---Vertical: Transportation &Logistics

Nilesh Sangoi. eTO.Meru Cab

With rapid con­sumerizationof Near FieldCommunication(NFC) technolo­gy, it provides ahighly affordablemechanism totrack the small­est of items. AtMeru, we usethis technologyto create a vir­tual cab queueat airports GS Ravikumar, CIO.

Gati

"One of the big­gest problemsthis verticalfaces when itcomes to IT isthe non-availa­bility of a readyto deploy ERPEither the fewavailable solu­tions are waytoo expensiveor do not meetthe require­ments"

Ground RealitiesLogistics and Inl118portatioll, dpspile a polCl1liaJ verticalfor IT services Lind product \ cndors, is a challengingone in tenus of breaking it into big lime apps deploy­lIIents. Except [01" a \ Cl) few companies. lac!.. of solu­tions and domain depth also complicates the \cnclocs"abilil) to reach effecti\'el) \\ilh solutions meeling theeorc requir"elllcnis. GS Rmikumar, CIO, Cali says, "Oneof the biggest prohlems this \crlical faces whell it comesto IT j:; the non-availability of a rcady to deploy .E1lP.Either the few available solutions are way too f'xpensive01' do not mcelthe requirements. We realized this factway back in 2000, and have dc\cloped oUl'own EHPthat today meets all our IT needs."

From a solutions' perspecti\c too. thing:; are lookingup with some niche product companies synchronizingtheir solutions morc in tune to the \el1ical demands.Looking at the available statistics. the vel1ical is ab"

Sachdev Ramakrishna,director, marketing,Steria India

"LeveragingsecureRFIO basedsolutionsenables fasterand reliableelectronic tollmanagement"

011 a gro\\ th path and IT vendorbo are hopefulthal as thevCI1icai grows, the logistics and transportation compa­nies will aggressively invest in IT. For instance freight1ranic on 3 major D.11eries of tnlnsport-rail, road, andair-is expected to grow significantly in the comingyears. The MiniSlry of Hailway has eSlimated that railfreight is likely to louch 1,100 mn toones by the endof 20 12, and road traffic is expected 10 increase from3.000 mn tonnes last flScal to 3.700 mn tonnes by 2013.[xperts say that they are already seeing growing aware­ness alllong logistics service providers in India to utilizethe potential of rf [01" improved operational efficiency,reduction of labor costs, streamlining the shipping proc­ess, and il'uproved customer service.

"Logistics service providers have very thin marginsand hence their IT spend is restricted. The other area is10"' IT preparedness, highly HII"ying business processesfrom 1 organization to another: lack of structured or\\idelyaccepted business practices (unlike manufactur­ing \\here processes are faid) common), and delayedclecibion making are the ke) ehallellges seen in thisvertical;' says Balaji Swami nathan, practice head, logis­tics, Ramco Systems.

Logistics and transportation me intertwined. Trans­portation becomes separate entity, mostly with compa­nies that offer consumer centric services suC'h as taxicab or dedicated commercial ('argo comp~lIlies. Con­sumer transportation service like ones provided by MeruCabs mostly use \\eb based and location based apps.Large passenger transport companies aggressively use\\eb based ticketing systems. rt is only in large cargo

70 I May 15, 2011 visit www.dqindia.com DATAOUEST I A CvberMedia Publication

and identifies key areas of improvemenl. This leads tohigher productivity thereby increasing the profitabil-ity of the business. The solution works on the conceptof live tracking, where every vehicle is tracked usingCPS based gadget which communicates to the remoteserver using CPRS/CSM technology. The server boslsthe Falcon-i web application. This application storesand represent the information senl by these gadgets in ameaningful and user-friendly formal. It is displayed onmaps to provide the location of the vehicles geographi­cally along with various other parameters like vehiclespeed, idle time, etc.

Says Sridharan Mani, director and CEO, AmericanMegatrends India, "Falcon-i is totally developed inIndia by our R&D teams, and it brings in high degreeof operational efficiency to companies in managingtheir neet on the move. The solution's impact is mul­tipronged-it helps cutting down fuel pilferage, fa­cilitates dynamic route planning leading to significantsavings in terms of fuel consumption among others. Anycompany which moves men and material will benefit im-

companies with a big commercial neet that technologyplays a very critical role. For instance vehicle trackingsystem plays a critical role in managing the neet move­ment and ensuring that nothing goes wrong in transit.

Early MoversAs we look at the solutions' market, only a few of thecompanies have made their presence when it comes tooffering solutions to the logistics space. Ramco Systemsis one such company that is aggressively tapping int.o

the logistics and transportation space with its solutions.Says Swami nathan, "Rameo has key offerings for the lo­gistics industry like Integrated Freight Management Sys­tem, Ramco ICD/CF for the container freight stations,and Inland Container Depots and Ramco Transportationfor ground transportation companies that handle bothLTL and ITL consignments."

Meanwhile companies that provide consumer trans­portation services are using innovative technologies likeCPS and RHD to manage Iheir fleel and offer bellercustomer services. Says ile h Sangoi, CTO, Meru Cab,"With rapid consumedzation of Near Field Communica­tion (NFC) lechnology, it provides a highly affordablemechanism to track the smallest of item. At Meru, weuse this technology to Creale a viltual cab queue at air­ports ancl other locations and then assign cabs on PI FObasis."

It is interesting to note that vehicle tracking systemshave been adopted by government departments as well.For instance the Tamil adu Civil Supplies Corpora­lion (T CSC) has deployed a vehicle tracking systemthrough CPS. The system was implemented on a pilotbasis in Thiruvallur and Krishnagiri districts of'lamil

adu. ror example "ehicles moving with PDS commodi­lies from FCI godown 10 T CSC godown at Thiruvallurand K.rishnagiri regions, and vehicles moving with PDSslock from TNCSC godowns are lracked graphically inreal-time with GPS instrument fixed in the vehicle forthese 2 districts and the reports are monitored over theweb."

For the transportation vertical, in addition to pureapps, vehicle tracking is a big area and naturally one isseeing the emergence of specialist companies makingaggressive forays into this space. Take the case of Amer­ican Megatrends, which has developed a very innova­tive vehicle trdcking solution caUeci Falcon-i. This is acomplete neet tracking and monitoring solution, whichprovide the desired infonnation for a vehicle owner totake well-infonned decisions to enhance the productiv­ity of their operations.

Falcon-i facilitates the organization formulate andstreamline their logistics operations. The repoltsgenerated provide insights on the resource utilization

Sridharan Mani,director andCEO. AmericanMegatrends India

Balaji Swaminathan,practice head. logistics.Ramco Systems

"Falcon-i is to­tally developedin India by ourR&D teams andit brings in highdegree of opera­tional efficiencyto companies inmanaging theirfleet on themove. The solu­tion's impact ismultipronged"

"Logisticsserviceprovidershave very thinmargins andhence theirIT spend isrestricted"

DATAQUEST I A CyberMedia Publication visit www.dqindia.com May 15. 2011 I 71

mensely. We have done numerous deployments in India,and our customers have derived tangible cost savingsas well as seen significant improvement in operationalefficiency."

Vehicle tracking and the related areas are clearlyemerging as hot areas. Take the case of Steria whichis going aggressive on the logistics and transportationspace. Says Sachdev Ramakrishna, director, marketing,Steria India, "With an average of 20 km of new roadsbeing buill in India every day, improving the country'sroad transport infrastructure is a key priority for thegovernment. There is already an acceptance of the needfor electronic lolling. Leveraging secure RFI D basedsolutions to enable faster and more reliable electronictoll management will be a key challenge that needs tobe addressed."

Steria has recently partnered with Neology fordeveloping and delivering quality RFID solutions tothe Indian market. The 2 entities will focus on develop­ing RFID technologies for various areas where secureand reliable identification is a key requirement. Thisincludes transportation, vehicle registration, vehicle andpeople identification, healthcare and other areas.

Looking AheadThe scope of the vertical is immense making it anemerging hot vertical for the IT industry. But bothproduct as well as service companies need to improvetheir domain expertise 011 this vertical and required toprovide more innovati\'e solutions beyond the mundaneweb tracking. The need however is to focus on end-to­end workflow automation and factor in various aspects ofthe logistics industry.

With the proliferalion of new technologies, bothlogistics and transportation companies in India willincreasingly look at technology as the key businessenabler in days ahead. Expel1s say that companies inthis vertical are increasingly not looking at IT as a costcenter rather looking at it as an investment for higheroperational efficiency. Moreover only few niche vendorshave understood the Indian logistics and transpirationindustl),. Clearly companies like Ramco Systems havea distinct edge in tapping more mandates (rom this seg­ment. Despite that vendors need to provide custom spe­cific solutions, meeting the requirements of this vertical.Looking at the CUlTent market dynamics, we can say thatthings are moving in the right direction.•