A Summary of Customers’ Willingness to Pay, Switching Behaviour, and Perceptions
Brazil and Mexico, key developing nations in the Americas, have tremendous potential in terms of tapping the growth opportunities in the intelligent transport and mobility space. Both the countries have extensive networks of roads and highways, with people relying primarily on road transport as the railway networks are neither wide nor sophisticated. Governments are making substantial investments into the transport and mobility sectors to modernize solutions for improving overall road/public safety and promoting sustainability by reducing vehicle emissions.
Fleets view telematics as key a technology advancement that helps in increasing fleet efficiency and improving overall road safety. However, fleets in Brazil and Mexico face certain challenges that make them question the potential benefits of the technology. Fleet choices for telematics solutions are largely based on their ability to reduce operating costs and improve fleet safety. Fleets in Brazil and Mexico are looking to invest in fleet management systems that can take preventive measures for promoting the vehicle and public safety and generate a high return on investment (ROI) within a short payback period through efficient operations. More than half of the fleets in these countries demonstrate a strong preference for vehicle safety and driver and driver behaviour management, underlining the rising importance of accident reduction and fleet efficiency enhancement. Fleet operators widely perceive safety, security, and fleet maintenance as posing the biggest challenge for fleet operators. Therefore, future telematics solutions will need to offer more video-based services with fatigue monitoring to combat these issues.
Although telematics solutions offer a host of benefits and an attractive ROI that fleet managers are aware of, they are still perceived as expensive and comes with a complex purchasing procedure. Thus, flexible, attractive business models should be offered to offset the cost concerns associated with fleet telematics. Fleet operators are willing to invest in fleet management solutions based on a wide range of criteria, with cost-effectiveness and reliability (24/7 support) being reported to be the dominant influencers while choosing telematics vendors. According to the customer survey, aftermarket vendors are expected to be the most preferred providers for fleet telematics solutions in future, particularly amongst non-telematics users; with telematics users being more open to trying both aftermarket and OEM solutions. Small fleets prefer plug and play devices, whereas larger companies tend to prefer more comprehensive CAN-based services. Ease of use, reliability, and cost will be the key parameters for choosing telematics vendors. The report further provides several interesting perceptions and viewpoints that fleets in both the Latin American countries have. It also explores the differences and commonalities between the two nations in terms of their preferences, desirability, and acceptance of telematics solutions.
