iCtrlBiz introduces its new initiative SMART TRANSPORT this year, a one stop solution that provides a complete end-to-end IT enabled smart logistics solution for Organisations and Companies, primarily for its employee transportation business that focusses on operational, regulatory and financial compliances are synched and run seamlessly. SMART TRANSPORT is a part of a larger offering, THE SMART SUITE which includes SMART SCHOOL/ COLLEGE (for Institutions and Schools) of which a core component is the safety and security of student and staff daily travel strictly in tandem with Government legislation mandates, while creating a communication platform for Parents that expands their involvement in their child’s student lifecycle and increasing their comfort and convenience for daily transactions in the School.
BACKGROUND TO CAPTIVE TRANSPORT SERVICES
Employee transportation across industries, especially in Multinationals, is still a nascent industry with no set practices, much less, best practices. Employee transportation (by bus) became a norm when business started to move its premises from New Delhi to the NCR in the late 1980s. As public transportation was not readily available, Companies outsourced well-defined routes and pick points to vendors to bring in their employees by Bus. This worked in so far as the employees worked regular business hours. With the advent of Off-shoring companies, and round-the-clock work schedules, many multinationals adopted employee transportation as their USP to hire employees to work at all odd hours of the day and night, including Indian holidays. This soon became the norm, and the employee transportation industry was born.
However, the eco-system was fragmented into silos that did not communicate with each other. Be it the stakeholders in the Company or those in the transportation business, each cog in this business worked to its own interest, in effect, interactions only took place when specific information was required.
As the industry emerged and established itself, the administrative arm of most Companies took the added responsibility to cater to the transportation needs of its employees. In Institutions, this translated to sometimes a single employee that would become the bridge between the buses (drivers & vendors) and the Institution. Added to which the ever-changing dynamics, due to inclement weather, unplanned road work, elections and most of all, the leave patterns of drivers, who were used to taking long leaves to return to their families in their native villages, further undermined the foundation of this nascent industry.
THE ADVENT OF TECHNOLOGY
Despite the advent of new technology, much of this new-age technology took decades to trickle down into mainstream systems. Therefore, while the BPO Industry picked up the GPS and introduced into their cabs, Institutions took another 2-3 years before they introduced it into their buses, that too, only after a Government mandate came out in 2014. Similarly, while CCTV footage is now a norm in most retail spaces, it is still a new concept in School buses, and virtually unheard of in the captive cab transportation business.
Automation by and large, became a by-word in the 21st century yet it was administered piecemeal as per the directives and needs of a specific department, and therefore further created silos and led to double-checks and cross-checks of data that had not existed before.
In short, only a few had an all-encompassing software application that would not only take care of day to day operations, record and archive data but also link operations to its cost centres and the people who allotted budgets.
COMPLIANCE
An off-shoot of the above issues was the trouble with maintaining compliance. Despite strict company policies for compliance, it was virtually impossible to check multiple vehicle registrations and drivers’ licenses and maintain a database of their expiration dates. There was no management system that allowed the transport SPOCs to capture employee travel related data or maintain a certain safety level during travel.
Operational Compliance: Due to a proliferation of small business owners in this field and numerous vendors inducted into a single Company, there was no curb on expenses, transparency in allocation of travel routes and standardized fiscal agreements.
Regulatory Compliance: In this scenario, newly released Government mandates demanding the safety of employees, especially women employees, and the safety of School children with the mandatory introduction of GPS and CCTV in School buses further added to the bi-furcation of even the simplest procedures and processes in a Company/ Institution.
Financial Compliance: All the above aspects varied and changed when one moved across regions in India. Fuel prices and toll taxes varied across India, and the pricing model, too, fluctuated according to the business model the vendor had adopted. Therefore, many Companies till date accommodate three or more pricing patterns in a single region or across regions.
SMART TRANSPORT To address these very needs and requirement iCtrlBiz, developed Smart Transport through systemic innovation, to streamline and sustain operational efficiency, transparency, compliance, automation and optimized expense via consolidation/aggregation of the Smart Suite. This while ensuring Employee/ Student/ Parent and Institution/ Organisation satisfaction, and catering to their convenience and need for safety. In other words, this tool provides a platform that combines seamless operations with the option to monitor on-the-ground reality, while increasing Employee/ Student safety and Employee/ Parent convenience and satisfaction. Moreover, this unique product can be configured and customized to accommodate School/ Organization specific requirements. Our belief in our solution and its ability to achieve substantial cost savings for the Institution/ Organization by bringing transparency into the processes involving diverse stakeholders (especially the vendor ecosystem) is immense. Added to this innovative state-of-the-art technological solution has a built-in zero tolerance policy for employee safety and security, and will run with absolute transparency and efficacy.
SMART SUITE
ABOUT ICB
ICB was formally registered in 2008, but the team coordinated and worked from different parts of India – Bombay, Pune & Delhi, as the then team came with its own technical expertise and specialties. They collaborated on projects across borders, to build up an expertise to take on revenue-generating assignments. In 2015 the Company went through a transitional phase and rebuilt ICB in a new avatar.
iCtrlBiz provides consulting services in the following arena: Off-shore Development services, IT Consulting, IT Product Development services and Enterprise Content Management.
In IT Product Development services our custom-built comprehensive end-to-end solutions combine product and process; and are developed on the basis of a real-time need, live experience, feedback and operational convenience.
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