Samtech is a Chilean company that is revolutionizing the transportation industry through technology and data without making much noise. Its focus is on the monitoring, control and management of fleets and little by little it is expanding in the region. Cristián Barrientos is a founding partner and in this brief interview he explains how the technological revolution is changing the industry and reveals that the pandemic accelerated the emergence of artificial intelligence in his sector.

-What is the impact of the digital revolution on the industry in which you operate and on your business in particular?

-The impact is tremendous. Especially with regard, first of all, to the security issue, with on-board technologies and artificial intelligence, which allows automatic actions to be achieved within the cabin, reporting this information in real time and enabling companies to take immediate actions against driving situations impacted by drowsiness, fatigue, speeding and other precursor variables of serious accidents. Added to that, all that is big data and information linking algorithms, which allow not only controlling driving processes (vans, trucks and machinery) but also establishing behavior patterns, through a knowledge base capable of self-evolving over time with enormous potential.

Secondly, regarding the security issue, the digital revolution –and the same technologies applied to this field– has generated intelligence technologies in what is theft prevention, behavior analysis and mitigation of events that have occurred. In addition to dispatch control, optimization, and centralization of information as such, which are the basis of all the platforms and solutions that we use daily on these planes today. For this reason, the impact of the digital revolution is tremendous and the potential is enormous.

-Is there any trend or process that has been accelerated by the pandemic?

-Without a doubt, the pandemic, and the risks of contagion, have generated an acceleration of processes, which were already underway, in the industries we serve. Along with this, we see, in the country and other markets, a significant demand for solutions that prevent people from exposing themselves unnecessarily, especially when the technology exists for it. Processes of incorporating digital solutions, which were already under study or evaluation before the pandemic and which had taken longer to enter the market, were also accelerated, which will impact what I mentioned before and will facilitate the recovery of efficiency levels, which will allow companies to recover from the economic impact caused by the pandemic.

-You point to mining, logistics and transport, all sectors with significant challenges when it comes to being sustainable, what role can technology and digitization have in helping this transformation?

-Here there is a super transversal axis and where spaces of added value are generated, because we do not focus only on the efficiency and/or safety of the processes, but we are also talking about what is remote visibility, monitoring and sustainability. For this reason, today we are also aiming at what is CO2 emissions control, control of timely maintenance of equipment, analysis of the state of critical elements such as oil, planning tools and others, which not only aim at a greater profitability, but also to minimize the environmental impact of the operation.

Adding the control of driving habits, you can start talking about the concept of Green Driving.

Source: The counter