NTT DATA partners with CMS
NTT DATA UK and Collision Management Systems (CMS) have announced a new partnership agreement that will help organisations across a variety of industries use the wealth of data in their business to manage risk in today’s fast-paced innovative culture.
Technology provided by CMS collects data from vehicles, remote assets and non-vehicle sources to give a single view of risk – and has already cut the frequency and cost of incidents for many clients.
Statistics achieved by CMS’ customers include a 17% average reduction in the frequency of incidents and a 40% increase in the number of employees engaged in remedial training.
CMS provides significant financial benefits with a 400% return on investment based upon reduced incidents and a £1,000 reduction in the cost per insurance claim.
Combined with NTT DATA UK’s market reach and systems integration expertise, these benefits will now be available to a wider market, including insurance, engineering, public sector and transport industries as well as connected vehicle services.
The five-year agreement covers the UK and the EMEA region, with potential to make use of the global reach of both companies.
Commenting on this new partnership, Charles Smith, CMS CEO said, “It is testament to the CMS team and technology we have created that an organisation of the scale and reputation of NTT DATA has chosen to partner with us.
Their global client base will benefit hugely from our software, so creating a structure that gives them quick and easy access to these solutions along with the support and scale of NTT DATA is going to be a potent combination.
We’re looking forward to working with the NTT DATA UK team and their clients to help them reduce the risk and subsequent insurance costs of their customers or remote workers.”
Mike Jones, Head of Partners & Alliances at NTT DATA UK added, “We are very excited to have signed a reseller agreement with Collision Management Systems.
Being able
This partnership also highlights NTT DATA’s commitment to bringing innovative, cutting edge technology to our clients.”
Yes.
The use of telematics based insurance data, to increase insurance profitability, is well documented and proven.
The internet and conferences are awash with forward thinking insurers and insurtech’s proudly demonstrating significant improvements in profitability from a telematics based insurance program.
This is something that should rightly so be shouted about.
Yet, despite these well documented benefits, telematics based insurance hasn’t become a mainstream offering.
So, what is stopping a technology solution with such clear benefits being offered to every driver across the UK?
The answer mainly lies in the telematics hardware.
The reality is that the economics of funding and installing hardware simply do not stack up for most insurance policies.
And hardware costs are not going to come down much further.
Apps are becoming a popular choice due to their lack of hardware cost.
But this has a trade-off with data quality meaning apps are often just a method of self-selecting the best risks.
What is the answer to telematics becoming a mainstream proposition for insurance?
The only logical and long-term solution is for insurers to use whatever is already in the vehicle as their source of data.
However, this requires insurers to employ very different thinking and technology to work at scale.
The commercial motor insurance landscape today is a good crystal ball into this world and way of thinking.
Commercial motor funding hardware has been unilaterally unsuccessful in the fleet world.
Not only do they have the same economic challenge. But trying to install a device in such a highly utilised vehicle. And one that no doubt already has a myriad of other devices in it, makes this an almost impossible task.
This has forced commercial motor insurers and brokers to think differently and explore how they can use the data from the telematics devices already installed in the vehicles.
Whilst this thinking is still at an early stage, at CMS we are seeing organisations move at pace and reap major benefits from our Telematics Data Aggregation platform.
Insurers and brokers are getting a view of their client’s risk profile that they never had before, with our platform.
From sophisticated insights down to simply knowing how many vehicles on cover are on the road.
This is before you get into the realms of being able to properly benchmark your fleet client’s data against each other and then using that to actively manage the risk and reduce average claims frequency by up to 20%.
But again, the same question posed earlier could be asked. If the benefits are so well documented why is this not the norm in the commercial motor market?
Again, the answer we believe is simple. It requires insurers to look beyond working with, or referring, a specific telematics provider, or even a panel of telematics providers.
Insurers and brokers need to find the expertise internally or externally to collate and standardise the data being produced by all the different telematics providers to make it comparable.
Building this bed of good quality data is the foundation of everything clever and automated being developed in claims and underwriting, and this is where CMS can help.
As cars become more connected this challenge will only increase across personal and commercial motor lines as there will likely be a different hardware variation for each make, model and year of vehicle!
Get in touch with us to discuss how telematics data aggregation can help insurers realise the promised benefits of telematics.
For the second year running, Collision Management Systems has reached the finals of the Connected Britain Awards, taking its place among the UK’s top Internet of Things (IoT) technology innovators.
This is a great result and acknowledgement of the work that Collision Management Systems is doing in the world of telematics, employee and sensor data aggregation.
Working with insurers, fleet operators and transport companies, CMS’ platform utilises the latest developments in the IoT to reduce risk, speed up FNOL notifications and keeping people safe.
Launched in 2018, the Connected Britain Awards recognise all parts of the digitally-connected eco- system, from operators and alt-nets to government departments, local authorities and superfast bodies and other stakeholders, including vendor companies like Collision Management Systems.
The IoT category looks for companies that have undertaken IoT based projects, with evidence of strong performance, success and referenced results.
“We are delighted to be included in this years shortlist. “ says Charles Smith, CEO and founder of Collision Management Systems.
“Our success in this category, reflects the central role that our data and risk management solutions are taking within the rapidly expanding connected car ecosystem. Autotech, insurance, automotive and fleet businesses are turning to CMS to help them unlock new value and enrich services.
We understand that competition for this year’s awards are particularly high, so would be thrilled to receive a win in June.”
The results will be revealed at the Connected Britain Conference and event, the Business Design Centre in London on the 18th of June 2019.
eDrivingSM, a leading global provider of driver risk management programmes, is partnering with vehicle data aggregation and analytics specialists, Collision Management Systems (CMS), to integrate connected vehicle data into its risk management platform, supporting its Mentor by eDrivingSM and Virtual Risk Manager® programmes.
eDriving uses behaviour-based telematic insights together with other data inputs including driver licence checks and collision data to determine driver risk levels and accurately predict the likelihood of future crash involvement.
Its programmes also provide training, coaching, and analytic tools to support lasting behavioural change.
The partnership with CMS enables eDriving to seamlessly integrate telematics data from many TSPs (Telematics Service Providers) worldwide, enabling clients throughout the world to take advantage of its patented* closed-loop driver behaviour-based system that predicts risk and guides safer behaviours.
“Successfully combining telematics, collision and licence check data from multiple sources into one performance management system provides clients with a comprehensive view of driver risk, as well as a more effective means of identifying opportunities to reduce those risks and change behaviours,” said Ed Dubens, CEO and Founder of eDriving.
“CMS makes this data gathering both secure and seamless – a clear strategic advantage for our clients, insurance and risk management partners, in this day and age where production of actionable intelligence in a timely manner is critical.”
CMS’ platform can harvest, standardise and cleanse data from any retrofitted or embedded connected camera or telematics device, providing eDriving with a single real-time data channel to support its closed-loop programme.
CMS also minimises the complexity of accessing diverse data formats from vehicles anywhere in the world, accelerating customer deployment.
“We are delighted that an organisation with the global scale, blue-chip client base and unparalleled reputation of eDriving has chosen CMS to help it evolve and enhance its risk-based driver safety improvement programme,” said Charles Smith, CEO of CMS.
“By providing a low-barrier way to harness its client pool of high quality, real-time data, CMS will help eDriving fuel innovation and make its programmes even more valuable for customers.”
Over its 23-year history, eDriving has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to investing in technology that enables a secure and reliable operating environment for its global clients.
The company recently achieved re-certification of the ISO/IEC 27001: 2013 standard for information security management, confirming that its robust and comprehensive information security management system meets the highest standards for protecting client information.
*Patented with the US Trademarks and Patent Office: Patent number 6,714,894.
Telematics Wire talks with Charles Smith, CEO and founder of Collision Management Systems (CMS). Excerpts of the interview:
What is driving data explosion in connected vehicle?
The first wave of mobile technology radically changed the way we move around our cities and beyond. By assimilating masses of data points, on vehicle position and relative road speed, it created new ways of managing fleets of vehicles and enabled real-time navigation. Today, the humble vehicle of old, with its mechanical controls and switches, has been transformed with embedded and aftermarket sensors and on-board computers into a hub capable of delivering the next wave of mobile technology. There are now over 330 million vehicles, connected via telematics or by in-vehicle apps[i], each with more processing power than put a man on the moon.
The current data explosion is being driven by sophisticated ADAS systems, the precursor to fully autonomous vehicles, which generate masses of new data points and utilise real-time video. Commercially available aftermarket systems are also sending information on vehicle faults, lane departure, driver fatigue, tailgating, proximity to other vehicles, etc. According to McKinsey, connected cars create up to 25 gigabytes of data per hour, more than a months worth of 24-hour music streaming. Looking to the future, fully automated vehicles will take this even further. They will have to gather enormous quantities of data from a huge variety of sources in order to think for themselves; to function and respond like a ‘human brain’; and make complex driving decisions in real-time. There is then the vast amounts of data that will be needed for third-parties to review issues and incidents should anything go wrong. Multiply this with the millions of vehicles on the roads and it’s easy to see how data volumes will be pushed of-the-scale.
Will connected vehicle data assist in the growth of Insurance telematics sector?
Young driver insurance has been the bedrock of insurance telematics for several years now. The reality, however, is that while there are many new drivers taking out telematics policies, people are going into mainstream insurance just as fast so total connections are plateauing. In addition, the cost of professional or even self-fit telematics makes the economics unsustainable for insurance companies as they fight to stay profitable against rising claim costs. Yet CMS believes that connected vehicles can deliver new growth for this sector. With lower cost embedded OEM devices, the economic challenge falls away. Customers will be able to link their data to their insurance policy seamlessly and their previous driving history can be unlocked to help them get a better price. All of this depends on data quality. At present, retro-fit telematics devices are rich in data, but embedded devices are often simpler which can affect data quality.
Insurers will be reliant on motor manufacturers for data sourcing, with no guarantees on what data will be available, in what format and, importantly, at what cost. At present many motor manufacturers haven’t worked out their commercial models for data-sharing.
What can be the other use cases “Data” in the automotive sector?
For automotive OEMs, there’s huge value in having real-time access to connected vehicle data to help control the customer experience around a breakdown or accident. Fast response and recovery, with rapid turnaround or replacement vehicles, can all drive revenue in the OEM’s own dealer/repair network. Sending data ‘over-the-air’, opens up two-way data communication between the OEM and the vehicle to springboard new applications. For example, diagnosing and adjusting tuning and ratio settings in real-life driving situations to improve engine and gearbox lifetime. OEMs are even using the data to analyse exactly how and when drivers are using specific features, such as sunroofs, helping them to respond to the voice of the customer more intelligently. When autonomous vehicles eventually become the norm, there will no longer be a ‘driver’ experience only a ‘passenger’ one. Current connected car services help us understand how passengers interact with vehicles and provide valuable insight on the chargeable services that could be delivered to passengers in autonomous pods in the future. Organisations such as Google and Facebook, have already shown how mobile can be used as a platform to monetise location-based services. Similarly, the growth of in-car concierge and infotainment services will make pod-users the key consumers of new datasets.
Discuss the challenges of Data Protection and Cybersecurity in automotive space and how they can be negotiated?
Recent issues with social platforms, advertising, and data-harvesting, have highlighted just how little people know about their personal data – what’s being collected, where it’s going, and how it’s being used. The introduction of GDPR is helping to address this balance, but there is a general consensus across industries that data-services need to be more transparent. Cars are already connected wirelessly to a myriad of third-parties through diagnostics, infotainment, location-based services, and telematics, which is starting to push data protection up the automotive agenda. Indeed, for our own global clients, such as Swiss Re, CMS must ensure any vehicle data is processed and the country of origin and in accordance with all relevant local and international guidelines.
It’s easy to envisage a scenario in the future, where customers request their vehicle-based data to be centrally stored, signing up to a third-party like Google, to consolidate and manage it on their behalf. As aftermarket devices become more embedded and cars become increasingly connected to the wider IoT ecosystem, the potential attack surface will become much larger, resulting in new risks and potential threats to personal safety, security and privacy. One way to simplify the challenge, while still allowing for rapid innovation, is for OEMs to develop a secure perimeter layer that acts as a ‘security fence’ for all internal systems, rather trying to lock-down individual modules. Secure in-car gateways could then ensure that any transmission/ communication was controlled using various forms of authentication. OEMs, tier-one suppliers and IT service providers will have to work together to understand vulnerabilities and develop
OEMs, tier-one suppliers and IT service providers will have to work together to understand vulnerabilities and develop cybersecurity solutions to keep car-data secure. Regulation has a key part to play in this. In 2017, the UK government issued ‘The Key Principles of Vehicle Cyber Security for Connected and Automated Vehicles’, which offers some guidelines for maintaining the security of wirelessly connected cars.
What are your views on the increased use of Analytics in the automotive sector, where do you see it going?
For the past five years, CMS has been working to make data actionable for telematics companies and insurers. During this time, we have seen the emphasis shift from historical data analysis, towards real-time analytics and alerting – particularly on driver risk.
Applications which predict events, require significantly more data – tens of billions of data points, rather than hundreds of millions. The glaring issue is that there often isn’t enough raw data to train the analytic models. In some instances, in-device filtering limits the information available so impacts its usefulness. Instead, of trying to shrink data, the emphasis should be on developing scalable, data aggregation and analytic solutions that invisibly and seamlessly automate the handling of large-scale data while retaining its richness. Delivering actionable information while minimising the data burden on people and services. Increasingly, analytics is giving us a better understanding of the driver, their behavior, their interaction with the vehicle, their surroundings and other road users. This information will form the foundation to build more personalised and targeted car-related services and safer and more enjoyable user experiences. Analytics also unlocks the value pool inherent in data, so it can be monetised by third parties, as long as the data-use is authorised in advance with the car owner/driver. For example, geo-linked advertising, personalised to the driver on in-car infotainment systems as piloted recently by General Motors. Aggregating analytics across millions of vehicles will also deliver new insight and identify trends that can be used to make roads safer, cities smarter, vehicles more environmentally-friendly and traffic more manageable.
Comment for the need for “dynamic collaboration” in automotive ecosystem.
The era of big technology companies delivering the whole technology stack is declining. Instead, they are becoming the glue that sticks all the players together. This is most apparent with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Automotive business models are also changing and so is the technology supporting it. This requires brand new solutions to be created, not just tweaks or upgrades,
making the pace of change very high. To accommodate this, companies are specialising and co-operating even if they compete (co-opetition), driven largely by the increasing complexity and data volume required to solve certain problems using machine learning. If dynamic collaboration works, then the ability for customers to move or make their data available increases substantially, ultimately underpinning new products and business models. At the moment this is fine as this new market is growing so fast and there is room for everyone. It will become more interesting when growth starts to plateau, and companies start to focus on the new data revenue opportunities. Realising that open sharing may not be good for their short-term revenue growth (even though closing it down will harm them in the long term). Over the next few years, we will see the development of more symbiotic relationships between auto, tech and wireless players as well as governments and insurers, with the aim of making ‘mobility’ smarter, safer and more efficient. At CMS, we are already actively involved in several collaborative projects such as Transport Systems Catapult and the Silverstone Technology Cluster. We are also partnering with multiple large and small companies to deliver solutions that would be impossible alone, creating embedded end-to-end, data/telematics/connectivity propositions that improve and add value to every element in the chain.
How is Cloud empowering automotive companies to expand business agility and capability?
Cloud has enabled small companies to access the same infrastructure that used to be reserved for the IBM’s of the world. It also gives large organisations such as motor manufacturers the opportunity to work with smaller more innovative organisations,
who can use the cloud to deliver new types of specialist applications and services, faster, more nimbly, and with less resource than if they tried to do it themselves. The cloud is also allowing OEMs and insurers to exploit SaaS services, to enhance the accuracy and functionality of their telematics solutions. At CMS, our software can be licensed and supplied over the cloud to embed new capability for global customers, while hitting high standards in development practices and ensuring GDPR compliance. Using Microsoft Azure also gives us additional deployment capability, to a common standard, across multiple data centres in different countries. Automotive companies are already using cloud technology across their businesses, for supply-chain, operations, manufacturing, and logistics, but they have yet to exploit it to connect vehicles and consumers. This may leave a gap in the market for the likes of Amazon, Android etc. who are creating the common platforms that are being embedded in the vehicles and link back to common cloud systems that everyone knows. We already have Alexa in retro-fit hardware, soon it may be built-in. While many OEMs are happy to wait for generic platforms, players like Volkswagen are walking up to the potential. It has invested 3.5 billion Euros in a new connected computing platform, vw.OS, which it aims to introduce in all its electric vehicles by 2020. This will connect embedded applications to handle vehicle functionality and provide consumers with connection to exciting new lifestyle services. It will be interesting to see how this battle for in-car cloud ownership plays out.
Interview from Smart Automotive Magazine ISSN2454-8561
Collision Management Systems (CMS) is strengthening its Board with the announcement of Stephen Lake as Non-Executive Director.
Lake will provide commercial and strategic support for the company as it continues to scale-up its real-time vehicle-data aggregation operations in the UK and overseas.
Charles Smith, CEO of CMS confirms the appointment, “Stephen Lake has over 20 years of experience scaling high growth technology businesses internationally – taking them from early stage through to Initial Public Offering (IPO) and Exit .
We are thrilled to have him advising our team and helping us to navigate CMS through this exciting stage of our expansion. With his support, we aim to deliver double-digit growth in the next 12 months.”
A seasoned board member of Deloitte Fast 50 ranked companies, Stephen Lake has particular expertise working with organisations involved in big data, analytics, sensors and real-time information management, as an entrepreneur, investor and independent director.
Formerly a senior executive at both Reuters and QinetiQ, where he was responsible for new business creation and ventures, he has also built a digital media business from pre-revenue, to $100M revenues and on to IPO.
Commenting on his new role, Stephen Lake said, “CMS is an exciting high-growth technology business with a large global market opportunity for its innovative data aggregation, risk management and analytics services.
Following on from the recent £1.25 million investment by the BGF, I am delighted to be joining the board, supporting Charles and the CMS team to profitably scale the business, maintain and grow its innovative lead and capture lucrative market opportunities for its vehicle-IoT data expertise.”
In addition to his role with CMS, Lake is also a Non-Executive Director of Ordnance Survey and an active mentor and coach to several founders of entrepreneurial businesses.
Building on its growing reputation as a British technology pioneer, Collision Management Systems (CMS) has reached the finals of the UK IT Industry Awards.
It’s shortlisted in the UK Innovation and Entrepreneurship Category, which focuses on new products/services that deliver measurable benefit for customers, demonstrate important potential worldwide, and are developed by a small UK team.
Paul Fletcher, Group CEO, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, says “Congratulations to Collision Management Systems for being shortlisted, they clearly demonstrate the highest levels of excellence and Innovation across today’s IT sector.
These awards showcase some of the brightest and best in our industry, and it is a significant achievement to be shortlisted.”
Charles Smith, CEO, CMS adds, “We are having an amazing run on awards and this is the icing on the cake.
To be recognised as an innovator by some of the most influential people within the UK’s IT industry, is a real testament to our team’s drive, performance and results over the past 12 months.
Well done to them all.”
The UK IT Industry awards celebrates the whole industry, including organisations of all sizes, and across every sector.
What really sets it apart is its unique, rigorous and independent judging process.
Shortlisted entrants now go forward to present to judging panels including industry experts peer-level technology leaders.
The awards will be announced on 14 November at the UK IT Industry Awards event at Battersea Evolution in London.
British Small Business Awards – not just a technical innovator, Milton Keynes based CMS is also being recognised as a great example of a dynamic, high-growth British business.
It’s just been announced as a finalist in the 2018 British Small Business Awards, which celebrates the UK’s small business sector and recognises the nation’s best.
CMS is shortlisted for the Best Small Business category.
That is for companies with less than 50 employees, which demonstrate the most innovative and sector-disrupting service/product combined with strong turnover growth over the past year.
With its powerful solution, which aggregates telematics data to provide accurate and rapid FNOL (First Notification of Loss). A rapidly expanding customer base and a multi-million-pound international pipeline. Collision Management Systems is seen as a perfect example of a rising British star. Which the awards seek to highlight at both national and international levels
Charles Smith, CEO and founder, at Collision Management Systems comments, “Small businesses are the engine room of the UK economy.
By focusing on real competitive strengths, being truly innovative and addressing tangible market needs, there is no reason why even the smallest organisations can’t shine on the global stage.
We are delighted to be on this shortlist for the Awards and hope that the spotlight continues to highlight our success.”
Collision Management Systems (CMS) has appointed Colin Woolmer as Product Director for its vehicle crash detection and data aggregation solutions business.
Woolmer will be responsible for enhancing CMS’s existing telematics and insurance software offering and for the development of new real-time IoT-based data management and analysis services as CMS’s customer base expands.
Prior to joining CMS, Colin Woolmer was Director of Technology at TeletracNavman (formerly Trafficmaster), where he helped develop stolen vehicle tracking, eCall, bCall, navigation and concierge services for the OEM and automotive sector.
Colin Woolmer also brings extensive experience in cloud-based software development and architecture, gained managing technical projects for utilities, telecoms, automotive and financial services customers for high-profile brands including the AA, BT and Jaguar Land Rover.
“Connected vehicle and data services represents an incredibly exciting market that’s destined to deliver huge benefits for users in terms of risk reduction, operational efficiency and cost savings.” says Woolmer.
“CMS is a dynamic business that’s right at the heart of this. Its pioneering technology is already gaining recognition as the de facto for car data aggregation and setting a new benchmark for accurate and usable real-time data.
I am excited to be part of the team and look forward to helping CMS exploit its technical and market potential even further.”
Charles Smith, CEO of CMS confirms, “We are delighted to have someone with Colin’s industry standing and technical credentials join our rapidly growing team.
With his experience and support, we are well placed to take advantage of the growing opportunities for our software both at home and overseas and to develop new products that take advantage of vehicle data as the automotive-IoT ecosystem and associated applications expand.”
Success for CMS as it beats some of the highest performing and most creative UK InsureTech businesses.
The success for CMS came when it scooped the Technology Partnership of the Year Award (with Swiss Re) and the Internet of Things (IoT) Breakthrough Award in the 2018 Insurance Times Tech and Innovation Awards. The company also received a Highly Commended in the Best Use of Technology for Customer Experience category.
A delighted Charles Smith, CEO of CMS, says, “For the past five years, our team has been developing smart technology to help insurance companies harness connected vehicle data to unlock cost, service and operational benefits.
These awards, show that we are not only delivering a huge impact for our customers but are also setting a new benchmark for real-time data aggregation and IoT- applications within the Insurance industry as a whole.“
The awards, which were presented at a glittering ceremony and dinner in London, followed a rigorous selection process, where finalists had to present to a panel of industry influencers and experts.
Judges were impressed by CMS’s use of technology to solve specific Insurance industry challenges.
Smith adds, “We are thrilled to be receiving this recognition now, as our commercial momentum gathers pace and our reputation with Insurance businesses grows.
We have clearly made our mark as a serious player in the InsureTech space, as a trusted partner and innovator, and look forward to building on this in the year ahead.”
