Blog Archives - Page 36 of 60

7 Tips To Improve Your Company’s Customer Support

Posted on May 5, 2015 | by Courtney redwell

Improving Your Company’s Customer Support

There are tons of companies out there that spend tens of thousands of dollars on promoting their brand. Unfortunately, customer support (which can often be the customers first contact with a company) doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Too many businesses make it overly complicated for customers to get the help they desire, ultimately creating a bad impression of the company as a whole.

To improve your customer and technical support services, take a look at these expert tips:

1. Cover All Channels, Based On Your Consumer

It’s not all about phone based support any more, which is why it’s important to make sure you cover all your bases. Phone support is a must but if your products and/or services are geared towards active social media users, you may want to offer support via your Twitter or Facebook account.

It is also important to offer options. Phone support is a must but what about offering email support or a support portal for those who may not have the time to sit on the phone with you to have their issue resolved? Get to know your customers and their needs, then determine the different channels they will most commonly use and benefit from.

2. Listen to Your Customers

Pay close attention to what they are writing or saying; give your customers the confidence that you will personally own and solve the issue at hand. People don’t like to passed around from one agent to another.

Do not use terms your customer won’t understand. Use plain English but be sure not to talk down to your customers, you want to be as straight forward and polite as possible.

3. Offer a Self-Service Option

If a customer can quickly find detailed answers to their problems all on their own, they’ll feel empowered and appreciate the information they were able to find without having to deal with customer support. Self-service can often be quicker than calling an agent over the phone, plus it frees up time for your support agents to focus on the bigger problems customers are having, not minor ones that have an easy fix.

Self-service is a good addition to phone, email and other support. You don’t want to make your customers feel like they have to solve their issues on their own, but it is a nice option to offer.

4. No One Likes Being On Hold

No one wants to be left on hold for more than about a minute or two, or they tend to get impatient and frustrated. If your support agent is unable to resolve the issues in a timely manner while on the phone with the customer, simply tell the customer you will be looking into this issue and call back when you have a resolution.

5. Use a Multichannel Ticket Management System

If you have multiple channels for support (which is recommended) it is important to have a ticket system in place to keep track of all support issues in once place. For example, if a customer emails you, you should have the ability to turn that email into a support ticket to stay on top of all incoming queries and answering them in a timely manner.

6. Hire Awesome Reps

Your support staff basically demonstrate to your consumers who you are as a company. Your agents should be patient with your customers and really find a joy in helping people. You can’t preach about the importance of keeping your customers happy and then offer a poor and unreliable experience.

7. Have Enough Reps, Especially During Peak Times

Make sure you have enough reps to effectively deal with your customer base. As your business grows, your support team should grow.

If your business is busier at certain times of the year, you may need to hire some more reps at that time to manage your support successfully.

Sources
CIO.com: 11 Tips for Improving Your Company’s Customer Support

Gain Savings with Smart Fleet & Fuel Management

Posted on April 30, 2015 | by Vishal Singh

Smart Fleet Fuel Management: your next step to maximizing company profits

GPS Tracking currently allows you to track, locate and communicate with drivers in real time. Fleet operation managers use the solution to manage their drivers and maintain their fleet through location tracking and custom reports that address and identify daily operations that need attention. Along with the responsibility of managing both drivers and fleet comes the accountability of lowering operating expenses.

Operating a cost-effective and efficient fleet often requires expertise in fleet expenses. With fuel being one of the largest contributor to the increase in operating costs, it is imperative that fleet managers understand the importance of minimizing expenses that can be controlled and avoided. So, how can you really maximize fuel management?

Smart Fleet Solutions

Managing fuel costs often begin by preventing unauthorized access to fuel supplies and implementing solutions that track your company assets. Although tracking is a small step to fuel management the solution is designed to measure fuel performance by:

Tracking vehicle and driver behaviours in real-time
Generating reports and scorecards on how drivers are contributing to fuel costs
Providing drivers with optimized (fuel-efficient) routes
Preparing detailed reports to assess the financial impact on fuel while idling, fuel usage and more

The reports provide an insight into the amount of fuel consumed idling or dangerous driving. The system is also able to generate reports that help companies gain tax rebates(IFTA report). IFTA can be generated to help significantly reduce paperwork and compliance burden for fuel tax reporting if vehicle carriers travel in other provinces/states and purchase fuel in one jurisdiction, but use the fuel in another jurisdiction.

As a solutions company we understand the importance of managing fuel-wasting behaviours further leading to integration with third party systems such as Fuel Cards.

A fuel card is similar to a credit card where fuel card transactions, vehicle data and driver behaviours can be tracked by matching vehicle location and the amount filled routinely. Giving fleet managers the knowledge and tools to manage fuel spent; fuel cards will eliminate the amount of receipts submitted regularly and also accurately verify the location of the fill up and amount filled into the vehicle.

Acting as the most secure, efficient and simple way for fill ups, the program will alleviate some of the pressure off fleet managers by allowing them to focus not just on matters of security but also on wider operational concerns.
Fleet managers are able to analyze transactions according to specific criteria’s such as where, when, and by whom the fuel card was used. The system will be able to also provide personalized alerts if a payment occurs outside the “normal” pattern or exceeds a pre-set maximum fill-up limit. This, in turn, means potential fraudulent behavior can be detected early and fleet managers can respond swiftly.

Find out how GoFleet’s fuel management strategies can help you minimize expenses by contacting us at 1-888-998-1122.

Improve Fleet Management With Professional Fleet Consultants

Posted on April 28, 2015 | by Victoria Gole

Fleet Consultants Help You Improve Fleet Management

Many companies are already well aware that implementing a telematics fleet management system is very useful in terms of security, cost reduction, and quality of service offered to their customers. Unfortunately, there are many cases where they lack the necessary experience to implement these solutions within their organization. This can be anything from training on how to effectively communicate to drivers and unions about the system, management process changes, demos of how to achieve ROI, and other necessary training activities. For these reasons, our fleet consultants offer professional services to our customers.

Understanding company challenges, technical goals, and requirements are some of the key responsibilities our team takes on. Our highly trained fleet consultants help our customers during these processes in the following ways:

Business Case Production: Analysis of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and customer needs, recommendations, and demonstrations of the functionality of the solutions.
Change Management: Communication programs such as management training and how to properly introduce GPS tracking to your drivers.
ROI Consulting: Benchmarking in multiple areas, demonstrating substantial savings, tracking obtained improvements, and detecting non-compliance areas.
Various Training activities: Different levels of training for various departments (eg. management, admin, middle managers, and best practices manuals to maximize the systems benefits).

One of the most common activities for our fleet consultants is the demonstration of tangible benefits during a pilot program. This can be a challenging activity because benefits should be demonstrated with a reduced number of vehicles and drivers in a relatively short period of time (typically only one or two months). This is the best way to demonstrate the solution benefits to the potential customer. Benefit areas depending on the company can be quite different and can vary depending on customer activity and targets.

The most typical areas of potential benefits (KPIs) are:

Maintenance: Consistently servicing on time to reduce wear & tear
Day-to-Day Efficiency: Improved daily operations through reactive planning and detailed route analysis.
Route Planning: Reduced travel time through optimization, visualization and measurement.
Utilization: Use percentage, amount of time at location, straying from job site.
Out of Hours: Tax compliance and proper overtime validation.
Risk and Duty of Care: Driver behavior such as speeding and idling, monitoring CO2 emissions, lowered insurance.
Fuel: Reduce use through details on consumption, and identifying idling and driver behavior.
Contract Adherence: Billing evidence, SLA compliance.

GoFleet works along side our customers to help measure their KPIs in order to improve driver and fleet performance, and ultimately achieve the desired ROI.

Get in touch with one of our fleet consultants to find out
how you can optimize your business and save money:

1-888-998-1122 | [email protected]

Original Article By: Antonio Venutelli, European Solutions Engineer at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/professional-services-can-help-companies-improve-fleet-management/

Best Practices for Rolling Out Large Fleets

Posted on April 23, 2015 | by Victoria Gole

Large Fleet Rollout

Rolling out a large fleet can be slightly more complex than installing the devices in 5-10 vehicles. But, if you take the right approach with a mix of planning, monitoring and resources, it will help you complete the rollout on time and achieve the quality results you’re looking for. The guidelines below will help you better manage your project and provide a general overview of the items it is important to consider.

Objectives

Communication is key; all project objectives should be effectively communicated and understood by everyone involved to make sure the roll-out is on the right track from the start.

These include:

Outlined reasons for the implementation – what needs to change?
Determine short and long term goals
Understand the ROI results that are expected to be achieved
Relate to our 5 main pillars to consider the main focus:
Fleet Optimization, Productivity, Safety, Expandability, Compliance
Create measurable objectives

Planning

Quite often, certain key factors are overlooked, which can have a negative effect on a project before it even gets started. There are many elements to consider when planning a deployment of Geotab GO devices in a large fleet:

Recognize the scale of the project: identify whether it is a national or local rollout, single or multiple locations, and the number of vehicles.
Determine who is involved: from administrative staff to project managers, ensure each individual knows what they are responsible for and has the skills necessary.
Communicate effectively: share documentation within your product team and actively communicate.
Shipment/Delivery of Equipment: Ensure realistic shipping and delivery times are taken into consideration when determining the dates of installation.
Installation Schedule: When planning a large rollout, creating an installation schedule is key. You will need to consider the following: number of installers/team members doing the install, vehicle variations (necessary harness), locations, estimated time per install and vehicle availability.

Example of an installation schedule:

Once installation is complete, it is important a training schedule be put together. We offer training sessions Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week at 2pm EST and you can have your entire team join the sessions.

Kick Off Meeting

Before the rollout, setup a meeting to review the implementation plan to ensure everyone is working towards the same expectations and achieving the same goals. It’s also important to clearly set out how changes throughout the project will be communicated and handled between all parties involved. Additionally, this meeting allows you to discuss any concerns your team has and additional items that you may not have considered.

Track Progress

You want to keep the project on track and meet deadlines as best as you can. The better you keep to your deadlines, the faster the rollout, the faster you’ll start to achieve savings and increase the productivity of your fleet! It is common to have changes occur throughout the deployment of the devices but as long as you effectively manage these changes you should still be able to stay on track. Hold weekly meetings to keep everyone informed and address any problems.

A completion tracker can be a great way to keep track of of the planned versus actual progress for both the rollout and training. Check out the following example:

Follow-Up

About a week after rollout, we will set up a time with you to evaluate performance. We will ensure you have everything you need to move forward and will determine anything else you may need from us. We are happy to set up monthly reviews with you to look at ROI results and set up new goals moving forward.

Keep the project simple, set realistic milestones and expectations, deliver on time and keep everyone informed. And don’t forget, we are here to help as much as you need! We take pride in getting our customers up and running as fast as possible so they can start realizing just how much time and money can be saved with our solution.

Original Article By: Laurelle Flewelling, Account Manager at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/rolling-out-large-fleets-with-geotab-go-devices/

Competing AND Cooperating: The Way of The Future

Posted on April 21, 2015 | by Victoria Gole

Because of the wide acceptance by consumers of telematics devices, our industry has been rapidly growing. In 2014 160,000 subscriptions were added by Geotab alone, and the 100,000 unit goal of previous years has now been upgraded to a goal of 1,000,000. Of course, with great success along comes big responsibility. Our competitors will remain the key to increasing customer value and innovation, but in order to minimize risk and maximize potential, the cooperation between leading players will become equally as important.

Here are three examples that help explain that point:

Product Safety: Telematics solutions save lives and advance safety through promoting better driving habits and generally improving the awareness of road safety. Therefore, it’s no surprise that telematics solutions are not only embraced by fleet operators and businesses but also by emergency response units, police forces and insurance companies. Promoting product safety through design, production and installation processes with safety in mind is extremely important to enhance and protect the industry’s reputation and address critics. Some of whom unfortunately have their own plan. The more providers can learn from one another and develop strong standard, the better.
Patent Litigation Involving Non-Practising Entities (NPEs): Patent lawsuits from non-practising entities, notably in the USA, have become a part of life in the telematics industry. While there has been a lot of talk of patent reforms NPEs are still going strong. The most recent verdict against cyber security from Symantec is just one example. Patent litigation is expensive and the more providers of telematics that can pool their resources to ward off patent enforcement outfits the better for everyone.
Cyber Security: The digitization of nearly every element of society and the rapid adoption of the “internet of things” (IoT) has brought up major concern of data and cyber security to the forefront. It seems a day cannot go by without reports of a big hacking incident. Some of these issues can have complex implications as competing interests such as privacy vs. national security, create irritating dilemmas. Others, like acts of ultra-sophisticated acts of state sponsored cyber warfare, may cause people to throw up their hands in distress. Neither are reasons to do nothing. Non-controversial security practices are very effective in minimizing the overwhelming majority of threats. And there is no question that: in the interest of better security, cooperation will help all players just the same as a bad headline will harm everyone.

Geotab and GoFleet are committed to growth through competition and innovation. But, at the same time, Geotab is proactively engaging in issues related to product safety, patent litigation, and cyber security with the strong belief that these issues require solutions industry-wide to be able to better position the industry and instil confidence in our end customer base as a whole.

Original Article By: Dirk Schlimm, Advisory Board Member at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/better-together-competing-cooperating-way-future/

Strengthening New Partnerships at the NAFA Expo

Posted on April 14, 2015 | by Vishal Singh

NAFA Expo with Grace & GoFleet

We are exhibiting alongside Grace Industries this Thursday at NAFA’s (North American Fleet Management Association) Annual Institute & Expo. Designed to reach hundreds of fleet professionals in just 2 days our team is excited to showcase GoFleet’s solutions and of course see you!

NAFA is the world’s premier non-profit association for professionals who manage fleets across the globe. The association holds the Expo annually to allow fleet solution companies to showcase their products, share insights and meet other professionals.

NAFA’s Institute & Expo-2015

The 2015 Institute & Expo is being held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida from April 14-17, 2015. The event program features over 60 hours of fleet training, educational discussions and exciting workshops. In addition to the Expo Floor consisting of more than 200 companies showcasing their products and services there will also be educational keynote speakers and manufacture executives sharing industry insights making this experience educational and engaging.

Come Visit Us!

We will be located at Booth No. 626 and our operations manager, Emile Salsa, will showcase our tracking solution and give a quick demo of our integration with Grace Industry’s man down system. The system is designed to ensure lone worker safety with the lone worker check-in feature. Equipped with two-way radio signalling that provides automatic and total accountability, the device safely manages and protects workers in remote locations using loud audible alarms, 98+ dBA audio SPL.

Learn more about our safety integration:

Find Your Fleet Savings with GoFleet

Posted on April 9, 2015 | by Vishal Singh

Estimate Your Total Savings With Our ROI Calculator

Have you ever estimated how much money your company can save with telematics technology? The implications of using a tracking solution goes beyond improving security and better monitoring employees. It is in fact more useful when organizations understand how the solution can gain true savings and return on investment (ROI).

Along with tracking your employees, it is significantly important to measure your return on investment. Monitoring the location of your vehicles alone will not have a positive impact on your bottom line unless close attention is paid to the difference in time spent idling, number of repairs, negative driver behaviours and more.

For some, the cost of the GPS solution has left fleet managers to avoid investing in tracking. And to help quantify the value of our fleet solution, GoFleet has created a tool to help with your business decisions. The ROI calculator is designed to give you an insight of expenses you could be be potentially saving and it can be customized to meet your business profile to show you how much money can be reinvested back into your company as shown in the example below.

The calculator instantly shows you an estimate of what can be saved if fleet operation managers choose to implement a fleet tracking system. Although these figures are just estimates, there is a chance that companies can save even more when drivers become familiar with the solution and become more productive. To compliment the ROI calculator fleet managers should identify the areas that require improvement prior to installing the tracking solution. This can involve anything from increasing fuel expenses, higher maintenance costs or even decreasing productivity. Identifying the issues that need attention can then help outline the true purpose of the solution by comparing the “before” and “after” figures of cost savings.

In any buying decision it is crucial to explore all your options, read customer reviews, and learn more about the costs involved in the daily operation of your business however it is more important to gain a ROI figure along with the final decision made.

To try our ROI calculator for yourself & see your potential savings,
simply visit our homepage:
gofleet.com

GPS Tracking Technology Used to Propose To Girlfriend

Posted on April 7, 2015 | by Courtney redwell

Sky-writing a marriage proposal is no longer original; this raised the bar and led a man to take a journey through Japan to produce an epic marriage proposal. Japanese artist Yasushi Takahashi (also known as Yassan), quit his job to travel through Japan covering over 4,300+ miles in six months. This journey Yassan took on was done mostly on foot and sometimes by bicycle, car or ferry.

GPS tracking technology was used to track every step of the way as he journeyed all the way from Hokkaido Island to Hyodo Cliff on Kyushu Island where he ended his travels. Everywhere he went was planned perfectly to ensure the words “Marry Me” including a heart complete with an arrow through it were executed correctly.

It started in 2008 when Yassan, who at the time was 31, quit his job and planned his journey through Japan. The motivation for his trip was to experience a Japan he only knew in books and to draw out his marriage proposal for his girlfriend using GPS tracking technology.

To go along with his unique proposal, Yassan created a video seven minutes in length describing his once in a lifetime journey. It’s made up of seven chapters, each one showcasing the different stages of his trek. The footage contains photos of his many experiences such as trekking down bad roads, eating fresh seafood, visiting hot springs, and climbing Mt. Fuji.

Yassan’s marriage proposal is the world’s largest and currently holds the Guinness Record for the world’s largest GPS drawing at 4,451 miles in length!

Sources:

Daily Mail: Artist Treks Through Japan with GPS Tracker to Spell Out “Marry Me” Across Islands

Yahoo Tech: This Man Travelled Across Japan to Spell Out His Marriage Proposal via GPS

Iddity Central: Man Proposes to Girlfriend with Epic GPS Recorded Trek Across Japan

Guiness World Records: Largest GPS Drawing

How Fleet Managers Can Improve Employee Satisfaction with Telematics

Posted on April 2, 2015 | by Victoria Gole

Telematics Improves Employee Satisfaction

In the USA, it’s estimated there are around 22 million employees who are put in the category of having low morale at work which works out to an estimated 350 billion dollars in added costs to businesses every year. [1]

It is frustrating for management to continually oversee defeated, disgruntled and downhearted staff and can also translate into an uncontrollable (yet avoidable) expenses. An increase in staff turnover, decreased employee productivity and worker absenteeism all contribute to the costs businesses are burdened with.

The lack of recognition for hard work, time away from home, and the difficulty making a living are what professional long distance drivers often cite for the reasons they do not recommend their occupation to others [2]. The industry is also predicting a shortage of drivers due to the fact that many baby boomers will be soon retiring from their driving positions [3]. This makes maintaining a happy and satisfied workforce a prominent factor to saving on employee related costs for any fleet company.

What can fleet managers do to cut these costs,
and how can telematics contribute?

Infinite data is provided from telematics systems to analyze, learn from, and be effectively utilized to cut down costs. Often, savings from altered driving habits can be passed on to the drivers themselves if they are exposed to the knowledge base the analysis can provide. If savings can be realized by the drivers themselves, as well as the organization, a reason for work dissatisfaction is minimized. Further to this, transparency with data by an organization is both welcomed and appreciated by workers [4]. Telematics provides an avenue for organizational higher-ups to recognize the importance and value of their fleet drivers.

With such independent and isolated work, it can be challenging to recognize and reward loyal and top performing employees to provide pride and motivation. Telematics systems provide you with strong metrics and flexibility to narrow down and track the exact type of behaviour to reward while providing clear goals for drivers to find motivation in. For example: recognizing and even rewarding drivers with the least number of a specific exception violation will provide management the awareness they are seeking. As an added bonus, the fleet assets as well as employees will be safer overall.

Additionally, employees with clear expectations within the organization will reduce stress they endure [5]. Using Telematics to translate “efficient”, “safe” or “compliant” driving expectations into measurable actions eliminates any confusion in the employee-management relationship. In turn, this will uplift the quality of drivers’ work, helping to reduce stress, and increase satisfaction with their job.

Telematics is a fleet management tool that can be used by businesses to realize financial gains as well as increased productivity, optimization, safety and compliance [6]. However, there is also the opportunity for fleet managers to dive deeper and use telematics as a tool to curtail defeated, disgruntled and downhearted staff. Use the substantial capabilities of our telematics to boost the employee-employer relationship, increase employee morale, and eliminate the manifestations of staff dissatisfaction that can be detrimental to any organization.

1-888-998-1122 | [email protected]

Main Source:
Original Article By: Caitlin Johnson, Human Resources Assistant at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/how-fleet-managers-can-manage-and-improve-employee-satisfaction-with-telematics/
Other Sources:
[1] graphs.net/how-to-boost-employee-morale
[2] questia.com/determinants-of-job-satisfaction-among-long-distance
[3] questia.com/determinants-of-job-satisfaction-among-long-distance
[4] graphs.net/how-to-boost-employee-morale
[5] onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
[6] geotab.com/gps-fleet-management-solutions

5 Tips to Help Choose the Right GPS Fleet System

Posted on March 26, 2015 | by Courtney redwell

GPS tracking devices have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. They are no longer simply used to ‘track’ your vehicles but are now known more as a fleet management system for your entire fleet. The capabilities available today can help decrease fuel consumption, increase the productivity and safety of your drivers, help manage maintenance, and the list goes on. Before installing a GPS fleet system in your fleet, it is important you find the right fit for your business.

These simple tips will help you choose the right GPS solution to fit your needs:

Determine Your Unique Business Needs
It is important to include the managers of all departments in the decision making process. Or, if you’re a small to mid-size business owner and you are the manager of multiple departments keep in mind all elements of your business you regularly deal with, when making the decision. GPS fleet systems can help in many areas outside of the fleet department. Does your business require help remembering vehicle maintenance or reading engine fault codes? Is payroll and/or paper time cards too time consuming and often inaccurate? You will better understand what to look for in a solution by considering all departments of your business.

Features That Meet Your Needs
Once you have determined all of your company’s needs and the benefits you expect from the system you can use that information to narrow down your options. For example: Do you struggle with high insurance costs due to the unsafe driving habits of your drivers? If so, you’ll want to look for a solution with real-time in vehicle driver feedback to correct poor behaviour and potentially bring down your insurance costs. You’ll also want access to safety reports within the GPS fleet system. Do you miss a lot of vehicle maintenance? This can cause more expensive repairs in the long run, look for a system that includes built in maintenance reminders with the ability to pull engine data straight from the vehicle.

Choosing the Right Provider
One of the hardest yet most important elements when adopting a GPS fleet system, is to make sure your provider will be there with customer support and account assistance whenever you need it. If you purchase a solution and never hear from your provider again, there is no way you can use the system to its full potential. You need training on how to use the software and how to properly utilize the reports to get the highest ROI, and tips for how to use the system to its full capabilities in a way that will benefit your business. GoFleet stands out in this area; by taking a partnership approach we get to know our customers needs and work with them to save them as much money as possible using the features of our system. We also offer weekly training sessions 3 times a week and one-on-one training if needed.

Learning to Properly Utilize the System
Installing a GPS fleet system can have a ton of benefits for your fleet, but those benefits don’t just happen overnight by plugging in the devices. It is crucial you learn to use the software effectively. This ties in to choosing the right provider; without choosing a provider who will train you properly on how to use the software, you won’t learn its full potential. Being well versed in the software translates into getting insight into your fleet and allows you to save money and really improve on your pain areas. If you simply install the units and never even look at the software, you will not achieve the savings and productivity increase you are looking for.

Implementing the GPS Fleet System
What many business owners often overlook is the importance of gaining a strong buy-in from employees. Fleet management systems can help increase the productivity of your employees by simply telling them you’re installing the devices. By sharing the benefits of the solution, investing in your employees and enhancing their knowledge about the solution, implementation should go smoothly. If any of your employees have a big issue with the installation of GPS devices, think to yourself: what are they hiding? Employees with nothing to hide should embrace the system with open arms.

Do your research. Don’t just sign up for the cheapest system or the first system you come across. If it’s the cheapest system, it’s probably lacking a large portion of the features you can use to optimize your business.

[email protected] | 1-888-998-1122