The Top 3 Reasons Companies Implement a Telematics System

There are a host of reasons why companies decide to implement a telematics system into their business. Every business is unique, but usually face one of three common business challenges when it relates to their vehicles and equipment.

Companies look to GPS Insight to solve one of or a combination of three business challenges which include safety, fleet visibility, and inefficiencies. This article will discuss these top three reasons why companies implement a telematics system, and how it can help overcome these business challenges.

Improving Safety for Employees and Your Community

The most common safety issue companies face is speeding violations and tickets. It endangers not only your drivers, and brings poor publicity to your brand, but also endangers those around them. Companies decide to implement a telematics system to help solve this business challenge because doing something simple and easy such as setting up speeding alerts can dramatically decrease how frequently this occurs. Utilizing alerts that can be sent in real-time to you when vehicles are traveling over a certain speed or miles per hour over the speed limit will give you the data you need to take appropriate action to curb this behavior. The other business challenge that companies face and turn to a telematics system to solve is a better way to keep track of their vehicle maintenance. Neglecting vehicle maintenance can create real safety risks. Receiving diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) allows you to communicate with your drivers whether the Check Engine Light they see is serious enough to pull over, or if they can address the issue later and continue their work day. Telematics systems also provide useful information such as harsh braking and rapid acceleration so that you can monitor more than speeding behavior to help reduce accidents as well.

The most common safety issue companies face is speeding violations and tickets. It endangers not only your drivers, and brings poor publicity to your brand, but also endangers those around them. Companies decide to implement a telematics system to help solve this business challenge because doing something simple and easy such as setting up speeding alerts can dramatically decrease how frequently this occurs. Utilizing alerts that can be sent in real-time to you when vehicles are traveling over a certain speed or miles per hour over the speed limit will give you the data you need to take appropriate action to curb this behavior.

The other business challenge that companies face and turn to a telematics system to solve is a better way to keep track of their vehicle maintenance. Neglecting vehicle maintenance can create real safety risks. Receiving diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) allows you to communicate with your drivers whether the Check Engine Light they see is serious enough to pull over, or if they can address the issue later and continue their work day. Telematics systems also provide useful information such as harsh braking and rapid acceleration so that you can monitor more than speeding behavior to help reduce accidents as well.

Providing Fleet Visibility and Location Intelligence

Location intelligence, or the ability to know where your vehicles are at any given time, provides a plethora of benefits that go beyond having dots on a map. Theft deterrence is one of the main benefits companies reap when implementing a telematics system. Vehicles and the equipment they carry are such costly investments that if even one theft is prevented with the aid of a telematics system, it can pay for itself.

If you’re in the service industry, location intelligence will help you provide more accurate time windows and ETAs to your own customers, thus improving your customer service and adding more to your bottom line in the long run. Telematics systems can also help debunking claims made by citizens and exonerate drivers if you receive calls reporting hit and runs or erratic driving by one of your vehicles.

Fleet Rightsizing

Examining resource allocation is an important focus for fleet management, which often leads to fleet rightsizing. This ensures the maximum use of municipal vehicles. Monitoring utilization reports allow fleet managers to identify if vehicles are being under or over-utilized.

If vehicles are used less frequently, then fleet managers can decide if they should eliminate these assets altogether, or come up with a plan to get them into circulation. Maintaining a fleet of vehicles that are under and over utilized increases fuel, maintenance, and several other expenses. Evaluating fleet utilization is one way for municipalities to ensure that they are making efficient use of their city’s budget. It’s important to constituents that municipalities spend their tax dollars wisely, and identifying areas to eliminate unnecessary spending helps positively affect the public opinion.

Correcting Inefficient Practices That Waste Valuable Time and Money

While the cost of fuel is out of our hands, there are certain variables that are within your control, which can increase the overall fuel costs of your business. This can be things such as inefficient routing, long idle times, etc. Businesses implement telematics systems to solve these challenges by studying the daily routes of drivers through historical information then dispatching the drivers efficiently to job sites. This helps reduce miles driven and gas consumed. Long idle times are the biggest component of high fuel costs. Your vehicles are wasting the most gas when drivers have the vehicle in park and running longer than necessary. It’s common for businesses to see instant and significant fuel savings once they begin to monitor long idle times and take action when they receive idle alerts letting them know a vehicle has been idling for a certain amount of time.

Correcting Inefficient Practices That Waste Valuable Time and Money

While the cost of fuel is out of our hands, there are certain variables that are within your control, which can increase the overall fuel costs of your business. This can be things such as inefficient routing, long idle times, etc.

Businesses implement telematics systems to solve these challenges by studying the daily routes of drivers through historical information then dispatching the drivers efficiently to job sites. This helps reduce miles driven and gas consumed. Long idle times are the biggest component of high fuel costs. Your vehicles are wasting the most gas when drivers have the vehicle in park and running longer than necessary. It’s common for businesses to see instant and significant fuel savings once they begin to monitor long idle times and take action when they receive idle alerts letting them know a vehicle has been idling for a certain amount of time.

Connecting Data to Strategy

Each one of these business challenges can have a significant impact on a business. Once you understand what the impact of your challenges is, then it’s important to know how you will connect the data from a telematics system with your strategy in solving these challenges.