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Certification by US network operator Verizon has helped push sales of Geotab's plug-and-play telematics device to 150,000 in six months.

Sales of Geotab's G07 plug-and-play telematics device are soaring, with the Canadian company reporting 150,000 sold in the six months from February to June, mainly in North America. The GO7 is a plug-and-play device that connects to the vehicle OBD port, collecting data from the engine, drivetrain, instrument cluster and other relevant subsystems to maximise productivity and minimise downtime.

Appeal has been boosted by the device being certified for use on the Verizon wireless network, says Geotab. Network operator certification is a major milestone in the US, says the company, because it enables the solution to be sold into a larger pool of potential customers, such as those that require specific geographic coverage or that prefer a particular network operator.

“Fleet owners value reliability, which is a major reason why the GO7 is their go-to solution for maximising productivity and efficiency,” said Geotab CEO Neil Cawse. “The GO7’s 99.89 percent reliability, combined with Verizon’s robust, reliable nationwide cellular network, gives them the peace of mind they simply can’t get with most other telematics solutions.”

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Field Nation, the US company which has developed an on-line marketplace matching independent service contractors with  project management demands, has secured a $30 million investment led by Susquehanna Growth Equity.

Field Nation has been self-funding since its launch in 2008. It has reported rapid growth of 65% a year and during the past year it has connected more than 1,000 organisations with its network of over 65,000 registered contractors.

The company's on-line marketplace connects independent service contractors and companies needing to get on-site work done. It allows service companies and distributed enterprises to directly procure, manage, pay, report and optimise labour requirements. . The broader platform extends the marketplace through Field Nation Complete, a SaaS solution that delivers a complete work management solution when organisations require the combined experience of their internal and external workforce. It also allows contractors to market their skill sets, find new projects, engage with each other, complete work and get paid quickly.

“We have experienced tremendous growth and success as a small company, and now we’re prepared to start the next chapter of the Field Nation story,” said founder and CEO Mynul Khan. “With the financial support and experience from Susquehanna Growth Equity, we will rapidly accelerate our efforts to introduce Field Nation to organizations of all sizes so they can tap the full breadth of our marketplace and get more work done.” This growth-capital investment validates the business model, strategy and disruptive technology of the Field Nation platform, says the company.

The company plans to increase product development and promotion of its SaaS-based total workforce management solution Field Nation Complete and expand its service offerings into new vertical markets.

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US communications network operator AT&T and Telogis, the connected vehicle technology provider, are to collaborate to offer integrated, reliable connectivity  solutions for businesses around the world.

Telogis provides intelligent data solutions to companies including Ford and Volvo and with AT&T will be able to implement an advanced network solution to deliver a reliable, highly secure stream of data nearly anywhere in the world.   The AT&T service management platform allows Telogis to easily manage the data, devices and services that support its customers. AT&T also is working with Telogis to help with over the air updates and provide unique split billing capabilities.

“We’re offering Telogis a complete wireless network that enables two-way, real-time data communication between the vehicle and office,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, AT&T Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions. “We look forward to driving new innovative services together in the fleet marketplace and offering true global solutions to our mutual customers.”

“Telogis provides mission-critical intelligence for some of the world’s largest mobile businesses and automotive manufacturers, and our customers demand the quality and reliability that only a provider like AT&T can deliver,” said David Cozzens, CEO, Telogis. “As we continue to capitalise on a rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar global market for connected vehicle and equipment technologies, AT&T provides the scalable infrastructure and backbone Telogis requires.”

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A new conference, organised by telematics platform provider Microlise, aimed squarely at field service and van fleet managers is to focus on all aspects of driver engagement. Field Service News is pleased to be a sponsor for the event.

The inaugural Microlise Field Service & Fleet Conference 2015 is to take place on 4 November at the MIRA Proving Ground in Warwickshire. Speakers from BskyB, FTA Van Excellence, the DVSA and the Central Motorway Police Group are confirmed to speak. 

The conference will be interactive, with delegates learning about new technologies and how new techniques, such as gamification, are improving service levels, safety and reducing the environmental impact and operating costs of their fleets.

In the afternoon, former Top Gear “Stig” Ben Collins will host a workshop in which he will share his driving knowledge. Delegates will also have the opportunity to be put in their drivers’ shoes by taking to the MIRA City Course in a Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) fitted with the latest telematics technology.

“Vans are essential to the economy with one in ten vehicles on the roads now an LCV. But van drivers often see driving as a secondary part of their job with the primary role often being the service which they are delivering to customers. There is scope for vast improvements to be made by engaging with drivers more effectively. With this event, we will cover the topic from multiple perspectives,” said John Mills, Head of Workforce Telematics at Microlise.

During the day attendees will get the chance to drive MIRA’s City Circuit which is designed with an extensive network of roads, traffic islands and controlled intersections to replicate most urban driving environments. Additionally, workshops will focus on what the field service sector can learn from the haulage industry and driver performance management and engagement. All delegates will get the chance to participate in all four workshop sessions.

Throughout the day attendees will be asked about different aspects of driving, with each delegate having an electronic device to answer multiple choice questions. Those that perform best in answering these questions, and also in driving the MIRAc City Course in the most efficient way, will get the chance to have a fast lap with “The Stig” after the final workshop.

The Microlise Field Service & Fleet Conference 2015 is run by the same team as the successful Microlise Transport Conference, held in May this year. A larger annual event with a broader focus for the haulage industry, it has become the largest road transport conference in Europe.

With limited places available at the Microlise Field Service & Fleet Conference 2015, register your place here

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Skill sets rather than price are the important factor for businesses when choosing contractors, a survey by ClickSoftware has revealed.

A survey by ClickSoftware conducted with 250 UK business decision makers has found that skill sets are the most important factor for 30% of businesses when choosing third party subcontractors. Just 4% of UK businesses consider cost to be the most important factor when making a procurement decision.

The report: “Field Service Best Practice: Don’t let subcontractors subtract from the bottom line” said that while getting the job done to a high standard is the primary concern for businesses subcontracting work, increasing emphasis is being placed on the experience the end customer has in completing the job.

Of those surveyed, 98% also had some metric for customer satisfaction measurement. "With price no longer a primary concern when making a procurement decision, businesses must be able to demonstrate a high level of customer experience when bidding for work," was one of the report's conclusions.

Businesses reported the quality of work, ability to complete jobs, having the right equipment and materials to complete jobs made up the 41% of complaints made about contractors in the past six months. More than three quarters (77%) of companies had received a complaint about contractors or subcontractors in the past and more than one in ten (12%) complaints are happening on a regular basis.

The good news for the UK subcontractor industry is that complaints are relatively low. Over half of the businesses spoken to rarely had to deal with complaints about subcontractors, the report reveals, whereas a similar survey in the US revealed 95% of customers had made a complaint about contractor service.

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TomTom Telematics is using its fleet management expertise to develop connected car services. The first pilot is with a leading European vehicle importer.

In a national pilot across Holland, leading European car importer Pon’s Automobiel Handel will deploy connected car technology to deliver real-time information about their vehicles’ status and performance to customers and dealerships.  The company will use TomTom Telematics'  cloud-based services platform and its mobile app development expertise that draws upon vehicle dashboard information.

“TomTom Telematics has more than 15 years of experience providing data insights for fleet management,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director. “Developments in connected car technology are now opening up new opportunities for us to underpin innovative solutions for consumers and the wider automotive industry.”

The partnership with Pon will enable car owners to receive feedback and advice about their vehicles on their smartphones – from dashboard indicators, driver performance information, mileage and battery level to car location and door-lock status. Alongside many other features, driver score rankings will allow for competition between drivers and help them to save fuel, drive more safely.

Car engine status and maintenance information can also be made available to dealerships, if authorised by the car owner. This will allow drivers to select their preferred dealer for all their vehicle service requirements and provides dealers with more opportunities to liaise with customers and improve service standards.

“The market-leading advancements TomTom Telematics is offering in cloud services for the connected car are enabling us to raise the bar in customer support and takes service provision from our dealerships to a whole new level,” said Pon Service Director, Tjeerd Tuitel.

Schmidt added: “We are proud to add telematics to the navigation products TomTom already offers the automotive industry and look forward to growing our collaborations with industry partners to use our robust platform and connected car technology to improve company service levels, road safety, sustainability and the driver experience.”

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Canadian M2M and telematics company Geotab has launched GO TALK, a new driver coaching tool with a difference: the driving advice is voice-directed.

Designed to improve behind-the-wheel decision making, GO TALK  provides real-time verbal feedback. It is an add-on module for Geotab's  GO7 vehicle tracking device that combines GPS tracking, accelerometer and diagnostic data, as well as other manager programmable data incorporating time of day and location zones to relay instant, spoken instruction and safety information directly to fleet drivers. Information is passed back to the fleet management centre to monitor driver behavior and the effectiveness of responses to the audible coaching.

“GO TALK is another big step forward in coaching fleet drivers and improving driving standards,” said Neil Cawse, CEO of Geotab. “The solution has road and driver safety at its heart, but fleet managers will also recognise productivity and fuel savings it delivers.”

Fleet managers can add custom event-triggers into the fleet management control system, including fastening seatbelt, entering a restricted area, exceeding a fleet-determined speed limit, idling for too long, aggressive acceleration and harsh braking and driving excessive hours.

GO TALK is designed to work with Geotab’s GO7 fleet telematics device which already records and reports data on driving habits, safety and health of vehicle information, such as seat belt use, fuel consumption and engine.

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Remote asset monitoring specialist Software AG  is integrating its Digital Business Platform with ServiceMax's field service management solution, enabling customers to turn remote asset monitoring events into actionable field service requests.

Software AG customers currently using the predictive maintenance solution on its Digital Business Platform can now access ServiceMax’s field service platform.  The Digital Business Platform connects to any sensored gateway, pulling all equipment sensor data, performing real-time analysis and generating customized alerts. These alerts are then sent to the ServiceMax platform where they are turned into work orders. Once created, the work orders are delivered to service technicians in the field. The integrated offering allows companies seeking to increase the effectiveness of its maintenance services to do so with one integrated platform that combines best of breed technology and expertise.

Software AG’s solution for predictive maintenance exploits the Internet of Things by continuously analysing real-time equipment sensor data via machine monitoring to understand when maintenance will be required. The location of technicians are matched to replacement and repair equipment available and job completion time to identify the best technician available to perform the needed service during a scheduled downtime. By predicting remaining useful life of machinery and specific components, equipment manufacturers are able to schedule technicians earlier and order consumables and replacement components before customers even know they are needed.

Dave Yarnold, CEO, ServiceMax, said: “ServiceMax’s partnership with Software AG will add immense value to the ServiceMax platform and underscore the Internet of Things’ incalculable impact on the future of field service automation. We’re very excited to be able to provide our customers with a predictive maintenance platform that will enable them to boost operational efficiency with end-to-end control platform for field service.”

Sean Riley, Global Manufacturing & Logistics Director, Software AG, said: “As the Internet of Things becomes increasingly intertwined with the way people live and work, proactive and predictive service will be a critical differentiator driving real business value. The key to predictive asset maintenance is its ability to act upon the results of real-time analysis and communicate reliable expectations to the parties involved in maintenance services efforts. With the Predictive Asset Maintenance blueprint, maintenance program managers can capture, analyze, aggregate and act upon streaming IoT data in order to maximize equipment uptime, quality performance and yield. It’s a tremendous competitive edge.”

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Xplore Technologies Corp has unveiled the XSLATE B10, a full-featured 10in  rugged tablet designed for the toughest environments. The tablet comes with eight ports, an IP65 rating and C1D2/ATEX certification.

"After spending a day on the job with the XSLATE B10, you’ll understand why this fully featured tablet PC sets a new standard in ruggedness and connectivity," said Mark Holleran, Xplore Technologies President and COO.

The B10 is designed to meet and exceed the needs of customers across a wide range of vertical industries, and the harshest workplaces, from frozen tarmacs to sweltering oil rigs.  Across telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, construction or field service, businesses now have access to a fully rugged, lightweight tablet with all the ports and battery life necessary to stay active in the field.

Key features include: eight built-in ports, four of them sealed even with port covers open; two True Serial port connections for access to legacy equipment; an Intel Core i5 processor, upgradeable to i7 vPro ; ultra-fast 4G LTE broadband, 802.11ac W and Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 connections; and RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet cable connection.

The B10 has a WXGA rugged IPS LCD backlit display and a projective 10-point touch capacitive touchscreen input with glove and wet modes plus a Wacom pen digitizer and active pen. There’s a 8 megapixel rear and 2 megapixel front camera, with xCature Pro camera application.
Optional productivity-boosting accessories include a removable companion keyboard, office or vehicle docking stations, kickstand, a second hot swappable battery to extend system runtime to 20 hours and an integrated barcode scanner.

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