Category: GPS Tracking Benefits

Taking Your Fleet Telematics to the Next Level

Posted on | by Anna | Leave a Comment on Taking Your Fleet Telematics to the Next Level

With basic telematics implemented into your fleet, you are now able to track the location, movement and speed of all of your vehicles, which helps your organization increase efficiencies, and effectively, reduce wasted time and improve costs.

So, what comes next?

Advanced Fleet Tracking
Once you have the basics in place, you can start to dive deeper into telematics technology in order to really fine tune and optimize your fleet operation.

Check out these major benefits your company can gain by implementing advanced fleet telematics solutions.

Increased Safety
By monitoring driver behaviour – things such as how fast your driver is driving and how aggressive their driving may be – you can use technology that allows you to talk to the driver and coach them through safer driving practices, thereby increasing safety for them and for your vehicle.

It has been shown that drivers who are aware that their driving habits are being monitored, are more apt to perform safer behaviour which not only increases their safety, but also reduces accidents and damage to vehicles and freight.

Increased Efficiencies
By using real time communication as an add-on to your basic telematics, and adding in some routing apps, you can manage driver routes more efficiently – if there is an accident, you would be able to re-route the driver and eliminate wasted time having them stuck in traffic with high priority loads on the vehicle.

By using some of these type of add-ons to your basic telematics, adding a few minutes more to your driver’s HOS (Hours of Service) can really increase your fleet efficiency and delivery rate.

Reduce Operating Costs
In being able to track even the smallest things, such as idling time and minimizing it, a fleet can increase savings by reducing fuel costs. Other things that can be looked at are tracking at a more granular level, such as live movements on a map, maps routing, stopping vehicles, accidents and who’s responsible, which allows for increased productivity thereby reducing costs.

Optimize Vehicle Performance
With advanced telematics, sensors can send out alerts about engine issues and other diagnostic problems. Further to that, the data can be used in a predictive manner to determine when service should happen on a vehicle and allow for advanced planning in order to ensure as much uptime for the fleet as possible and manage the expenses related to repairs.

Reduce your Carbon Footprint
It’s a hot topic these days more and more companies realize that not only is this good for business, it’s good for the planet as well. By reducing your fleet’s idling time and decreasing speeding (thereby reducing the amount of exhaust and CO2), not only are you increasing the safety of your fleet and drivers, increasing your efficiencies and reducing your costs, you are also helping to do your part in reducing emissions in the air for our future generation.

Streamline Compliance
With the Canadian ELD mandated for June 21st, 2020, it is imperative that fleets ensure they are compliant and implementing advanced telematics not only ensures this but provides many other benefits previously mentioned. In addition to the benefits, the cost of not being compliant is expensive and can be avoided with the correct telematics solutions in place.

Do you need to upgrade your telematics plan for advanced fleet tracking?
Some features are already built into your tracking device that collects the data and some solutions require you to step up to the next level of offered services and products.

In order to get the most out of your fleet telematics so that you can save your company time, money and increase efficiencies and safety, give GoFleet a call. We are here to help create a customized and fully integrated telematics solution that is specific to your needs and lets you get the most value for your money.

Advanced fleet tracking is much more than GPS services and with the telematics of the future, there are and will be so much more you can do in order to continually create the best fleet management company you can envision.

GoFleet – Connected Technology. Smarter Solutions.
Discover more about GoFleet and its Telematics Services

Benefits of Using a Dash Cam with a GPS System

Posted on | by Wisam Abou-diab | Leave a Comment on Benefits of Using a Dash Cam with a GPS System

One of the great things about fleet cameras is most fleet cameras include basic vehicle monitoring. For that reason, some businesses are replacing GPS systems with camera systems. Although this makes sense for light GPS tracking users, there are many benefits of using a Dash Cam with a GPS system.

 

In this post, we’ll explore two things. Firstly, we’ll discuss when fleets can use fleet cameras without additional GPS devices. Secondly, we’ll look at some benefits of using a GPS with a camera system.

 

 

When are fleet cameras enough for vehicle tracking?

 

Dash Cam with a GPS

 

 

Fleet cameras are enough when two things happen: (1) the fleet camera has a built-in GPS, and (2) the fleet only needs tracking for basic needs. This is because most fleet cameras record vehicle location and save a trip history, thus sufficing basic tracking needs.

 

 

When will fleets get benefits from a GPS with a camera system?

 

 

Car Cameras With Gps

 

 

 

Sometimes, fleets need more than basic monitoring and significantly benefit from combining cameras and GPS solutions. The most common use cases include: wanting fuel and diagnostic data, following compliance rules, and simplifying office reporting.

 

 

Fleets want to record fuel & diagnostics.

 

One of the biggest fleet camera weaknesses is that fleet cameras don’t connect with the vehicle’s engine computer. Hence, cameras are not able to collect engine data such as fuel measurements or diagnostics codes.

 

On the other hand, one of the benefits of using a dash cam with a GPS system is getting engine data. For instance, Geotab devices work with OEMs to read and report thousands of engine codes. In turn, fleets can leverage that data to improve their maintenance process.

 

 

Fleets need to follow compliance rules.

 

Another use case includes complying with rules. A great example is the ELD mandate. The ELD mandate requires fleets to electronically verify driving hours.

 

While fleet cameras can verify driver location and driving time, it fails to connect those data to HOS rules. Instead, fleets need a dedicated vehicle monitoring device because these devices compare driving hours against regulation hours.

 

 

Fleets want to simplify office reporting.

 

Lastly, GPS tracking helps simplify office reporting whereas fleet cameras can only provide footage.

 

For instance, consider time card reports. While administrators can match driver footage, driving records, and payroll together, this takes a lot of time. Instead, a vehicle tracking solution is more intuitive. Many vehicle trackers use driver log-in technology to match drivers to time cards.

 

 

 

Combining solutions improve reporting!

 

In summary, while fleet cameras are sufficient in some cases, combining a dash cam with a GPS system provide much more information. This is seen in fleets that want to manage fuel reporting, stay in compliance, and simplify reporting.

 

 

Like this blog? Check out our other blogs on fleet dash cameras and GPS tracking!

 

Can Dash Cams Lower Insurance Rates?

GPS Tracking for Small Businesses: What’s Different? What’s Important?

Tech Disruption: Restaurant Delivery Vehicle Tracking

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

How would you order food from a restaurant? For a long time, there was only one way. People needed to call the restaurant and place an order with in-house delivery drivers. Nowadays, people use food order apps and watch restaurant delivery vehicle tracking to monitor their food!

Transformation of Food Delivery

Traditional Boring Food Delivery

Traditionally, food delivery is boring and simple. When people want food, they would simply call a restaurant and place an order. If the restaurant offers delivery, they would send an employee to deliver food to the customer’s home. While this process worked for a long time, it wasn’t perfect. Why?

Typically, if people are ordering food, they are hungry! People want to get food right away. However, between preparing the food and sending a delivery driver, customers might wait upwards of 30 to 60 minutes. That’s not good for those as hungry as a lion!

A New Idea

How can people get faster food deliveries? A new idea came with the rise of phone apps and online orders. Similar to ordering something online, what if people can order food and schedule deliveries online?

That idea took off. Several companies including UberEats, SkiptheDishes, and Just Eat are offering food couriers. These courier services work with a restaurant to process online orders and send local drivers to deliver food to a customer. The business model got so lucrative that some of these companies are worth $50-billion.

How Does Online Food Ordering & Delivery Work?

There are usually several steps. Here is a rough process:

1. Restaurant & Courier Partnership

Firstly, couriers would partner with restaurants. The partnership helps both the courier and restaurant. For restaurants, couriers handle the entire delivery process. This includes setting up an online order menu, processing payment, delivering food, and providing restaurant delivery vehicle tracking. In exchange, couriers receive a cut out of the food order.

2. Customers Order Online.

Secondly, customers can order food online. After setting up an online menu, customers can use an app to browse an online menu, order their food, and pay.

3. Restaurants and Couriers Prepare Food & Delivery.

Thirdly, restaurants and couriers prepare the order. At the restaurants, staff receive and prepare the online order. Meanwhile, the courier receives the order, finds the closest driver, and sends them to pick up the food.

4. Delivery

Finally, when the food is finished, a driver takes the food and delivers it to its destination. Throughout the process, customers can check restaurant delivery vehicle tracking on their app to monitor their food. From placing an order to receiving food, the process can be as quick as 15 minutes.

What if I want to start my own online food delivery service?

This is not a rare thought. There are many online food delivery services. However, potential business owners face two big challenges.

Saturated Industry

The biggest challenge is the food delivery space is dominated by major players. In recent years, several businesses opened and closed because of stiff competition.

In order to compete against big names, new services have to offer something different. For instance, a common complaint against big-name food deliverers is the quality of service. Some restaurants report that drivers sometimes fail to take care of the order and deliver unfresh food. As a result, the restaurant ends up looking like the bad guys. Consequently, some new services are taking advantage by controlling their delivery quality and outcompeting the big names.

Finding Restaurant Delivery Vehicle Tracking Technology

Another barrier is finding the correct restaurant delivery vehicle tracking technology. Online delivery services rely on steady technology to quickly process orders.

As a result, new businesses need to build a system that can: 1) process online orders, 2) track the closest driver, 3) assign them to their job, and finally 4) monitor the delivery process. Thus, new services need to either hire strong programmers or buy specialized software.

Review a case study in the food industry here.

Links
The Globe & Mail: The rise of the instant-delivery lunch
BlogTO: Toronto is getting fed up with food delivery apps

Playbook: How to Improve Workload with GPS Trackers

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

A common business quote is “busy is good”. And busy is good! Being busy usually means a business is earning money. In the same way, fleets want more workload because that leads to higher income. In this guide, we will cover 4 ways to improve workload with GPS trackers.

Four proven ways to improve workload with GPS trackers include:

1 – Optimizing routes

2 – Increasing driver productivity

3 – Increasing task productivity

4 – Balancing telematics workload



Optimizing Routes

The first way to improve workload with GPS trackers is to look at route optimization. Route optimization means planning out the best route and increasing the number of jobs per day.

Here’s how it works.

Firstly, managers would look at different factors to determine job routes. This can include distance from jobs, traffic, weather, and customer preferences. Thankfully, GPS programs are powerful enough to calculate routes based on all of those factors.

Secondly, routes are shared with drivers. For a long time, managers sent emails or texts to drivers. However, modern fleet setups now include an in-vehicle navigation guide. For example, some companies have in-vehicle tablets and display routes on those tablets.

As a result of these two steps, managers can squeeze more jobs out of a day.

Increasing Driver Productivity

Another way to improve workload with GPS trackers is to focus on job efficiency. In other words, are drivers productive on their current routes?

An operations manager at a service company explains. “When we evaluate workload, one thing we look at is driver productivity”, said the manager. “We had a few unproductive drivers that took long breaks and did not start their job on time.”



In response to these challenges, the operation manager started measuring work productivity. “We were able to track productivity by measuring the percentage of time drivers spent on the road versus off the road. Soon after, drivers got the message and productivity improved.”

Increasing Task Productivity

Besides looking at driver productivity, another area is task productivity. Are employees spending their time on tasks that generate revenue for the business?

“Our company focuses on deliveries, so for us, making money means driving more. I found that our drivers were burdened with tasks like inspecting vehicles or completing delivery paperwork”, said a delivery business owner. “Sure, those tasks might take 10 or 15 minutes a day. However, that quickly adds up to over an hour per week where we can be on the road and making money.”

One idea is to use automated paperless software. For instance, some businesses use a computerized inspection system. Computerized programs collect diagnostics data from the vehicle and auto-fills inspection forms. Therefore, employees can go straight to the job rather than doing paperwork.

Balancing Telematics Workload

Finally, is it always useful to use telematics? The answer is actually no. There are times when GPS trackers can burden drivers.

Recently, there was an academic study on drivers that got in accidents because of telematics. The study refers to the “Multiple Resource Theory”, which states that humans only have enough visual, cognitive, and manual resources to focus on one task at a time. In other words, some drivers get distracted by their telematics system.



For example, some systems might have audio alerts whenever a manager assigns drivers a new job. The first instinct for some drivers is to check their notifications. Unfortunately, during that time, the driver stops focusing on the road and increases their risk of getting in an accident.

What’s the lesson? Businesses should learn to balance telematics and driving. For example, some businesses set up their system to only alert drivers of new jobs when their vehicle is stopped.

Click here for another article about improving workload with GPS trackers!

Links
University of Michigan: Driver Distraction, Telematics Design, and Workload Managers: Safety Issues and Solutions

Telematics Benefits | The 2018 Edition

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

Telematics, or the art of monitoring vehicles and making data-driven decisions, is several decades old. Telematics benefits include improving productivity, safety, and maintenance.

What is telematics?

Whenever I teach telematics to newbies, I begin by comparing it to a stock market. People try to predict the future when they invest. They might look at anything from industry news to financial stats. In other words, people use data to make their decisions.

Telematics fleet management has the same idea. One of the biggest telematics benefits is being able to collect data and make decisions, just like investing.

Evolving role of telematics

evolution of telematics

Before 1996, telematics was only used in the military. After the technology was publicly released, people and businesses quickly adopted telematics.

Private users bought devices to protect their vehicles, and yes, even spy on family members! Businesses, on the other hand, use it to revamp their processes.

Today, a lot of people use and accept telematics. The question is no longer “what’s a telematics device” but rather “what else can devices be used for”?

Here are three new ways in 2018 to realize telematics benefits.

 

Consumers and insurance

In 2018, telematics and insurance go hand-in-hand. Many car makers are partnering with insurance providers to install and use telematics. Insurance companies realize that telematics is a great tool to acquire and keep customers.

Customer pricing

For a long time, insurance companies relied on trends such as age, gender, and location to determine their pricing plans. A lot of consumers felt that was unfair – after all, shouldn’t good drivers get better rates?

Enter telematics! Insurance companies can collect driver data and identify a driver’s risk level. As a result, insurance companies were able to offer competitive rates to keep good drivers.

Customer engagement

telematics increase customer engagement

Additionally, insurance companies realized that pricing is not the only way to engage customers. Ted Gramer, CEO of a driving app company, argues that consumers care equally about customer experience and pricing when deciding whether or not to stay with a company.

Some insurance companies use telematics to personalize customer experience. For instance, if the company notices that a driver struggles with speeding, it shares feedback with the driver. As a result, the driver is more likely to improve their driving habits and decrease their insurance rates.

Other business functions

In the past, only a few business functions used telematics. In 2018, other business departments started to realize telematics benefits. For instance, take a look at the following marketing and customer service ideas.

Marketing

telematics with social media

In some companies, marketing gurus combined telematics with social media to engage customers. A good example is Itty Bitty Donuts, a food truck company.

Marketers at Itty Bitty Donuts collected location data from its telematics system. Whenever the truck arrives in a city, the marketers published a targeted post for followers from that city. As a result, fans knew that yummy donuts are in town again!

Customer service

Customer service departments also started using telematics. For instance, a common problem is inaccurate bills. Inaccurate bills can occur for many reasons, including inaccurate data entry on invoices and illegible handwriting on service reports.

What’s a better way to manage this process? Some companies are using telematics for field service. For instance, the ZenduWork program uses vehicle history data to update and send forms. As a result, human error and inaccurate bills are reduced.

Video integration

If a picture is worth 1000 words, how many words are a video worth? A lot of companies are adding videos to their telematics system.

Smart Rules

camera systems with telematics

The most effective camera systems are the ones that integrate with telematics. Without telematics integration, the camera simply saves hours and hours of footage. Obviously, most of that footage is not important.

However, with telematics, the camera can save critical clips. For instance, a moving company wanted to record all instances when workers load and unload the truck. As a result, they set a “doors opened” rule on their telematics system and programmed the camera to start recording when that rule is triggered.

Links
Insurance Journal: Telematics CEO: 5 Trends to Watch in 2018 in Auto Insurance
Automotive Fleet: 12 Telematics Trends and Technologies
ASA Shop: Telematics: Past, Present, and Future

Reduce Costs Due to Accidents

Posted on | by Victoria Gole

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.

To take accident reduction and elimination even further, check out our new Fleet Dash and Driver Camera Integration.

Driving the Fleet Safety Movement

Source:
Geotab Blog: https://www.geotab.com/blog/telematics-benefits-greater-good/

Benefits of Plug and Play GPS Device Installation

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Plug and Play GPS

 

Our plug and play GPS devices make installation a breeze; it’s quick, easy, and doesn’t require any special tools or the assistance of a professional installer.

Many of our competitors who do not offer a plug and play GPS device, will often argue hard-wire GPS devices are the better option.

They claim that plug and play GPS devices:

  1. Can be easily tampered with
  2. Only work in OBDII port equipped vehicles
  3. Do not receive accurate GPS data

As our current customers are well aware of, these plug and play issues are not the case for our devices.

  1. We offer our customers a T-Harness or EZ-Harness for secure and tamper-proof installation
  2. We are well equipped for handing vehicles without an ODBII port with 6-pin, 9-pin, and 3 wire harnesses available
  3. Our GPS data has a recorded uptime of 99.99% since September 2011

Benefits of Plug and Play GPS Device Installation:

  • Self InstallationNo expensive install costs.
  • No Vehicle DamageMultiple customers switched from a hard-wired solution to our plug and play solution because of the bad experiences they had with hard-wired device installers damaging the vehicle.
  • Engine DiagnosticsAccurate engine data pulled directly from the vehicle to better manage maintenance and monitor engine faults in real-time.
  • In-Vehicle Driver CoachingIn-vehicle audible alerts that help increase safety and decrease fuel costs.
  • InterchangeabilityMany of our customers like the ease of changing our devices from one vehicle to another, when they replace vehicles, without having to call an installer and risk damaging the vehicle.
  • Curve-Based Logic, Accurate Accident DataUsing the solutions patented curve logic algorithms millisecond accuracy can be seen under accident conditions to prove exactly what happened.

When looking for a GPS solution provider, make sure you carefully examine your options. There are many myths about different GPS providers and solutions so it is important you do your research. We are confident in our solution, which is why we are happy to offer a free 30 day trial for you to see just how much we can help you optimize and streamline your business.

Fleet Vehicle Tracking Increases Productivity & Efficiency

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Increase Productivity & Efficiency with Fleet Vehicle Tracking

You might not know that fleet vehicle tracking not only tracks vehicles’ locations, it also increases productivity and efficiency. GPS fleet management software automatically plans efficient routes which will reduce the amount of time your driver spends on the road.

Often times, drivers drive the route they are most familiar with even when it is not the most efficient. They usually do not realize that there is actually a faster way to get to the destination. When you use fleet vehicle tracking, you can provide your driver with the most efficient route each day before they start work. The driver will then drive that route to each of your customers’ locations. Less time on the road means your drivers will be able to visit more customers each day, increasing the driver’s productivity and your company’s overall efficiency.

If a customer calls in with an urgent service call, your dispatchers can easily re-route your drivers. The closest driver to the new location can be sent after they finish up at their current location. This ensures that the work is done efficiently because the appropriate driver will complete the job and not the first driver who saw the new job in the system. Without fleet vehicle tracking, dispatchers could end up sending a driver in another city to the job location when there was a driver located right around the block.

Fleet vehicle tracking also increases your business’ efficiency. With more efficient routes, your business will spend less money on fuel and labor costs. Your drivers are able to get more done in the workday without going into overtime. In addition, since they will be driving less, there are less miles used to get from jobsite to jobsite. Companies normally see an automatic reduction in fuel costs after they implement a fleet vehicle tracking system.

For more information about GoFleet’s fleet vehicle tracking system, Contact Us.

Fleet Monitoring Systems Watch Your Fleet For You

Fleet Monitoring Systems Watch Your Fleet For You

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Watch Your Fleet With GoFleet’s Fleet Monitoring Systems

GoFleet’s fleet monitoring systems can provide your business with many features and benefits that watch your fleet for you so you do not have to. There is no reason you have to spend your days obsessed with watching over your fleet when you have a fleet monitoring system. Your time can be spent taking care of more important aspects of your business. You can easily set up automatic alerts and customized reports to let you know if something is happening with your fleet.

Maintenance Monitoring

With GoFleet’s fleet monitoring systems, you no longer have to spend countless hours making sure each vehicle has received its preventative maintenance. You can easily set up triggers to create work orders for each of your vehicles maintenance activities such as oil changes, tune-ups, brake work, etc. based on engine hours, time and mileage.

Live Vehicle Tracking

With GoFleet’s fleet monitoring systems, you will always know exactly where your vehicles are and where they have been. You can set up instant alerts to notify you if a driver goes out of an authorized zone, speeds, drives aggressively, stops harshly, uses the vehicle after work hours or idles excessively. This will ensure your drivers are doing what they are supposed to be doing and are driving safely. Improving driver safety reduces unnecessary costs and liability associated with an accident.

You can also use live vehicle tracking to prevent theft. In the case of a theft, the GPS data can be used to recover the vehicle quickly. This will reduce the vehicle and drivers downtime in the event of a theft. It will also help you reduce the chance you will have to replace expensive stolen assets.

GoFleet’s fleet monitoring systems work like a monitoring system during working hours and a security system when you are closed. It is always keeping tabs on your fleet even when you can’t.

GPS Fleet Management Solutions Make Life Easier

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Make Life Easier With GPS Fleet Management Solutions

A fleet manager’s job is usually stressful and complex. When the fleet is large, holds valuable cargo or is a critical component of the company’s operations, the task of managing the fleet is even more stressful. Regardless of the size of the fleet, GoFleet’s GPS fleet management solutions can make a fleet managers life easier through vehicle tracking, route planning, improved dispatching, Garmin integration, etc.

Vehicle Tracking

When people think about GPS fleet management solutions, they usually think about vehicle tracking. Fleet managers will be able to instantly see where each and every company vehicle is located from the convenience of their computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Not only are fleet managers able to see where each vehicle is, they can see were each vehicle has been, and the speed they are going.

Vehicle tracking also allows the fleet managers to see how their employees drive on the road. For example, they can see if their employees are driving aggressively, idling excessively, driving out of the authorized zone, deviating from the given route or making long stops. Instant alerts can be set up to notify the fleet manager or customized reports can be run at the manager’s convenience. These features help fleet managers improve productivity, save money and even improve customer service.

Improved Route Planning and Dispatching

With GoFleet’s fleet management solutions, automatic and efficient routes are created based on your drivers’ destinations. The routes are planned in a manner that reduces the amount of time the driver spends on the road and the total miles traveled. Drivers will be able to visit more customers in the same amount of working hours. In addition, efficient routing reduces the amount of overtime required by your drivers and the amount of fuel used.

Dispatchers will be able to see where each vehicle is when a customer calls for service. They will be able to send the closest driver to an urgent service call. Customers will no longer have to be given long service windows. Your dispatchers will be able to provide accurate estimated times of arrivals that your customers will really appreciate.

Garmin Integration

If your drivers are already using Garmin GPS devices for navigation, you can integrate them with your GoFleet GPS fleet management to improve your company’s efficiencies even further. It allows your drivers to get more done in less time and respond better to service calls. Garmin integration streamlines dispatching and communications, increases driver productivity, and boosts efficiency. Fleet managers love that it is simple to use, affordable and helps make their life easier.

For more information about how GoFleet solutions can make your life easier, Contact Us today.