The grim layoff news expected from Detroit this week is a clear indication of
just how difficult the recession has made things for the automakers. But if
job cuts aren’t enough, perhaps high tech could help boost sales and improve
the Motor City’s bottom line.
Certainly Microsoft is making a play in that direction,
teaming with Accenture to deliver advanced automotive
telematics (in-car communications) solutions, including wireless Internet
connections, to the industry.
It has not been a happy year for most of the auto companies. Both GM
and Ford
are reportedly preparing to announce job
cuts at the conclusion of the industry preview at North America’s largest
auto show in Detroit this week. GM has said it was aiming to cut its North
American white-collar headcount by about 5,670 jobs, or about 10 percent,
this year. There is talk of 10,000 jobs or more being axed at Ford.
And DaimlerChrysler has said its Chrysler Group will
struggle to break even in 2002 amid a slump in truck sales and higher
marketing costs. Chrysler is in the second year of a three-year restructuring
in which it plans to slash 20 percent of its U.S. workforce and idle six
plants.
Technology believers Microsoft and Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting)
used the Detroit show to talk about how they are collaborating to offer
automakers, suppliers and telematics service providers a seamless integration
process for in-vehicle consumer services through the newly formed Accenture
Services Bureau for Automotive Telematics and Microsoft Car .NET
architecture, services and products, including Windows CE for Automotive.
CE for Automotive is a real-time embedded operating system that enables new
categories of in-car computers designed to provide hands-free communication,
access to personalized information on the Internet and other convenience and
entertainment applications.
Accenture and Microsoft said they will offer a range of services aimed at
helping the automotive industry integrate business partnerships and
technologies by tapping into their own network of businesses, including MSN
services and content.
UBS Warburg Ltd.’s Telematics Research has predicted that by 2006, nearly 33
percent of all automobiles sold will include a telematics system.
“Automotive telematics offers manufacturers and suppliers opportunities to
provide consumers with … new products and services,” said Umar Riaz,
partner with the Automotive Industry Group at Accenture. “More importantly,
the industry will be able to recognize new revenue streams, cost efficiencies
and unprecedented brand differentiation. Our solution will help automakers
transform customer relationships, allowing more focus on their core
production and business activities.”
Accenture and Microsoft said they are providing a global business strategy
and infrastructure that:
platforms to design, build and run applications via a mobile network
applications to the Internet and wireless communication networks
hosting, customer care and technology support as well as consumer services,
including Internet content, navigation, location-based services, and safety
and security enabled by Microsoft Windows CE for Automotive
and integration, and solutions outsourcing.
Meanwhile, General Electric, through its Transport
International Pool (TIP), a GE Capital company, acquired an additional 5
percent stake in TruckersB2B through a share purchase deal with Comdata
Corp., a subsidiary of Ceridian Inc. Financial terms were
not disclosed.
TruckersB2B, majority-owned by Celadon Group, is a
provider of pre-negotiated savings on fuel, tires, equipment and other
products and services purchased by small and medium-sized trucking companies
and private fleets.
Devon, Pa.-based Transport International Pool is an over-the-road trailer and
intermodal equipment transportation services company in the trailer renting,
selling and leasing business.
