Hi-tech weighing and vehicle telematics provider, Exactrak (part of Avery Weigh-Tronix) has signed a partnership agreement with asset management provider, Yotta. The two companies will work together to deliver enhanced vehicle tracking for local authorities, initially in the UK, and later, more widely across Europe.
With Exactrak hardware fitted to waste collection or maintenance vehicles, local authorities will be able to use Yotta’s connected asset management software, Alloy to visualise and share data from Exactrak’s route navigation and automated spreading solution, Navtrak and its dynamic routing software, Map-a-Route. Users will also be able both to display live vehicle tracking data and support enhanced collaboration between departments to create vehicle routes for all municipal applications.
Local authorities will be able to see exactly what work is being done and is completed, in turn enabling them to make smarter decisions across all their applications, that will include areas like gritting and the use of weighbridges, which councils have historically often managed in a siloed fragmented manner.
The initial driver for the partnership was a joint opportunity with a London Borough Council. The council was already using software from both Yotta and Exactrak and wanted to benefit from the enhanced data integration available between the new partners’ two solution sets.
Anique Bravenboer, Alliance Manager, Yotta, said: “Thanks to this partnership and the easy-to-use interface between the two companies’ software, we can add a new layer of functionality around vehicle tracking to our existing customer base. The synergy between Exactrak and ourselves should allow the partnership to reach not just UK customers but also a much wider international market over time.”
Mark Wilcox, Telematics Market Manager for the Innovation Division at Avery Weigh-Tronix said: “We immediately saw how well the two companies complement each other, not only in terms of their strong connections with council teams across the UK, but also in terms of skills and technologies. Working with Yotta helps ensure that we get in front of the right people within local authority teams.
“On the technology side also, Alloy brings great benefits,” added Wilcox. “It is a great tool in terms of its ability to connect assets, people and data across local authorities – but we were also very impressed with its visualisation capabilities. The way Alloy displays information pictorially really helps drive understanding and decision-making but it also helps us gain the specification requirements needed to ensure inclusion in public sector tenders.”
The partnership is well under way, with customers across the UK already using the combined Yotta Exactrak solution – and data taken from the Exactrak applications already being used in Alloy. The next steps are for both parties work together to build further on opportunities already established in the UK and further afield.
