“5G and IoT are promising technologies that will provide multiple benefits, including a new generation of smart and connected banking and financial products” – By, Mr Ranjeet Koul, VP and Country Manager APAC and MEA, Aeris

1. How industry is focussing on solutions that are more IoT driven in nature?

Technology is redefining the potential of everyday products. Almost every aspect of our lives now generate data. Smartphones know our location; facebook our daily activities and smart watches track our heart beats. With connected everything, ultimately, we are all emerging into an Internet of Things (IoT) world that is most likely to make everyday life better and easier by connecting everyday products with people. Used well, connected products can boost consumer engagement and deliver substantial value for both consumers and businesses across industries. Enterprises are deploying IoT devices to record and transfer data to monitor important processes, to gain new insights, boost efficiency, and enable management to make more informed decisions.

As per industry reports, there will be 35 billion IoT devices installed worldwide by 2021 and 75.44 billion by 2025. This relentlessly roaring amount of IoT will deliver more opportunities to enterprises to leverage smart technologies. More and more companies are running proof of concept trials than two years ago. And the number of enterprise customers considering exploring new use cases has increased multi-folds. Increasingly companies are recognising the scope of IoT to provide them with information about their customers and how they use their products. Companies that will successfully integrate IoT into their products in a way that benefits both the customers and their own internal processes stand to reap huge benefits.

2. Usage of Aeris Asset Assurance Platform and how has it benefitted customers globally? (Highlighting Aeris’ customers stories)

About 90% of all commercial vehicles sold in India are bought with loans. The repossession losses for commercial vehicles have been as high as 15-20% over the last year. Given the secured nature of lending, asset repossession becomes an important consideration for financing companies in the automotive sector. Working closely with more than a dozen clients in multiple regions as their technology partners, Aeris identified the problem of huge credit defaults on heavy and light commercial vehicles for the financers as a major concern area. Aeris Asset Assurance Platform has already onboarded and servicing leading OEMS, auto financing, leasing and insurance companies as our clients in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Africa; helping them in proactive credit default detection, reducing repossession costs related losses, improving business profitability and enhancing customer satisfaction and service experience with 24×7, multilingual service support by Aeris.

The platform provides on-demand visibility of moving assets by tracking their location as well as utilization history. For financing and lending companies, having commercial vehicles which are leased to individuals or a third party can now be assured that their asset is being used for the purpose it was intended for. This helps mitigate the high chances of default when the vehicles are not operational for a long time or they are stolen during the duration of the credit period. Aeris entered into a multi-year strategic partnership spanning four years with ÆON Credit Service India. As part of this partnership, Aeris has deployed IoT devices capabilities to help ÆON Credit Service India build a sustainable business portfolio in the auto finance segment. The collaboration is helping ÆON Credit Service India become one of the key players in the segment by using IoT device capability. 

 “We are really glad to start our new financing services for commercial cars equipped with Aeris IoT devices. The purpose is to provide service to customers who were unable to access financing service due to lack of credit. We will be providing credit secured by a mechanism designed with Aeris team. We will try to create economic rationality and build a sustainable business model which will help to resolve the social issues such as unemployment.” – Mr. Daisuke Maeda, MD ÆON Credit Service India Pvt. Ltd.

“Innovation in process improvements and financial flexibility is the key to long-term growth opportunities in our business. With Aeris Asset Assurance Platform, SMFL is now able to protect and secure our investments in financing medium to high risk assets, leading to increase in overall business.” – Naohito Watanabe, General Manager , Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company, Limited

For enterprises, who have assets leased to other people or are having a third party use their assets, such as, fleet operators who deploy drivers for usage of their vehicle are also prone to rental and credit defaults. In this case, Aeris Asset Assurance Platform helps enterprises to make sure that the asset is not being abused and that they can get it back and re-deploy it, if necessary. In case the asset is reported stolen, the platform can help locate and remotely disable the IoT powered asset and help with its repossession.

“Aeris’ end-to-end solution in IoT has transformed how SELIS markets electric vehicle in Indonesia. It is more connected, more personalized and with Aeris’ expertise, this could be done in a more streamlined method.” – Mr Wilson Teoh, Operational Director – PT Juara Bike

3. How have sectors like automation and BFSI helped automate processes, increasing connectivity with Aeris’ services?

5G and IoT are promising technologies that will provide multiple benefits, including a new generation of smart and connected banking and financial products. The Aeris Asset Assurance Platform is powered by the future proven IoT technology and data analytics which helps mitigate credit default risks while ensuring security of the assets on the move for financiers and lenders in the BFSI sector, Enterprise and Consumer segment. It is fully automated and has rich suite of features which provide on-demand visibility of moving assets by tracking their real-time location as well as utilization history. Our BFSI clients enjoy the benefit of having a completely automated mechanism for proactive credit default detection and discoverable profile for the portfolio. It improves customer management, and, in case the asset is reported stolen, the platform can help locate and remotely disable the IoT powered movable asset and help with its repossession.

4. Are there any further future collaborations for Asset assurance platform as part of 2021 goals?

Aeris sees a huge potential in the electric vehicle (EV) segment and are ongoing collaborations are focused on this automotive segment. We are in sync with the government’s endeavour to encourage the use of EVs  in both personal and commercial segments, along with the recent Make in India/vocal for local focus is giving a lot of push to investments in EV space, especially in the two-wheelers, three-wheelers and battery swapping segment. Also, analyst predict the increase in demand for the rental and subscription model for EVs. Aeris has been strategically focusing on the Asian BFSI sector since its inception in India. We have done multiple IoT based connected solutions deployments for automotive OEMs, financiers, leasing and even Insurance companies both in India and abroad. Aeris technology brings huge value to this space. Aeris global IoT expertise with localization capabilities and proven telematics services is helping EV OEMS to provide value driven green mobility solutions. In addition to this, we are also helping this industry solve one of the biggest pain areas, that is,  the theft of batteries from sites and electric vehicles.  With resale value of 50% of original cost & no clear identification marks, batteries for electric two, three and four wheelers and even eRickshaws are one of the favourite items targeted by thieves. We are helping our EV clients  prevent Battery theft with the help of the Battery Swap Management Platform. The solution helps the enterprises and even individual EV owners  track and trace the batteries deployed onsite or inside their electric vehicles.