Telematics in Spain: results of Gurtam's trip to MWC Barcelona 2021

Each offline exhibition is a long-awaited and rare opportunity to meet face to face (or mask to mask, taking into account current realities) with partners from different countries and dive deeper into the peculiarities of telematics business in a particular region. The MWC Barcelona exhibition is no exception.

The team, represented by Aliaksandr Kuushynau, Head of Wialon, Anna Satishur, Lead Business Development Manager (Western Europe and Scandinavia), and Andrei Liatsetski, Head of Implementation Team, not only attended the event but also tried to meet with as many partners as possible.

Today, we share our impressions of the region, talk about unique projects and sum up the trip. The bonus is a success recipe from the Wialon team and partners from Spain.

How the exhibition was for Gurtam. Meetings with partners

The MWC Barcelona 2021 exhibition was held in a new format for our team: we did without our usual booth this time.

Gurtam talks with partners at the exhibition

Despite the expectedly smaller exhibition’s scale (the number of exhibitors reduced from 2,400 to 1,600 compared to last year), some noteworthy companies from European countries, including Russia, were still present. We should also mention hardware manufacturers from China who heroically made it to Barcelona, for example, Queclink and TOPFLYtech.

“The exhibition is not only a good platform for meeting with business partners, but also an opportunity to plunge into the noisy environment of new products, presentations, and nice booths. All this creates an additional context, the reason to discuss with partners their impressions, market trends in telematics, IoT and related technologies,” notes Aliaksandr Kuushynau.

Meetings with partners are an integral part of exhibitions and conferences. In the photo, David Algobia Paíno and Rubén Fernández Rodríguez from inetum

The flow of people at the event was much smaller compared to previous years. However, we met with many partners in 3 days, both from Spain and other countries such as Italy, France, and Romania. Thanks to everyone who fit personal meetings with the Wialon team in their schedule!

After the exhibition in Barcelona, we also went to Madrid. That visit was caused by the vast geography of the region's partners, covering the south and north of the country and Catalonia. Not all partners found it convenient to get to Barcelona, so we went to the capital, to the very center of Spain after the exhibition.

>> Read also: Kenya and a telematics potential of Africa

Visiting partners' offices allowed us to talk with the integrators' employees, dive deeper into their products, get to know their businesses and teams better, and even conduct Wialon training for engineers and technical specialists onsite.

“The time we spent in partners' offices was most useful for the business development team in Europe and the Wialon team in general. We managed to outline further steps of cooperation and hear feedback from people who work with Wialon daily. In the “COVID vacuum” conditions, such meetings inspire further diligent work and new achievements,” Anna Satishur shares her impressions.

Visiting partners in Barcelona

What was discussed

The partners discussed how their business is adapting to the lockdown conditions and presented new and old projects. They were also interested in the Wialon video module functionality and asked specific questions about the system. One of the main advantages of such face-to-face meetings with partners is the ability to resolve issues right on the spot, for example, hold express training or live demonstration of applications and system capabilities that the partner didn’t know about before.

“Of course, we solved the maximum of technical and business issues at the meetings. But each time, we ask partners not to accumulate problems, but feel free to write to us, plan calls, resolve issues as they come. If it’s possible to help immediately, without delay, then we will definitely do it, and you will get a solution to your question or the client's question much faster,” highlights Aliaksandr Kuushynau.

The telematics market trends in Spain

During the pandemic, the delivery sector and the market of transport companies have become active business areas for our partners in Spain, even though the latter were partially suspended during the coronavirus waves. In such cases, the temporarily freezing units option helped them save the current client base.

Speaking about telematics trends in Spain, there are several main directions:

• Multifunctionality. According to many partners, basic monitoring in the region is losing popularity year after year. That’s why creating additional value for the end customer is one of the keys to the integrator’s success in the market. In this case, Wialon’s multifunctionality and the availability of API and SDK greatly help the integrator.

• Personal data protection. This is, as ever, an essential aspect for any business in Europe. We should note that Wialon complies with international standards for personal data protection.

• Using the tachograph. Tracking the work-rest schedule of drivers, working with DDD and TGD files from tachographs are of great importance for many transport companies.

• Electric transport. In Europe, the number of electrified vehicles is growing: electric bicycles, cars, and scooters. This niche has enormous potential.

In this case, tracking the fuel level makes no sense; other parameters come to the forefront (for example, the battery level and a map with nearby charging stations), for which Wialon is also applicable.

>> Read also: Wialon to help track electric cars in Estonia

“Despite the pandemic, our European partners continued to grow steadily, both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. Of course, businesses could not move forward at the same fast pace as in pre-COVID times; however, telematics and Wialon have been and continue to be a driving force behind every integrator's business. We are very proud of our partners because they continue to connect new units and entire vehicle fleets to the platform, despite all the difficulties,” says Anna Satishur.

A carsharing electric vehicle in the streets of Madrid

About amazing projects

Anna says that she, as a leading business development manager in Europe, learns many valuable lessons for herself from each such trip. Extraordinary, inspiring projects also make you think.

“I was most impressed by the project of a partner from Spain implemented at the beginning of the pandemic.

The partner used Wialon and Logistics to deliver masks and other individual protective means made by seamstress-volunteers. The project was completed at no charge and brought together volunteers from different business areas: some supplied material, some delivered protective means to hospitals, and our partner provided telematics services to coordinate these processes.

This is an excellent example of how people can mobilize when needed to fight a common enemy. And, of course, we are proud that our partners not only successfully do business but also make it socially responsible,” Anna shares her impressions.

>> Read also: Security technologies and the telematics market in Brazil

A success recipe from the Wialon team and partners from Spain

We are happy when we notice that every year partners master Wialon deeper and immerse clients in new opportunities. It’s not necessarily about new releases. From the start, fleet owners often use the platform only to solve highly specialized problems. After a while, they gain insight into Wialon and utilize its rich functionality for planning, reporting, and optimizing business processes. That is why an integrator must understand the details of working with the system to further convey them to the end-user.

“The Wialon team is ready to both train new partner employees and provide detailed information on the latest modules and functionality. Each partner should remember: you have a full range of assistance from the Wialon team (training, certification, assistance with projects from implementation specialists, marketing and 24/7 technical support, etc.),” reminds Anna.

In addition to training, an essential component of partners' success is the ability not only to provide high-quality services in the field of telematics and IoT but also to offer the solution that will most effectively cope with the specific client’s tasks.

“Our European partners look for and successfully find ways to meet the needs of the end customer, even when they go beyond the usual. I am convinced that the partners who are working hard on all sorts of integrations, sometimes individually-developed dashboards for a specific client, are the future of telematics,” claims Anna.

>> Read also: Wialon-based project, monitoring transfers in Ibiza, Spain

See you soon

Wialon representatives were happy to experience the MWC Barcelona 2021 atmosphere. Even though it happened in the pandemic context, meetings with partners help us better understand their current focus and think about how Wialon and Gurtam can be helpful to the community here and now.

We try not to miss the opportunity to visit an exhibition, despite the COVID restrictions. Therefore, check our events calendar from time to time, we indicate all planned visits to conferences and exhibitions there. Perhaps we'll see you live soon!

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