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PAYD moves Telemetry into the Consumer Market
For years the tracking of vehicles has been primarily employed by businesses wanting to improve supply logistics by tracking deliveries and assist the progress of their drivers by avoiding traffic hotspots as and when they occur. Norwich Union's launch of "Pay As You Drive"™ (PAYD) places telemetry firmly in the realms of the consumer and offers a new model by which their insurance premiums are calculated and billed.
Bringing this mass retail telemetry proposition to market was no small undertaking and after a development cycle of over two years, Norwich Union is confident that time and location information sent from the vehicle will allow the insurers to assess driver risk with greater accuracy and thus create fairer insurance premiums. Drivers will be billed on a monthly basis according to their driving patterns and PAYD is offered to young and mid-market drivers. Commenting on the new scheme Iain Napier, Director of "Pay As You Drive"™ insurance, said: "We're confident that "Pay As You Drive"™ insurance is simply a fairer way of calculating premiums and gives customers greater control, flexibility and choice. That's why we expect the first ever "Pay As You Drive"™ insurance proposition in the UK to be a huge success with motorists."
This new scheme is innovative and provides a good example of how the technology which drives it, if correctly implemented, can release new products into the market to the benefit of the consumer. A key player involved in bringing PAYD to market was Smart421. Neil Miles, CEO of Smart421 commented "The PAYD project is a good example of how technology can deliver real and demonstrable benefits to consumers. We are pleased to be playing an important role in the delivery of this innovative retail offering that broadens choice for today's drivers."
The PAYD insurance scheme utilises GPS to provide positioning data which in turn is stored in an IVU (In Vehicle Unit) and is eventually transmitted by GPRS to Norwich Union via the TrafficMaster™ gateway. The journey data is then fed into the PAYD database where it is interrogated and combined with road mapping and existing policy data in order to help to continue to build the driver profile. Jonathon Hopper, Technology Director at Smart421, commented "Our Company enjoys the challenges posed by innovative and emerging technologies such as PAYD. Smart421 helped by bringing a number of technologies to the table and will continue to support this exciting initiative".
Smart421 delivered a range of project and application services including integration, a quotation system and a solution for customer services representatives to view maps detailing historic journeys. Reflecting on their involvement Kay Martin, Head of NU's Telematics Proposition said "Smart421 played a significant role in the integration and implementation of the extended pilot of the PAYD project. Their thorough consultation and delivery services helped ensure that we moved smoothly forward toward the launch of the operational retail system."
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Press office contact: Peter McEvoy +44 (0)1473 408 699.
Notes to the editor
Further information on Smart421, its technologies and capabilities can be found on www.smart421.com
Positioning statements
Smart421
Smart421 is a managed services and integration specialist, providing outsourced IT services for mid-market and enterprise organisations in both the public and private sectors.
Smart421 focuses on three key solution areas: Managed Services, Integration and Innovation, delivered using a unique onshore/offshore service structure. This allows Smart421 to combine onshore project management and expertise with offshore development and technical services, to deliver a rare combination of innovation, excellent customer service and demonstrable cost savings.
Smart421 maintains good relationships with its technology partners to sustain its specialist technology skills and deliver expertise and scale. Smart421 has close associations with Indian based organisation Tech Mahindra and is an IBM Premier and Tier One WebSphere Services, a Microsoft Gold and an Oracle Partner.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Ipswich, UK, Smart421 has over 130 employees. Smart421 values the long term relationships built with some of Europe's largest organisations and its customer base includes Norwich Union, e2v technologies, O2 and E.ON.
In September 2006, Smart421 was acquired by Kingston Communications, a leading provider of communications solutions.
About the Kingston Communications Group
The Group provides a wide range of voice, data, internet and contact centre services to businesses and public sector organisations throughout the UK.
Kingston is a converged communications company with expertise and experience in both telecommunications and enterprise networking, supported by its own 2200km broadband network. As such, it is ideally positioned to meet the infrastructure, equipment and connectivity requirements of modern organisations, for whom communications is a strategic consideration.
Kingston's national capabilities have been built on its strong foundations within East Yorkshire, where the company has been providing leading edge services to residential and business customers for over 100 years and where it has been a pioneer in the use of ADSL technology.
The Kingston Group also includes Eclipse Internet, an established and growing broadband ISP that delivers internet connectivity and services to businesses and consumers throughout the UK.
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