ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘telematics’ CATEGORY

Mobile workforce solutions company Fleetmatics Group has launched Field App, the latest enhancement to its REVEAL web-based mobility platform. The Field App software is designed to keep dispatchers, managers and drivers on the same page by delivering important information directly to the driver’s mobile device and improving the experience of the mobile worker.

The app is available as a free customer download and provides mobile workers with a variety of capabilities. Customers can push routes to the field in real-time, enabling mobile workers to easily access turn-by-turn directions on their mobile device. The application also provides mobile workers with direct access to their performance metrics, allowing them to track their own progress and benchmark against the rest of their team. Using both the location of the worker’s mobile device as well as vehicle location, the Field App intelligently recommends vehicle assignment, an easy means for customers to unlock additional insight into mobile worker performance.

“Having seen the efficiencies our mobile apps have brought to fleet operators for several years now, we felt the time was right to extend these gains to the mobile workers themselves with our new Field App,” said Peter Mitchell, the Company’s Chief Technology Officer. "And because it's specifically tailored for the driver, it effectively puts the power of Fleetmatics in the pockets of those directly operating more than half a million vehicles that are globally utilising our software platform.”

The Fleetmatics REVEAL Field App is a free download from Google Play or Apple App Store.

 

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M2M managed services provider Wireless Logic has achieved impressive annual growth of over 30% in the past eight years and in 2015 reached the landmark figure of over 2 million SIM subscriptions. Following a root-and-branch review of its customer service capabilities, expectations and experience, the company is now embarking on a major customer service enhancement programme to sure its delivers quality service right, first time.

With a customer base now exceeding 1,000 solution providers across Europe, the need for quality customer services has never been greater yet the sheer mass of business being processed meant the company has always been in catch-up mode in the drive for service excellence, acknowledges Director of Operations, Matthew Tate, who joined the company from Research in Motion 14 months ago.

“We have been surprisingly good in our service delivery given the dynamics of the market and our make-up, but to ensure sustainability in excellence I wanted to look at ourselves in greater depth,” he explains. A group-wide audit was undertaken with Wireless Logic investing in a broad customer insight campaign that included customer interviews, mystery shopping and a review of operational platforms.

 

Wireless Logic is horizontally positioned and works with hundreds of vertical applications - these include asset and vehicle tracking, telematics, metering, security, electronic payment, m-healthcare and a range of enterprise solutions. All services operate across a single unified technology platform and are designed to meet the specific needs of connected assets within the global markets of M2M and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Continuous investment in technology has enabled Wireless Logic to provide an increasing range of value-added services which include specialist mapping solutions from Google and HERE, device management platforms and end-to-end security encryption services.

Implementing improvements

The service implementation programme is already underway with a number of initiatives already in place, including certification to ISO 9001 Quality Management - vitally important to customers whose own quality programmes expect such standards, says Tate.  “Achieving ISO 9001 has been a journey that has really explored every corner of our operational service and delivery. With this standard in place, there is a real spirit of confidence knowing that our processes have been scrutinised and passed fit for purpose.”

 

A new customer engagement and information platform from Zendesk has been introduced which is creating a new approach to how the organisation manages and interacts with customers. A root and branch change to staff training will see team members receive ongoing development and support across all facets of the business as it evolves to meet the needs of current and future users of its M2M services.

Zendesk has enabled Wireless Logic to integrate customer intelligence, dialogue and communication channels seamlessly – a major step towards delivering service excellence, says Tate.

Further investment is being made across SIMPro, the company’s SIM management platform now used by over 95% of its solution provider customers. It now has a SIMPro easy-to-use cloud interface. Over the coming months, Wireless Logic plans to roll-out more self-service modules to empower customers to order, provision and manage entire SIM bases across multiple mobile networks, all in real-time.

 

“With ambitious sales targets across the next three years, ensuring our own store is in order has been a major driver as we progress through our first year with our new private equity partners CVC Capital Partners on board,” concludes Tate. “We have service front of mind in the operation which will mean more contented customers, an entirely better user journey, and an ability to continue our growth curve with assurance.”

Oliver Tucker, CEO and Co-founder, Wireless Logic said: “With the M2M and IoT market in its ascendancy, the sector has to tailor its services to be more responsive and flexible. Our own experiences across the UK and in Europe suggest that customers expect a ‘right first time, every time’ mind-set; there is little room for error. We are pleased with progress made so far as we reshape the way we work with customers, and will continue to analyse feedback as we aim for excellence across the group.”

Water control systems and plumbing company Reliance Worldwide Corporation (UK) Ltd has improved mileage logging and slashed administration times after implementing a telematics system from Masternaut.

Reliance Worldwide has  implemented Masternaut telematics across its fleet of 26 cars, to accurately and effortlessly log all private and business mileage for its field sales team.

Reports are automatically sent to the administration manager on a weekly basis, breaking down the total mileage into business and personal, based on agreed cut off times for business related mileage. Employees use a fuel card to purchase all fuel, both private and personal, and a deduction is made from monthly pay in line with HMRC Fuel Advisory rates for any private mileage recorded. As such the process is HMRC compliant.

The Masternaut system has benefited the whole business, from the finance department to individual drivers, enabling authentication of business and private mileage, whilst storing data for regulatory compliance. This provides absolute transparency and avoids any over-claim issues.

 As a result of having the technology installed in all 26 vehicles, Reliance Worldwide has also managed to reduce insurance premiums across the fleet.

 “Expense and mileage logging is a heavy admin burden on any business, but the data and technology provided by Masternaut has helped us to eliminate that burden for our sales team,” commented Sally Pearson, administration aanager, Reliance Worldwide. “The support provided by the Masternaut team is excellent. We have reduced the company car drivers’ admin workload, eliminating the pain of manually logging their mileage. The reporting process gives total transparency on mileage across the business, giving a far more accurate picture on private mileage. By streamlining the process, we’ve given time back to our employees and saved them from an additional administration headache.”

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director, Masternaut added, “Fleet car drivers are more likely to use their vehicles for both personal and work use, not something typically seen with vans or LCVs. Reliance Worldwide now has transparency on the actual mileage drivers have done allowing for a far more accurate picture of business versus private mileage. For many drivers, handling tax and expense claims can be a complex and time-consuming task, providing a real challenge to get everything right. Telematics is helping to reduce this burden.”

 

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Improving its engineers' driving skills with TomTom Telematics Optidrive 360  has helped ventilation product manufacturer EnviroVent cut its annual fuel bill by £36,000.

Ventilation product manufacturer EnviroVent has cut fuel consumption by 10 per cent using TomTom Telematics Optidrive 360 technology to improve driver behaviour, making annual fuel savings of £36,000.

The company is using TomTom's OptiDrive 360 to establish a performance improvement initiative across its nationwide fleet of 45 vans.

“Empowering our drivers with advice and feedback on how to drive more safely and fuel-efficiently led to immediate fuel saving and by introducing a programme to incentivise further improvements we expect to realise even greater benefits over the coming months,” said Jane McLean, Fleet Manager, EnviroVent.

“Our van drivers receive monthly performance reports and have already become quite competitive. We now plan to award prizes to the best performing regional teams to cut fuel consumption further, reduce vehicle maintenance costs and improve our carbon footprint, in line with our commitment to sustainability.”

OptiDrive 360 scores drivers based on a range of key performance indicators including speeding, driving events, idling and gear shifting and constant speed. All performance data is made available to managers and drivers in Webfleet, the fleet management software from TomTom Telematics, with direct feedback and driving advice offered to drivers via their in-vehicle driver terminals.

EnviroVent is also using Webfleet  to improve customer response times by allocating jobs to its engineers and installers and routing them to customers more quickly and efficiently.

 

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UK telecoms company O2 is expanding its Fleet Telematics portfolio with the addition of fleet management and vehicle tracking from Canadian company Geotab.

O2 Track and Go and O2 Smart Tracking uses Geotab’s GO7  telematics data capture device and the MyGeotab platform. The device can be quickly and easily installed into the on-board OBD-II diagnostics port in vans and cars, either overtly or covertly. It  simply plugs in: there is no need for any wiring, so it can be easily removed when a vehicle is de-fleeted and instantly becomes ready to install in a new vehicle. The devices have been deployed in more than 450,000 vehicles, says Geotab.

The solution offers real time fleet management and the ability to develop a number of alerts, notifications and review vehicle trip and activity reports. Advanced features also include on-board diagnostics through engine indicators to provide feedback, such as engine failures, or an in-depth engine fault code diagnosis; detect accidents and retrace potential cause of the accident; and allow add-ons such as a navigational device, NFC driver ID key, sensors and more.

 

The technology will serve verticals such as car rental, leasing, courier, beverages and utility fleets to improve their on-road productivity, on-road safety, and ecological efficiency, in addition to optimizing fleet performance to reduce fuel costs, says O2.  Fleet managers will gain more intelligence across multiple vehicles giving them the data and insights needed to make more informed business decisions in real-time. Furthermore, drivers will have more insight over their individual vehicles.

“Telematics is now a must-have for all organisations looking for the most accurate data about their business vehicles. O2 Track and Go and O2 Smart Tracking can help fleet decision makers achieve significant operating efficiencies,” said David Taylor, managing director of Machine to Machine for O2 in the UK. “Through our partnership with Geotab we’re looking forward to expanding our existing relationships with fleets, leasing and rental companies to embrace fleet management.”

“Fleet, rental and leasing companies need reliable and secure fleet management solutions that are easy to install, manage and switch out as the fleet is changing rapidly,” said CEO Neil Cawse, Geotab. “We are excited and honoured to be selected to support O2’s telematics offering in the UK and look forward to help serve O2’s fleet customers with our end-to-end fleet management solution,” Cawse continued.

 

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TomTom Telematics has been awarded the Best Commercial Vehicle Systems Integrator for 2015 by TU-Automotive.

The award recognises the impact of TomTom’s cloud-based SaaS platform, WEBFLEET, and was announced at the TU-Automotive Awards Ceremony in Novi, Michigan. According to the judges, TomTom Telematics was selected because of “their progressive attitude, multi-faceted solution and ability to innovate”.

TomTom Telematics has cultivated a growing eco-system of more than 300 software and hardware partners unique in the fleet management industry, with all applications published in its App Centre.

The WEBFLEET.connect API allows third party software partners access to all field data generated by drivers and vehicles, in the same way they have access to all processed and aggregated data provided by WEBFLEET.

The company also provides additional .connect APIs for all of its in-vehicle equipment, allowing third party hardware to connect smoothly to its telematics black box by using it as in-vehicle communications hub. By taking advantage of OBDII based data sets on smartphone applications or accessing instant in-vehicle and office-based data streams on TomTom Telematics driver terminals, partners can provide customised applications easily.

 

“As the connected car space continues to grow and gain momentum, staying ahead of the curve and continually innovating is no mean feat,” said Krystyna Grant, director, TU-Automotive.

TomTom Telematics open platform approach is integral to the company's strategy and has resulted in the creation of an end-to-end fleet management system, which allows seamless data flow between drivers, vehicle and office. New applications have been produced to help customers digitise business processes and benefit from even greater efficiencies.

“It is extremely gratifying to have TU-Automotive validate our approach, especially as we continue to invest in our APIs, SDKs and partner ecosystem,” said Thomas Schmidt, managing director, TomTom Telematics.

“We are committed to delivering value to our fleet customers across industries. The best way to do that is to make integration with industry-specific solutions easy and efficient. Through our partner ecosystem, App Center and WEBFLEET platform, we are able to deliver value and improve the bottom line for more than 35,000 organisations worldwide.”

 

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In the first part of this feature we looked at how the arrival of the driverless car is imminent with tests being held in open roads across a number of countries including the UK. Now in the second part Kris Oldland looks at how the technology could have a much more disruptive influence than in just the fleet sector…

Indeed with numerous national tests being undertaken it is surely just a matter of time before the first commercial driverless vehicles roll out. In fact further promising news for the approaching future of driverless cars was recently unveiled by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles which stated that only four of its 48 driverless cars participating in tests have been involved in accidents.

Google’s fleet of around twenty cars has now completed nearly a million miles without human intervention since the project started six years ago, said Chris Urmson,  the head of Google’s self-driving car project, .

Of the four licensed driverless cars in the state of California that have been involved in minor traffic accidents since September, Google’s cars played a role in three of the accidents. Two of these incidents occurred when the cars were in self-driving mode, while the other two happened when the person required to stay behind the wheel of the automobiles was in control.

 

It has also been reported that all of the accidents occurred when the cars were driving at speeds below 10 miles (16 km) per hour. In a written statement Google stated that its driverless cars have had “a handful of minor fender-benders, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention.”

Google first sent self-driving cars out onto public streets about six years prior to when the state offered its official permission. Google has said three additional accidents occurred in that time period. So whilst there may be an initial fear response to such news the truth is that since 2009, the company has said its cars have travelled more than 700,000 miles in self-driving mode.

This is an impressive statistic that plays well for those companies seeking to develop driverless vehicles who have attempted to establish belief that driverless vehicles and not only a safe option but a safer option. They claim their cars' cameras, radar, and laser sensors, among other features, are superior to human awareness.

However, whilst the safety of self-driving cars has been emphasized, some experts have also warned that those driverless vehicles could be particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks with concerns about the safety of driverless cars have been raised by politicians in the US and elsewhere.

One such warning came fromthe FBI who warned that driverless cars could be potentially used as lethal weapons, predicting that the vehicles "will have a high impact on transforming what both law enforcement and its adversaries can operationally do with a car”

 

Whilst this is of course a scary scenario, it is important that we don’t become so worried about the potential dangers that we don’t explore the potential opportunities that driverless cars could bring.

One such possible opportunity was highlighted by technology entrepreneur and Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales who discussed the topic of driverless cars in his keynote speech at the recent IFS World Conference in Boston.

“I think it will be ten years max before we see driverless cars somewhere in the world. It could be faster than that but of course this an area where there are regulatory concerns and so forth” he began before outlining why he believes the impact of driverless cars reaching way beyond the automotive industry.

“The way to think about this is don’t think about the first order of what happens, think of what happens next” Wales explained “One of the first things I came up with when I first started thinking about this was pizza delivery” he added only half joking

“Why cook pizzas in a restaurant to then send them somewhere so they are getting cold on the way? Why not cook it in the car? The answer is of course you can’t put a pizza oven in a car with a driver?” he explained before continuing “but now you could have a driverless car that cooks the pizza on route, delivering you a super fresh pizza to your door”

 

Of course such an idea would have a number of obstacles to overcome, and I don’t think we will see Wales tackling the Pizza Delivery sector in the near future, but it is a great example of the wider benefits such transformative technology as driverless cars could have beyond their initial direct marketplace, when we combine it with imaginative thinking.

And if we turn back to field service then again the potential for driverless cars to change the way we operate are numerous.

For a start there is the obvious benefit of an engineer being able to work in between jobs, this could be a huge time saving factor if your engineers have even a moderate amount of reporting to be completed on each job.

One obvious benefit is an engineer being able to work in between jobs. But how about we apply some further imaginative thinking and combine driverless cars with IoT with 3D printing with field service scheduling?

 

Our engineer’s daily schedule could be programmed into his vehicle based on data provided by the devices he’s set to fix. His job list is optimised based on geography and urgency of the repair.

On the way to each repair he is able to analyse the data and look through suggested potential issues so when he arrives on site he has the best possible chance of finding a resolution swiftly. All the while the 3D printer in the back of his vehicle quietly prints any parts that need replacing automatically as the IoT enable devices provide data as to what parts are required at what job.

Let’s be honest if first time fix rates didn’t increase in this scenario there is something wrong.

However, not everyone is on side as yet, with many in field service being cautious of such a significant change, even seeing this leap forward as technology for technology’s sake.

Recent research by Masternaut actually revealed that professional drivers stated that If they had to work with autonomous vehicles in the future, 15% of professional drivers said that they wouldn’t like it and change jobs, whilst almost a quarter (23%) said that wouldn’t like it but stay in their job.

As David Kalimoff a Senior Field Engineer for Viable Med Services commented recently in the Field Service News linkedin group “When a driverless car wants to impress me, have it haul my tools, test equipment and replacement parts from the parking garage to the 6th floor of the hospital where the system is, in a blizzard…”

Whilst Kalimoff may have been a bit tongue in cheek with his comment he does make a valid point there is only so much that we can expect from driverless vehicles.

 

However, whilst the arrival of driverless cars is seemingly inevitable, and also fast approaching it is the savvy field service organisations who start thinking now about how they can harness such technology to their advantage. Also much like they have had to evolve closer working relations ships with operations management, IT professionals may well see them selves building even closer ties to their colleagues in fleet management as yet another area of field service begins to merge with IT infrastructures.

With a throw away commenting Wales may have just given someone the key to disrupting and re-inventing the pizza delivery industry forever. The question is who is going to come up with the equivalent game-changer in field service?

 

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Technology analysts Juniper Research are forecasting that in revenue terms the telematics sector will continue to outperform all other M2M markets over the next five years, with one in five passenger vehicles connected globally by 2019. Connected cars will represent 20% of the global car market
by 2019, the company predicts.

Smartphone-based models have become the key disruptor for M2M, as sectors such as healthcare, consumer electronics and retail continue to evolve. Juniper Research forecasts that the M2M sector will generate service revenues of over $40 billion globally by 2019 - doubling the size of today’s market.

Smart metering to see global growth

The new research, M2M & Embedded Devices: Strategic Analysis & Vertical Market Forecasts 2015-2019, observed that the roll-out of smart metering initiatives will see rapid up-take over the next six years, driven in part by governments’ ambitions to increase efficiency.

According to research author Anthony Cox: “Both India and China are expected to see rapid adoption of smart metering as new metering infrastructure is installed and smart cities are created.”

 

The utility sector however is not expected to generate similar revenues to that of the connected automotive sector.

Mergers, acquisitions, new applications

Agriculture and environmental applications are starting to emerge as important new sectors in the M2M market, with applications as diverse as wild-life and farm animal monitoring, and increasing productivity through precise field mapping. Some of the industry’s most powerful players are coming together, such as the merger of KORE Telematics and Raco Wireless, and the acquisition by Huawei of the M2M technology start-up Neul.

Other key findings include:

• The US remains the leading geographical region for M2M, ahead of Western Europe. China is becoming increasingly important as initiatives by the country’s major carriers begin to take shape.
• Implementation of Big Data analytics will play an increasingly important role, particularly in areas such as telematics, smart metering and healthcare.

Key questions, says Juniper are:

1. Which market verticals hold the greatest promise in terms of service and connectivity enablement revenues?
2. What are the prospects for cellular-based M2M modules?
3. How are smartphones and Big Data playing a role in the M2M universe, and how will these devices and technologies affect the M2M market moving forward?
4. How is the API landscape developing and what role does it play?
5. How will the IoT and the M2M universe interrelate with one another?

 

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Smart meter installation and maintenance company Trojan Utilities has reduced its fuel usage by 24% after implementing a telematics system from Masternaut across its 100-plus strong fleet of vans. The system is used for a range of purposes by multiple departments across the business.

The Masternaut system provides Trojan with in-depth driver behaviour monitoring, looking at speeding, mileage and harsh events, helping Trojan to determine the effect various improvements have on fuel usage. The system is also used to dispatch engineers to proactively plan jobs and reactive emergency installs. The two-way messaging system allows engineers and Trojan Utilities to import contact numbers and communicate whilst out in the field too.

Since installation, Masternaut’s system has helped deliver a reduction in fuel usage through a combination of dynamic scheduling and improved driver behaviour. Reducing harsh events, idling and miles driven by each driver has seen a drop in fuel usage of 24%.

Driver behaviour overall has seen a major improvement with a 97% reduction in instances of speeding, helping make Trojan Utilities’ mobile workforce and other road users more safe.

By 2020, every home in the UK is projected to be able to use smart meter technology to see how much energy a household is using and manage it more effectively. As of May 2015, Trojan Utilities has installed over 160,000 smart meters, a figure that is rising by over 2,500 meters per week, with telematics helping it to manage that level of installations on a long-term basis.

 

Gemma Openshaw, Operations Director, commented, “Masternaut has become essential to our business, because it offered us everything we needed in one package. The system is used every day and we can’t operate without it. Without Masternaut, our fuel bill would be much higher so the system is effectively paying for itself. As a business, we’re operating in a challenging sector and the system has helped us cope with the rigours of installing in excess of 2,500 meters per week. That figure is only going to rise as we get closer to 2020, but with Masternaut, we’re confident that we’ll continue to stay ahead of the curve in the growing demand for smart meters.”

Steve Towe, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director, Masternaut, added: “The smart meter technology roll out is scheduled to be completed by 2020, and with millions of properties across the country needing them installed, this is certainly a significant challenge for all involved.”

He continues, “Telematics is giving Trojan Utilities a significant edge in managing this task, giving fleet managers total control and visibility of their fleet UK wise. In addition, the system is providing benefits in the form of reduced fuel usage and improved driver behaviour, reducing costs and improving driver welfare.”

 

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