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The blend of GPS, real-time traffic information and latest workforce scheduling can yield previously unknown levels of efficiency for field service delivery. Jeremy Squire, Managing Directo, FLS, Fast Lean Smart explains how... 

The convergence between field force scheduling and vehicle tracking is not something on the horizon, it has already arrived - and with precise arrival times now offered by private car hire and delivery companies such as Uber, DPD, IKEA and Amazon, customers are already expecting the same for field service appointments and anything less may be perceived as poor service. It is fast becoming a necessity for field service companies to both realise and embrace this as essential to achieve.

At FLS, Fast Lean Smart, we specialise in scheduling and route optimisation solutions and our customers are increasingly interested in this convergence of technologies. I believe it is vital for most field service companies to consider this and let’s take a moment to look at both how and why you should be doing likewise.

If live GPS location coordinates are provided to FLS VISITOUR, our leading scheduling technology, we can re-plan your engineer job schedules based on exactly where they are in their current route rather than wait until a confirmation of arrival from their mobile app.

The system could be configured to automatically re-optimise the rest of the day ‘real-time’ for engineers based on the location updates. This might enable additional jobs, highlight where an SLA or appointment slot will be missed and optionally remove lower priority jobs from the schedule unless overtime is approved.

[quote float="left"]With the convergence of these technologies and capabilities, there really has been no better opportunity to enrich the profitability of your business whilst achieving happier engineers and happier customers[/quote]Many service operations, however, decide against this level of fluidity for their engineer’s day and therefore might choose to lock the next jobs or even the whole day and only make changes in exceptional circumstances and under the control of a planner. This is particularly true for tasks which require the engineer to have parts or for appointments that require preparation.

What is certain, however, is that knowing issues with the current plan in the back office is key for customer service and engineer welfare, therefore the more accurate this is the better. The driving durations used by the scheduling algorithm are also very important to achieve this objective and at FLS we use actual average drive speeds for each road segment according to time of day for pre-planning. Variable traffic congestion is a severe issue in some areas, therefore, we also use a real-time feed of current traffic to optimise during the day. With this combination, drive durations are as accurate as we have all become accustomed to when using TomTom Live or Google Navigation on our smartphones.

It requires this high level of accuracy to enable reliable automated messaging to customers with the refined time of arrival for engineers. However, combining GPS location data in the FLS VISITOUR scheduling system also enables our FLS Customer Portal which can be accessed via a URL in the arrival time message and for your customers to track the arrival of the engineer from the previous job on a map, Uber style! (no more ’Where’s my engineer?’ calls.)

This capability has now become the goal of almost every field service provider we speak with, not just  B2C, and whilst currently a USP we can expect it will increasingly become the norm.

Of course, all this has terrific benefits for the service provider as well as the customer.

Maximising productivity and minimising cost in the field whilst giving good service (right engineer with the right parts etc) is a standard desire for everyone, however, with the convergence of these technologies and capabilities, there really has been no better opportunity to enrich the profitability of your business whilst achieving happier engineers and happier customers.

To deliver this level of performance and customer excellence, integrating engineer tracking is essential and there is an answer for every circumstance; a vehicle telematics system, a low-cost GPS cigarette lighter tracker or a phone/tablet app such as FLS MOBILE.

The days of customers waiting blindly for an engineer to arrive are on the way out and field service companies must adapt to these new expectations swiftly to avoid being seen as outdated and uncompetitive. The good news is that the solutions are already available - it is just a case of connecting the dots - and FLS VISITOUR is a solution that allows you to do just that.

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According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of telematics service subscribers using embedded systems will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.9 percent from 49.0 million subscribers at the end of 2017 to 258.1 million subscribers at the end of 2023.

Moreover, Berg Insight forecasts that shipments of embedded car OEM telematics systems worldwide will grow from 26.8 million units in 2017 to reach 67.2 million units in 2023, which represents an attach rate of 71.7 percent.

Connected car services have evolved from being a differentiating factor to a common feature with a high attach rate among the premium car brands and are rapidly becoming increasingly common in mid-range vehicles. GM’s OnStar was launched 20 years ago and is today the market leader worldwide with well above 14.0 million users in total, out of which 12.3 million were in North America by year-end 2017.

BMW includes telematics hardware as a standard feature on all its cars sold in 45 markets worldwide and has the second largest user base of an estimated 8.0 million equipped vehicles. PSA Group is currently in third place with 2.9 million connected vehicles in Europe. The carmaker launched an emergency and assistance call service already in 2003. Additional automotive OEMs with over 2 million telematics subscribers also include Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota/Lexus and FCA Group.

“There are several connected car services that experience growing demand from stakeholders including consumers, car manufacturers, governments and various third parties as awareness of the value of telematics spreads”, said Martin Svegander, IoT analyst at Berg Insight.

The leading carmakers are gradually exploring new use cases and business models for telematics such as premium concierge services, usage-based insurance and personal car sharing. “Recently, we have also seen GM, Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai launch in-vehicle commerce platforms that create opportunities for retailers and merchants to connect with consumers”, added Mr. Svegander.

For field service organisations it will be interesting to see how this trend continues to shape the way we view fleet management and w2e are certainly beginning to see some maturation of a technology that will have a significant impact on our sector.

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Want to know more? Download report brochure: The Global Automotive OEM Telematics Market

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Our series of excerpts from the exceptional industry guide 'Mobile Resource Management for Dummies', which has been commissioned by Verizon Connect has so far explored Understanding Digital Transformation in a Connected, Mobile World  also Thinking Outside the Silo and Harnessing the Power of Telematics, and Realising the Value of Mobile Resource Managemen

Now in this latest excerpt, we turn our attention to how field service organisations can avoid Mobile Resource Management pitfalls whilst they drive greater employee engagement.

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?! Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!   

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If you need to catch up with the previous articles in this series you can find part one here, part two here and part three here.

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As with any new project or initiative, there are some common pitfalls to avoid when deploying a Mobile Resource Management (MRM) solution. In this excerpt, we shall look at some of these pitfalls and how to address them, as well as how to engage employees in every department throughout your organisation using the concept of gamification to coach and improve worker performance and drive a more satisfied, efficient and safe organisation.

You Can’t ‘Set It and Forget It’

MRM is a business strategy supported by processes and technology and used by teams throughout the organisation.

Although technology is a vital component, many organisations mistakenly focus purely on the technology and neglect to consider how supporting processes will map to the MRM solution, and fail to define or implement a strategy to gain user adoption.

 

"The goodwill created through co-consultation will quickly evaporate if people don’t understand how to use the software and how it benefits the company, their team members, and themselves..."

 

Although various teams throughout your organisation may have been consulted during the MRM planning process, don’t expect them to automatically embrace the new system or instinctively know how to use it effectively. The goodwill created through co-consultation will quickly evaporate if people don’t understand how to use the software and how it benefits the company, their team members, and themselves.

The level of personalisation will depend on the workflows and the capabilities of the solution being implemented. User training always needs to be built into any MRM project plan.

As well as covering tuition on software functionality and its benefits, group training is a perfect forum to formulate processes and ensure buy-in collectively from all teams. Tailored training programmes involving the system users or those with a vested interest in delivery – your MRM ‘advocates’ or ‘champions’ – need to be developed.

In this way, the system will be seen as a universal corporate tool and not just one department ‘selling’ it.

A common pitfall (discussed in our article in this series on 'Thinking Outside the Silo') is trying to cobble together your own MRM system by integrating siloed best-of-breed solutions in-house. The ever-changing applications make constant connectivity a difficult, moving target that’s costly to set up and that requires a long-term and expensive commitment, relying on a small team/person with highly specialised knowledge – this can be a very high-risk proposition.

 

Don’t Just Throw in the Kitchen Sink

As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

Spend time cleaning up your data – especially any data that includes addresses. Have you maintained a consistent style or format for data entry? Doing some data validation to determine whether your data is in the proper format goes a long way towards helping to make your data more usable.

One of the fundamental deployment errors in any new system is simply ‘forklifting’ your data from the old system to the new one. Before you begin the process, separate, segment and streamline your data. Work out which segments are relatively clean and which will need additional cleansing. Think clearly about what you want to put in and what will actually be relevant day to day. What data is going to get users to actually want to use the system? Remove out-of-date activities, as well as organisations and contacts that haven’t been touched recently. Relevancy is a guaranteed way to overcome user resistance.

Don’t just focus on addresses – think about time windows, skill sets, delivery days/dates and other common data.

These will all impact the effectiveness of your MRM solution if they’re not accurate and up-to-date. Have a clear, consolidated, centralised database of all your fleet/asset information to avoid delays and frustration, especially at remote locations.

Taking the necessary steps to fix any issues or errors in advance will significantly improve the MRM data conversion and implementation process.

 

Establish Your Mission

While your drivers, technicians or crews may be a subset of a larger business, there’s no reason why that subset shouldn’t have its own mission that aligns and supports the overall corporate mission.

 

"While your drivers, technicians or crews may be a subset of a larger business, there’s no reason why that subset shouldn’t have its own mission that aligns and supports the overall corporate mission..."

 

Once the mission is established, it’s time to break it down to individual objectives that support the mission. For example, the mission may be to operate the safest fleet in your region, so the objectives may include reducing speeding incidents, Hours of Service (HOS) violations or vehicle idle time.

Create measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) from the established objectives and keep them as specific as possible. No matter what your objectives are – increasing productivity, decreasing fuel costs, improving the safety of your crews or increasing asset utilisation – the secret to achieving them is keeping them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART). You then need to connect your entire organisation to the established goals.

 

Align Your Objectives

Review your objectives to ensure that they align with business operations. For example, if your company puts working as fast as possible first and safety second, then setting an objective to reduce speeding won’t align. Get your company influencers (normally managers or supervisors) involved to review and align to the objectives.

Your managers need to be on board with the new objectives because they play an important role in influencing others, and ultimately help to achieve a successful outcome. After reviewing and refining your objectives, and aligning them with your organisation, you’re ready for deployment.

 

Plan Your Rollout Across the Organisation

If you’re rolling out at multiple locations, draw up a coordinated plan.

Ensure that all parties are on the same page and engaged across the entire organisation – not just in the main office, but at all remote sites. Everyone needs to be aware of the deployment plan and the local champion/team must have everything prepared for deployment at their site on the agreed day/time.

Clear and concise internal communications are critical to ensure a smooth rollout.

Scope the deployment properly first: don’t move the goal posts during implementation. This is very difficult to do, as local variance and conditions means that tweaks are needed but they can cause delay.

 

What Is Gamification

Gamification is the use of game mechanics in a typically non-game-oriented context.

Gamification is used by software companies to build business applications that increase engagement and participation while accelerating learning. It leverages the human instinct to compete with ourselves or others, with the objective of encouraging teams to achieve company-wide goals.

For example, you can deliver greater safety and compliance by giving near real-time data to drivers so that they can track – and eventually improve – their own performance, or improve productivity by empowering field workers to track near real-time performance metrics when completing work orders.

 

For gamification to be most effective it needs to be ‘refereed’. This means monitoring results, providing incentives and celebrating wins...

 

For gamification to be most effective it needs to be ‘refereed’. This means monitoring results, providing incentives and celebrating wins. It can’t just be a new fad or flavour of the month initiative. Instead, it must become part of the fabric and culture of the business otherwise results will slip and workers will return to their old habits.

To monitor the results, you need a scoreboard to help reinforce the KPIs so that your employees know what they’re playing for.

The system takes the predetermined metrics and generates a score, then lets the employee see how they perform against their peers. It’s an opportunity to improve behaviours and perform with pride because they see metrics that show a direct correlation to how they’re helping to make their operation successful.

Managers can compare employee scorecards and the types and frequencies of training content being accessed to different metrics such as the rate of accidents, lost-time injuries and productivity, and draw direct correlations between what moves the needle and what doesn’t.

Done right, gamification can be more than just a passing fad.

The data derived can be a powerful force for change in your organisation – you’ll see more than better business results: you’ll have employees who feel more engaged and appreciated, recognised for good performance on the job and motivated to do their best.

 

Want to know more? The full eBook is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Access it now on the button below... 

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Our series of excerpts from the exceptional industry guide 'Mobile Resource Management for Dummies', which has been commissioned by Verizon Connect has so far explored Understanding Digital Transformation in a Connected, Mobile World and also Thinking Outside the Silo and Harnessing the Power of Telematics.

Now in this latest excerpt, we turn our attention to how field service organisations can realise the value of mobile resource management...

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?! Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!   

Sponsored by:

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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If you need to catch up on the previous articles in this series you can find part one here and part two here...

The full chapter this excerpt is taken from explores four key areas how field service companies can ensure they are realising the value of mobile resource management which are:

• Driving Productivity and Efficiency
• Reducing Costs
• Improving Safety
• Increasing Customer Satisfaction

Here we will look at the first of these in greater depth.

 

Driving Productivity and Efficiency:

Productivity, a word loved by managers, is conversely often a word that has frightened many an employee. To them, it just sounds like more work and an opportunity for supervisors to be looking over their shoulders.

But increasing productivity isn’t about being a drill sergeant. Rather, it’s about empowering your team, boosting efficiency and helping – not telling – your employees how to better spend their time.

The fact is that an employee who goes home at the end of the day feeling like they’ve been productive and accomplished a lot is happier and more fulfilled than the not-so-productive employee who’s always looking to pass off work in favour of knocking off early.

In addition to improving worker productivity, there are some other positive and far-reaching benefits to using the right tools with your mobile workforce.

These include:

• Less time spent on non-profitable administrative tasks such as data entry, tracking compliance and paperwork
• Faster processing of compliance requirements such as vehicle inspections.
• Less time spent on paper-based compliance logs for technicians and drivers.
• Quicker and more accurate generation of near real-time service reports.
• Improved customer service and capturing of client data for more effective management of support tickets, sales calls and marketing campaigns.
• Lower hardware costs and easier deployment using the mobile devices your team’s already carrying.

Several opportunities for driving productivity and efficiency in a modern mobile workforce include:

• Streamline work order management.
• Make paper forms disappear.
• Automate regulatory compliance.
• Perform required pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections.

 

Streamline work order management

Keeping teams in the field at their most productive is easy with prioritised mobile job management. Scheduled jobs are provided directly to the worker’s device at the start of their shift.

You can prioritise jobs based on:

• Location
• Proximity to the technician
• Service-level agreements (SLAs), such as time window restrictions on when the job can be done
• Manual overrides

Jobs can be signed on the device by customers and automatically marked as completed on departure and transmitted back to base in near real time. Or, conversely, any issues can be immediately reported back to the office for timely review and resolution.

This means less non-productive time for teams outside the office, fewer miles, more productive time on the clock and better customer service. Mobile job management keeps both workers and customers happy.

 

Make paper forms disappear

Getting your teams to keep their paperwork up-to-date is never easy, but it’s crucial to your service operation. Automation of forms on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, can be a huge time saver for your business.

Paperless forms help you to:

• Log the right information on the right form at the right time
• Keep job history accurate
• Update customer records or government compliance
• Automate the process so that correct invoices are raised automatically (adding to the bottom line)
• Ensure that internal reports and dashboards are current

To improve the accuracy and timing of required paperwork, mobile automated forms are a crucial tool for today’s mobile worker. The impact of reducing the paperwork burden on your drivers and field workers can also improve employee retention.

Electronic forms also save time and reduce errors for your back-office staff who no longer need to decode handwriting from paper forms and manually enter it into the system. All the job information gets saved directly into the database from the driver or field worker’s connected device.

 

Automate regulatory compliance

For any company with a fleet of vehicles, government regulations are a cost of doing business. If you don’t have the right tools in place to comply with these regulations, your company can quickly find itself in hot water.

Automating your compliance processes can help to:

• Reduce workload
• Lessen audit risk
• Ensure that compliance is being met – correctly.
• Minimise fines and violations.

 

The best way to consistently remain compliant is by using a mobile workforce management solution. Not only does it take the guesswork out of deciphering rules and regulations, but it also speeds up roadside inspections due to the device being used for evidence of driver activity without the need to wade through paper logs.

The solution stores your drivers’ activities by recording on-duty, off-duty, sleeping, and driving events, and displays available duty hours.

This helps to streamline operations and eliminate paperwork. With a mobile workforce management solution, each driver is given a Driver ID, which is critical for not only reporting but also serving as a mobile time card.

 

Perform required pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections

Does your company require mobile workers to perform driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs)? Are you looking for ways to automate these reports and make sure that drivers complete them accurately?

DVIRs are commonly overlooked or completed without physically inspecting the vehicle, increasing the chance of fines for non- compliance, breakdowns or even accidents due to missed maintenance and malfunctioning safety features.

With a mobile DVIR solution, you can get immediate confirmation that the report has been completed and the driver did a physical walk-around inspection.

Using their handheld device, drivers scan a two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) code affixed to specific vehicle inspection points. This instantly verifies that the individual checkpoints on the DVIR have been completed. You can also add photos to the report when any damage or maintenance issue is identified.

  

Want to know more? The full eBook is available as premium content to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Access it now on the button below... 

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Cleverly connecting the transport world and creating first-class added value - that is what this year's Krone motto "Clever Connections" for the IAA Commercial Vehicles stands for.

"We are making the trailer ready for the future with artificial intelligence and networking our products with suitable services for more mobility and more efficient logistics. This ensures safe transport of goods and prompt provision of all important transport data. We place the highest demands on our portfolio and constantly renew our quality promise so that our customers are on the road even more economically," explains managing partner Bernard Krone.

The innovative family business from Emsland presents numerous vehicle highlights as well as its 360° service for commercial vehicles. These comprehensive services, such as flexible full-service offers, fast spare parts logistics and intelligent telematics solutions are a particular focus. These optimise the operating times and total cost of ownership (TCO) of freight forwarders.

This creates first-class added value for the tough daily transport routine in logistics. Krone makes the trailer ready for the future. The Smart Trailer Check ensures optimum transport conditions even before the journey starts. A convenient overview of free capacities in the trailer is provided by the Smart Scan load space detection system and further networking with freight exchanges in Smart Capacity Management ensures optimum use of the free space. All this is linked in the Krone Telematics Portal and makes transports even more efficient in a clever way.

 

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As we continue our new series we are delighted to bring you a selection of articles taken from the recently released and highly informative, limited edition of Mobile Resource Management for Dummies, which is presented by Verizon Connect. 

 

Is Mobile Resource Management a key Topic for you?! Dive straight into the full eBook by hitting the button below!   

 

Sponsored by: 

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

 

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What Is Mobile Resource Management?

The traditional approach to handling business growth is to focus on meeting increased demand – more workers, more vehicles and more warehouses. This can also mean an increase in administrative and management staff and higher overheads.

This linear strategy is fine while the work is there, but in a market filled with increased competition and fluctuating customer demand, committing to fixed expenses can leave a company exposed if business stops booming.

Clearly, saying no to new business is not an option. Fortunately, there is another solution.

Mobile resource management (MRM), or enterprise fleet management technology, helps mobile workforces and the people who manage them to get smarter about how they use their assets.

 

"Mobile resource management (MRM), or enterprise fleet management technology, helps mobile workforces and the people who manage them to get smarter about how they use their assets..."

 

This allows them to improve productivity while saving money by avoiding the financial risk of prematurely acquiring additional employees, vehicles or equipment.

MRM refers to a broad suite of hardware and software technology solutions that are used to monitor, track and optimise mobile assets, from tools and heavy machinery to vehicle fleets, employees and more. MRM is focused on making the best use of a business’s existing assets – vehicles, equipment and employees – to maximise its capacity; connecting the vehicle, the people and the work.

Most businesses have untapped potential that could be converted into a revenue-generating activity, but they don’t know it exists, or how to leverage it. You want to find your underutilised or inefficient assets and/or staff, and this can only be highlighted by monitoring them.

That’s where MRM technology comes in. It monitors each of your assets and allows an owner or appropriate stakeholder to see what, where and when resources are being used.

Using the data supplied by location-based technologies fitted to the vehicle or equipment (including phones and tablets), an MRM solution can easily show a range of productivity metrics.

Information that can be reported includes:

• When vehicles arrive at and/or leave a worksite or customer location.
• If the vehicle is anywhere other than where it should be.
• When equipment is being used (engine on).
• Which vehicles or assets have been sitting idle.
• Vehicle travel time (to determine time spent between jobs).
• Whether drivers are taking the quickest and most efficient routes.

 

Modern MRM solutions increasingly leverage the ubiquitous connectivity, unlimited scale and low-cost advantages of the cloud (discussed in the previous article here).

Some examples of technologies, applications and uses that might be found in a complete MRM solution include:

• Telematics
• Route optimisation
• Mobile technologies
• Data connectivity
• Work order management

Let's explore the first of these, i.e. telematics in closer detail...

 

Telematics

Telematics integrates vehicular technologies, road transportation and safety information, sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications and more. Telematics is sometimes referred to as ‘GPS (Global Positioning System) vehicle tracking’. However, that doesn’t begin to cover the breadth of capabilities under the telematics umbrella.

 

"Aside from simply tracking vehicle location, a robust web-based telematics solution offers customisable reports, near real-time vehicle and driver alerts, vehicle health, dashboards, custom map overlays, geo-fences and other tools to help companies manage and optimise fleet operations..."

 

Aside from simply tracking vehicle location, a robust web-based telematics solution offers customisable reports, near real-time vehicle and driver alerts, vehicle health, dashboards, custom map overlays, geo-fences and other tools to help companies manage and optimise fleet operations.

A comprehensive telematics solution empowers businesses to monitor and understand a broad range of operational factors, including:

Fuel consumption.

Fuel is one of the largest fleet operating expenses. Finding new ways to reduce fuel use provides immediate benefit to any company’s bottom line. With a telematics solution, fleet managers gain detailed insight and visibility into several key areas that have a big impact on fuel use, such as:

• Speeding – According to Commercial Fleet, a van driving at 80 mph uses 20 per cent more fuel than one driven at 70. That adds up quickly when you multiply that by any size fleet over the course of the year.
•  Idling – Unproductive idling is another fuel drain. For example, Figure 2-1 shows that the average yearly idling cost for a fleet of just 15 Transit vans is more than £11,000.
• Vehicle maintenance – It may not be as obvious as speeding and idling when it comes to wasting fuel, but proper vehicle maintenance plays a big role in fuel efficiency. Proper maintenance, including proactively addressing diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and maintenance alerts, as well as maintaining proper fleet operational levels, help to reduce costly downtime.
• Tyre pressure – According to the UK’s Department for Transport, underinflated tyres lower fuel. For example, four tyres that are just 25 per cent underinflated increase fuel consumption by about 0.2 per cent. Additionally, properly inflated tyres are safer and last longer.
• Unauthorised use – Unauthorised vehicle use equals unauthorised fuel use. Corporate fuel cards can be tied to specific vehicles via telematics to identify if a fuel card has been used without an accompanying work vehicle. Also note the fuel capacity of your vehicles, in case an employee purchases 45 litres of fuel for a company vehicle that only has a 40-litre capacity tank!
• Route optimisation – Are drivers taking the most efficient routes throughout the day? Added miles burn fuel and put unnecessary wear and tear on the vehicle itself.
• Utilisation – Understanding how much of a vehicle’s time is engaged in productive work can provide valuable insight that may allow some companies to perform the same work in the same amount of time with fewer vehicles on the road – which means less fuel use.

 

FIGURE 2-1: Average idling costs for Transit van and HGV fleets (source: Fleetmatics).

Safety

Any company that has a fleet of mobile workers considers the safety of their drivers and the public to be a top priority. Fleet vehicle accidents are costly on multiple levels – injury claims, repairs, employee morale, loss of productivity, company reputation and government interference, just to name a few.

According to the UK’s Department of Transport, an accident claim can cost an employer over £23,000 in medical care, legal expenses, lost productivity and property damage. That cost can exceed £216,000 when someone is injured, or £1.8 million when a fatality occurs.

 

"Two big contributors to accidents are maintenance issues and driving behaviour. A telematics solution can provide near real-time alerts on both vehicle maintenance issues as well as driving behaviour..."

 

Two big contributors to accidents are maintenance issues and driving behaviour. A telematics solution can provide near real-time alerts on both vehicle maintenance issues as well as driving behaviour. These alerts help to ensure that a vehicle is safe and roadworthy. And they provide business owners and fleet managers with solid data on driver performance that helps them better coach that driver to be safer on the road.

According to a National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) study in the US, speeding is a factor in nearly 23 per cent of all at-fault large truck crashes. The same agency also reports that a tyre 25 per cent below its recommended pressure is three times more likely to be involved in a crash.

Telematics is also a natural companion for driver compliance factors – such as Hours of Service (HOS) – and can automate tracking processes, and help ensure that drivers are fresh and operating on proper/approved rest.

Simply knowing the location of a vehicle can also improve employee safety. If a truck and its driver don’t return when expected, their location can be determined, and, if needed, assistance can be provided.

Productivity.

Almost everything a telematics solution accomplishes leads back to productivity. One of the first things a supervisor will understand is the percentage of an employee’s day that is productive – are there inefficient in their day that can be improved upon? Better routing? If the vehicle spends a lot of time parked or idling, why is that? Telematics identifies symptoms that can be used to diagnose and correct a problem.

Dispatchers can easily identify the nearest possible respondent to a call by vehicle type, driver capabilities, and tools and parts available on board, ensuring that the response is swift and efficient.

The automation and incorporation of paperwork into mobile devices now allows records to be filed immediately during and upon completion of a job, eliminating countless hours of labour, filing and organising.

Finally, the age of compliance is upon us – HOS, tachographs, and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) are a fact of life for commercial fleet managers. The same mobile devices that allow communication and form automation can also be used to streamline compliance reporting, ensure expedient interaction with DOT authorities, and eliminate paperwork almost entirely from the process – all driving productivity.

If a company has a large, decentralised mobile operation that is service- and/or delivery-based, a telematics solution can also take the entire fleet and plot out optimised routes that cut down on miles driven, wear and tear on a vehicle, fuel use and, most importantly, time. All working together to allow a fleet manager to accomplish more – for less.

Maintenance.

The two kinds of maintenance are: planned (scheduled/preventive) and unplanned (failure). The first can be managed. The second becomes a downtime event that sinks productivity, adds unexpected costs (repair and replacement) and stunts profitability because that asset and its driver are unable to work. It also has a downstream effect on everything from customer satisfaction to other vehicle/employee schedules. Luckily, the first can largely prevent the second.

 

"Telematics automates the tracking of vehicle maintenance schedules and eliminates many of the old labour-intensive tracking processes..."

 

Telematics automates the tracking of vehicle maintenance schedules and eliminates many of the old labour-intensive tracking processes. Alerts can be scheduled when it’s time to perform regular maintenance activities, as well as to warn a fleet manager if a vehicle is operating out of usual parameters, or if an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solution triggers a diagnostic trouble code (DTC), indicating the potential for a failure and allowing maintenance staff to address it before it becomes a downtime event 

This also allows fleet managers to schedule planned maintenance activities at a time with the least impact on productive work.

These systems can generally track any and all factors that have a direct impact on uptime and performance. From oil temperatures and fluid levels to tyre pressure and the presence of AdBlue in diesel, a telematics solution can help to diagnose a maintenance issue before it becomes a more expensive problem.

 

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Opel / Vauxhall and Masternaut have announced an exclusive partnership to provide fleet telematics services to commercial vans.

As of May 2017, businesses can purchase Opel and Vauxhall vans with Masternaut’s telematics devices pre-installed, eliminating deployment time, hassle, and cost. These vehicles are then managed via the industry-leading platform Masternaut Connect, which helps customers realise substantial gains in safety, savings, service excellence, and sustainability. This offer will be available in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

The benefits identified by Masternaut in short are as follows:

• Management of commercial fleet data via a powerful B2B software platform
• Customers avoid the cost, hassle and time of installing telematics
• One partner to talk to - get everything from the Opel or Vauxhall dealership

An industry game-changer?

This partnership doesn’t only help Vauxhall respond to business customers’ needs, it is a significant milestone for the rapidly growing commercial fleet telematics industry. Industry analysts estimate that over 10 million commercial vehicles in Europe will be managed with telematics by 2020, representing growth of 20% per year. Part of this growth will come from reducing hurdles to deployment, which include taking productive vehicles off the road and incurring separate installation charges.

The CEO of Masternaut, Dhruv Parekh, believes that pre-installed telematics is a game changer: “The telematics industry has witnessed impressive growth in recent years, but many companies still want easier installation. Despite its proven benefits, telematics is still only installed in a tenth of European commercial vehicles. We are proud to partner exclusively with Opel and Vauxhall to bring Masternaut’s leading technology to market in a simple and efficient way.”

 

With connected car and autonomous vehicle trends accelerating quickly, vehicle manufacturers are investing heavily in technology development and strategic partnerships. Opel and Vauxhall are part of GM, the second OEM to partner with market leader Masternaut, following PSA Group’s Peugeot, Citroën and DS. While Vauxhall use their own technology for cars, they sought an experienced partner to serve their business customers’ light commercial vehicles.

Technology that saves time, money and lives

Vauxhall chose Masternaut as their exclusive partner due to their industry-leading technology which, unlike other devices, reads data directly from the vehicle in a fully secure way, without risk of interference with vehicle systems. Steffen Raschig, Director Commercial Vehicles Opel & Vauxhall, said, “We were already interested in working with Masternaut, as they are one of the largest telematics providers globally. We decided to build a deeper partnership as we learned more about Masternaut’s patented hardware. The device provides read-only access to all vehicle data, providing our customers much richer insights than other telematics devices offer. We were also impressed with Masternaut’s new enterprise-grade Connect platform, which is intuitive and easy-to-use.”

With Masternaut Connect, customers have real-time visibility into vehicle locations and journeys, and they also receive smart reports on driver behaviour, timesheets, vehicle utilisation, and routes. Customers can add an in-cab driving coach that provides immediate feedback and has been shown to reduce speeding by up to 70%.

 

Masternaut recently conducted research across 10,000 vehicles in its customer base, finding that its technology lowered fuel consumption by 220 litres per vehicle and total fleet running costs by £660 per vehicle annually, resulting in a 3-5x ROI. In addition, smart reports and in-cab coaching help drivers to significantly reduce harsh driving events and speeding, keeping them safe on the roads. Every year, Masternaut’s 10,000+ customers avoid 300 accidents and reduce the release of CO2 by 230 million kg.

 

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The rise of the connected fleet has been discussed as an emerging technology with huge potential to change field service operations for some time now. However, we are now reaching the point where the discussion must move from theoretical to practical - so just what will the impact of the connected fleet be for field service organisations?

As more and more fleets become connected with on-board equipment straight from the OEM, is there still a need for companies operating a mobile workforce to work with traditional telematics providers?

Field Service News spoke to sector experts to understand how the fleet management industry is evolving and what the impact this rapid period of technological change will mean for field service organisations.

So just what exactly does the rise of connected vehicles mean for the fleet management sector?

“Ultimately, the rise of connected vehicles means both telematics suppliers and customers will benefit from a higher quality of vehicle information and reduced operational overheads,” explains Sergio Barata, General Manager, Telogis EMEA.

“It should be viewed as an opportunity for telematics providers to refocus their solutions so they leverage the new possibilities these technologies will bring. For different providers this may mean different things, but at Telogis our focus has been to develop a single connected platform that expands the value of our proposition beyond the vehicle and focuses on improving the operational processes within the enterprise, such as integrated route planning and mobility tools,” he adds.

However, John Gorbutt, Regional Sales Leader, Greenroad highlights that alongside the new opportunities that these latest technologies present, new challenges are also emerging.

“The incredibly accelerated growth of the connected fleet vehicle presents challenges, as well as opportunities,” he begins.

 

“First, for all fleet operators, both dispatched and un-dispatched, the driver’s function will be drastically different sooner than anyone imagines.

The driver will be at the focus and responsible for their own productivity and safety while behind the wheel. Essentially, as new, non-telematics based solutions enter the market the driver is now more connected than ever.”

“They will not only use their mobile device as the centre of their work day, they will have access to their own driver behaviour data along with various contextual information to make them as productive and safe behind the wheel as possible. These new systems are now coming onto the market at a fraction of the cost of traditional telematics systems but still provide all the same and better functionality.”

Meanwhile Stephen Watson, Microlise Director of Product believes that there is now an onus on fleet management solution providers to harness the technologies and drive the solutions forward for the industry as a whole.

“Any significant change in an industry is always a threat to the existing suppliers in that market, however where there are threats there are of course opportunities!” He comments.

“Provided organisations acknowledge the changes that are starting to happen, the changing requirements of the operators and use the expertise gained within the industry to their advantage, there is no reason to fear the rise of connected vehicles.

More it is an opportunity to embrace the evolution and provide greater value in an exciting area that touches us all.”

So what enhancements can field service organisations expect to see in the not too distant future in terms of their fleet management tools?

Barata believes that fully connected fleets will bring “new levels of data quality and accuracy not seen today, as the connectivity revolution continues apace.”

“We’ve already seen with partnerships, such as ours with Ford, that increased connectivity helps drive new business outcomes, based on data delivered through a holistic, connected vehicle approach,” he asserts.

“Through the integration of more data points –  such as seat belt usage data for example – we can help improve the safety of fleets, and we’re already seeing an increase in the use of preventive maintenance on engines to reduce downtime, thanks to Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) diagnostics data.”

However, when questioned on what fleet management will look like as fleets become fully connected across the next five years Watson thinks that we may be getting slightly ahead of ourselves “5 years seems ambitious!” He begins.

“I think we are still a way off fully connected fleet operations. There are a number of EU and UK government innovation schemes designed to support organisations in the enormous R&D costs that come with the technology, however there are still significant legal and regulatory hurdles to be overcome before fully connected vehicles becomes mainstream.”

Yet, Gorbutt insists that the telematics sector as a whole is well overdue when it comes to ultimately delivering the return on investment it has always promised.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that the promise of track and trace telematics didn’t provide the long term value most fleet operators expected,” he asserts.

“When weighed against the cost of the system, the ROI is minimal at best. So over the year’s telematics providers have raced to provide more and more features to supplement the high cost of live tracking. This has resulted is millions of customers paying outrageous sums for a system grounded in technology from 2001 or earlier.

“With new systems coming on board every day that are based on cheaper, high quality networks and mobile devices, any fleet operator can get an entire fleet up and running on a mobile based system that includes everything from live tracking to driver behaviour at a fraction of the cost.”

However, whilst the promise of improved fleet management tools at a reduced cost is one that will appeal to all field service organisations, it is also worth considering how this will change the role of the fleet manager.

“With this new mobile technology, security will be key,” Gorbutt explains.

 

“Hence there will be an evolution in the role of the new fleet manager, who will become more of a chief mobile officer in charge of everything from mobile deployment of solutions or cyber/mobile security and will encompass the productivity and usage of everything included in the new smart mobility ecosystem.”

Indeed, as we begin to discuss fleet management solutions that are mobile centric the lines between field service systems and fleet management systems are becoming increasingly blurred. Is there still a need for field service organisations to invest in both sets of tools?

“I guess this depends on the definition of field service management software,” Watson comments.

“It’s fair to say that concepts of engineer location, performance, planning and resource management are all now widely available, however there are a number of functions of field service management that would not currently feature in a standard fleet management software solution.”

“From an investment perspective then maybe M&A activity will see customers able to purchase a suite of products from a single supplier and these products will be more broadly integrated. But with the high levels of API integration available from suppliers like ourselves, companies have the opportunity to get best of breed solutions and services from the organisations most able to support their current and ongoing needs.”

Gorbutt echoes this sentiment commenting that he doesn’t “think there will be a decisive divide between the two technologies.”

“There are a few companies that will continue to try and cater to both fleet based companies and field service companies but field service based organisations are so specialised and their needs are so diverse that I don’t think they can get everything they need from one provider.”

 

He is also in agreement with Watson’s thinking when it comes to the belief that continued integration will be a highly important part of the wider ecosystem of field service technologies as technologies continue to evolve.

“What will be most important is the ability for these different systems to “talk” to each other.” He comments.

“For instance, the fleet management system must be able to send live tracking data to the field service customer location and routing system and all must work seamlessly with the driver safety application that ensure the driver is arriving safely. Connectivity is the new world and any service provider that doesn’t have all their systems sending and receiving data from one another will be obsolete in a matter of 5 years.”

However, Barata holds a different view, believing that as these lines blur it is those organisations that utilise a platform-based approach that will see the greatest benefits.

“The need for enterprises to adopt these solutions will continue to increase rapidly in the coming years, and soon they will become ubiquitous, leaving those who choose not to adopt them behind,” he explains.

“The good news for them is there are already suppliers like ourselves out there who can provide a platform which meets the needs of both their fleet and service operations. The previous challenges they faced in integrating data produced by separate technical, operational and strategic systems – often provided by different suppliers - can be avoided by partnering with suppliers that can deliver a single solution.”

The exact role of fleet management for field service organisations in the near future maybe uncertain, but we can be certain that is set to change.

 

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