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Local telematics market has room to grow, says new Cartrack South Africa CEO

Harry Louw

Harry Louw

4th April 2019

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Global telematics group Cartrack has appointed Harry Louw as the new CEO for its South African business.

Louw is the former CEO of rival Netstar.

Louw says he spent ten months at home last year following his early retirement, with “boredom urging him to seek out a new challenge”.

He joined Cartrack at the end of January, where he assumed responsibility for the South Africa and Namibia markets.

“Cartrack is experiencing abnormal growth at the moment. Its compound annual growth rate in South Africa has been around 25% for the last four to five years,” notes Louw.

With such growth figures, as well as taking into account Cartrack’s entrepreneurial culture, Louw’s 23 years of management experience is expected to enhance efficiency in the business and assist in growing it further.

“I have a deep understanding of the industry, telematics companies and customers, which will be key in supporting Cartrack’s high growth strategy,” says Louw.

One area Louw is focused on, for example, is improving the fuel consumption of Cartrack’s 600-strong technician vehicle fleet through the introduction of efficiencies such as smart routing and scheduling, by using the company’s own in-house products.

Louw says he expects Cartrack to continue growing, despite domestic market new-car sales being in decline since 2014.

“The South African telematics market is not nearly saturated. In fact, it remains underserviced, especially in the fleet management space. And it’s not just about security. If a company can save 5% on fuel using our products, it more than pays for the Cartrack technology.”

Cartrack has around 975 000 global subscribers, with the vast majority of these in South Africa.

Louw says his focus is on gaining new customers, wooing customers from competitors and retaining current Cartrack customers.

He also wants to find ways to use the large amount of data available to the company, through the increased use of artificial intelligence.

“We have data that should prove valuable to a number of corporate customers, such as insurance companies.”

Louw believes Cartrack’s edge over its competitors comes from the fact that its stolen vehicle recovery service is not outsourced, as is the case with most competitors.

It also has an in-house technician training academy, which will train 50 new technicians this year, as well as a strong focus on research and development.

Cartrack has research hubs in Singapore, Portugal, the US and South Africa. The research focus in South Africa is on hardware and internal systems.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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