Category: Small Business Tips

GPS tracking for small businesses can be very different than GPS tracking for larger companies. Why?

Small businesses operate differently than larger companies. As a result, small business owners experience different challenges than larger companies.

Small businesses vs. large companies – key differences

Small businesses are smaller (duh!). What does that really mean? In the case of GPS tracking for small businesses, smaller business environments lead to different use cases. For instance, small businesses experience tighter employee connections, higher customer service emphasis, and more staff responsibility.

Tighter Employee Environment

Small businesses have smaller team members. In fact, many small businesses employ family members. In turn, staff members are more likely to be aligned towards a team goal. Hence, small businesses usually experience less time theft than bigger companies.

Use case

GPS tracking for small businesses with close employees are more about protecting business than about monitoring staff members. For instance, a business owner who employs family members are less likely to have to watch their team.

However, business owners might use GPS tracking to protect their bottom line. A great example is in the snow plowing business. These businesses use GPS tracking to keep a record of all of their jobs. As a result, if there is ever a dispute, small businesses can use tangible historical data rather than relying on hiring expensive legal staff.

Customers are THAT Much More Important

Small businesses naturally have fewer customers than large businesses. In addition, they don’t have as much advertising resources. Hence, small businesses will do everything in their power to delight their current customer base and to spread positive word of mouth.

Use case

Small businesses use GPS tracking to improve customer service. For instance, our client PoppaCorn uses real-time tracking to provide delivery updates to their customers. Real time tracking increases estimate accuracy which in turn increases customer satisfaction.

Employees Wear Many Hats

Last but not least, small business employees wear many hats. For instance, a small business employee might be responsible for sales, marketing, and customer service. In contrast, larger companies separate those functions into 3 different roles. Hence, small businesses employees are always looking for better time management tools.

Use Case

GPS tracking for small businesses are also used to save time. Many tracking tools provide data and functions that eliminate manual admin work.

A good example is filing fuel tax forms. Normally, a business staff has to keep a record of fuel receipts and odometer readings. On the other hand, vehicle trackers automatically collect that data and generate reports. Hence, employees can spend their time on more important tasks than data entry and reporting.

Conclusion

Vehicle tracking is helpful in small and large businesses. The difference, however, in the nature of business leads to different use cases.

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/

How is Time Theft Hurting Your Bottom Line?

Do you ever stop and think that some of your drivers are padding their hours? If you do, you could be right. According to the American Payroll Association, the average employee steals 4 hours every week!

Get Rid of Paper Timecards

Still using paper timecards? This takes up extra time for both drivers and your accounting department, as well as runs the risk of being inaccurate. Companies that lack automated timecards have up to an 8% error rate, according to the APA.

One of the biggest downfalls to paper timesheets are that not only do they allow for human error but they are very easy to fake (making it easy to commit time theft). Employees could be arriving on the job 15 minutes late or leaving 15 minutes early everyday yet writing down otherwise. 10 to 15 minutes added from time to time may not seem like much, but it adds up. Let’s say an employee adds on 12 minutes each day to his or her timesheet. If this employee is paid $14.00 an hour working 5 days a week that adds up to a $672.00 per year loss. Now imagine multiple employees doing this and/or some of those hours being paid out as working overtime.

If you allow your drivers to take your company vehicles home, you probably catch yourself wondering if they use them for personal activities or even worse, side jobs. Not only could they be wasting the gas you pay for, they could be using your business name to make money on the side.

If you have a smaller fleet, it’s likely you don’t have a dedicated fleet manager making it especially hard to keep an eye on everything going on while your drivers are out on the road.

Increase employee productivity

Fortunately, for smaller fleet administrators that take on multiple roles, our fleet management technology can help. Our solution will not only eliminate time card discrepancies and the need for paper time cards, it has also proven to increase employee productivity by 15% and reduce fuel costs by 18%.

Time theft is often overlooked because many companies do not have any technology in place to monitor whether employees arrive on the job site the time they are supposed to; they are also missing out on the ability to track hours and verify employees work the hours they claim they do.

With GoFleet’s solution, you will be able to verify employee hours, ensure they are arriving to work or job sites on time and give accurate arrival estimates to your customers. This will increase the productivity of your workers, save you money, and keep your customers happy and coming back to you for more business in the future.

 

The sooner you become aware of unnecessary business expenses, time theft andunproductive workers, the closer you are to increasing your bottom line.

Let our team help you save money, increase productivity and keep your customers happy.

 

1-888-998-1122 | [email protected]

 

Sources:

American Payroll Association

Detroit Business Law

Small Fleet Management Solution

Productivity, Safety, Fleet Optimization, Compliance & Expandability make up the five pillar approach. This supports our ongoing innovation and assists businesses in making improvements in identified target areas. Each pillar offers a different way for businesses to save money and time. Unfortunately, many assume large fleets are the only ones to achieve significant savings; it’s important to recognize small to medium sized fleets can also reap these benefits.

How Small Are Small Fleets?

According to Frost and Sullivan, approximately 80% of fleets have under 10 vehicles, and most of these fleets do not have a fleet management solution (telematics). Also, it’s interesting to note that in order to be considered a “fleet”, a business must have bought 5 vehicles in a year and have a total of 15 vehicles in operation. In the June 2015 issue of Automotive Fleet, it’s explained that any commercial entities with under 15 vehicles are not considered to be a fleet.

Why Choose GoFleet & Geotab For Small Fleet Tracking?

1) Low initial investment

Some common initial expenses often associated with a new fleet management solution include: installation, testing, calibration and vehicle downtime during the setup process. Lucky for you, GoFleet & Geotab have made it as easy and low-cost as possible to get started. Geotab’s GO GPS devices are plug-and-play, not only do they eliminate install fees, but they also plug directly into the vehicle’s OBDII port, allowing for almost no downtime, and communication almost immediately after install. These benefits makes the Gofleet ideal small fleet management solution.

Minimal Entry Learning Curve

The learning curve involved in a barrier for any new tasks. Since a multi-tasking fleet manager is more likely for smaller fleets, although a fleet management solution may seem intriguing, finding enough time to properly utilize the solution may not seem achievable.

However, some of the features that can save you the most money (like in-cab driver alerts/coaching or maintenance warnings) are very quick and easy to learn and offer a high benefit-to-work ratio. For example, we frequently see our customers experience 5-10% fuel savings as a result of improved driver behavior alone, with other cases reaching beyond that. We also see savings of around 11% (but sometimes even up to 25%) on car insurance by adopting a small fleet management solution. Low initial investment combined with automated savings mean you’ll se a return on investment sooner than ever.

3) Ultimate flexibility and customization

On top of the many saving benefits, many small fleets are currently taking advantage of our customizable solution. There are thousands of compelling and unique ways to optimize and grow your business using our fleet management solution. For example, one of our current customers Boston Pizza, was looking for a solution to track their drivers. Not only did they gain real-time driver visibility, but with our solution they were also able to double the volume of their deliveries. Through the many add-ons we also have available, Excel reports, and the SDK, we are confident we can help you grow and better manager your business.

Our small fleet customers are able to save more than ever through our fleet management solution. We are also happy to offer weekly free training sessions and custom database configurations.

Original Article By: Jay Boychuk, European Solutions Engineer at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/telematics-untapped-breaking-barriers-small-fleets/

Tips for a Small Business Owner to Increase Efficiency

An efficient business owner is likely to automatically incorporate an efficiency culture in the team working with him or her. On the other hand, small businesses are often packed with efficiency issues simply because one person is relied on to make the majority of the decisions. To be a successful and efficiently running business it is important to make the most of what you have. Unfortunately, many small business owners under or overestimate their resources.

Small business owners all tend to face the same challenge: getting projects done within budget and on time. A lot of the time small business owners and employees become swamped with many deadlines quickly approaching; instead of creating high-quality work, they are left with only enough time to get the job done.

It is important for small business owners on a monthly or quarterly basis to do the following:

1. Define a List of Priorities
2. Identify Any Challenges
3. Clearly Understand Available Resources and Any Limitations to be Efficient

This should help avoid employees becoming swamped and increase the quality of the work produced.

At the end of the day, it is most important the small business owner be efficient him or herself. Here are 8 efficiency increasing tips for any small business owner:

Find Strengths & Improve Them Further

The Pareto Principle states 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your services/products. Identify what makes up that 20% and work on strengthening them even further.

Focus on the Main Job at Hand

Many new business owners feel the need to grasp on to every single opportunity that comes their way. This often causes them to get off track on projects at hand or waste their time chasing down opportunities leading nowhere. This spreads you too thin and limits your productivity and efficiency; it can sometimes cause serious harm to the business as a whole. Make sure you know your limitations and take up only enough projects to keep your employees and other resources occupied. Deliver these projects to the highest of standards and only then start to move on to other things.

Work as a Team & Keep Everyone in the Loop

Effectively working as a team is key to being efficient. If you and your team lack regular communication then all the processes and strategies were put in place for nothing. Make sure all your employees are well aware of any strategies and processes you are trying to implement & the reason behind them. If clients are involved it is even more important to ensure everyone on your team has the same vision on what needs to be achieved. Implement tools to increase easy communication between everyone.

Know When to Say No

Small business owners are always being pulled in a ton of different directions and getting questions from peers, friends, and even clients wanting to learn from them. Sometimes employees could be getting information from their colleagues, instead of you. Always be sure to consider whether or not what you’re doing is a good use of your time.

If not respectfully decline. Make sure you set some boundaries with employees and clients so everyone will learn when to ask or when to ask someone else/handle it on their own.

Deadlines, Deadlines, Deadlines

Setting deadlines are so important; set a timeframe for your projects to make sure you are productive and efficient. Emails and phone calls often distract from tasks at hand, make sure the allotted time for projects is done with no distractions.

Most small business owners get an unbearable amount of emails per day, what can help is setting aside a dedicated time each day for checking emails and responding. This will eliminate emails from becoming a distraction and still allow you to respond in a timely manner.

Get Your Priorities Straight

Rank all the tasks you need to do in a day by importance. This way you can prioritize what should be done when you are most productive. If you tend to take an hour or two to get into the groove of things, maybe take the morning to respond to emails, then leave the afternoon to do more important and difficult tasks.

Don’t Forget About Downtime

So many business owners over work themselves, don’t forget to take breaks. Going at the same task for hours and hours is bound to make anyone tired and can lead to making silly mistakes. Take a break, go out for a walk, or grab a coffee; this way you will stay energized and sharp for the entire day.

Keep Your Amazing Team Happy!

A happy team is a motivated one. As their leader it is your responsibility to make sure everyone on your team is happy. Don’t forget to have a smart balance between work and play inside the workplace. Happy employees are much less likely to complain about being poorly managed or overworked. If the workplace environment feels more like a home environment it will work in the businesses favor.

Efficient Leader = Efficient Team = Efficient Organization

Article Source:
Tips and Tricks for a Small Business Owner to Get High on Efficiency in Business2Community

Small Business: 7 Tips For The Resourceful Business

For a small business to stay afloat in this economy, they must be resourceful. Since budgets are smaller, new ideas need to be as cost-effective as they are proactive. Businesses must take everything into account including customer needs, cash flow, industry changes, and potential unexpected challenges. In order to stay competitive, small businesses need to take a creative approach to stand out from the rest.

According to 7 Bootstrapping Tips for the Resourceful Small Business, the below tips will help you do more with less:

1. Use Your Time Wisely

It is easy to get caught up in all of the potential opportunities for your business. It is important to prioritize opportunities and goals to decide what you should do and what needs to be reconsidered. This will help your development team understand what tasks need to be done first.

2. Use Customer Feedback Appropriately

While customer feedback is extremely important, it is important you know how to address it. Sometimes what the customer wants can actually hurt their experience with your company. In addition to getting feedback, you should track your customers’ behaviors. Use the feedback with the behavioral data to decide how to use the customer feedback.

3. Hire The Right People

While hiring talented and highly skilled people is extremely important, if their personality is not a good fit for your company, do not hire them.

4. Hold On To Your Business As Long As Possible

It can be tempting to sell your business to a larger corporation to propel your idea into the big leagues. However, you should hold on to your business as long as you can. The longer you can do it, the more of your business you will be able to keep.

5. Ask For Help

You might be surprised how many like-minded entrepreneurs are willing to help out other entrepreneurs who are going through something they have been through. If you need something, all you have to do is ask for it.

6. Stay Aware Of What Is Going On

Never stop looking for new creative and resourceful solutions that will help you succeed. Remember, you must act quickly and do whatever you need to do to get everything done.

7. Aim High

Always dream big. You do not have to trade your big ambitions to be lean. Be resourceful and come up with creative solutions.

Small Business: 5 Tips For Building A Winning Business Team

There is a solid business team behind any successful small business owner you come across. Every member of a small business team plays a crucial role in making the business a success including the employees, attorneys, accountants and vendors. If one member drops the ball, it can cause the entire system to fail. Unfortunately, you might not realize there is something wrong until you notice it in your bottom line, which could be too late.

It is important you follow the steps below, provided in How To Build a Winning Small Business Team, if you want to surpass your competition and grow your business.

5 STEPS TO BUILD A BUSINESS TEAM

1. Understand Your Business Processes.
Determine the business steps you will need to take and define the individuals needed. For example, a restaurant owner may know the staff required in the kitchen and the servers, but you can’t forget about food suppliers, dishes, refrigeration, kitchen maintenance etc.

2. Determine The Vendors And Materials You Need To Complete Specific Tasks.

Once you understand your business processes, determine the specific vendors and materials you need to deliver the highest quality services and products to your customers. Make sure that the vendors know they will receive more business if they provide top-notch service at favorable pricing.

3. Retain A Contract Attorney. </strong >
Hiring a reputable attorney can really help your business prepare and review business contracts between vendors, customers, contractors and employees. If any legal disputes arise, the attorney can provide quick and reasonably-priced legal services.

4. Establish A Timeline For What Needs To Be Accomplished.

Each member of your business team needs to know the expected timing of what needs to be accomplished. The steps of the process should be prioritized in sequential order depending on time sensitivity and level of importance.

5. Learn How Your Competition Conducts Business.

Secretly learn how your competition conducts business and then conduct your business at a higher level. Send an unknown employee to a competitor’s store to see how the customers do business with the competitor. Compare their team’s abilities to your business team. Any of your competitor’s downfalls should be capitalized on.

ADVANTAGES TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS TEAM

Building a strong team that works together can provide many entrepreneurial advantages:

More Time to Work on Growing and Improving Your Business
When your staff works well with your customers and vendors, you will be able to focus on developing your business strategically and not have to stress about daily operations.

Acquire Market Share
A strong team allows your business to operate more efficient than your competitors thus creating market advantage.

Always Improving
Work closely with your small business team to stay on top of your industry’s newest technology; continually focus on different ways to improve your services and products.