By Tracey E. Schelmetic
The astronomical growth of “Internet of Things,” or IoT, devices, has not left the auto industry unmarked. Today, many smart car features operate under the same IoT principles that connect businesses, machines, power grids, transportation vehicles and goods and services to networks for the purpose of monitoring, management, security and communications.
IGEN Networks Corporation, which owns a subsidiary called Nimbo Tracking products, creates Internet of Things software services for the consumer automotive industry, among others. It partners with wireless carriers and specialized IoT hardware suppliers (makers of connected devices such as sensors and monitors that are installed in vehicles) to create solutions that benefit both vehicle owners as well as dealerships.
To raise its profile in the auto dealership industry, Nimbo Tracking recently announced a partnership with wireless carrier Sprint’s IoT Factory platform for broader access to franchise and pre-owned auto dealerships across the country. The Sprint IoT Factory Platform serves as a product portfolio of IoT solutions for its small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) sales force to target specific vertical markets, according to the company. One of those vertical markets is auto dealerships.
“As the result of receiving sales leads from the Sprint SMB teams and seeing early success with our white-labeled Sprint products, we were compelled to offer Nimbo Tracking products on Sprint’s IoT Factory for broader access to automotive dealerships,” said Abel Sierra, VP and General Manager of Nimbo Tracking, in a statement. “We have proven very successful under the pre-load model with our dealership partners, where we provide a value-added customer benefit and a notable profit driver for the dealership group.”
In the dealer pre-load model envisioned by Nimbo Tracking, the IoT devices and the software that manages them are pre-installed into all vehicles on a dealership lot, which offers advantages from a vehicle tracking and inventory management perspective. When customers purchase a vehicle, they are given the option to purchase the Nimbo device and prepay for multiple years of service on IGEN’s customer application platform, providing them with security, vehicle tracking, systems status and driver behavior services. The goal is to provide a high-value service to the consumer and an added profit center for the dealership.
