Initial Situation
- To harness current digitalization trends, our client, a global automotive OEM, focused on developing vehicle-as-a-service business models
- Retrofittable telematic units, which were identified as central element to these business models, in order to make vehicles ‘smart’ come in different specifications, based on the core use cases served
- Client was facing a classic strategic “build or buy“ dilemma and wanted to obtain comprehensive insights regarding pros & cons for both strategies
- Additionally planned to have an overview of market-leading products
Project Objectives
- Pros vs. cons analysis of in-house production and external sourcing
- Derivation of key decision-making criteria/ KPIs in the telematics arena, which upon further evaluation by the client as per their internal strategies can identify a clear build or buy strategy
- In-depth comparison of the leading providers of connectivity boxes both in terms of technicalcapabilities (communication protocols, navigation), businessperspective (partnerships, strategic moves), and coverage of telematic value chain
challenges we faced
- Heterogeneous nature of product-related documentation, and limited documentationregarding exact use cases which the product is built-for
- Combining the sourcing perspectives in automotive and digital (IT/IoT) hardware sectors across OEMs and suppliers
Creation of Framework
Creation of individual, case-specific framework to strategically help take build vs. buy decisions followed by extracting decision-making dimensions, customized to an automotive and IoT arena
Categorization of Dimensions
Identified dimensions categorized based on inherent characteristics into strategic, technological, economic, supply, and market types – individual importance evaluated using expert interview
Longlist creation & first analysis
Supplier evaluation included the secondary research of potentially relevant providers to create a long-list of 15-20 leading providers with product-related data
Shortlist as base for deeper analysis
Development of a focused short-list (10 companies) based on client-defined specifications, as well as on specific use case to be served
Validation & Enrichment
Expert interviews with solution development/ sales personnel from supplier side, to address any information gaps, to provide comprehensive product overviews