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Today we have Renaat,
I'm gonna say it right, Ver Eecke, Vice President of Navman Wireless North
America. Thank you for being with us. >>Thanks for having me. >>OK so before you and
I even start talking, explain to everyone what Navman does. >>So we do fleet
management via GPS technologies, so we're really reducing the costs of
companies who have commercial vehicles.
>>So it could be anything.
>>It could really be. I mean that the single biggest cost that
people have in their vehicles from a commercial perspective is fuel.
>>Right. >>So we focus a lot on the fuel savings & for example we take what
everyone understands now, is just simple GPS technology transmitted over
the cellular networks and we can even monitor when someone is idling
for more than three minutes, five minutes, and then they
start to reduce those instances to reduce their costs. >>So ok this fleet
optimization notion - I as a company, I would hire,
I would pay for the service? >>Absolutely. >>And then what do you do?
Do you put a little chip in my guys, basically?
Or in the truck? >>Exactly, so think of the black box you always hear
in a plane.
We take that kind of concept, put it in a car, tie it to the ignition, so we can
understand when the engine's on,
when it's moving, when it's speeding. I think from the very simplest, kind
of low hanging fruit of why a company does this is first for things like fuel
reduction. Everyone knows the fuel costs are skyrocketing so they look at that
and they do things like this idling. So companies even have idling policies
but they don't know how to monitor it. So we actively monitor it. We provide
reports,
we can reduce the costs of just
their fuel consumption by simple technology like that.
>> It's ...
it's a little bit brother though isn't it? Like you're tracking the
vehicles, so you know you must feel like if the
driver goes off the road to get a burger, he gets caught. >>Yeah I think
this is one of the big misconceptions of our technology and and in fact our
industry. I think
what companies are doing that are a little bit smarter, is they work with the
drivers. They create incentives where they share the benefits. Once they've
recouped the cost of our technology they often put incentives to say,
"if you don't have speeding, if you don't do idling, we will share some of the
profit with you."
So I think this big brother notion is all about how it gets implemented. The
technology can certainly be perceived as big brother
but how the companies do it, and the innovative companies who use our
technology really create some benefits that are not just big brother. >>I think
it's really cool. So
basically anyone that has a delivery service of some sort
should be thinking about this. >>What's really amazing - there's twenty million
commercial vehicles in the U.S. >>Wow.
>>And there is only about two million of those being tracked.
So the opportunity for our industry not only here in the U.S., but globally,
is just tremendous.
The awareness of GPS is just starting and so I think the opportunity is just
incredible on what we can save and how much growth
not only Navman can have, but the industry overall. >>So are you targeting clients like paryant interning clients a federal
Federal Express and UPS? Is that what you're looking to do or is it the smaller
guys to start?
>>We tend to go after the smaller guys um... i think a lot of times UPS has
been famous for their no left turns. >>Right! I've always heard that. >>Exactly. >>Is that true? >>I think it is.
You know i mean they are really obsessives. They've kind of been
doing this for a long time and they built their own home-grown system.
So I think what's happened is is you've got this general evolution of adoption
where the prices have come down of our technology
and the adoptions have come up. So now that delivery truck who's got ten vehicles
can really afford this and so it's a simple subscription model, forty dollars
a month per vehicle,
the savings can just be amazing just on this idling alone.
>>So $40 a month/vehicle & you do all the tracking back at your space, at your
offices, and then you just send me the details. >>Exactly, so we take care of everything.
One of the things we like to pride ourselves on, is let's not put the
burden onto our clients.
So we take care of the installation, the technology, all those aspects,
and then our clients simply log on to our our application and see what's going on
or just receive data every everyday on what's happening with their with their
fleet. >>What makes you do something like this?
>>You know it was uh... i've always been a bit of an entrepreneur as i've started a
company before and I had an opportunity 4 years ago to go with a
management team & do an MBO, so we bought this company out of a public
company and uh... it's been four years of a lot of our work but a lot of
fun as well.
>>Yeah because you were with Accenture.
You know we were talking earlier about M.I.T., MBA grad, things, you know, having
business acumen & what it's doing & the way the entrepreneur works,
unfortunately vs. the way Washington DC works. >>Yes. >>We need more of you down
there. Not that you would go.
>>I'm not sure if i could handle Washington myself. >>
>>I don't blame you. So you bought this out. So I don't have to...so funding wasn't an issue.
>>Actually we closed the deal in July 2007 so kind of the timing
of the funding was tremendous. We've been reminded several times that we got
pretty lucky of the timing
But even now just recently we re- capitalized the company. We paid off our
initial debt
and so money is out there i think this notion you talked about before about
innovation and integration in America I think
the capital is cheap.
So i think if you're willing to take risks and you have good ideas there's
there's no limit to American innovation.
>>I agree with you. The angel investors, the venture capitalists, the lens cap was they are dying to do
they are dying to do something with the cash they're sitting on.
>>I totally agree. >>So, are you hiring?
>>We are hiring. We're a Chicago-based company but we're very
international. Seventy percent of our business is outside the U.S.
>>70 percent? What countries are you in then?
>>We are in Australia, New Zealand, the UK. We just opened an office in Mexico as
well as China.
uh... so we are we are in rapid expansion
>>And you're hiring.
>>We are hiring uh... we've been hiring steadily. I mean one of the things our
CEO
thought was an opportunity is the downturn uh... it's an opportunity to
invest more,
catch up on competition, and then as we're coming out of it now we're really seeing
that we're able to leapfrog some people. >>But I gotta believe fuel prices are,
you know,
you're probably the only people in the world that want to prices to go up.
>>Yes uh... there's some benefit to us on fuel prices
going up.
>>Did you see a surge in the business when
gas was at $4?
>>Yeah I think what we saw was a huge uh... influx of questions about our technology.
It's a big spur of what can we do? What's out there to reduce the fuel costs?
Because all of a sudden what people plan for is, "fuel will be this" and all of a
sudden it sort of consumes all their operating costs.
And so how do they do it? I think for us it's been much more about increasing
awareness
and what our technology can do to help companies.
>>So what is the website?
>>NavmanWireless.com
>>NavmanWireless.com, but the product is actually called
OnlineAVL2? >>That is right. >>That's the device. >>So that is actually the
application that people go to. The device is - we have both
something for construction product which is our Qtanium
and then we also have something for our regular on-the-road vehicles called
the Qube.
>>And so you're in 130,000 vehicles right now?
>>Absolutely worldwide.
>>And you're telling me there's twenty million commercial vehicles.
A little room to grow there. >>There is and actually we're probably one of the top
five companies in the world in this space so
uh... investors are extremely excited about our space in our company.
>>If I may, who are then your competitors right now?
Are they the big...like does Sony do something like this?
>>No I don't think yet. The really big companies. It hasn't gotten to scale yet.
I think for the big companies to come in, I think players like ourselves
need to grow a little bit more,
to have the kind of
girth to be consumed by a company like that. The competitors are really
different in every country. One of the unique advantages that Navman has
is our global footprint so
in each country there's kind of local competition but there's very few
on a global footprint.
>>I think you're onto something and I'm telling you gas will go back up again
I gotta believe it & I know you're gonna be doing the happy dance
I know but
people will be concerned about this. Stuff has to get delivered. Especially come the holidays.
>>Absolutely.
>>Renaat Ver Eecke. Did I do that right?
>>Very right.
>>Vice President of Navman Wireless North America. What nationality are you?
>>It's Belgian. >>Really?
>> So i spent a lot of my
childhood in Belgium, and traveling back and forth between the U.S. and here. >>So that's
why you're in UK and Australia
and New Zealand. That's your part of the world. >>I love it.
>> Well this is good stuff. And again, the website?
Check it out NavmanWireless.com. You gonna go public
anytime soon?
>>I don't think going public right now, we're still ...
we we enjoy the private aspects of our business. We've been in the public
world before and it's a lot of work. >>I don't blame you.
Thanks for being with us. >>Thanks so much for having me.
>>It's good stuff. Check it out. Gas prices are no doubt going back up.
Small businesses should be concerned.