Global fleet and mobile asset management solutions provider MiX Telematics Africa is reaping the benefits of a strategic collaboration with business intelligence (BI) firm Apex BI, which helped it to control and monitor its telecommunications expenditure.
Apex BI provides technology expense management solutions to all sectors of the market, including telecom carriers and service providers.
Through the four-year collaboration, MiX deployed Apex BI’s cloud-based data analytics platform Clarity, to enable the efficient management of SIM cards used in telematics devices in order to transmit vehicle data.
Clarity aggregates the data from MiX’s internal customer relations management systems, call detail record feed, and the monthly invoice files of all its suppliers, to help the company better understand and manage its telecoms expenditure, streamlining operations and reducing risk.
Regan Erasmus, operations director at Apex BI, says MiX wanted a platform to efficiently monitor, control and manage the vast number of SIM cards in its heterogeneous environment.
“The solution was what we refer to as ‘the power of knowing’ – essentially a way to integrate all the data into a single software platform where it can be analysed in order to provide real, meaningful business intelligence for the client.”
MiX is a global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions, delivered as software-as-a-service to more than 714 000 subscribers in over 120 countries. The company designs mobile applications and services for consumers and fleet managers on the move, to keep track of their vehicles, drivers and other mobile assets at all times.
These services include crash alert, road-side assistance, Internet tracking and GPS Logbook, which all rely on telematics devices to collect and transmit data to the MiX data centres across the globe.
A vast number of smart devices, including in-vehicle telematics devices, connect to the Internet via the GSM networks, and each require a SIM card in order to transmit data, creating a significant management challenge.
Clarity aggregates the data from the total universe of MiX SIM cards, issued by different mobile network providers across the continent.
As a result, MiX says it has a more efficient system to consolidate and process on-billing charges to the client.
The platform has helped to eliminate manual processing of information and made the automated analysis of this information attainable in order to provide critical operational and financial insights, notes the company.
“We have been using Apex BI’s Clarity platform for more than four years, and for me the greatest benefit is not just the ability to control and manage our sizeable and increasing number of SIM cards, but also that we have the capability to retain that control into the future,” says Gert Pretorius, MD of MiX Telematics Africa.
“Clarity is helping us to drive down costs while delivering a better and more cost-effective service to our clients.”
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