Pitney Bowes offers location intelligence software that analyzes geospatial data to help businesses make better decisions. This case study examines how the automotive industry could use location data and IoT to improve road safety. By collecting data from sensors in connected vehicles, road hazards and accidents could be detected and medical assistance promptly dispatched. The location intelligence software provides insights that help reduce accidents and save lives while also generating business opportunities for manufacturers, insurers, and organizations studying road safety. However, challenges include encouraging adoption, especially in developing countries where accidents are more common, and addressing privacy concerns about personal data collection.

1. PITNEY BOWES LOCATION INTELLIGENCE AND IOT
Business Innovation Case Study
April, 2017
Location Intelligence Solution by Pitney Bowes and IoT for Road Accident Prevention
Mrs. Jigisha Aryya Baruah
A20373382
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
Author Note
Firstly, I thank the institute and Prof. Adarsh Arora for providing a rich repository of scholarly articles,
material and valuable motivation for carrying out this case study, submitted on the 20th day of April,
2017. Any questions about this paper should be sent through email at jaryya@hawk.iit.edu. Secondly,
you are hereby granted permission to use (and adapt) this document for learning and research purposes.
You may not sell this original piece of work either by itself or in combination with other products or
services. Third, if you use this document, you use it at your own risk. This document was created with
no anomalous or biased influence, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
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Mrs. Jigisha Aryya

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Executive Summary
Pitney Bowes has a suite of software products in Customer Relationship Management, eCommerce,
Shipment and Mailing etc. The focus of this brief report is something that is more recent and
revolutionary. It is Location Intelligence that uses Geo-spatial data to help businesses make better
decisions. We try to analyze how this information can be “used” by the automotive industry to provide
better safety measures and prompt accident detection. The company has delivered solutions to its
clients that shows how adding Location Intelligence to their Big Data can provide more actionable
insights. By mining IoT-generated data various businesses will receive pointers that can not only help
generate more revenue but can also save lives.
Introduction
IoT has evolved very fast and it has motivated researchers to look for solutions that are directed
towards making urban life more convenient and safe. Adding IoT devices to vehicles can help detect
road hazards, and can also help save lives by raising alarms and sending medical help on time when the
accident takes place. Researchers are working on new software and hardware that can be developed to
locate the place of accident accurately and inform private or public organizations about the incident and
send medical data about the victims. The cars, bikes and other vehicles are tested for safety but are
running on the roads even when they are marked unsafe. Lack of air bags, ABS and weak structures
make most models unsafe on roads of both developed and developing countries. Many car
manufacturing companies like Honda have recalled their vehicles for defective air bags. But they
continue to be popular. Considering current market demands, automobile companies will continue
manufacturing such models and people will continue buying them, even after knowing the
vulnerabilities. With the technologies that are available today, it is possible for companies of in the
automotive sector and other services to come up with safer parts or atleast gather more knowledge with
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the streams of data that is generated by in-built hardware sensors and multimedia devices to help
prevent such incidents from happening over and over again. This report summarizes all these points
and a viable solution with Pitney Bowes software is discussed. Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence
Solution was introduced few years back.
Target Market Identification and Market Needs
Pitney Bowes software business is flourishing and their clients like Geoffrey Insurance Services,
BanCorp and FABRIQ have used their products viz. EngageOne Video and CRM application
development platform in varied business needs. The Location Intelligence solution of Pitney Bowes
has several use cases. Right from Banking to Retail and Logistics to Insurance and Telecom, various
businesses can use location data to improve their quality of service. FABRIQ is one of those prime
clients that has leveraged location intelligence. Crime control is one area that is not discussed too often.
Same is the case with accident prevention and detection. Safe cars with all possible features are limited
to a small number and even in those it is not possible to track the human specific behavior or any
abnormalities in the vehicle or passengers at real-time. With IoT, that is possible and is being rapidly
adopted. Also with web cameras, video of the driver and passengers sitting inside a car or a truck and
rear/front road views can be captured. These can be mined to detect any abnormalities. Driver blinking
patterns, drowsiness, alcohol consumption indications or discomfort alarms can be used to alert the
driver or any remote monitoring system. Any impact or unexpected road conditions that might cause an
accident can also be communicated to the closest help center or medical institution. Very few cars and
bikes in developing countries have these advanced technologies although road accidents and fatalities
are higher there than in developed nations.
However, several startups in Industrial IoT are using predictive analytics for vehicle maintenance and
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specially in consumer vehicles. Critical parts send data through local hardware components and a
wireless network. Same can be used to indicate any alarming behavior of the driver, vehicle or
passengers with IoT hardware and other devices fitted intelligently inside the vehicle.
Smartphones are becoming “smarter” with some latest technologies that are maturing rapidly. With
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) multimedia data can be sent over a wireless network to
another terminal using the same application in any browser. Also the gyroscope in-built in the phones
can help detect sharp movement and tilts in the vehicles. Even if an unfortunate incident takes place,
the location and passenger data should be sent to those who can help the victims and to the
manufacturers of the vehicle. With all the data from different sources, not only the risk of losing lives
can be reduced, but also the manufacturers can record details of the vehicle condition when the
accident or fatality happened, for instance speed of the vehicle, light intensity, air pressure and oxygen
levels inside the vehicle and time of the incident. Organizations that study road accidents can add the
location data to each one, to produce richer information that may help automobile companies in
designing better equipped vehicles that will raise alarms so that hazards don't take place. Common
people can use maps with details of the road conditions and accident records to take extra precautions
while driving through those areas.
We need automobiles that have all such possible safety features in-built and a platform where each
consumer's driving behavior is recorded and analyzed. This information can be used by various
businesses and non-profit organizations to make roads safer.
Analysis of Case
Vehicles manufactured in different places have different needs according to the road conditions,
demographic trends, local law and order situation etc. In order to enhance safety on roads, it is
important to capture all information about any accident or mishap that happens on the road. While most
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vehicles today have several good safety features, there are still situations where carelessness of the
driver or low quality or failure of a part, causes accidents. If not an accident, a motor part fail if the
vehicle is continuously exposed to harsh driving or inappropriate external conditions like too much heat
or cold or repeated slow driving due to heavy traffic conditions. In such scenarios, the parts might be
losing life that might ultimately lead to a breakdown or accident. IoT as discussed has a solution to
making cars smarter and safer. But added to this is the need to churn the gathered information to
present insights about the vehicle and driver to make them more aware of their driving habits, their
vehicle's internal condition, on demand. The automobile manufacturers need to know their customers
better. These problems can be solved with Location Intelligence software that Pitney Bowes has
formulated. The various views of the collected data can give such useful information to various
audiences be it businesses, non-profits, educational institutions, or the general consumer who buys cars
and bikes and wants to be safe on the road. “Connected cars” is another concept in IoT where car parts
can “talk” to each other. When a vehicle and a person moves, they are generating data not just about
how and where they travel but also of the highways and roads. They are moving surveyors and this
information needs to be tapped. The data collected by “stalking” on them with an official status, can be
helpful in making good business decisions and should definitely be entertained.
The Location Intelligence module has helped Insurance companies in growing their client base. Areas
prone to road accidents will perhaps opt for insurance in greater number. Therefore, we can see that
other businesses can also be linked with this data. IBM has rightly pointed out this in an article
“Interconnect session spotlight: Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence” by David Andrews.
Key Issues and Goals
The challenge
The main problem in this technology as we have seen is its adoption keeping in view other resources
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that will have to be used. For developing countries where accidents are more common, it is even harder
to convince people to buy such equipped cars just for their safety. Second, is the privacy issue. Not all
people will be ready to provide all their data about their road trips, traveling behavior and also medical
information to a third party that is a private organization. They might feel like they are being “stalked”
for wrong reasons by any other undisclosed or “hidden” parties , which is a crime.
To mitigate these issues, it is important to build affordable hardware and software for consumer
vehicles and ensure complete security and anonymity of the data that is exchanged. The huge volume
of data that is received by a company like Pitney Bowes should make sure that it is always safe from
cyber threats. Automotive Cybersecurity is a growing field of study.
Affect on the Brand name
Cars and other vehicles claim a lot of things in their marketing campaigns. But once things are seen
failing, there comes a big question on their integrity. After the customers have paid for the vehicle that
seemed to have enough of safety equipments, they are completely dependent on the the insurance
companies in case of any casualties due to a defective design or part. The car manufacturer will take no
responsibility. That makes a customer feel cheated and it lowers the brand name altogether. All their
marketing gimics become a big joke! Whether that really has any impact on those who decided to
design the car that way is a different thing, but it deprives the customers of their basic rights. Suing a
company due to their ignorance may not be possible for those who are already struck by a sad incident.
Hence, it is the moral responsibility of a company to take enough measures to ensure complete safety.
Startups and technical companies can always be of help and can innovate to solve this problem.
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Conclusion
IoT along with Location Intelligence is a good candidate for making roads and automobiles safer and
smarter. Automobile companies themselves can integrate such solutions in their vehicles to make them
safer without having to alter the basic design and material for construction. Pitney Bowes has a product
suite that is recognized and used by a variety of companies. They can extend their influence to the
automobile sector. This might open its doors to a new dimension altogether.
References
http://www.pitneybowes.com/us/location-intelligence.html
A Technical White Paper by Pitney Bowes: “Location Intelligence for Big Data”
http://www.pitneybowes.com/content/dam/pitneybowes/us/en/campaign-pages/li-for-big-data.pdf
David Andrews, 2017, “Interconnect session spotlight: Pitney Bowes Location Intelligence”
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2017/03/interconnect-session-spotlight-pitney-bowes-location-
intelligence/
Elie Nasr, Elie Kfoury, David Khoury, 2016, “An IoT Approach to Vehicle Accident Detection,
Reporting, and Navigation”, 2016 IEEE International Multidisciplinary Conference on Engineering
Technology (IMCET)
General Electric, Press Release, September 15, 2015, “GE Predix Platform Embeds Pitney Bowes
Location Intelligence Industrial Internet Data Analytics”
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This might open doors to new dimensions altoghether.