Tag: telematics solution

5 Ways That Telematics Boosts Fleet Safety

5 Ways That Telematics Boosts Fleet Safety

Posted on | by Alexis | Leave a Comment on 5 Ways That Telematics Boosts Fleet Safety

According to Trucks.com, driving heavy vehicles is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, accounting for over a quarter of all work-related deaths in 2015. From long hours and isolation to fatigue and poor judgment, there are so many factors at play when it comes to fleet safety; with the industry becoming more competitive, these dangers are likely to increase.

Investing in telematics technology can enable fleet managers to monitor driving behaviour, locate vehicles in real-time and help prevent problems before they start. 

In this article, we’ll list the top five ways that telematics can connect your commercial fleet and help you make safer decisions for your vehicles, drivers and assets.

1. Address Driver Fatigue

Fatigue is a major risk for all drivers on the road. It’s common for drivers to work outside of their hours of service, either due to personal drive, a change in route or tight deadlines. Either way, fatigue means that a driver’s reaction time and judgment can be significantly impaired.

According to a prominent study by the FMCSA and NHTSA, driver fatigue was found to be a critical factor in at least 13% of accidents involving commercial vehicles. Research even shows that driving for 20 straight hours creates impairment equal to a blood alcohol content of 0.08% – the legal limit in most states.

Telematics systems are equipped with a range of features and functions designed to give fleet managers the data insights they need to monitor their drivers’ fatigue levels.

For example, electronic logging devices (ELD’s) make it easy for operators to properly record their hours, while real-time tracking can ensure that no one is on the road longer than they should be. In addition, ELD’s enable fleet managers to communicate directly with drivers, ensuring they’re safe and complying with regional safety guidelines while on the road.

2. Reduce Speeding

Truck drivers are often tasked with high expectations and short delivery windows; it’s not hard to see how this combination can result in speeding.

The World Health Organization identifies speeding as a contributing factor to about 30% of total road fatalities in high-income countries. The risk of death from collisions is raised even higher when large vehicles are involved, which weigh 20 to 30 times as much as a standard passenger car. Commercial vehicles represent a major risk to both drivers, their cargo, and other motorists.

A telematics platform gives fleet managers in-depth insight into their drivers’ habits and overall performance on the road. Metrics such as speed, acceleration and brake rates can all be recorded and reviewed, making it easy to identify and correct risky driving behaviours.

3. Manage Vehicle Safety

Large commercial vehicles can be a risk on the road, even when operated safely. Their size and weight make them difficult to maneuver, and their cargo can pose additional dangers if not properly secured, all of which can lead to accidents. 

A recent NHTSA study found that 20% of traffic accidents can be attributed to poor or irregular vehicle maintenance.

By regularly inspecting and servicing fleet vehicles, managers and operators can ensure they’re in good working order and won’t pose any unnecessary risks.

Telematics can make the process of vehicle maintenance easier by automatically tracking and recording data related to a vehicle’s performance. These robust reports can then be used to identify any potential issues early on, and prevent unplanned downtime.

4.  Improve Driver Communication

Effective communication is crucial for any business, but it’s especially important in the world of trucking, where drivers and fleet managers rarely get to connect in person. The isolated nature of the job means that it can be hard to relay important information or resolve issues that may come up.

Thankfully, many telematics solutions come equipped with two-way messaging systems that enable real-time communication between the two parties. This can be used to share information, answer questions or resolve any issues that may come up.

5. Create Safety Culture in the Workplace

Having access to accurate telematics data can help fleet managers and operators create a safe, responsible work culture, from the top down. 

Upper management can leverage telematics data to reduce fleet costs, ensure compliance and streamline work processes. 

Drivers can be made aware of their hours of service, while maintenance personnel can help them with regular vehicle maintenance. 

Managers can oversee their fleet operations remotely, checking on their drivers periodically to ensure they’re alert, safe and on course. 

While you can’t change the road, you can improve fleet safety. Telematics can help manage driver fatigue, reduce speeding and maintain vehicle safety, so you can help keep your drivers – and everyone else on the road – safe.

Contact your GoFleet consultant to see how telematics can improve fleet safety.

 

 

 

Reduce fleet fuel costs

Six Ways to Reduce Fleet Fuel Costs

Posted on | by Alexis | Leave a Comment on Six Ways to Reduce Fleet Fuel Costs

Inflation, the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine have all contributed to an already exorbitant rise of fuel costs in North America. Fleet managers everywhere are looking for ways to reduce fleet fuel costs.

In 2019 alone, fuel was $2.60 per gallon. In March, 2022 fuel prices reached $4.17. With no relief in sight, fleet managers are continuously looking for ways to improve fuel economy.

Here are six ways that your organization can reduce fleet fuel costs.

#1: Dispatch the Right Vehicles to Reduce Fleet Fuel Costs

It might be time for a fleet upgrade. Newer trucks, such as EVs, use alternative fuel sources or are hybridized for better fuel efficiency.

While you may not necessarily have the resources to replace every vehicle, adding even a few of these trucks can help your fleet become more fuel efficient. More miles per gallon means less fuel consumption.

#2: Preventative Maintenance

Proper maintenance of vehicles ensures they are operating at full capacity. In many ways, good vehicle health can reduce the overall costs associated with their operation. Regular engine checks can ensure that nothing goes wrong on the road.

Tires

Tires are a big pain point for many organizations. Keeping tires in good condition and properly inflated can reduce gas mileage by 0.2% for every 1 psi lower than recommended.  

Payload

Reducing extra weight in your trucks can have a positive effect on fleet fuel costs. In fact, reducing a truck’s weight by just 100lbs could save nearly $500 in fuel costs.

A/C

While everyone loves to cool off during the hot summer weather, reducing air conditioning usage in your vehicles can also reduce fuel consumption by 3%. The same goes for turning down the heat in colder weather.

Many telematics solutions can monitor maintenance needs across the whole fleet and send automatic notifications if a vehicle requires a tune-up or inspection.

#3: Improve Driver Habits

Bad habits such as speeding, aggressive driving and harsh braking can incur fuel costs for fleets to the tune of an additional 27%. 

Provide drivers with insights into their driving behaviour and offer constructive coaching to get them back on track and improve overall fuel efficiency. 

Telematics can provide valuable data sets to support driver coaching and scorecards, both of which are incentives to feel more engaged while positively impacting your fuel costs.

#4: Improve Vehicle Routing

Optimized routing not only shortens delivery times, but can also improve fuel economy. Telematics and fleet management software enable fleet managers to create and alter routes in real-time by considering factors such as weather, construction, accidents or other road obstructions.

As a result, trucks get where they need to be on time and faster, saving fuel costs in the process.

#5: Reduce Idling 

According to a recent report, idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour.

Depending on the size of your vehicles and of your fleet, those numbers can spell big trouble for fuel economy. Fleet managers can reduce fuel wastage by:

  • Turning off the engine when making a delivery or waiting for a pick-up.
  • Reduce idling while in heavy traffic by turning off the engine
  • Don’t idle to warm up the engine.

The right telematics solution can monitor specific data sets around idle time, enabling fleet managers to address fuel waste.

#6: Invest in Telematics to Reduce Fleet Fuel Costs

There is no other singular solution that offers the most fuel savings. Telematics enables fleet managers to make significant changes to their operations in real-time, reducing costs and improving outcomes. 

Telematics works by providing instant communication between vehicles and the fleet manager, offering valuable data and insights into various facets of the operation, including:

  • Vehicle location information and driver recognition
  • Maintenance problems and engine health
  • Poor driving habits such as harsh braking and excessive speeding
  • Vehicle (and fuel) usage

The more data available, the more fleet managers can learn about their operations. By accessing insights around driving habits, route optimization, traffic delays and weather conditions, organizations can apply their learnings to future operations, all with the focus on choosing the best fuel solution. 

The right type of fleet management software integrates telematics and other smart systems to reduce human error and improve operations. By leveraging this software solution to monitor fuel consumption, organizations are better empowered to lower fuel costs and grow their revenue. 

 

image representing telematics

The benefits of telematics during the labour shortage

Posted on | by Alexis | Leave a Comment on The benefits of telematics during the labour shortage

When it comes to transportation of goods and services, truck drivers are the adhesive that holds the supply chain together. Given their importance, finding, hiring, and retaining truck drivers has proven to be more difficult than ever.

Once thought of solely as a system for improving operational efficiency, there is now opportunity to leverage telematics for driver retention.

By the end of this article, you will gain insight into the present trucking industry, and how the use of telematics can make a big difference with the current labour shortage.

What is ‘telematics’?

In broad terms, telematics is a field that combines telecommunications and informatics. Informatics involves the working of computer systems – the science involved in the processing of information, its storage, and retrieval.

When you apply this combination to vehicles, telematics becomes a highly sophisticated computing system that can track all aspects of the vehicle, from electrical, mechanical engineering to software engineering.

The use of telematics in the context of vehicle use often involves the following:

  • Using telecommunications to send, receive and store information to help control remote objects.
  • The combined use of telecommunications, and informatics to control and monitor vehicles that are on the move.
  • The use of GPS to help with the navigation and live tracking of vehicles.

Telematics acts as a single monitor for all the different sensory and electrical features of your vehicle, all the while providing instant information on a single vehicle, or an entire fleet, on demand and in real-time.

The trucking industry’s labour shortage

According to a recent report from the American Trucking Association (ATA), the shortage in truck drivers hit an all-time high of over 80,000 drivers in 2021.

The most prevalent causes were:

  • Demographics – The average age of current drivers is above 50, leading to more retirees and fewer hires year over year.
  • Fewer female drivers – According to the same ATA report, women only make up 7% of the overall existing drivers.
  • Lack of new drivers – The availability of potential drivers on par with a truck carrier’s hiring standard is extremely low.
  • Lifestyle –The lifestyle of the average truck driver is another important factor that deters people from choosing truck driving as a profession. Long hours, irregular meals and sleeping patterns all contribute to the decline.
  • The pandemic – Among the many people that were temporarily laid off due to COVID, most did not come back.

This labour shortage will be acutely felt for a long time and may persist until the trucking industry increases its bandwidth to allow younger drivers into the fold and/or improves its hiring and training practices.

Mitigating the labour shortage

There are two parts to managing the labour shortage. The first and most self-evident is to make the driving profession more lucrative and attractive to potential drivers, including:

  • Offering fair wages with extra benefits, including solid health insurance and pension plans.
  • An increase in freight rates.
  • A refresh in the truck industry’s branding, making it an appealing and viable career path.
  • Better work schedules and route assignment for improved work/life balance.

The second solution would be the adoption of technology. Telematics has massive potential to help your workforce mitigate the labour shortage while providing attractive solutions that make everyone’s job easier in the short and long-term.

How telematics can help

Telematics has the power to improve the working conditions of your existing and future drivers in a very significant way.

The benefits of telematics from a business perspective

  • Improves productivity and efficiency: The data collected by integrated GPS found in most telematics systems can be used to optimize routes, which reduces the overall time spent on the road, reduces delivery times, and improves fuel usage.
  • Reduces operation costs: All the improvements listed in the previous statement help reduce operational costs. Moreover, since telematics tracks and keeps records of virtually everything that has to do with the vehicle, there are opportunities to identify potential issues within your vehicles before they happen, thus improving operational costs and maximizing fleet efficiency.
  • Automates payroll management: With the time and distance data provided by telematics, it becomes easier to manage payroll without having to worry about clerical errors.
  • Streamlines telecommunications: Telematics systems help you seamlessly streamline all forms of end-to-end communication within your business operations, from customers to drivers.
  • Offers proactive maintenance and repair alerts: The diagnostics data provided by telematics can help you maintain your fleet and keep everything in working order. Issues can be flagged to your driver while also alerting your repair centre, preventing break downs before they happen.
  • Attracts and retains drivers: This is the most important benefit given the subject of this article. Vehicles fitted with telematics technology will always prove to be more attractive, and the many features that the tech offers, especially in them being engaged, and not disconnected over miles of long lonely road, will certainly help in their retention.

The benefits of telematics from a driver’s perspective

  • Improves safety and compliance: The built-in driver monitoring software encourages drivers to comply with all regulatory driving standards. This goes a long way in avoiding, and preventing accidents, ensuring the overall health, and safety of the drivers.
  • Opportunities for real-time coaching: Virtually everyone develops bad driving habits over time. Whether it’s harsh braking, frequent acceleration or failing to use a turn signal, telematics can identify these occurrences and alert both you and your driver to these behaviours as soon as they happen, giving you an opportunity to correct and coach in real-time.
  • Increases job safety: Contrary to popular belief, telematics isn’t the digital, overbearing “Big Brother” that everyone thinks. There are lots of ways to introduce telematics to your drivers that frame it as a benefit; less in-cab surveillance and more of an insurance policy that helps prevent accidents, exonerate your drivers and keep them safe.

Conclusion

While there is no singular solution to fix the entire trucking industry, an organized business that leverages telematics data not only lures prospective employees, but it can also help your organization use your existing drivers and vehicles more efficiently while keeping them safe on the road.

For more information, contact your GoFleet consultant and ask us how we can keep you and your staff in the driver’s seat.

Competing With E-Commerce Delivery Giants

Posted on | by Anna | Leave a Comment on Competing With E-Commerce Delivery Giants

With so many products available on the internet, there are varying factors that influence consumers with completing online purchases. While price, quality and features are a few factors, it’s important to note that delivery time is a large factor. In fact, 50% of respondents of a recent survey conducted by Toluna found that due to an unsatisfactory delivery option, they abandoned their cart and decided to go with an alternative option that delivered sooner. As some businesses can’t risk losing customers over delivery options, they must do everything they can to stay competitive with e-commerce delivery giants. One thing that businesses must do to stay competitive is to utilize telematics solutions to their advantage.

 

ASAP E-Commerce Delivery: The New Norm

ASAP delivery has been an ongoing revolution for consumers as, over the years, it has been perfected and desired. Two ASAP delivery giants to focus on normalizing this is Amazon and Walmart as they both cater to this quick e-commerce delivery need. Recently, Walmart was reported to have made its same-day delivery option available for approximately 75% of the United States while Amazon similarly delivers to approximately that same amount within 24 hours. 

Below we discuss some ways that transportation and logistics businesses can compete in the age of Amazon Prime or 24-hour delivery services by using innovative telematics solutions.

 

Real-Time Tracking 

One way to stay competitive with companies who offer ASAP e-commerce delivery is to use a telematics solution, as previously mentioned. Specifically by utilizing real-time tracking features to provide consumers with up-to-date information about shipping. This stems from the theory that the more information you provide to your customer, the more that they will trust you and as a result, do business with you. So even if you are unable to compete with the quick turn around of shipping time of other businesses, you could still stay relevant to consumers as you are honest and transparent (a quality that many look for in a business).

 

Route Optimization 

Another way that small business owners can stay competitive in an age that relies on ASAP e-commerce delivery is to take advantage of route optimization. Specifically by using telematics information to help maximize their efforts while scheduling routes. With telematics solutions, dispatch managers have been able to successfully take into consideration and communicate traffic, weather and other delays with drivers so they can coordinate around such issues. Ensuring that businesses are always offering their consumers the quickest and most efficient delivery options. Not to mention, dispatch managers can better group deliveries and add to deliveries within the same geographic location. Making their efforts more optimized in regards to time and resources used.

 

Fleet Maintenance 

The final way that many small businesses can compete with e-commerce delivery giants, is to ensure that their fleet is always in peak working condition. Meaning, drivers and vehicles are always ready to work. Not only does this include having enough delivery teams to complete shipments regardless of the season or shipment demand, but completing preventative maintenance so breakdowns on the road are reduced. Using telematics solutions that focus on preventative maintenance allows fleets and vehicle conditions  to be automatically monitored for current errors. Additionally, telematics solutions can automatically complete and schedule preventive maintenance with algorithms so drivers are not surprised by engine errors or breakdowns. Essentially keeping fleets in peak working conditions to maintain productivity.

Since consumers are always looking for the best and quickest options when it comes to buying online, businesses must do what they can to compete with e-commerce delivery giants. While these are only a few ways that even small businesses can see benefits from, it’s important that dispatching managers always stay on top of new technology trends that can help them.

If you’re interested in learning more about how your business can boost its delivery options by using IoT and telematics solutions, contact us today!

Telematics Helping Businesses Go Paperless

Posted on | by Anna | Leave a Comment on Telematics Helping Businesses Go Paperless

There are numerous benefits that businesses notice once they implement tech-focused initiatives that either reduce the use of paper or allow them to go paperless entirely. In addition to being environmentally beneficial, businesses often find that a paperless office can drastically improve their processes. Specifically, businesses have highlighted that paperless telematics solutions have helped to increase data reliability in addition to ensuring efficiency and accurate reporting.

 

Greater Numerical Reliability 

As one can imagine, technology allows for improved documentation and record-keeping since there is a reduced chance of human error. This is true with telematics solutions once they are adopted. As telematics solutions are typically designed to automate data gathering, precise specifications can be predetermined and replicated on an ongoing basis. Meaning, the same information will always be accurately gathered without the use of physical paper. When a business is able to go paperless by using a telematics solution, they no longer have to worry about human error that could affect the accuracy of data.

One example of this is within the trucking and logistics sector which used to require drivers to manually fill out paper logbooks of their driving activity. Doing so wouldn’t only leave their records open to human error as previously discussed, but some drivers have in the past been known to falsify records to allow them to complete more deliveries. As a result, telematics solutions such as electronic logging devices (ELDs) have been introduced in regulations. Ultimately allowing drivers and fleets to go paperless which as a result, combats false records and incorrect data entry. 

 

Limiting Wastefulness

When businesses switch to using an innovative telematics solution, typically, the environmental benefits are not stressed as much. However, since the impact that businesses have upon the environment continues to remain a popular topic, it’s important to highlight that going paperless by using telematics solutions can help reduce wastefulness. Specifically, employees are able to forgo using paper entirely as all of their work and information is recorded electronically.

This benefit is noticed within any office environment as teams no longer have to record data physically on paper documents to then input the information in a database. Telematics solutions are able to pull the information automatically and electronically, to then display it on any computer or smartphone device. Allowing employees to no longer have to use wasteful amounts of paper to be able to share or show information.

 

Praising Cloud Storage 

Telematics solutions are also praised for the technology’s cloud connectivity. As mentioned previously, telematics solutions automatically pull and organize data that is relevant to a company. However, this goes one step further to reducing the use of paper as this information can be pulled and stored electronically. No longer are businesses required to keep physical paper copies of documents or reports, rather they use devices to view and analyze the information.

An example of this is how a small contracting business must keep tedious records of all of their contracting jobs. Ensuring that any customer or invoice inquiries can be completed or reviewed with accuracy and ease. This can include reassurance of accurate billing or arrival times, documentation of parts used or work completed and even the individual who attended and their notes on-site. Without a telematics solution, all of this information would be hard to review as it would likely be kept physically on paper in offices. Limiting who can have physical access to it.

 

How Your Business Can Go Paperless and Enter The Digital Era 

If your business would like to go paperless by incorporating a tech-focused approach, contact us today! We have a number of resources and solutions available that allow for all of these benefits to be seen and more! Whether you’re looking to incorporate intelligent dispatching through ZenduWork, create digital forms with ZenduForms, or complete web-based maintenance management with ZenduMaintenance, we’re confident that we have a solution as unique as your business!