Motor sector is driving smart data

Scott Logie

Anyone doubting the rise of big data – or just “data” as some in the industry prefer to call it – should look no further than the automotive industry. With the average family saloon now having more computing power than the spaceship that first took man to the moon, Apollo 11, so-called “telematics” is having a major influence.
Telematics typically is any integrated use of information and telecommunications, any data that is gathered and then transmitted for storage and use at a later date. In the automotive sector, telematics is the more generic word used to describe the data that is generated by a vehicle and sent for analysis and management by the manufacturer, or other interested party.
One of the main benefits of telematics data will be improved customer experience, for example:
At present, the data is primarily used for tracking drivers’ habits for insurance purposes, product development and parts renewal and repair. However, there is an evolving usage of telematics data in marketing. Knowing where the customer drives, what locations they visit, at what time and how long they spend behind the wheel opens up huge opportunities to get to build a more relevant relationship.
Every second, a telematics device will produce a data record. This data record will include information such as date, time, speed, longitude, latitude, acceleration or deceleration, cumulative mileage and fuel consumption. These data records or data sets can represent approximately 5MB to 15MB of data annually, per customer. With a customer base of 100,000 vehicles, this represents more than 1 terabyte of data per year.
For large manufacturers, and large dealerships and fleet management businesses, all of a sudden this is a big data challenge – how do I store and access it, and what the hell do I do with it all?
· Location: Vehicles can already provide information on what is local to the destination on any journey; this is already being expanded to provide link-ups with hotels and restaurants to supply offers and booking advice either en route or prior to journey
· Infotainment: Extension of route map (AA, RAC) and offers/recommendations: coffee on way to work, pizza near final destination at dinner time etc. This will allow OEMs to ‘sell’ advertising space in-car
· Customer convenience: By using location information of the car and data from car park owners the vehicle can find nearest car park with spaces and costs
· Journey planning: This doesn’t need to be restricted to the car (e.g. sat nav showing petrol station and prices; roadworks etc); in future the car could match to other services and advise taking trains or flights as faster alternatives (and sell them).
Manufacturers in particular will use this extension of the vehicle to build a longer term, more interactive relationship with drivers, helping to persuade them to stick with the same brand.
Our own research has shown that on average it takes between one and four months after a customer has decided to change their car to actually reach the point of purchase, with half of that time spent committing to the decision to buy a new car.
With average car ownership around three years, a manufacturer has at least two and half years ‘alone’ with the customer to influence their next buying decision.
However, only 27% of consumers reach the trigger phase knowing the exact details of the make and model they want to buy. So there can be no doubt that a lot of work is needed by brands to build longer-term loyalty; data can play a huge part in this.
Telematics will expand and start to revolutionise the way that the consumer, car manufacturers and dealers interact. Potentially, it is only a matter of time before the car could directly compete with the phone and tablet to be the biggest smart industry.

Scott Logie is strategic marketing director at St Ives Group

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2 Comments on "Motor sector is driving smart data"

  1. RT @LimelightPR: Motor sector is driving smart data according to @scottlogic from @StIvesGroup http://t.co/BHGDQuyc63 via @DM_editor

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