Presentation of Viasat Connect France
Viasat Connect France joins the SoFLEET ecosystem! Viasat Connect France is: a SME based in Montauban, 35 employees, 5 million euros in sales and about 3000 customers equipped! The French subsidiary of the Italian Group Viasat S.p.A. is specialized in Fleet management (Management of vehicle and machinery fleets). Viasat Connect France also designs Asset Management, Workforce Management and Lone Worker Protection solutions through mobile applications and a web-based planning interface.
Viasat Connect France’s solution is 360°, since it allows to cover, through data feedback, all the information around a mission, from planning to billing.
Today, Viasat Connect France is active in the aftermarket, which is similar to a third party. The first assembly is the installation of the beacons during the construction of the vehicle in the factory (native box), the second is the installation done in the dealership, the third is done outside the dealership, at the final customer’s.
Presentation of the partnership
This win-win partnership will allow Viasat Connect France to harvest the APIs provided by SoFLEET, and SoFLEET to showcase the scope of its expertise, by offering APIs to a key player in the aftermarket.
“The interest for us is to show our know-how in terms of integrator of different devices and to propose these solutions to partners like Viasat Connect France.
Jean Falchero, Head of Business Unit SoFLEET
A partnership with many advantages
Stéphane PENLAE, Managing Director of Viasat Connect France, gives us his point of view.
“The reason I’m so interested in this partnership is because I see the aftermarket as being destined to shrink, as we move more and more towards ‘connected vehicles’, in which there are already beacons that feed back data. It is in this sense that it is becoming more and more relevant to propose solutions that can capture data directly from the manufacturer’s boxes.
So yes, we will continue to serve the needs of our aftermarket customers, but in a particular vertical.
As most of the data will be sent up through the first mount, we will need to add a tag only in cases where we have particular needs in terms of data type.
So for now, I’d rather take the lead and secure the future, launching the right partnership with the right partner at the right time.”
The benefits of SoFLEET technology
To this question, Stéphane PENLAE answers: ” The SoFLEET technology is the technology that completes our offer. This OE data feedback technology is complementary to our technology, which allows us to go into markets that we could not have hoped to reach. As an aftermarket product, SoFLEET with its Y-tapes, approved by the manufacturer, frees the OBD plug in case of need of diagnosis by a garage while keeping the manufacturer’s warranty, which is essential.
Thanks to SoFLEET, we can differentiate ourselves from our competitors on some tenders or some deals with prospects or existing customers.
Through Sofleet technology we will also be able to address customers with large fleets in a much lighter way than before.
Thanks to SoFLEET, we will be able to propose a tag that will allow the homogeneity of the data, and their display on our interface whatever the brands, but also the models or the years of the vehicles. We therefore avoid heavy installations, and the manufacturer’s warranty is retained.
It is in the customer’s best interest to move towards this solution, not only from an economic point of view, but also from a technical and practical point of view, for the feedback of information and the display on web interfaces and applications. With this partnership, we differentiate ourselves from competitors who decide to stay in the aftermarket.”
The sharing of human values
Viasat Connect France, a human company
“We call these values APPI: Accessibility, Performance, Proximity and Initiative. But, I would say that above all, we are a very human company. Indeed, the Human being is at the center of our concerns, both for our internal customers, i.e. our employees, and especially for our external customers: the keystone of our values is customer satisfaction.
“The human being is at the center of our concerns
This satisfaction starts from the Accessibility: that is to say that we make ourselves available. For example, no calls are missed. We are the only telematics company in France to be ISO 18295 certified, which guarantees excellent customer service. Only 21 companies in France are certified! This accessibility is made possible by qualified personnel, training and advanced IS tools.
Our second value, Performance, means that we develop our own solutions, thanks to our R&D department. We have tools dedicated to the French market and we are very concerned by RGPD and CNIL issues. Thanks to our knowledge of the French market, we provide our clients with support in protecting personal data, which is a crucial issue, especially when it comes to fleet management and workforce management.
Then, Proximity means being a French SME based in France with 100% of its team in France. We allow our clients to benefit from the agility of our SME while guaranteeing them the power and financial strength of our Group. Thus, we think on a local scale but with means on a European scale.
Finally, the Initiative is reflected in the fact that it will be certified ISO 9001 at the beginning of 2023 and will work on a CSR project in order to be certified ISO 20400 (Responsible Purchasing) and ISO 26000 (Corporate Social Responsibility) as soon as possible. We want Viasat Connect France to be recognized as the quality reference in the French market for telematics in the broadest sense of the term, and this means constantly proving our quality of service to our customers.
Values in line with those of SoFLEET
What we like about SoFLEET is the sharing of human values and the vision of the future. I don’t feel like I’m competing with SoFLEET at all, which is reassuring. I prefer to work with a local player who shares our values.
“What we love about SoFLEET is the shared human values and vision for the future.”
Stéphane PENLAE, Managing Director of Viasat Connect France