The traditional taxi industry has taken a massive hit, largely due to the enormous popularity and rise in ride-sharing services, in particular, Uber. This illustrates how quickly consumers will latch onto better options as soon as they become available.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Uber calls itself a "peer-to-peer" ride-sharing company. "By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers. From our founding in 2009 to our launches in hundreds of cities today, Uber's rapidly expanding global presence continues to bring people and their cities closer," boasts the company's Web site.
Alon Lits, GM of Uber Johannesburg and Durban, will present a case study at the ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2015, to be held on 17 and 18 March at Vodaworld, in Johannesburg. Lits attributes much of Uber's success to its ubiquitous use of business intelligence (BI).
Dubbed: Uber - evolving the way the world moves, the case study will discuss Uber's BI journey and how it has completely disrupted the transport industry.
"BI is core to everything that Uber does on a daily basis. It gives us access to actual statistics on demand. We have insight into profitability on a daily basis, allowing us to match supply and demand in real-time," he explains.
Lits says BI is an integral part of the business, a core component, and fundamental to everything that Uber does. "Uber has disrupted the transport business because of BI. It has helped us understand data, where there is demand, and helps us communicate with our partner-drivers to match supply with that demand."
Uber works via a smartphone app that employs GPS technology to match customers with nearby cars, ranging from the basic Uber X to the more expensive Uber Black and Uber Van. It then enables riders to track the journey in real-time from beginning to end, and pay the fare with preloaded credit card details, eliminating the need to carry cash.
Operating in over 200 cities, Lits says Uber has brought efficiency to the transport industry. "Instead of making a call and waiting half-an-hour or more for a ride, a simple click on the application can ensure a safe and reliable ride within minutes in any city in which Uber operates."
Click here to find out more about this 10th annual BI event from ITWeb, and to register.
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