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Fleet management is about far more than keeping track of your where your engineers are and how they get from A to B writes Sharon Clancy...

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that not knowing where your service people are at any given point in the day is likely to impact on the future prosperity of your field service business.

In this connected world of ours, live location data is becoming a given, It’s a core element in being able to react to real-time events such as unexpected delay to the planned schedule.

So, having acknowledged that you need to know where your field service workers are in order to be able to respond to dynamically developing situations appropriately, where do you get this live, real-time, location information?

 

The arrival of the smart mobile device has made live position fixes much easier to obtain. You can locate a device on a cellular network mast, or you can get a location fix from a satellite. GPS has become a generic term for the latter: it stands for Global Positioning System, the US Government’s free-to-use network of 24 orbiting satellites.

Satellite transceivers (often called GPS chips) in telematics black boxes and smart mobile devices communicate with a minimum of three satellites to obtain a location fix, which is accurate to between 10 and 15 metres. By contrast, accuracy on the cellular network is only as accurate as the distance between the masts.

Why fleet management pays

Given that priority number one for most field service companies is on getting engineers to their next job and maximising the number of technician visits per day, why bother with vehicle tracking-cum-fleet management system if you can get all the information you need from, say, scheduling software with location-enabled smart devices?

Well, an important part of any engineer’s day is, actually, the driving of the vehicle from Job A to Job B and so on.

Having an integrated or stand-alone fleet management system provides a lot of potential performance improving data and more field service companies are beginning to recognise that they can deliver a lot of data about what your vehicles and engineers are doing, and they capture that information automatically.

For smaller SMEs, it can be an alternative to scheduling software.

Exception reporting underpins fleet management software, whether it is for tasks such as on-time arrivals at customer premises, working time compliance and speeding alerts. You set up the parameters as to what is “normal” for that vehicle and receive live updates.

 

Some service management processes now receiving attention are, in fact, long-standing elements of fleet management packages, especially those relating to driver management and reporting: on-board telemetry fuel consumption, trip data, idling time and harsh braking.

For example, fleet management systems provide historical analysis of trips, helping confirm the scheduled route is the most economical in terms of miles, fuel and timing. Analysis of the routes driven can identify any issues, whether it is regular hold-ups at customer premises, congestion hotspots and engineers going off-route.

For those companies who’ve not yet progressed to a dynamic scheduling software, you can get a lot of similar features with fleet management systems: engineer location, automated alerts on arrival and departure form customer premises, paperless data capture.

There’s less upfront cost, too - fleet management specialists were early adopters of the pay-as-you-go cost model, charging on a per-vehicle-per-month basis. If you’ve acquired your fleet on a lease basis, fleet management can often be included in the monthly costs.

For some benefits, you do not actually have to do much at all.

Geofencing, for example, is a virtual fence around a site such as customer premises, depot, or engineer’s driveway. Once set up, it alerts managers if a vehicle is moved unexpectedly out of hours, and when vehicles arrive and leave customer premises.

Going green

Fuel represents a significant cost for any field service business and it’s also a big a contributor to carbon emissions.

Any company with a business plan to reduce its carbon emissions needs to pay attention to the contribution from its vehicle fleet. If they haven’t already, larger companies with their own commitment to carbon reduction are starting to ask suppliers and contractors for more specific information about their carbon emissions reduction strategy is – it’s becoming included in contracts.

Several of fleet management companies now offer “Eco” or carbon footprint calculators. Masternaut, for example, has a carbon calculator that uses vehicle mileage and the known carbon output per km for each vehicle to calculate the footprint.

 

Fleet management companies use the on-board diagnostics port (OBD) now required on new vans to capture vehicle and driver performance data.

Congestion in towns and cities doesn’t just affect schedule times, it can have a big impact on fuel consumption – slow-moving traffic and idling.

Duty of Care

There is renewed focus on what processes are in place that demonstrate compliance with duty-of-care responsibilities. These combine an element of lone-worker protection and risk-analysis of employee behaviour.

For field service companies, the van is there to get your asset, the engineer, from job to job.

They might have all the on-site safety checks nailed but because vehicle operation is not the main focus of the business, field service companies won’t necessarily have a dedicated person to check driving behaviour – from whether the engineer has a valid a licence to whether he is guilty of always driving at 40mpg in a 30m0h zone.

The risk is therefore higher that these drivers will behave inappropriately and that no-one at the company will be responsible for picking it up.

 

Over the past year at Field Service News we’ve seen encouraging signs that more field service companies are recognising the need to monitor the driving part of their engineers’ daily lives, both in terms of fuel consumption and from a Duty of Care and safety viewpoint.

It’s in-built into fleet management systems – not an add-on. You can prove compliance with duty of care responsibilities.

There’s an app for that. 

At any field service company, one of the biggest administration challenges is following the paper trail. Whether it is worksheets, job manifests, invoices, timesheets, expenses or vehicle safety records, losing vital pieces of paper is all too easy.

Fleet management companies have been big adopters of mobile app technology to help mobile workers do a host of things, from timesheet entries to holiday request. Everyone’s familiar with an app, so no great training is required.

Time and tax management

Fleet management systems can also provide proof of when employees start and finish work – this is particularly important in the EU, for example, where the Working Time Directive imposes limits on weekly working hours.

Service companies have to manage the fact that for many employees, their work vehicles will be also be used for non-business driving and one key benefit that fleet management systems can bring for van operators is the ability to automatically differentiate between business and private mileage - in some countries, employees are taxed on private mileage.

Driver log-on systems ensure there is no confusion about who was driving at a particular time, or you can set up a geofence - any vehicle which leaves the premises or the engineer’s home address outside normal working hours is deemed to be being used privately.

Tracking logs provide detailed breakdown of business/private mileage for each day and the week as a whole can be exported to other applications such as payroll. It’s easy to set up on most fleet management websites.

Asking an engineer to complete a daily vehicle check might be prudent from a safety viewpoint but the engineer might see it as delaying him getting to that important first call.

 

He’s probably logging on to get his job manifest anyway, so give him an app to do the check and not only is it faster and easier, it closes the compliance loop because once it’s complete, the data is sent live to the office. Managers can see non-compliant vehicles and any defects needing urgent attention. In the event of an accident and a claim, you have proof the vehicle was compliant.

Driver check apps can also be useful if vehicles are shared, pinpointing when the damage was done and whether the driver was at fault.

Miscellaneous small repair bills for items such as minor scrapes and cracked deflectors can add up and identifying if one engineer is more prone than another to this type of incident can identify a training need.

Fleet management systems deliver some quick wins for field service companies, especially in terms of vehicle utilisation, route management and fuel economy.

Quick-fix apps continue to offer still more opportunity to remove time-consuming unprofitable tasks from fleet operations. And If there isn’t one yet, someone somewhere is probably writing it.

 

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Murdock Builders Merchants, an independent family owned builders’ merchant group, has reduced fuel costs by 10% after implementing a telematics system from Masternaut.

Murdock Builders Merchants implemented Masternaut’s telematics system across its fleet of 44 commercial vehicles, enabling the business to effectively track its fleet across the country.

Since installation, Murdock Builders Merchants has seen a marked improvement in driving styles and saved 10% in fuel costs thanks to data provided by Masternaut’s telematics solution. The system has also been helping Murdock Builders Merchants to have complete visibility on fuel usage and driving style.

The system has also helped to provide an increase in driver efficiency, with managers now able to distribute tasks more effectively and increase the work done by all vehicles. The customer relationship has been further enhanced, with information provided to them, giving accurate delivery times and updates in case of traffic delays.

By monitoring vehicles, telematics has been helping managers keep track of the fleet, enabling them to record information like times and dates sites were visited. This provides cast iron clarity on delivery times for customers and helps fleet managers find the nearest driver to a job location.

 

Paul Sheppard, Group Fleet Manager, Murdock Builders Merchants said “Part of the experience we offer our customers is outstanding delivery with minimal fuss. We’re committed to providing excellent service to our customers and ensuring we hit our delivery times, and Masternaut provides a vital part of how we go about doing that. The system gives us 100% accurate times of delivery and the ability to update customers if there are unexpected delayed, and we’ve been able to make efficiency savings on fuel. Masternaut is a vital, supportive partner of ours and gives us an extra edge that we can offer our customers.”

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director, Masternaut added, “For independent family businesses like Murdock Builders Merchants it is vital that they deliver the best services for their customers. Telematics can become a vital tool to ensure a company is able to meet high customer expectations, and at the same time improve on driver behaviour across the fleet. Telematics enables you to provide a duty of care to your staff and produces savings and safety improvements across the fleet, which is important to any business.”

 

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Resource Type: eBook
Published by:  Telogis
Title: Shorten Service Windows and Provide Better Customer Service
Download: Click here to Download the full ebook

By downloading you agree to the T&Cs listed available here

Synopsis

Almost all field service engineers have mobile phones, and 80 to 90 percent of them use smartphones. This puts convenient Internet access and a powerful computing device in the field. Smartphones equipped with advanced mobile/location intelligence apps help workers in the field be more efficient and shorten that window from event/customer request to resolution. This eBook covers some of the ways mobile technology is helping improve customer service satisfaction and  reduce costs.

Overview

All mobile service professionals work toward two main goals: making service more predictive and more proactive. The current business model relies heavily on break-fix occurrences, where a failure has occurred and the customer engagement is entirely reactive. By that time, the customer experience has started out negatively.

The not-too-distant future will bring us HVAC and other building components/appliances that talk directly to service providers who can address mechanical issues before they grow into bigger failures (much like heavy equipment and vehicle fleet managers do today). That level of proactivity is near as everything becomes more connected.

Sharing Information/Filing Resources:

Smartphones are for more than Facebook and Instagram – they enable real-time research and information sharing with colleagues and back-office personnel.

This could be as simple as a web search or communicating through the text messaging capabilities of the phone, or as advanced as the incorporation of a work order management app that provides access to important documents. This can include paperless forms, service agreements, customer profiles, instructional material, how-to videos or graphics, parts catalogues – anything that will make life a little easier for the field engineer.

Connecting to Other Mobile Workers

Knowing the location and status of other mobile workers (and their vehicles) in the field can significantly improve customer service. Mobile fleet management apps can relay information on what parts and tools are on a vehicle, and the skill-set of the driver. In the past, if a field engineer was missing a part or a tool, they would travel back to their shop or to the nearest supply store.

Now – with a connected workforce – that field engineer can pull up the real-time location and activity of colleagues in the area, locate the needed part or tool on one of their vehicles, and get back to work sooner.

[quote float="left"]In the past, if a field engineer was missing a part or a tool, they would travel back to their shop or to the nearest supply store. Now – with a connected workforce – that field engineer can pull up the real-time location and activity of colleagues in the area, locate the needed part or tool on one of their vehicles, and get back to work sooner.

 

Navigate and Route Better

Today’s professional navigation and routing applications take into account real-time feeds of traffic and weather information.

This can provide benefits as simple as avoiding major congestion or accidents and routing to the next job in the fastest way possible, or it can help the engineer reorder their day based on the weather.

Dynamic Job Planning/Delivery

We live in an ever-changing, decentralised work environment.

Work order management applications can deliver new plans and jobs directly to the field service engineer without requiring them to return to the office.

Progress

Much of customer service satisfaction is based on expediency. No one likes hearing that help will arrive in a window between noon and 5:00 PM.

Location-based fleet management technology can notify the back office when an engineer has left one job and is on their way to the next, which then allows them to notify the customer that an engineer is on their way and their ETA.

The Future

These are just a few ways that current mobile and location-based technologies help shorten the service window and help businesses provide better service to their customers.

 

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Click here to Download the full ebook

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Incredible fuel savings and impressive reduction in CO2 emissions for Scottish local authority after implementing telematics solution from TomTom Telematics...

The Organisation:

Connecting the shores of Loch Lomond with Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire provides access to some of Scotland’s most beautiful scenery and a network of towns and villages.

There are three town centres; Clydebank, Dumbarton and Alexandria. The council has a fleet of 380 vehicles that are used in delivering services for the residents of West Dunbartonshire. This fleet is made up of cars, vans and minibuses as well as specialist vehicles such as refuse collection trucks and road sweepers. The fleet has a capital value of approximately £8 million and annual running and operating costs of over £2M.

The Challenge:

Running vehicle fleets does not only incur costs – as a signatory to Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration, the council has a carbon reduction commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by one third by 2015. The cost of fuel to the council has increased significantly over recent years and it is clear that the council needs controlling mechanisms to regulate and influence the sustainable use of fuel.

Added to this, there was concern over the usage of council vehicles and the need to know where and how council property was being used. With a highly recognisable fully branded fleet, West Dunbartonshire are aware that they are continuously visible and that tax payers note any inappropriate use. Coupled with this comes the incidence of public challenges and spurious insurance claims against the council.

 

Tracking of the vehicles was becoming necessary to cut rising costs, raise efficiency and save time on administration.

The Solution:

In March 2010 the council installed TomTom LINK 300 GPS tracking boxes into 260 of their fleet of vehicles. This was a significant investment for the council, particularly at a time when budgets were being trimmed in every area. Nevertheless the Fleet and Waste Services Division led by Rodney Thornton, was confident that its introduction would reduce fuel costs.

Following research and a competitive tendering exercise, the council selected TomTom Business Solutions to provide the solution.

Driving more economically, efficiently, and safely, will reduce the council’s carbon footprint and longer term costs for the council. It was clear that many drivers, however unwittingly, were wasting valuable resources because of the way they drive.

Reducing average speed and instances of harsh braking and cornering delivers direct, measurable reductions in fuel consumption, servicing and maintenance costs and is proven to reduce accidents.

As a result of improved control of the vehicle fleet, the council is projecting that fuel usage will be down by around 70,000 litres in the period April 2010 – March 2011 when compared to the previous year.

 

Ultimately, the council has not only saved huge costs, they have succeeded in reducing their annual climate impact.

“Improvements to the way council vehicle operators carry out their duties has reduced our annual fuel costs by over £100,000 per annum, reduced servicing and maintenance costs in the longer term, will extend the working life of a number of vehicles and decrease the production of CO2,” said Rodney Thornton.

West Dunbartonshire council are so impressed with the results of the TomTom solution, they are incorporating the TomTom ecoPLUS into a selection of the vehicles across the fleet.

The ecoPLUS provides businesses with live data such as fuel consumption and live carbon footprint so vehicles can be accurately benchmarked and best practice developed to help achieve wider objectives such as fuel saving and carbon footprint reduction. TomTom ecoPLUS will enable the council to further reduce fuel consumption, by gaining a real time view of the fuel efficiency of each vehicle, showing when and where fuel is wasted.

Idling time in particular has been highlighted as a major contributor to fuel wastage in this sector.

 

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The telematics industry is going through rapid change as the technology underpinning it continues to evolve at pace. Sharon Clancy looks at the key considerations for companies to have in mind when selecting a telematics solution in 2016.....

Telematics: key features

Telematics can deliver a host of efficiencies to any service operation but historically has been neglected by field service organisations who have focused on other aspects of operations such as ensuring the technician is in the right place at the right time and has the right skill sets for the job.

The part of the day that involves travelling between jobs – the driving - has often received scant, if any, attention. After all, you are employing technicians not drivers. However, increasingly field service companies are aware that economical and safe driving is an important part of the technicians’ skillset.

Business intelligence

A single piece of mobile data can deliver intelligence about several aspects of the operation.

[quote float="left"]The more intelligence you have about your operations, the better equipped you are to be both proactive and reactive in making any changes to the business and the happier your customers will be.

Take electronic signature capture, for example: it eliminates paperwork and automates invoicing, but it is also a compliance tool, feeding data back into scheduling engines; by confirming real-time location, it enables CRM staff to be proactive in alerting customers a technician may be delayed. Today’s challenge is all about cutting-and-slicing data to improve performance. After all, the more intelligence you have about your operations, the better equipped you are to be both proactive and reactive in making any changes to the business and the happier your customers will be.

 

It can help you identify trends and patterns across all elements of the operation and discover where the bottlenecks and inefficiencies are, delivering insights into productivity, business process efficiencies, costs and customer service levels. Data has to be translated into actionable information to help make informed business decisions, of course.

Internet-based mobility platforms link vehicles and drivers to back-office systems and cut-and-slice all the available data.

Also newer pay-per-user software-as-a-service models make the tools available to SMEs, enhancing their competitiveness.

Distilled properly, information through GPS, telematics, fleet management and other tools provide concrete, actionable details, giving managers and dispatchers real-time visibility into operational activities.

Managers can further refine schedules with real-time traffic information.

Route analysis

Route analysis is one of those areas where analysis of telematics data can drive future monitoring by highlighting what actually happens against what was planned showing a planned versus actual comparison.

[quote float="right"]Integration between schedule optimisation software and real-time location is essential: it will help drill down the cause of late arrivals, route variances, jobs taking longer than planned, incomplete schedules and so on.

To do this, integration between schedule optimisation software and real-time location is essential: it will help drill down the cause of late arrivals, route variances, jobs taking longer than planned, incomplete schedules and so on.

 

With first-time fix rates having a significant impact on operational efficiency, investigating as to why any part of the planned scheduled fail is worth it.

Telematics reports can highlight exceptions, mitigating actions, call notes or emails can be seamlessly linked back to any performance reporting.

Historical analysis of trips can identify congestion hotspots and avoidable delays at customer sites which rerouting or retiming an appointment might eliminate.

Analysis also confirms visits are being made most economically in terms of miles, fuel and timing.

It will also highlight any slack in the schedule that could be filled by slotting in a routine service visit

Driver monitoring

Driver performance monitoring is a key feature of many telematics systems, but until recently has not been a focus area for many field service companies.

However, that attitude is changing.

[quote float="left"]Field service organisations are looking to reduce their overall carbon footprint and the fuel used in company vehicles contributes a significant amount to the total.

Field service organisations are looking to reduce their overall carbon footprint and the fuel used in company vehicles contributes a significant amount to the total.

 

Another is awareness that technicians can have driving styles which are not just uneconomic but unsafe – there is a Duty of Care to ensure employee drive safely while on company business.

Telematics reports can identify harsh braking, excessive acceleration, even harsh cornering.

If you aren’t measuring how your drivers and vehicles are doing, you don’t know if they could be doing even better.

Even a small improvement can translate into thousands saved on your annual fuel bill.

Safer driver habits can translate into saving in those minor knocks and dents service vans in urban environments are particularly prone to.

Are your fleet vehicles in a safe condition? Telematics can confirm that. Give drivers an app to do a quick safety check before they set off for the day.

Data overload

Capturing data is no longer the technical challenge it once was.

A lot of telematics data relates to a specific part of the operation - on-time arrival information, signature capture, location, driving behaviour, to name but a few.

Try to do too much too soon, though, and the risk is you’ll get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information telematics can deliver about your operation. Experts advise taking small, gradual, manageable steps.

[quote float="left"]While deeper integration may be desirable to improve the business, there are two technology challenges if it is to become a reality: the legacy systems already in place and data security levels on servers.

As businesses examine where further efficiencies might be gained and how they can satisfy their customers’ demand for up-to-the-minute information, it’s being recognised that greater integration between databases may be required and made available in real-time so staff have a complete overview of the operation.

 

While deeper integration may be desirable to improve the business, there are two technology challenges if it is to become a reality: the legacy systems already in place and data security levels on servers.

A legacy system might be an outdated programming language or application software which is not longer supported, or old processes. Problems can arise due to compatibility issues with newer applications.

Telematics for incident management

Consequential costs from accidents are rising: determining fault is time-consuming and costly, so often accidents are dealt with on a no-fault basis especially if there is lack of reliable evidence.

So forward-facing CCTV cameras have become a useful item in the telematics toolbox.

[quote float="right"]The latest development is that video footage can now be uploaded in real-time - either via a link with the existing telematics black box on the vehicle or via a dedicated SIM card in the camera

They record video of what is happening on the road ahead in a continuous loop, saving the clip when triggered by G-force or manually.

 

They are proving invaluable in helping police and insurers determine fault - suppliers say cameras can reduce motor fleet claims by between 30 to 70 per cent simply by helping establish your own drivers are not at fault.

The video data captured by the cameras can be integrated into driver training programmes.

They already capture data on risky driving behaviour such as harsh braking, acceleration and there is anecdotal evidence that drivers will adopt a more gentle driving style once they know that any risky behaviour is likely to be caught one camera.

The latest development is that video footage can now be uploaded in real-time - either via a link with the existing telematics black box on the vehicle or via a dedicated SIM card in the camera.

The clip is also highly compressed to minimise the size of the data file being transferred.

Some systems send an alert that an event has been registered while others will send either still images or the video clip.

Security

Data security is moving up the agenda for many companies, so ask about security certification.

Confirm that the server is running the latest version of Windows, encrypts data to a known standard and check what layers of encryption are used.

Buyer beware

Telematics has a somewhat chequered history when it comes to reputable suppliers.

The supplier market is a lot more stable now but caution should still be your byword.

Check what the contract includes and that any warranty is valid for the length of the contract.

Check the creditworthiness of potential providers and be especially wary of suppliers who bundle the communications airtime package with the lease for the telematics equipment.

Consider pay-as-you-go options which don’t tie you in to a longterm commitment.

[quote float="left"]The golden rule when considering any purchase for mission critical systems, whether they be telematics, field service management or a mobility solution is to do your homework.

Ask about ongoing customer service and support - some telematics providers will have designed their own telematics system, including the unit to be installed in the vehicle, and will also own the intellectual property rights; others are pure resellers of air time or of black boxes and will offer very little if any support beyond the sale which could be critical.

 

Some resellers, however, do understand that mission-critical operations require high levels of support services and offer those.

However the golden rule when considering any purchase for mission critical systems, whether they be telematics, field service management or a mobility solution is to do your homework.

Ask a potential supplier to demonstrate a significant and satisfied customer base, and most reputable companies will publish a list of some of their existing clients.

You’ll find that many of your peers in the companies on these lists are often more than happy to help out with a genuine request for information - so give them a call and ask them about the solution, warts and all.

When searching for a solution that can potentially deliver huge benefits, but on the flip side could potentially damage your ability to deliver high quality service if it doesn’t deliver, there can be no stone unturned.

Finally, remember this technology is going to be with you for some time, ask your provider what their roadmap is. The last thing you want is to invest in a solution only to find out it is obsolete or unsupported.

 

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Telematics looks set to take centre stage over the next couple of years. In one arena, it will play a critical role in the connected car revolution; in another, there are predictions that the way companies buy fleet and workforce management solutions will be transformed. Sharon Clancy reports...

Fleet managers already appreciate the benefits real-time information telematics systems can deliver is deliver such as real-time vehicle location and driver performance data.

Increasingly they come with a range of other features that help field service companies manage both the vehicle fleet and driver behaviour.

This can include compliance with tax and working hours regulations, time-sheet management, vehicle maintenance scheduling and encouragement of more economical and safe driving by service technicians. It’s part of a trend where platform-based modular services for mobile workforce management have been growing in popularity.

 

Modular platform solutions encourage users to choose those apps and services which best suit their operations, providing customisation within an out-of-the-box offering. They are also user-friendly – you can start with the apps and processes that will deliver a quick ROI and add more functionality when business needs demands and when everyone in the organisation is familiar with new work processes. What’s all this got to do with telematics?

 

Well, the shift to web-based software-as-a-service means there’s no shortage of platform providers offering tracking and other telematics functions.

Not everyone calls themselves a telematics company, however.

Some telematics services have been added to other platforms as software-as-a-service companies seek to other one-stop solutions to their customers. Vehicle tracking companies, for example, now offer driver and vehicle performance monitoring tools.

Some telematics companies are using their telematics and fleet management expertise to offer a wide range of mobile workforce management: Fleetmatics is leveraging its web based fleet management platform to offer job management and other services. Microlise has developed its Clear solution specifically to answer the needs of field service organisations, while Telogis’s platform has been designed form the start for what the company calls “connected intelligence”.

 

Arriving from a different starting point is Trimble, which has added fleet management and telematics to its cloud-based field service management solutions.

 

So there are plenty of cloud-based solutions out there that will help you manage your fleet and activities in real-time.

Whatever the platform is called and whatever its original purpose, what they have in common is that all the modules are developed by the platform provider.

There might be partnerships with some third party providers, but it’s all controlled by the platform provider, not the application developer.

Unless you are TomTom, that is.

The Dutch company has moved the goalposts when it comes cloud-based services for mobile workforce management.

Whereas other companies in the telematics space are building their own eco systems with their own apps that customers can choose to customise their solution, TomTom has taken the innovative step of opening up its platform to third-party app developers.

“We want to make sure we have that end-to-end process and we also want to make it very easy,” explains Geroge de Boer, International Alliance, Manager, TomTom.

“All the apps in our app centre have out-of-the-box off-the-shelf compatibility with our Webfleet platform. All you have to do is plug them in,” he explains.

 

“Just as consumers are finding it to install an app on their smartphones, we want to make telematics as easy for our customers.”

 

Meanwhile, in the US, Telogis has become a partner with Apple, developing connected vehicle apps for the iOS platform.

The connected vehicle 

There’s a lot of current discussion about connected vehicles and the impact this will have on how we drive and used our vehicles.

Any field service company with a fleet management or telematics solution in place might wonder what all the fuss is about - telematics means they already have connected vehicles.

After all, telematics is all about real-time connectivity and data capture.

Data is collected from the vehicle, sent to a cloud-based platform where it is used for a variety of purposes depending on the app. It might be a location update, a video clip of a driving incident, or fuel consumption data.

However, with vehicle manufacturers’ focus now firmly on the connected vehicle, and with legislative pressure both in Europe and the US, the role of telematics is changing.

 

Connected vehicles are going to underpin safety initiatives such as Europe’s eCall, designed to ensure emergency services reach the scene of an accident in the shortest time possible by automatically sending an alarm.

 

After all, once that real-time connectivity is on the vehicle, why waste the opportunity to build-in more functionality?

Taco Van der Leij, Vice President Marketing with TomTom thinks the concept of connected vehicles will catch on fast.

“Usually when new developments such as connected vehicles are starting to evolve you need a killer app that proves there are benefits to customers. But fleet management and vehicle tracking is already happening – as an industry we already have millions of vehicles connected globally.”

With more connected vehicles out there, the number of apps using that connectivity will multiply, predicts Van der Leij.

“Field service companies will have much bigger scope and different possibilities to enhance their business. Imagine what it will be like if all vehicles are connected. You are looking at a different kind of application.”

“There is still a long way to go but that makes it interesting and challenging.”

Some manufacturers are developing their own  telematics solutions, others are not reinventing the wheel but turning to experienced partners to provide the platform.

Ford, for example, has turned to Telogis to provide the platform for its telematics solutions in the US and Europe. Other manufacturers are teaming up with local partners.

Business intelligence 

The more intelligence you have about your operations, the better equipped you are to be both proactive and reactive in making any changes to the business and the happier your customers will be.

 

Business intelligence can help you identify trends and patterns across all elements of the operation and discover where the bottlenecks and inefficiencies are, delivering insights into productivity, business process efficiencies, costs and customer service levels.

 

Telematics platforms play a key role: they receive the real-time data from vehicles and mobile device, cut-and-slice it the available data.

However, perhaps the biggest break through of all in the telematics space of recent years is that the technology is no longer restricted to the enterprise.

A raft of pay-per-user software-as-a-service models make the tools available to SMEs, enhancing their competitiveness, levelling the field and bringing thee benefits of up to date telematics systems to the wider market.

With the benefits of implementing a telematics solution both well documented and wide reaching, including improving driver behaviour, fuel efficiency and even reducing insurance premiums it makes sense for any field service company to adopt a telematics program of some sort.

 

Add to this the impending arrival of the connected fleet and the lower cost of implementation in the space and the barriers to adoption are also becoming fewer, which should also increase the widespread use of telematics in our sector.

 

However, as mentioned above the telematics providers market is a crowded one, with a number of differing approaches to be considered and assessing the pros and cons is an article in itself.

The biggest consideration however, must surely be to take a look at your service management suite as a whole and think how telematics can enhance your existing systems as well as how it can integrate with them.

For while the data produced from a telematics solution can be invaluable, as with any form of data it can also become quickly redundant if the data is not both easily accessible and effectively utilised.

 

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TomTom Telematics has been identified as Europe’s largest, and fastest-growing, provider of commercial vehicle fleet management solutions by Berg Insight, the M2M/IoT market analyst firm.

Berg Insight has just published the tenth edition of its Fleet Management Europe report. CEO Johan Fagerberg commented: “Our report shows that the European fleet management market has entered a growth period that looks set to last for several years. The number of fleet management systems in active use is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.1 percent from 4.40 million units at the end of 2014 to 8.90 million by 2019. TomTom Telematics was the fastest growing vendor in 2014 and has now emerged as the clear leader in the European fleet management market.”

Official statistics from 2011 reveal that of the 36.1m commercial vehicles on European roads, 29.5 million are  light commercial vehicles (LCV) used by mobile workers for activities such as service management and deliveries.

A group of international aftermarket solution providers have emerged as the leaders on the European fleet management market, says Berg. TomTom Telematics was the fastest growing vendor also in 2014 and has climbed to the number one spot in Europe ahead of Masternaut. Other significant players include European companies such as Trakm8, Transics, Microlise, Quartix, Tantalum Corporation, Orange Business Services, Vehco and Finder and international players like Trimble and Navman Wireless from the US, Astrata Europe from Singapore and the South African telematics providers DigiCore and MiX Telematics.

TomTom Telematics services more than 520,000 vehicles worldwide 60 countries, giving it the largest installed base of subscriptions for fleet management services in Europe. At the same time, it is one of the world’s leading telematics solution providers.

“We believe firmly in the power of leadership in combination with continuous innovation,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director at TomTom Telematics. “Our open telematics service platform WEBFLEET lies at the heart of this success, offering high performance and efficiency gains, security and quick return on investment for our customers.” WEBFLEET includes ISO 27001:2013 certification - one of the most stringent certifications for information security controls.

The Berg report also highlights the vendor consolidation trend in the fleet management sector, noting  numerous M&A activities in 2015. Fleetmatics acquired Ornicar in February 2015 – a local FM solution provider in France adding around 15,000 vehicle subscriptions. In March 2015, a decision was made to merge the two Danaher Corporation owned companies Navman Wireless and Teletrac. Later in April, Orange Business Services acquired OCEAN that now operates as a subsidiary with the OCEAN brand name. Novatel Wireless announced a bid to acquire Digicore in June in a deal worth US$ 87 million. In the same month, Viasat announced to have acquired a controlling interest in Cefin Systems. Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division and GRO Capital announced the acquisition of Trackunit from the founders of the company in July. Thermo King acquired Celtrak in October. The latest transaction was done in November when Fleetmatics acquired Visirun in Italy adding 28,000 subscriptions amd 3,000 clients.

TomTom Telematics has also been named Best Vehicle System Integrator by TU-Automotive in recognition of its open platform which now has more than 350 partners. Available third-party software solutions and apps include those for CRM and ERP, planning and scheduling, route optimisation, temperature control, mobile printing and lone worker safety.

 

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Gamification is helping fleet and field service organisations to engage and incentivise their drivers to become more safe and efficient on the roads, says John Cameron, general manager of Trimble Field Service Management.

Careless driving can cost fleet and field service companies thousands or even millions of pounds each year. The UK's Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Drive & Survive division report that 86 per cent of UK fleets have experienced an accident in the past 12 months, and that every fleet has had an accident where one of their drivers was ‘at fault’.

Many organisations look to improve driving behaviour by deploying telematics technology across their vehicle fleets. Whilst the technology has proven benefits, organisations often struggle to reap its full rewards as drivers may not always be fully engaged and motivated to improve their driving performance, mainly due to a lack of interest or incentive.

Demotivation is something many organisations struggle with, not just with initiatives for improving driver safety, but with all business aspects. In order to avoid the pitfalls of demotivation providing employees with recognition at work, regular rewards and a sense of competition amongst peers are all strong motivators.

In recent years, Gamification has come to the fore as a solution able to tap into an employee’s key motivators and sustain them. Indeed, organisations are increasingly calling upon the skills of software developers to apply the appealing traits of computer gaming into their business applications as a way to increase employee participation, engagement and accelerated learning in a business programme or initiative.

What is Gamification and how does it work?
Owning a smart phone or a tablet is a staple in many of our lives today and downloading apps, particularly gaming apps, is becoming ever more frequent. The power of popular games such as Candy Crush and Flappy Bird recently captured the lives of people from all walks of life. Students, businessmen, parents all became addicted to breaking the latest high score at any spare moment they could get. This inherent desire to compete, either with ourselves or others, is embedded within all of us.

In 2010, venture capitalists identified the potential for Gamification to incorporate the social/reward aspects of gaming into business software. This would not just make daily business tasks more enjoyable for employees, but would increase their collaboration and motivation at work to directly benefit the business and achieve company-wide goals.

Gamification and Driver Safety
A significant industry where Gamification has proven successful is in helping fleet and field service organisations to manage driver safety and risk. Being able to operate a safe and efficient fleet of drivers directly impacts the productivity and bottom line of a field operation. However, when it comes to adopting new processes, engaging employees is a notoriously difficult thing to do, especially when it is something as sensitive as monitoring their driver behaviour. Many businesses have therefore begun to implement gaming techniques into driver safety mobile apps to encourage drivers to perform better on the roads.

 

A driver safety mobile app typically records any extreme manoeuvres such as harsh acceleration, braking, turns and speed, the data of which is provided directly to the driver and sent to the back office for analysis. Gamification is integrated in the form of a scorecard that employees can use to record their driving performance. Although the recordings can be both personal and impartial it is the direct feedback that incentivises drivers to compete against themselves, and each other, for the best scores.

It often happens that employees are resistant to new initiatives because they don’t see any personal benefit in adopting them. Organisations therefore emphasise the gaming element of driver safety mobile apps to motivate their drivers, offering them positive recognition and rewards for good driving behaviour. Driver conversations inside an organisation therefore changes from gripes about the new technology to new excitement and collaboration around which team and individual has ranked top for the week and which areas they have improved in.

In order to reinforce focus over the long term, many apps also incorporate daily improvement tips based on an individual’s driving performance. For example, if speeding is proving to be a problem, the app will explain that higher speeds will result in longer stopping distances and excess fuel use, therefore negatively impacting their overall driver safety score.

Gamification ultimately offers a plethora of opportunities to fleet and field service organisations in helping them to motivate their drivers to change behaviours and develop their skills. However, the potential for Gamification doesn’t stop at driver safety. Gaming techniques can be incorporated into business applications both business and industry-wide. The pace at which gaming techniques is being adopted is gaining in momentum and market growth is expected to reach $5,500 billion by 2018.

Whether a company is looking to improve customer engagement, employee performance, training and education, innovation management, personal development, sustainability or health and wellness, organisations can integrate Gamification to help guarantee employees stay fully motivated and committed to achieve business goals.

 

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There is growing awareness in field service companies that fleet management can have a significant impact on the efficiency of their operations. Fuel costs is a core part of that, yet keeping track of fuel purchases can be time-consuming.  Fleet management solution provider Trimble is partnering with fuel company Shell in a solution which utilises the euroShell fuelcard to provide fleet managers with integrated data for monitoring and reducing fuel consumption.

Shell is building partnerships with field service management software providers to integrate fuel purchase data into operations management systems - last week Field Service News reported on the company's collaboration with TomTom.

Trimble's Performance Solution combines data from the Trimble on-board computer with the Performance Portal, making it possible for users to monitor and analyse drivers, vehicles and fuel consumption all through one single portal. With this innovative analysis tool, fleet managers can control at a glance the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) most relevant to them.

Performance Solution is a user-friendly system with graphical displays, flexibly adjustable parameters and an in-depth analysis functionality. In addition, the Web-based Performance Portal has been enhanced with smart algorithms. The evaluation of driving behaviour is centred on actual driving information such as speed, stationary, braking behavior.   Users can monitor the KPIs relevant to them and provide drivers with a record of their driving performance in a PDF format.

Driver coaches can zoom in on different KPIs for detailed information, while managers can consult a dashboard for a larger perspective.

"Performance Solution can easily be integrated and extended with our other fleet management solutions for a tailor-made total solution," said Michel Van Maercke, general manager, Trimble Transport & Logistics, EMEA and Pacific Asia.

"Our customers affirm that telematics is essential to good fleet management," said Robert Springer, Sales Manager Shell Commercial Fleet Netherlands. "After extensive research on the changing needs of our customers as well as evaluating solutions available in Europe, we are convinced that Trimble offers a telematics solution that meets the needs of our customers."

 

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