Episode 9 of What's Up Dock? Podcast

The modern world runs on lesser-known technology known as geofencing. But what is geofencing and why is it so important to global organizations as well as everyday applications?

To find out, we’re speaking with Lucas Schorer, Co-Founder at Kestrel Insights, a company specializing in this critical technology. Lucas shares how geofencing powers our world and what it means for our future.

Join us as we discuss:

• What geofencing is and its applications
• The vital role geofencing plays in logistics
• How Kestrel is innovating geofencing technology for the future

“The ability to look at trends over time is very important but those trends are only going to tell the right story if the data points are right.” — Lucas Schorer

Essential data

If you’re not familiar with the term “geofence,” it’s simply a virtual boundary that has countless applications from dog training to getting a hot pizza delivered to your doorstep.

When you order a rideshare, the automatic notifications you receive when your driver is close by are made possible through geofencing technology. 

The modern supply chain depends on these geofences in locations like distribution centers, warehouses, ports and border crossings. The invaluable data they provide helps logistics managers track their inventory more accurately, cut costs and increase automation.

But incorrect info is worse than useless. “If you’re basing business decisions on bad data, it creates a butterfly effect downstream — and that’s when this goal of automation starts to fall apart,” Lucas warns. If a single timestamp is recorded incorrectly, it can disrupt everything that follows. 

Kestrel Insights delivers vastly more accurate geofencing that enables companies to build better products and improve the customer experience.

“Our main thing around geofencing is to bring automation and precision to a data need that is widely used in the space.” — Lucas Schorer

Movement in the physical world

Lucas got his degree in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly, and as a highly visual person, he’s a natural for the logistics and transportation space.

“It’s the movement of very physical things that I just enjoy,” he explains.

Many of his fellow grads headed to Silicon Valley and into the tech realm, but Lucas felt that wave had already crested. The field of transportation logistics technology offered more exciting opportunities, with “people still making mistakes and fumbling and trying to find the best ways for things to play together.”

After a few years in project engineering and new business development, he founded Kestrel with the goal of bringing customers a greater level of “confidence and trust in their location data.”

Lucas has seen teams that waste endless hours trying to create their own geofencing, which is a poor use of vital resources. His company provides an efficient data plugin that removes this roadblock and offers exponentially more accuracy with an affordable subscription model.

People underestimate the value of data maintenance. Customers add locations, transportation hubs expand, places change names — and it’s a disaster if your logistics plan isn’t fully up to date.

“Building footprints can be super valuable for all kinds of applications, whether it's when they bumped dock or even used it for employee time cards.” — Lucas Schorer

Improvement and optimization

Lucas believes that Kestrel is perfectly positioned to optimize existing tools and spare businesses from “throwing more people or more money at it.”                                                            

He’s excited by the global applications of his platform. Customers are requesting data sets for seaports, airports and distro centers around the world. There’s an urgent need to streamline these logistical processes for the movement of essential materials.

Brands that are already utilizing geofencing can start leveraging Kestrel’s massive data warehouse almost immediately with simple APIs and an extremely user-friendly interface. 

Looking forward, Lucas is committed to continuing to build and refine their platform to support coming transitions in the industry. As AI and automation become more commonplace, he’s confident that Kestrel will remain at the forefront.

As autonomous trucking approaches reality, his team is prepared to meet ever-evolving customer demands. AI-powered delivery fleets are going to depend on ultra-accurate location data to be successful. He feels confident that self-driving vehicles won’t be on the road as soon as people are predicting, but he and his team will be ready when they are. 

Connect with Lucas at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-schorer/

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