident that telematics has come a long way from its original positioning as a niche market service. It has blossomed to become a fundamental cornerstone of the automotive industry – and not only. The adoption of telematics systems and services is spreading rapidly fuelled by its proposition of monetary savings, greater safety and a vast range of time-saving and attractive added value services.
The way in which we travel is changing rapidly. We are on course to experience a complete revolution in public and private transportation systems and modes, fuelled primarily by the innovations introduced by telematics. And this wide-ranging revolution will transform our vehicles, our habits, our roads and our cities.
Driven by the telematics, the technologically-savvy Millennial Generation, the rise of smart city infrastructure and the Internet of Things, our cars are turning into super-computers on four wheels. Even more significantly, however, Millennials are slowly, but steadily veering the automotive industry towards a car leasing and sharing business model. And we are closer than ever before to the introduction of self-driving vehicles.
This is an exciting new dawn of transport and 2016 has been another year of success and growth for Octo Telematics and its 151 insurance partners, carmakers and rental companies around the globe. Octo currently has 4.6 million connected users driving on roads throughout the five continents. In fourteen years, Octo has collected 136 billion miles of driving data and analysed over 358,000 car accidents. Octo currently records, processes and stores 320,000 data points every minute for a total insight base composed of over 242 billion data points – or 108 terabytes of information – to drive the development of state-of-the-art telematics insurance products and services.
According to Berg Insight, the number of telematics service subscribers will continue to increase at 39.9% per year, reaching over 153 million subscribers by the end of 2020. Gartner Research has predicted that by 2020, there will be over one quarter billion connected vehicles on the road. McKinsey & Company estimates that the global market value for connectivity devices and services will rise from the current €30 billion to €170 billion by the same year.
In the meantime, new surveys report that telematics is actively improving driving behaviour and increasing road safety. And this is great news for Octo Telematics, the insurance telematics market pioneer founded by CEO Fabio Sbianchi in 2002.
So, here is a brief review of Octo’s highlights in 2016.
January
Octo Telematics reported the achievement of a new milestone. As of January 2016, Octo provided 36% of all active usage-based insurance policies around the world for a total of 4 million connected users. (At the end of the year, Octo’s total connected clients stands at 4.6 million).
On January 9, the Octo U telematics insurance app was voted as a Global Mobile App of the Day by a Favourite Website Awards panel, including judges from Google, Microsoft and Adobe.
February
Octo Group Insurance Vice President Mauro Cantoni addressed the paradigm shift transforming the insurance industry and how to take advantage of the far-reaching disruption introduced by innovation in telematics to bring further benefits and services to stakeholders and consumers at the European Motor Insurance Summit. (Rome, February 11-12, 2016)
March
On March 17, Octo Telematics received the Growth Award at the Tech Tour Growth Forum in Geneva, Switzerland for its innovative leadership in telematics. The Growth Awards celebrate the best European technology companies that are scaling and transforming technology around the globe.
April
Octo Telematics was ranked as one of the “20 Most Promising Automotive Tech Solution Providers 2016” by the prestigious CIO Review Technology Magazine as one of the companies with the greatest impact on – and the best technological solutions for – the automotive sector.
The CIO Review ranking is based on the assessment of Octo’s expertise in providing insurance telematics services, as well as introducing pioneering applications for motor rental and fleet management, automotive manufacturing, governmental sectors and a fast-growing range of specialist applications.
May
Interviewed at the Future of the Car Summit 2016, Jonathan Hewett, Octo Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, illustrated how connected car technology has introduced a win-win proposition for insurers and their customers, and how technology has enabled advanced data and analytics to improve security and safety, detect frauds, and deliver custom-tailored and added value client services.
Octo was a lead sponsor of the 2016 Future of the Car Summit. (London, May 11, 2016)
June
The Insurance IoT European Summit 2016 provided the stage for Julian Fey, International Business Development Manager, Insurance, Octo Telematics, to address how the Internet of Things is increasingly shaping our world and how insurance companies should look ahead, forge new strategies, identify new revenue streams and take full advantage of the opportunities provided by an increasingly connected society.
Octo Telematics was a platinum sponsor of the 2016 “Insurance IoT European Summit,” organized by the FC Business Intelligence. (London, June 7-8, 2016)
Vincent Bonnet, Octo Group VP Sales, accepted the “Le Fonti” Award on behalf of Octo Telematics for excellence and innovation in telematics insurance services for “having revolutionized the business model of the insurance sector by providing telematics services and systems in an innovative manner with particular reference to the technological excellence of the GPS data management system that allows insurers to provide custom-tailored policies and dedicated assistance.”
Andrew Lee, Head of Market Intelligence & Analysis, Octo Telematics spoke about “Maximising Value from the Smart Application of Technology” illustrating how technology is transforming auto insurance through behavioural, contextual and driving analytics at the FT Future of Insurance Summit 2016 (London, June 28).
Octo was a gold sponsor of the FT Future of Insurance Summit 2016.
July
Octo collaborated with the world of agriculture on the launch of InPulse, an integrated telematics solution that brings the advantages of Octo safety, energy consumption and cost management solutions to off-highway vehicles (agriculture, construction, mining, etc.) providing greater safety and security and vehicle operation, maintenance and other insight to insurers and fleet managers.
Edwin Maria Colella, Octo Telematics Vice President for Special Customer Projects, pointed out how “Octo’s ability to collect and analyse telematics data is applicable to a wide range of sectors and we’re committed to innovating new services for the benefit of the other industries.”
August
Octo Telematics was once again the title sponsor of the 2016 Silverstone FIM MotoGP World Championship – the Octo British Grand Prix MotoGPTM. (Northamptonshire, Great Britain, September 2-4, 2016)
Moreover, Octo was also the 2016 title sponsor for the Octo Pramac Racing MotoGPTM Team, promoting the key role that telematics plays in technological innovation for international motor sports, too.
September
On the heels of the Silverstone Race, Octo also announced the signature of a new partnership to add four insurers to theOcto U app, offering users the opportunity to receive a range of competitive quotes rewarding safe driving. The four new insurance brokers, all IGO4 Partners, include AXA Insurance and LV=Broker.
October
On October 4, Octo Telematics COO Gianfranco Giannella was at the four-day San Francisco Dreamforce 2016 Conference to address the intelligence behind insurance innovation.
On October 18, Octo Group CMO Jonathan Hewett, UK Managing Director Martin Williams and Business Development Manager Julien Fey were at the ABI Motor Conference to address the state of the insurance industry following the EU “Brexit” Referendum.
Octo Telematics sponsored the Future of Telematics Session at the ABI Motor Conference 2016.
November
Octo Telematics once again supported Brake’s Road Safety Week 2016 (November 21-27, 2016), the annual road safety event organised by Brake across the United Kingdom.
Also in November, Octo Telematics announced Octo HomeBox, a new smart home telematics solution, a self-installing device to protect households from fires, floods, electricity hazards and theft, 24 hours a day, all year around. Octo currently provides its smart home system to several insurance companies, including Groupama, Poste and Aviva.
Octo Head of Security and Compliance Assurance Antonio Mauro accepted the Best Italian Client Award 2016 on behalf of Octo Telematics from Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance for the implementation of ISO Quality Certification Schemes ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and UNI ISO 9001:2015. (Rome, November 13, 2016)
December
On December 14, Octo Telematics announced the acquisition of Mobility Solutions, a leading European car-sharing company, from TRS spa, becoming the first telematics provider to offer complete insurance, fleet management, and car sharing solutions and services.
Octo Mobility Solutions CEO and Octo Co-Founder Giuseppe Zuco emphasised how the “acquisition of Mobility Solutions enables us to provide our customers with a truly integrated mobility platform powered by the most advanced technology in the industry. From driver identification to insurance risk evaluation, Octo can support the broad scope of management challenges.”
Also in December, Octo Telematics launched the Link Programme, a new digital services platform, providing cross-industry services for simple and secure sharing of driver telematics data, enabling direct communication between insurers and clients. The wide range of services provided by the Link Programme is based on driver scoring and contextualised risk analytics collected by the successful Octo U App.
It was a wonderful, successful and innovative year. And we extend the same wishes to you, to all our clients and stakeholders for an even more successful 2017!