GENIUS fleet management.

As a subsidiary of Daimler Mobility AG, we see and use the changes in the automotive industry as an opportunity for a new customer experience. Since 2016, we have been developing and marketing innovative connectivity services and digital solutions for fleet and business customers. We have also recently assumed the role of sales and processing organization for all data products and digital business models of Daimler AG. This means that we are not only in contact with the customers, but also responsible for the correct handling of the business models.

What sets us apart is that we are a very young and energetic team with a real start-up mentality in which each individual takes on a lot of responsibility. Although we are only about 40 people strong, we have bundled all our strengths: Whether product management and development, sales, legal or purchasing and finance - we control everything ourselves.

I think the special thing about connect business GENIUS is the high level of cross-brand vehicle data integration. The product translates the "dialects" of the control devices of various manufacturers into a neutral format and sends them to the connect business portal of the fleet manager. In contrast to retrofit solutions from other competitors, the GENIUS is permanently installed in the vehicle and is therefore tamper-proof. In addition to the use of high-quality components, the focus of product development was above all on security. And this bore fruit: the product has stood its ground both at TÜV Nord and against our Daimler-relevant IT security requirements.

In 2016, we started with the launch of connect business services for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The necessary communication module is already installed ex works. However, the Mercedes-Benz share in fleets is only a small part, depending on the market. Therefore, the multi-brand theme offers enormous potential for us. With the connect business EXPERT, we already introduced multi-brand-capable hardware last year.  And the connect business GENIUS also offers our customers a number of advantages: These can now make full use of our service portfolio. The focus of the development was above all on the "Vehicle Monitoring & Maintenance" service, which, in addition to mileage, also displays the vehicle's state of health and consumption information - almost in real time. Customer feedback shows that this diagnostic and maintenance information in particular is very exciting and important for fleet management.

Our claim has always been that we can cover a vehicle fleet across the board, i.e. across all brands. In combination with the telematics units installed ex works in Mercedes-Benz vehicles, we have thus created an optimal starting position for ourselves to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and score points with our customers. We therefore see an opportunity to cut ourselves off a large slice of the cake. But we also have a unique selling proposition with our "foreign brand competence". The foundation for this was laid with our platform and the associated business processes.

Right from the start, the customer's needs were multi-brand capability - now we have made this possible!

Almost our entire team has been involved in the project to integrate GENIUS into our product portfolio in the recent months. Really ALL areas worked together on the many topics in a customer- and solution-oriented way - stressful but also exciting and fun. Our business setup helped us to define and set up all necessary business processes in a relatively short time - that is 10 months.