Die Mobiliar Disrupts Itself With A LoRaWAN-Based Tracking Service

In 2014, Mobiliar launched its “Corporate Innovation” team to investigate on technologies and new business opportunities. The objective was to create new services that would bring added value and regular engagement with end customers.

HAND IN HAND WITH SWISSCOM AND ABEEWAY

The following year, this new entity focused on tracking and location services: “Track & Trace” to protect personal items. The team worked hand and hand with Swisscom, Switzerland’s largest ICT and telecommunications provider in lean approach based on customer feedback. The first idea that came up was a community-based tracking service. It soon proved unpractical both in terms of its technicality and functionality, but it steered the innovation team towards a strictly personal solution.Building upon this, Corporate Innovation thus decided to design a hassle-free solution:  

• with a long battery life
• able to work anywhere and anytime.

As Mobiliar business and innovation partner, Swisscom’s dedicated team of  IoT experts were able to work with Mobiliar from the prototype phase and on through to the market stage.

The Swiss ICT and telecommunications provider was exploring the capabilitiesof the emerging LoRaWAN technology with its partner Actility.  “Our role is to be a strong innovation partner for our customers”, comments Jaap Vossen Head of IOT. “In Mobiliar’s case, we felt that LoRaWAN’s capabilities combined with our partner Abeeway’s solution were a good match.

“Our IoT ecosystem and Actility’s support with the roll out Swisscom’s LoRaWAN network helped us meet early LoRaWAN adopters such as Mobiliar’s needs.” Jaap Vossen, Swisscom

Mobiliar was interested in leveraging the national LoRaWAN network that Swisscom was about to roll out, combined with the tracking expertise of Abeeway, a subsidiary of Actility since April 2017. The latter offers very low-power GPS tracking devices, mainly dedicated to asset management, logistics, and security of goods and people, with various applications. “Abeeway can guide us because they see lots of other players in the IoT market”, comments René Meier.

FROM 20 TO 2000 MICROTRACKERS

 Mobiliar has ordered + 20 Microtrackers from Abeeway for a test that immediately brought positive feedbacks and dozens of pre-orders. Soon afterward, the project got approved by the company’s board and was set for the product-market fit phase. Last June, the FindMe service was commercially launched with a dedicated mobile application, extended with the back-end of Abeeway. Die Mobiliar also ordered a stock of 2,000 Microtrackers.

The device from FindMe can be placed in a car, on a boat, but also in a jacket, under a bicycle saddle or in a laptop bag. It even has a special button for an alarm signal. In the case of loss or theft, the owner has the opportunity to quickly retrieve his items. The clients can detect and notify when a belonging is moving outside specific perimeter, track and find it. The device itself is small and flat so that it does not strike the attention of thieves immediately.