The road from vehicle recovery to insights and analytics

Tracker focuses on its customers as it innovates its offering

Tracker launched in South Africa in 1996 as a stolen vehicle recovery business and fast became a household name and the leader in its industry. Fast-forward 25 years and Tracker as you know it has evolved. The genesis of the current product offering is ‘care and protection’ – in your car or fleet, and now in your home and with your family. 

Thobani Dlodlo, Sales and Marketing Executive at Tracker, says the business is invested in providing security and safety to people, and technology has helped the business to achieve this. “We get significantly more information from our pool of devices today than we did even two years ago which has enabled us to aggregate information and build services that look at safety, saving and convenience – in line with how people are living and their needs.”

While some organisations are data rich but information poor, Tracker has invested in resources dedicated to providing insights from aggregated subscriber data, overlaid with socio-economic data.

“Historically, Tracker’s services were primarily reactive to high risk events. Today however, our services are informed and supported by data, analytics and insights, allowing us to deliver services that are also focused on the prediction and prevention of these events. We will continue to invest in our data and analytics ecosystems across the automotive and home sectors to continually improve our current services and deliver new services to meet our customer’s needs.” 

Using this available data, Tracker has developed technology and services that help people look after their families, homes, cars and businesses. This has been done in different ways, like providing personal safety services, recovering stolen vehicles, offering digital broking services, optimising fleet logistics and now even managing geysers.

Three new services recently developed by Tracker include AI Dashcams for real-time fleet and driver monitoring, Smart Geyser for home contents protection and significant electricity cost savings, and CareGuard for subscribers and their families seeking safety and peace of mind at home, on the roads and in life.

AI Dashcams
Kobus Visagie, Business Solutions Executive at Tracker, says the moment you start analysing data, you see trends and patterns. “From an insurance perspective, there is so much value to add. By overlaying data sets, you can identify the needs and the required services for a business - in particular when using AI Dashcams for fleet management. 

“Tracker AI Dashcam is an integrated, dual-camera device that faces both the road and the driver and can recognise event triggers such as speeding, accidents, as well as various AI triggers, like fatigue, distraction and safety belt usage.  It uploads all this information to a secure online cloud-based portal, giving you and the drivers real-time alerts, supported by video footage.”

SmartGeyser
On the home front, Tracker’s SmartGeyser offers the technology to mitigate damage from a burst geyser  as well as save you money on electricity costs. “Insurers pay out a lot of claims related to household damage due to burst geysers so we are looking to minimise these. From the consumers’ point of view, using this technology allows you to save up to 40% on your electricity bill.” SmartGeyser allows you to turn your geyser on at set times or adjust the temperature, offering convenience on command.  “The business effectively worked backwards from the desired outcome to find the technology suitable for this,” says Dlodlo.

CareGuard
Tracker’s insight into people needing to feel safe - but not feeling watched - saw the introduction of CareGuard, a service using WhatsApp making it more convenient for the user to drop a pin and get help – at home or when out.

Dlodlo explains, “CareGuard makes it easy for people to drop a pin in a difficult situation. There’s a certain peace of mind knowing that you have help in the palm of your hands, a mobile panic button of sorts - 24 hours a day.  Using WhatsApp, one of the most widely used apps, makes it a no brainer – no accessories, no exorbitant costs, just instant assistance at the drop of a location pin without data privacy issues.”

These innovations see Tracker becoming an insights and analytics service business. 

Dlodlo says that they are continually looking at what can be improved or what innovations can be introduced to add more value, “There is a continual improvement approach across the business. For example, SmartGeyser is just the start of Tracker’s home offering. We are looking at other issues like water and security, and how we can mitigate associated issues in these areas. Safety, savings, and convenience remain at the core of what we provide.”

Tracker’s new positioning, ‘We Got You”, translates into support for the family with a single car, the small business with multiple cars or the organisation with hundreds. Ultimately, Tracker helps companies run better during the day, and parents sleep better at night, saving people time and money.