Telematics can often get a bad rep – from being too expensive to being like ‘Big Brother’. In this article we will take a closer look at some of the biggest telematics misconceptions.
First misconception: All telematics technologies are the same. The truth: There is a huge difference between telematics providers. If you do your research, you’ll see there are a ton of choices when it comes to different software, hardware, features available, reports, alerts, dashboards, and more.
Second misconception: Cheaper is better. The truth: If you find a solution to fit your specific business needs and goals, you will gain a better ROI. Better telematics software is often more expensive for a reason – more functionality and features, reliability, top notch customer service, making for a long-term valued business partner – NOT just the basic software and hardware. Bottom line: price should not be the driving factor in your final decision.
Third misconception: Telematics is too expensive. The truth: It’s no secret that the initial up front investment in telematics can be expensive, however, when used correctly, telematics can help a fleet save significantly more that the first initial cost. When speaking with different providers, make sure to take a look initial investment and have them show you how you’ll save more than that. Telematics is only costly when you are not getting a ROI.
Fourth misconception: All telematics solutions are scalable & will adapt to your growing business. The truth: Unfortunately, not every solution is scalable. Fleets will often grow out of some providers because of their limited functionality. It’s important to find out about the scalability of a telematics solution when looking at different providers. Make sure they have all the capabilities you are looking for right now, as well as many other features and add-ons that will allow the solution to grow along with your business.
Fifth misconception: Using telematics will make your drivers angry. The truth: This is probably by far the most common misconception, and unfortunately yes, some drivers may have an issue with telematics. However, most of your drivers want to do a good job and make your company money, and the right telemaatics solution will only help them do an even better job. And the small percentage of drivers who do have an issue with it? Well, in our experience, they’re the ones who are doing something wrong and don’t want you to know about it.
It’s no secret small and medium sized businesses with fleets can benefit from telematics yet people often don’t see where the ROI can come from when they only have a few vehicles.
Let’s take a look at two case studies specifically for those in doubt, and see just how small and medium businesses are using telematics to increase productivity and save money.
Usually the key performance indicators (KPIs) for small and medium fleets are the same as larger fleets. Focusing on specifics like lowering fuel consumption, eliminating fuel theft, and improving driver behavior to reduce risk and increase safety.
However, every fleet is different and will have their own specific goals. Let’s look at the following two examples of how two different businesses use telematics:
Case Study 1: Food Production Company Saves Money on Mileage
Challenge: Company Abc is in food production and uses multiple contractors to transport their products. The contractors are paid by mileage, and drive their own trucks. The mileage is paid for trips from the factory door to the farm, and the mileage inside the factory facility is not included in the calculation.
Solution: A starter solution with a custom daily report to highlight the mileage of each truck. This report shows the mileage inside the factory perimeter as well, so the customer can measure exact savings in mileage – adding up to hundreds of kilometers saved per day! The higher level plans were not necessary at this time but, if they wish to expand their solution to include driver behaviour and fuel consumption details, it’s easy to do so.
Case Study 2: Company Verifies Accuracy of Vehicle Testing with Telematics
Challenge: Company Xyz has a small fleet of hybrids and is engaged in testing vehicles. Their main goal is to measure driving behaviour and compare fuel usage versus electrical usage. The company also needs to verify the accuracy of the data for speeding and other harsh driving events.
Solution: A custom dashboard report to allow the customer to easily view the percentage of fuel consumption versus electrical usage. The high quality of data we provide gives the customer confidence that all their testing measurements are accurate.
These examples demonstrate how important it is for your telematics solution to be flexible. A platform that is user-friendly is also essential for maximizing the telematics value for the customer.
Tips to Selecting the Best Telematics Solution for Your Business
Ask Questions Now to Avoid Problems Later
There are a ton of telematics providers that promise great functionality at very low prices. In our experience, we’ve seen far too many of these providers suddenly vanish, leaving their customers with useless hardware installed in their vehicles.
In many of these unfortunate cases, customers were attracted by pricing or an enticing sales pitch. When looking at different suppliers, they never asked some key questions such as:
How stable is this company’s technology?
How much revenue do they spend on developing future technologies and services?
What measures does the company take to protect personal data?
What security do they deliver on the device and cloud sides?
And most importantly:
What value will this solution bring to my business?
Can this solution be scaled regionally and globally?
Although these questions may seem obvious. We’ve seen far too many small businesses implement telematics without considering these crucial topics, only to later discover that the solution did not always fit their needs.
Top Features to Have in a Telematics Solution
Some of our customers were already using a telematics solution prior to GoFleet, so they ask directly for specific improvements that their previous fleet solution did not offer.
Examples of key added value features:
Reliability and Service Availability
Good Customer Support
Cost-effective
Quick Install/Uninstall
Easy Report Customization
Wide Engine Parameters
Scalability
Source:
Small to Medium Business Case Studies by: Antonio Venutelli, Solutions Engineer at Geotab https://www.geotab.com/blog/small-and-medium-business/
One of the biggest (if not the biggest) expense for fleet based companies is fuel. And with fuel being necessary to running your business you may often think there is nothing you can do about high fuel costs. However, properly maintaining vehicles and educating your drivers are two of the best ways to maximize fuel efficiency and reduce high fuel expenses.
Check out these 5 easy fuel saving tips to start reducing fuel expenses today:
Change Your Air FilterUp to 10% of your engine’s efficiency can be compromised and internal engine parts can be damaged from a clogged air filter. A clean air filter can improve a vehicle’s gas mileage by up to 10%, according to the federal government. If you change your air filter every 12,000 miles you will protect the engine as well as improve fuel economy.
Check Your Tire PressureThe U.S. Department of Energy states drivers could increase their fuel efficiency by 3% by simply keeping their tires inflated. Your fuel costs increase per mile even if your tires are just 1 psi under inflated. It’s important to ensure your fleet’s tires are all inflated to the manufacturer’s recommended pressure to not only improve fuel efficiency but provide a safer ride as well.
Slow DownAnd Relax! If your drivers are stressed, they are much more likely to accelerate quickly and brake hard, reducing fuel efficiency. These poor driving habits can decrease fuel efficiency by up to 5% according to the EPA.
Reduce Vehicle Weight100 pounds of extra weight in your vehicle can reduce fuel efficiency by 2%. This is especially prominent in smaller vehicles. Have your fleet drivers empty out anything that is not essential from their vehicles and ensure in the winter they are cleaning snow and ice off thoroughly.
Plan RoutesSave on vehicle wear and tear and reduce miles driven by effectively planning your drivers routes. Also, try to keep track of where your drivers are throughout the day. This way if there is an emergency you can send the closest driver to the location. It’ll keep your customers happy by reaching them sooner and cut down on miles driven.
These are small changes that can result in big savings. Educate your drivers on how their driving habits effect fuel efficiency and start working towards fuel savings today!
Telematics is here to stay, and in order to remain competitive within your market you may have started using some version of the technology. If not, you’re missing out.
There is so much more to telematics than simply GPS tracking; telematics can help decrease fuel costs, increase fleet productivity and safety, and so much more.
Fleets reported an average of 21.1% decrease in accident costs, and a 10% decrease in fuel consumption in a recent Bobit Business Media Survey. Some respondents saw up to a 40% decrease in fuel consumption and an average of 12% decrease in labor costs.
59% of fleets said productivity was a major benefit of implementing telematics.
However, almost all benefits from telematics can boost productivity.
The survey included over 1,000 government and commercial fleet responses from fleets of all sizes and 92% reported telematics had a positive impact on their fleet.
So, how exactly can telematics increase fleet productivity?
It is not a magical solution that you plug in and notice results – it is however an extremely powerful tool and when used correctly can result in a ton of savings. Through proper use of the software, paying attention to detail, small changes made over time and communication with your drivers, you will definitely get the results you are looking for.
Real-Time Visibility
Better tracking of your assets means saving you time and money through more efficient job/field tracking, dispatching, billing, and reduced theft.
Maintenance Management
Schedule preventative maintenance based on actual engine hour data instead of your drivers guessing.
Improved Routing & Dispatching
By knowing where your drivers are in real-time you can respond quicker and increase fleet productivity.
Monitoring Safety
Through tracking metrics like speeding, seat belt use, etc. you can educate your drivers and help prevent incidents on the road. The collected data can also be used to clear up any false claims.
Increase Employee Efficiency
The factors above are important but without employee support, it won’t work. Educate your drivers and even make it a healthy competition to see who can get the best driving record.
Many drivers idle without even thinking about it. For example, an employee waits for their coworker in the car outside a local coffee shop while the engine is humming in the background. Unfortunately, fleet idling can end up being quite costly to business operations, in terms of wasted fuel, the possibility of fines or infractions, accumulation of vehicle maintenance costs, and the environmental impact of excessive emissions.
Increased awareness of idling behavior, through the Geotab solution, can help reduce overall fleet costs. Read this article to learn how to identify and manage idling in MyGeotab.
True Idling Versus Operational Idling
A common trucking myth is that diesel engines need a warmup time of five minutes before driving. Nowadays, no more than three minutes of warmup is recommended by most diesel engine manufacturers; longer than that may actually cause engine damage. It’s important fleet managers make sure they understand the difference between true idling and operational idling.
By comining our high-resolution data logging points of the GO device and the IOX-AUX Add-On, fleet managers can easily see whether assets are wasting time or being used for stand-still job applications right within MyGeotab.
True Idling or Non-Operational Idling — In MyGeotab, a vehicle will be in true idling when the vehicle ignition is on and there is no power take-off (PTO) usage identified either through engine status data or through IOX-AUX based input. IOX-AUX is an Add-On for the Geotab GO7 device which measures external vehicle inputs.
Operational Idling — If a vehicle is idling but the fleet manager can see PTO usage through engine status data or through IOX-AUX, then this is classified as operational idling. PTO is a mechanism which drives the engine power from the engine to another external application, high-powered vacuum or a lift on the back of a trailer. Most often, PTO will be used when the engine is running and the vehicle is standing still. Three to minutes of vehicle warm up time can also be considered operational idling as well.
Software-based rules can be set to identify drivers who are idling for any non-business purpose, i.e. detect true idling for longer than five minutes. Fleet managers can then be notified of any exceptions generated from these rules via text message or email.
PTO comes through as engine status data. Depending on the OEM and make and model of the vehicle, the engine data is variable. PTO activity can be sporadic and there isn’t a solid pattern to track. Therefore, a more reliable indicator of true idling is PTO state. Looking for that flip of the switch (i.e. 0 or 1 value) can show whether the PTO was actually activated.
To develop a rule to capture this information, we need to consider both conditions, which are engine status data and info from the IOX-AUX.
The rule can be defined as:
Speed < 3mph and Status Data Diagnostic “PTO Status (0=Disengaged/1=Engaged)” > 0 or Aux1 is true and Ignition is true
Driver Coaching Tools for Idling
Driver feedback helps reduce idling occurrence rates within a fleet by notifying drivers when idling occurs, so they can immediately adjust their behavior. The Geotab GO device can be configured to produce in-cab audible beeping through the device’s built-in buzzer or deliver a spoken text-to-speech message using the GO TALK Live In-Vehicle Verbal Feedback Add-On.
Track Trends with Custom Reports
The standard Exception Details report, included by default within each MyGeotab database, shows when, where and for how long true idling or wasted time events occurred. By using rules that differentiate between operational and non-operational idling, it becomes possible to calculate a breakdown of time spent within each category. From there, some report customization can provide a scoring element that ranks vehicles and drivers on their performance.
As you can imagine, there are limitless possibilities when it comes to visualizing this data. Thankfully, for those of us who are not Microsoft Excel experts, we provide useful Custom Report templates which can help add firepower to the fight against true idle time reduction. Here are some examples:
Weekly Idle Cost – Daily Trend Report: Shows the overall cost of idling for the fleet. Intended to be run for a week’s duration, broken down daily for trending analysis.
Last 3 Months Idling Trend: Displays the total idling time for the entire fleet over the last three months.
Trended Exception Report: Showcase how your drivers are doing compared to each other on a trend. Designed to be reporting for a monthly or weekly data set, showing daily or weekly trends.
Driver Awareness and Training are Key
The driver is the one who chooses to let the vehicle idle, making driver training and awareness key. Telematics data collection, driver coaching, and reporting can all assist fleet managers to create more efficient and sustainable fleet. Perhaps, in the future, driverless and electric vehicles will become a solution to this problem.
Source:
How to Detect and Stop True Fleet Idling
By: Jason Widla, Solutions Engineer Specilaist at Geotab
Some of us have learned the importance of safe driving while others have experienced it first hand; in every way we understand the importance of safety and the benefits of using defensive driving practices. National Safety Month reinforces positive driver habits that we often forget as we become experienced drivers. Initiated to educate, the program aims to increase awareness, promote defensive driving, and keep driver distractions to a minimum.
Along with the safety basics such as wearing a seat-belt, reduced speeding and appropriate signalling, there are other factors that aid in road safety.
Understanding road responsibilities
Continuous vehicle maintenance
Defensive driving courses
Keeping Distractions to a minimum
Road Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility
The number of vehicles on the road only grows each year resulting in busy streets and more traffic than ever. This requires a lot of patience and the need to follow safety laws to ensure all vehicles move in order. It is essential to understand your road responsibilities either as a motorist or as a pedestrian; when working together traffic will not only sail smoothly but will keep all the commotion organized. Making eye contact is often a good way to quickly communicate your intentions, reducing room for error and accidents.
Vehicle Maintenance
A large number of accidents occur due to factors that are out of our control such as vehicle breakdowns. Having regular maintenance to ensure your vehicle is in safe working conditions will not only extend the life of your vehicle but also keep you safe. Regular vehicle maintenance is financially more resourceful than having to make one large investment when your vehicle breaks down. This will hamper your pockets and also cause traffic to build on the roads.
Defensive Driving
Defensive driving courses are available and essential to learn how to handle your vehicles in all situations. These courses are offered to new and existing drivers to help lower risks behind the wheel. Sometimes you might not be “the bad driver” but being aware of aggressive driving helps to keep you safe. As dull as an in-class instructional lecture might seem you might just gain a few insights to best driving practices! And as an employer of drivers – it’s crucial to make sure your team is well versed in defensive driving.
Keep Distractions to a Minimum
We live in the day and age of technology hence, keeping distractions to a minimum while driving is often encouraged as a safety precaution. Many of us are guilty of shooting a quick text while at the lights but a few seconds can sometimes have a huge impact. It is challenging to minimize distractions but it is also important to do so.
Positive behaviours & defensive driving minimize many risks.
Start your stride towards safer roads today!
Read how Airtel Kenya uses vehicle GPS tracking devices to improve road safety.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, this number represents how many people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2014. Over 3,000 people were killed in crashes related to distracted driving in that same year.
It’s estimated that 25% of crashes involve cell phones
(phone conversations or text messaging) by the National Safety Council.
The Cost is High: Distracted Driving Policy and Employer Responsibilities
Costs associated with distracted driving for companies is high, considering potential costs related to injuries and liability. Therefore, it is the employers responsibility for maintaining worker safety, and setting up an effective distracted driving policy is part of this. Simply creating a policy document is not enough; it has to be followed up with education, monitoring, and enforcement.
In honor of National Safety Month, we have compiled a list of our top blog posts on preventing distracted and dangerous driving. Fleet safety is a key part of our fleet management solution. Telematics can help to support a company’s safety program and distracted driving policy with in-vehicle driver coaching, instant accident notification, and risk and safety reporting.
Texting while driving is unacceptable. The road was dangerous before cell phones were introduced; road rage is still a major issue. Stop distracted driving.
Worried about dangerous driving? Wondering what can you do about the way your drivers behave on the road? GPS fleet management software is here to help.
Before jumping into the fleet GPS tracker market, commercial trucking company will have questions involving costs relative to benefits, contractual obligations, customer support and long-term ease of use. To provide exceptional clarity before buying your next commercial GPS tracker unit, we’ve debunked many commercial management questions and myths. So, before purchasing the wrong units, ask yourself these questions, then gauge them against fleet GPS tracker technology services we provide.
Are provided features considerate of your ROI?
If your Fleet GPS Tracker Device is missing features, it essentially hurts your bottom line. When your bottom line is adversely affected, your business will suffer and you may have to sell-off your assets to make up the difference. Having essential tools, like geo-fences, wireless dispatching, segmented alerts and fuel economy tracking are essential in staying out of the ‘red’, and posting positive gains. Check thoroughly with your current company and see if the tools yield high ROI; then measure that against the diverse array of profit-generating and business-friendly services that we offer. We always have your business in mind.
How simple is the GPS tracker operation?
Unfortunately, many scalable and powerful systems are not user-friendly and are hard to operate. Anything that takes longer than 30 minutes to learn in GPS tracker nomenclature is way too long; many companies write their user manuals with technically-proficient people in mind. Not all commercial trucking companies will employ techies that are able to quickly navigate user manuals and explain flagship features of fleet GPS tracker devices. You must emphasize simplicity while providing flexible and feature-rich services fleet GPS trackers must have. The marketplace is ripe with fleet GPS trackers that are rather cumbersome and difficult to learn, whereas ours remains both scalable and simple.
How often is the vehicle position updated?
Being overwhelmed with too many updates could create driver chaos, or company confusion. Having updates spread too far apart could mean missing key pieces of vehicle or driver information which may cost you loads, excessive downtime or even poorly kept logbooks. Industry normal update times are roughly 120 seconds when vehicles are in motion, and 1 hour when vehicle is off. Most monthly-based companies that require long-term contracts will send updates 6-12 times per hour, and only when vehicle is in operation. Since this does nothing for productivity, make sure you stick with Fleet Tracking that is around the industry norm, which we offer to our commercial clients.
Are some other company’s GPS Tracker units being resold?
Commercial companies understand the difficulty of servicing products that do not fall within their scope and under their umbrella. Fleet GPS trackers may eventually need remote servicing, or live maintenance that secondary sellers cannot provide which, of course, impedes trucking company progress. Checking with sales representatives to make sure your chosen company brands their own fleet tracking apparatus would save loads of time, both in a presale setting and later down the road when maintenance is necessary. Moreover, going with direct manufacturers of these fleet GPS tracker devices may drive down costs whereas resellers will upcharge.
Will the system work when you’re not logged in online or near a computer?
Unless automatic updates or concurrent status alerts are provided through an app, a trucker’s Qualcomm or text messages are given, fleet GPS trackers require loads of personal attention. Managers have bigger fish to fry, and have little time to print daily reports. Your chosen GPS tracker should have automatic report scheduling, some method to receive frequent updates and have the capacity to run whether you’re there to oversee its actions or not. These updates should come at intervals you preset; where many systems fail, our fleet GPS tracker solutions are transparent in their ability to provide quick updates, useful information when it’s needed most and report scheduling at your convenience, not ours.
Is customer support able to answer my questions via telephone or chat?
With the economy in a whirlwind and wallets becoming empty, commercial companies are struggling to find fleet tracking customer service, literally, in any nook or cranny they can. Although it seems as though the well has run dry in the fleet tracking market, there are still fleet services available around the clock when you need them most. The most difficult job for most tech companies to handle is also one that is still in abundance: customer service. Dealing with an entire fleet of commercial delivery trucks is enough of a headache; your customer service personnel should add to those headaches. Besides, your equipment is essentially useless when nobody helps with troubleshooting; if any company tells you that every model is self-booting or comes with self-help features with minimal customer service, run. Run quickly. Then check out how our customer service works.
Will there be extensive contracts to enter into?
Fleet managers aren’t keen on being surprised; most fleet GPS tracker companies will slam commercial trucking outfits with ridiculous monthly fees, and then add unknown contract stipulations that hurt your prospects to grow. If you’re locked into an extended contract, the level of service diminishes over time. Clearly, in other words, there’s no incentive for the GPS tracker company to keep providing great products or generous customer service. No extended contracts, hidden fees or surprises will come from us.
Want to learn more or try GoFleet’s GPS trackers free for 30 days? Contact Us!
Telematics has come a long way from simply just GPS tracking. One of the top reasons so many of our customers reached out to us for help, was to reduce accidents and increase safety within their fleet.
Telematics is now highly used to reduce insurance and liability costs, by reducing the number of accidents that occur. Nowadays, a small fender bender can end up costing you $1,000 or more to repair – which is why so many fleet managers look into telematics for their fleet.
Telematics helps lower accident-related costs in four key areas:
Minimizing personal injury with in-vehicle audible coaching for speed and seatbelt use.
Reducing vehicle damage with in-vehicle audible coaching, promoting positive forward and reversing driving habits.
Improving general liability rates with monthly risk management driver scorecards.
Helping to manage driver-related workers’ compensation claims.
With telematics coaching tools, we can encourage safer driving habits, such as: accelerating and braking smoothly; driving within the posted speed limit; and backing into parking spaces instead of reversing out of them. In the fleet world, we actually train drivers to reverse in when they arrive at a destination — it’s much safer and greatly reduces the risk of accidents.
Telematics technology can also be useful after an accident, if unfortunately, one occurs. Instant accident notifications and detailed second-by-second data make it possible to take crucial and timely action steps. For example, if a vehicle has been hit while parked, our unique recording technology can help prove no-fault to the insurance provider.
Early 2012, Geotab introduced the functionality that sent an in-vehicle notification to a driver when an Exception Rule was being violated. This type of notification, also known as Driver Feedback, can be used for any Exception Rule by editing the Exception and selecting “Add Driver Feedback” under the Notifications tab (shown below).
If you do not have a Garmin or GO TALK device, you can select from three notification options:
Beep 10 Times Quickly
Beep 3 Times Quickly
Beep 3 Times
At first when this feature was released, some customers noticed that notifications would come through intermittently and in some cases were significantly delayed. After further testing, it was determined that this feature was only notifying drivers correctly in 40% of cases, which was highly unacceptable by Geotab’s quality standards.
The ultimate goal with Exception Rule based feedback was to have an in-vehicle experience comparable to the driver feedback provided by the GO GPS device (such as idling or over-revving). For this reason, beeping more than 60 seconds after the exception occurred is currently discarded. Under the Pro Plan, this means that beeping would rarely be triggered.
Our testing showed that the GO device was not sending data often enough to allow the software to determine in real time if an exception was actively being violated. We noticed that the time between logs and the batching of logs together before they were sent to the server was not compatible with the real-time alerts we were attempting to generate. In order to alleviate this issue, Geotab introduced a new more aggressive GPS logging algorithm which was bundled with a new rate plan called ProPlus, introduced in September 2015.
ProPlus and Driver Feedback
The new ProPlus algorithm logs on average 25% more GPS information than on the Pro plan. Also, logs are not batched together to deliver up to the server. These changes have greatly increased the reliability of in-vehicle notifications. By increasing the rate at which we log and eliminating sending logs in batches, there is an increase in data costs associated with these changes. This cost increase is included in the price differences between the Pro and ProPlus plans.
If users require timely notification for rules where driver feedback is important, it’s recommended they use ProPlus plan for in-vehicle notifications. However, we do recognize that there are certain cases where a customer would want the driver to get a notification for an exception event, even if the notification is delayed due to the rate plan of the device, or other environmental issues such as coverage.
To address feedback in the software, the option to force driver feedback (even if there is a delay between when the exception occurs and when it’s processed on the server) will be allowed. This will be beneficial to customers who don’t mind that the rule is delayed slightly and still want the notification to happen.
Source:
Original Article Written by: Patrick McClafferty, Technical Support Manager at Geotab https://www.geotab.com/blog/in-vehicle-notification-functionality-under-pro-and-proplus-plans/
