Truly inspiring: Minsk hosted Telematics 2017

Telematics force concentration, you say? Seems more like a hurricane!

On July 12-14, Minsk became the telematics center of the world hosting the partner conference with a record number of over 130 participants from among the leading system integrators, connectivity and hardware providers. So let’s find out what makes people, for the 8th year in a row, spend hours and even days traveling to Belarus, change tickets, flights, plans, and have presentations in Minsk just before childbirth.

Learning makes people wise; ignorance, otherwise

When it's about implementing Wialon, training is a customer service that never ends. In Support Department they do not only answer questions but forestall the emergence of those. This year, in addition to webinars, Skype sessions, trainings at customers' facilities, etc. we had the largest-scale training in Gurtam office attended by almost 50 partners prior to the conference.

The whole training and certification department was involved in maximum detailed presentations of the novelties in Logistics service, tachographs, fuel management, driver behavior monitoring, and hierarchy in Wialon.

As a result, the conference itself was attended by the professionally trained specialists putting penetrating questions and willing for an in-depth system understanding which makes Telematics 2017 a more professional event. 

That was the first day of Gurtam Partner Conference

Traditionally, we start spreading telematics power with Gurtam presentations.

 Although focused on the development of the new product, Gurtam CEO and Chief Gurtam Architect, Aliaksei Shchurko once again proved to remain fully aware of telematics market development and status, latest trends and challenges. He is ready to lead the company and the community to the future of telematics and the IoT.  

The already inspiring opening speech was continued by Aliaksandr Kuushynau, the Head of Wialon Division. Traditionally, he presented what he knew best and where he made a major contribution to – one year overview of Gurtam achievements, which were many:

• 1 200 000 units registered in the system
• Hosting 4 partner conferences in 3 continents and participating in 11 major industry events
• The successes of the International Sales team
• Company development plans entailing 2 000 000 units in 2018
• TOP-50 Wialon partners globally

...and much more demonstrating Wialon as a dynamically developing product.   

Development Center presented the new team of analysts and the overview of analytical processes. The team was warmly welcomed by partners who anticipate faster decision making and relevant work specifications when they request new developments in Wialon. 

Support team provided deeper insight into the internal processes, interaction with partners, and the novelties in training and certification system.   

Do you know Gurtam supports you all the way to success? Considering the establishment of marketing support concept, we conducted the survey on trending marketing channels and Gurtam partner marketing and supported it by case stories from around the world to deliver an inspiring lecture on promotional tools that could help the community to boost sales. 

Wialon is known as the most flexible, configurable, and functional system globally, so that’s why we want you to benefit more from it and are ready share some tips and tricks of upselling brought to you by Alexander Smirnov, Business Development Director, Middle East.

People need to know the system is functional, tried-and-tested and ensures clearly beneficial results. Case studies from around the world presented by Gurtam not only show that the system works flawlessly but also offer several ready-made solutions and use patterns for business-specific tasks.    

Moreover, Carlos Rodrigues, a Sales Manager from Latin America moderated a round-table discussion on the stress-free migration of units to Wialon from other systems. 

The day ended with moderated workshops on the most useful Wialon features, the ways to boost partners’ growth, business schemes of using sub-dealers, marketing support, training and certification.

On the second day, we created the opportunities

...the opportunities to learn from system integrators, hardware manufacturers, and technology partners. 

Following the opening speech and the day before flespi workshop, Aliaksei Shchurko discussed the opportunities and threats of the IoT for vehicle telematics market players.

The leading connectivity providers Tele2 and Podsystem M2M visited Minsk to participate in the panel discussion dedicated to the connectivity services developing and changing telematics. 

Acknowledging the trending topic of video surveillance Tatiana Kots from Business Analysis team moderated a panel discussion dedicated to video monitoring functionality in Wialon and its potential. The representatives of Howen Technologies and Servision shared their expert opinion on the future of video surveillance and the opportunities for Wialon to enter the new niche on the market. 

To what extent third-party products integrations can become a selling point for channel partners? Wialon implementation specialist Nishad Kaippally tried to answer this question during PND integration panel with the representatives of TomTom Bridge and Sygic. 

The rest of the day was devoted to partner presentations: corporate vehicle booking, machine learning experience, the IoT, Big Data analysis, production, registry and public transport management, driver behavior monitoring, Wialon-based developments were on the agenda. 

 The latest developments were also presented by hardware manufacturers from Teltonika, GalileoSky, Spetrotec, Pointer, ERM, Technoton, cGuard, Mechatronics, BCE, Ruptela, Queclink, Concox and Escort, with ERM presentation turning up the heat on the audience and Concox representative leaving earlier to be on time for the birth of his child. He has a boy, by the way ;).   

The conference ended with flespi workshop hosted by Aliaksei Shchurko 

He who doesn’t work, neither shall he eat

In Telematics 2017 we had plenty of work to later have a great fun!

July 12 ended in a welcoming event – a great place to continue networking behind the scene, bring together all the ideas and thoughts gained during the conference and drink some famous Belarusian...whiskey. 

Moreover, Aliaksei Shchurko awarded several companies which are in the TOP-50 Wialon partners globally. Considering 930+ partners worldwide, this means much for any community member.  

Comparing to a conventional welcome dinner, July 13 gala-evening was the night of freedom. The evening was dedicated to Belarusian traditions of the pagan times and was full of mystery, fortune telling, folk music and entertainment, weaving and floating wreaths, and ritual dances.    

This was the night where you release all the sleepy talents. This day we have found the best whistlers, wreath weavers, nail drivers, dancers, musicians, culture experts, etc. The night where the Indians teach the Belarusians their culture, the Algerians plan to buy linen clothes with ornaments and the Americans play ethnical Belarusian instruments. 

After all, a picture is worth a thousand of words, so take a look at our photo set on Facebook and watch the inspirational “Telematics 2017” video to enjoy the magic moments of July and feel the true spirit of the conference. 

On Monday, Gurtam office looked empty and seemed to have lost something, so we really look forward to seeing you next year in Minsk and make Telematics 2018 even more informative, entertaining and professional event.