Great Strides in 2007... Greater Strides in 2008: Driver Risk Management on the Success Route
By Bruce Moeller, President and CEO, DriveCam Inc.What an intense and progressive year 2007 has been. I am incredibly proud of the changes we have enacted that position us in an industry leadership role and even more excited about what lies ahead. Our company has experienced tremendous growth and has also continued to broaden our footprint in the increasingly competitive field of Driver Risk Management.
By introducing new products and services, such as a Web interface for coaching and a cellular video event recorder, we have clearly solidified our position as the leader in this industry. Additionally, we are now seeing renewals of our DriveCam Managed Services program, which shows the confidence our current customers have in us.
With these changes, our clients are now able to focus more of their time and attention on coaching drivers rather than on hardware, software and other indirect risk management related activities. They are also able to access scored risky driving behavior from any Internet-capable personal computer anytime, anyplace. There is no longer a need for fleets to return to a central location for nightly downloads (so tell your drivers to go home). All of these new products mean greater efficiencies for our customers, a better bottom line and, more than likely, a happier driving team. Introducing innovations, such as these, and maintaining our commitment to exemplary customer service will continue to set us apart from our competitors.
We have to realize that we have only just begun to build this exciting and potentially huge new industry, however, others have taken notice of us. For the third consecutive year, DriveCam was recognized as one of the top 500 fastest growing companies in the United States by Inc. magazine. This is a big deal for us. Over the past 25 years, this prestigious list has included such companies as Timberland, E*Trade and The Sharper Image – names we all know. Who could have guessed? Being included on this list continues to raise our profile and gives us increasingly higher expectations and responsibilities to create an entire industry where none existed before. It is both the burden and the excitement of playing the role of industry leader.
When I read about the awards we have won over this past year, I can't help but take pride in our past accomplishments but recognize that life exists in the present; not in past awards or future promises. The present has us working to make more customers safer and more intelligent about their risk. That is how we will succeed in building an entire industry profitably while keeping more moms, dads, sons, daughters, friends and co-workers alive and able to come home every night to those whom they matter most.
When we launched DriveCam Managed Services a little over a year ago, many thought we were crazy. No one had heard of Driver Risk Management. The analysts weren't sure where to place this hybrid offering of technology and service. The insurance companies were hesitant, maybe optimistically cautious as insurance companies are inclined to be. Will this work? Can you prove it? Globally, people challenged us, "But driving is DIFFERENT here in (fill in the blank, whatever state, or industry or country around the globe)!"
Now, with the evidence of tens of thousands of clips flowing through a rigorous review process every day, we can safely say it works. It REALLY works. Clients, busy focusing on keeping their passengers happy, delivering packages, making sure the cable network keeps our TV's on, or collecting the trash so our cities are clean, are delighted that they can keep focusing on this and not on managing a Driver Risk Management program. And we've proven that risky driving is, well risky, no matter where you are in the world.
And we've also shown that on the consumer side, not only do parents of teen drivers like the program, the actual teen drivers don't just tolerate the program, they embrace it.
Yes, it sounds altruistic, but we truly love taking the risk out of driving. It's hugely satisfying to get up every day and know we are making better drivers, creating safer roads around the world and saving lives.
So as we wrap up our year, we have much to be thankful for. We delight in being able to help our clients make the roads a little safer place to be. It's a good start. The main thing to remember though is it's just a start and we are not even a fraction of where we will be someday. 2008 will mark ten years of DriveCam's hard-fought existence as we try to find our way in life.
The invigorating thing for me about being in this company, at this stage of development, is that as life is for learning, so is this company's role in creating a new industry. We have very bright and intellectually curious people who will figure it out as we go. We have to have a culture of confidence in ourselves and our mission and trust in one another that we will make mistakes, learn from them, adjust and keep moving at the speed of thought.
Stay Safe. Drive Safe. Take an appropriate breath, especially during the holidays and then hang on for a 2008 that promises to be another year of record accomplishment, learning, inventing and course correcting as we discover this new world.