Exposec 2019: all about tech security in Brazil

Brazil is a huge country with 211 million people, which ranks it the sixth largest country in the world by population. The number of registered vehicles (both commercial and private) there exceeds 100 million putting Brazil in the top ten countries with the greatest number of cars together with the US, Germany, and Japan. 

To explore its growing telematics market, we headed to Exposec, the large security event in the region. 

Three productive days

Just over a month ago, we had an excellent chance to offer Wialon to the local public. As we had already been here before, it was easier for us to work bearing in mind certain market peculiarities that hadn’t changed much since last year:

• focus on the price of the solutions;

• credit/installment popularity among other forms of payment;

• Portuguese as a preferred way of communication;

• some legislative and financial aspects that are to be taken into account (for example, the highest import tariffs in the region that sometimes can almost double the cost of the product for the end-user). 

Due to the advantageous location of the Gurtam booth and not least the hard work of our Latin American team, we got so many visitors that at times it felt like a rush hour that lasted all day long. 

Such an event is a fantastic ground to not only present our solutions to potential clients but also arrange meetings with the current ones. This time, we talked to the connectivity provider from Chile M2M Dataglobal, our long-term partner from Brazil Global Monitor who provides a full range of satellite monitoring services, Brazilian CDN who offers cargo monitoring in the areas with weak GSM signal, our recent partner Telehelp who specializes in personal tracking.

When speaking about video monitoring which is, by the way, the leading telematics trend throughout the world, we can’t but mention Streamax Technology from China. They brought their latest developments in the security sphere to the Expo and visited the Gurtam booth. 

Video security solutions by Streamax help to track the driver’s fatigue, smoking, distractions from the road, etc. Looks like together with Wialon they are making a great telematics combination judging from the number of people we got interested in this kind of services.

We also met our partners from Concrebase, the developers of Readymixtracking for concrete mixers. The manufacturers of construction materials use this solution not only in Brazil but in the Middle East as well. 

Here is what Esteban Hunt, Head of Business Development, Latin America, Gurtam, says about Exposec:

“Overall, it was a great show. We got a good amount of potential clients. There was a lot of visitors, and at times it felt like we were a little short-handed. Gurtam is starting to build awareness in the Brazilian market, and I think we should keep doing what we're doing. It's going to bring outstanding results.”

Market trends in Brazil

Stolen vehicle recovery

The first and foremost aim of using monitoring platforms like Wialon in South America is stolen vehicle recovery as it is the most acute problem in the region. For example, in 2017, in Rio de Janeiro, the state authorities registered 45,681 stolen vehicles which is approximately 150 vehicles stolen per day or about one every ten minutes!

The government does not sit idle though, and the new auto industry incentive plan Rota 2030 is the proof. One of the aims of this document is to motivate local companies to improve the fuel efficiency and safety of their vehicles. They can do this through the use of such tools as Wialon. 

The service providers here are focused primarily on vehicle security. Ready for this, Wialon offers car theft prevention alongside with fuel control and video monitoring (everything for a reasonable cost).

Driver behavior control

Monitoring of the driving style is another reason to implement a telematics solution. The traffic here challenges drivers with many unfavorable situations from tailgating to road rage and everything in between.

In 2013, more than 46,000 deaths due to traffic accidents were registered in the country (23.4 per 100,000 inhabitants). It is the third-highest death rate in the Americas.

To improve the sad statistics, the Gurtam specialists also focused on the Wialon Eco Driving module and the Wialon-based Eco Driving app which allow preventing road accidents by speeding, braking, acceleration control, drivers’ excessive working hours tracking, etc. 

Off-the-shelf solutions

When the market is growing, the companies, as a rule, want to get the solution fast and implement it even faster. So, ready-made telematics software is also popular. Right now, from our experience, companies in Brazil are not quite into starting complex and lengthy customized multi-platform projects yet.

Hardware

What about hardware in Brazil?

One of the Gurtam co-exhibitors at Expo Seguridad, Suntech, is the main player on the telematics hardware market in this country. Korean manufacturer produces devices not only for vehicle monitoring but for personal tracking and IoT projects as well.

Chinese Queclink is also willing to fight for the clients here and make everything possible to stay on top as more manufacturers enter the market and create competition. The company creates asset, personal, and vehicle trackers. Queclink’s 92,000 of connected devices in Brazil ensure the company’s market position so far. 

Another prominent hardware manufacturer is Concox. They already got 70,000 of connected devices on the regional market. By the way, the 2,000,000th unit on Wialon was connected through the Concox device!

It was our second time with the booth at this show and it definitely was a success. Who knows, maybe in a few years down the road we will be back with a Gurtam megabooth!