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According to a Juniper Research report published in the latter half of 2014 in-vehicle apps are anticipated to reach almost 270 million within the next four five years. This increase, more than five fold on last year’s figures – is a clear indication that the hotly anticipated arrival of connected vehicles is here.

With smartphone major players Apple and Android both launched their vehicle specific version of their OS in the first quarter of last year, (CarPlay and AndroidAuto respectively) the report predicts uptake will be fairly rapid with report author commentating 

 

However, whilst in the consumer realm the usual suspects were sharing the headlines in the world of enterprise telematics there was one company that were storming ahead of the pack when it cames to integrating their technology into commercial vehicles. That company was Telogis.

Across the summer of last year Telogis were busy confirming and announcing a raft of key strategic partnerships including Hino Trucks, Volvo and Ford.

The Hino partnership resulted the HINO INSIGHT 2.0 which was developed as part of Hino’s ongoing strategy of building an offering that gives their customers a much improved total cost of ownership (TCO), including better vehicle uptime and user experiences and will be a standard fit on 2015MY Hino 195h and 195h-DC hybrid models, and as an option on the 195 and 195-DC models and the full conventional truck product line-up.

Indeed Telogis seemed to be on a mission to establish themselves as a part of the furniture in the road haulage industry, with the US based organisation now also bringing built-in compliance, telematics and navigation services to Volvo Trucks customers in North America.

Volvo customers are able to access Telogis’ services via smartphones and tablets, leveraging Volvo’s integrated connected vehicle hardware, standard on new Volvo-powered Volvo trucks.

In commercial trucking’s evolving legislative and regulatory landscape, Telogis’ offerings for Volvo Trucks help drivers and back office teams manage FMCSA compliance and keep drivers safer by delivering electronic log tools and routing information that is specifically designed commercial drivers.

“We’re pleased to collaborate with Telogis to deliver tremendous value to motor carriers seeking flexibility and the robust information needed to fine-tune their operations,” said Göran Nyberg, president, Volvo Trucks North American Sales & Marketing.

“Leveraging the connectivity of our vehicles to facilitate fleet management services represents a breakthrough for fleet managers, who are no longer captive to hardware. As part of our long-term strategic focus, we’ll look toward further integration of our vehicles with best-in-class fleet management solutions.”

 

And it is not just in the HGV arena that Telogis have been working, their agreement with Ford is related to their transit vans – the vehicle of choice for many a mobile worker.

Telogis are the exclusive technology provider behind Ford Crew Chief, the light-duty commercial telematics solution that comes factory-fit in Ford’s lineup of 2015 Transit vans as well as its complete line of commercial light-duty trucks.

As the agreement was announced Bill Frykman, manager, business and product development at Ford Motor Company commented

“Ford Crew Chief, another example of Transit’s smart features, complements the Transit line by helping customers save money through fuel management, and more effective route and work planning; keep their drivers safer by understanding and coaching driver behavior; and improving overall operations by getting a big-picture view of maintenance, location and productivity.” 

With many other manufacturers also implementing similar agreements to incorporate the latest technology into their vehicles in 2015 (Audi are including Android Auto whilst Mercedes and Volvo are committed to working with both Android Auto and CarPlay) it seems that the connected car is definitely on its way.

What may take a little longer but is continuing to develop along a steady path, is the driverless vehicle.

 

With Google having already demonstrated their prototype of a self-driving car which the technology giants described as ‘a vehicle without a steering wheel, gas or brake pedal - because they don’t need them’ the futuristic concept of robot cars is on it’s way.

While the current prototype can only go as fast as 25 mph, the promise for the future of fleet management could include better route and fuel efficiency, safer driving, and giving field service engineers the ability to answer email and work while on the road.

For urban fleets, the vehicle could even drop the field tech off at the service location, go find parking for itself and then be summoned to pick the tech up once the call is finished.

And to further speed up the development the University of Michigan is teaming up with top carmakers and tech companies to create the first closed test track in the United States for connected vehicle technology.

Dubbed "M City," the 32-acre testing facility is being built in Ann Arbor, Mich. to "test vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications in safe, realistic scenarios”

That's the first step in an ambitious plan by the university to "blanket all of Ann Arbor with a V2v and V2I network, including autonomous control,"

Whilst connecting the college town with enough infrastructure to allow self-driving cars to dominate the streets and roadways will take several years. The university and its partners are aiming to complete the transformation by 2021.

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Ford Motor Company and Telogis launched "Ford Telematics powered by Telogis" yesterday, providing actionable information from Ford commercial vehicles that helps customers reduce fuel costs up to 20 percent^*, reduce their environmental impact and increase driver safety.

Since 2011, Telogis has been the exclusive technology provider to power Ford Crew Chief in North America, the industry’s most comprehensive and scalable telematics solution for commercial customers. The European expansion of the Telogis-Ford partnership leverages the success of Crew Chief and will meet the demand from current and new Ford customers for visibility into day-to-day operations including vehicle/driver location, vehicle and driver performance and exclusive Ford vehicle diagnostics.

“Ford of Europe is delivering on customer demand for visibility, cost savings and safety with Ford Telematics powered by Telogis,” said Bill Frykman, manager, business and product development at Ford Motor Company. “Telogis is our trusted partner, and the success we’ve had with Ford customers in North America made them the only choice for Ford’s European platform offering.”

Making its debut at the 2014 IAA Hannover Commercial Vehicle Show, Ford Telematics powered by Telogis will be available to fleet customers as a dealer-installed option in selected European markets, offered through Ford’s network of specialist Transit Centers, and is warrantied and serviceable at Ford dealerships throughout Europe.

“The launch of Ford Telematics powered by Telogis in Europe is an extension of what has become the industry-standard in OEM telematics in North America,” said Greg Dziewit, vice president, OEM business at Telogis. “Making this offering available to Ford’s European customers will help them run more efficient, cost-effective and safer fleets and transform the way they do business.”

Based on the real-time data, the Ford Telematics powered by Telogis software platform delivers a comprehensive range of actionable business information that enables fleet managers to operate their vehicles in the most efficient way and to help ensure drivers are following safe and economical driving practices.

“Ford Telematics is another example of Ford facilitating the delivery of smart technology to help our customers enjoy the highest quality, safest and most sustainable operation of commercial vehicles available today,” said Steve Barrow, commercial vehicles service operations manager, Ford of Europe.

Demonstrations and more information about the Ford Telematics powered by Telogis offering can be by visiting the Ford stand, Hall 13, No. C54 at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show which opens later this week in Hannover, Germany.

 

The team at Telogis have certainly been busy over the summer with major partnerships with Volvo, Hino and Ford all announced…

Telogis & Hino Trucks

Hino Trucks have recently announced a partnership with Telogis to exclusively release Hino INSIGHT. The platform is a next-generation solution hailed to be a fully comprehensive, web-based location and telematics solution built specifically for the medium-duty commercial truck market.

Hino INSIGHT 2.0 has been developed as part of Hino’s ongoing strategy of building an offering that gives their customers a much improved total cost of ownership (TCO), including better vehicle uptime and user experiences.

Launched within the last few months Hino INSIGHT 2.0 will be standard fit on 2015MY Hino 195h and 195h-DC hybrid models, and as an option on the 195 and 195-DC models and the full conventional truck product lineup.

Commenting on the collaboration Glenn Ellis, Vice President, Marketing, Dealer Operations and Product Planning for Hino Trucks said:

“This next-generation technology brings new functionality, a refined user interface and a robust platform to support the needs of our largest fleet customer or an individual owner-operator,” said Glenn Ellis, Vice President, Marketing, Dealer Operations and Product Planning for Hino Trucks. “Telogis’ significant investments in R&D and product innovation plus its experience in the OEM environment make them the standard for excellence in the connected services industry.”

Telogis & Volvo Trucks

Indeed Telogis are fast becoming a part of the furniture in the road haulage industry, with Telogis now also bringing built-in compliance, telematics and navigation services to Volvo Trucks customers in North America.

Volvo customers are able to access Telogis’ services via smartphones and tablets by leveraging Volvo’s integrated connected vehicle hardware, standard on new Volvo-powered Volvo trucks.

It is also available for the existing 60,000 Volvo trucks already equipped with the connected vehicle hardware, making the Telogis platform ideal for all-Volvo or mixed fleets.

In commercial trucking’s evolving legislative and regulatory landscape, Telogis’ offerings for Volvo Trucks help drivers and back office teams manage FMCSA compliance and keep drivers safer by delivering electronic log tools and routing information that is specifically designed commercial drivers.

“We’re pleased to collaborate with Telogis to deliver tremendous value to motor carriers seeking flexibility and the robust information needed to fine-tune their operations,” said Göran Nyberg, president, Volvo Trucks North American Sales & Marketing.

“Leveraging the connectivity of our vehicles to facilitate fleet management services represents a breakthrough for fleet managers, who are no longer captive to hardware. As part of our long-term strategic focus, we’ll look toward further integration of our vehicles with best-in-class fleet management solutions.”

“With increasingly complex compliance regulations and the need to more effectively manage safety, productivity and costs – telematics, compliance and navigation software are no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it’s now a ‘have to have,’” said Susan Heystee, executive vice president, worldwide sales at Telogis.

“The ability to easily access mission-critical tools and information from the Telogis platform will transform the way Volvo Trucks’ customers do business.”

Telogis & Ford Crew Cheif

Moving from trucks to vans we also find Telogis once again appearing in one of the largest launches of the year.

This time its in partnership with Ford Motor Company and their launch of the all-new 2015 Ford Transit line of vans – perhaps one of the the company’s largest, most significant commercial vehicle launch in their history.

Telogis is the exclusive technology provider behind Ford Crew Chief, the market-leading, light-duty commercial telematics solution that comes factory-fit in Ford’s lineup of 2015 Transit vans as well as its complete line of commercial light-duty trucks. Ford Crew Chief powered by Telogis again aims to home in on the growing awareness that telematics solutions can help fleet managers and commercial vehicle owners reduce costs, improve driver safety and optimise operations.

“The 2015 Ford Transit, America’s newest Built Ford Tough van, will no doubt become an essential part of any commercial fleet, and with Ford Crew Chief powered by Telogis added in, customers receive a whole new level of visibility into their daily operations,” said Bill Frykman, manager, business and product development at Ford Motor Company.

“Ford Crew Chief, another example of Transit’s smart features, complements the Transit line by helping customers save money through fuel management, and more effective route and work planning; keep their drivers safer by understanding and coaching driver behavior; and improving overall operations by getting a big-picture view of maintenance, location and productivity.” 

Enterprise Mobility expert, Jon Vass of Telogis, claims that instead of cutting back on services businesses should instead look to optimise their mobile workforces...

With the right technologies an organisation can save hundreds of thousands of pounds by simply working more efficiently. Route optimisation, improved vehicle maintenance and mobile technology can provide significant savings on the bottom line and give a competitive edge.

Pundits claim that Britain's 'Great Recession' started in the spring of 2008 and ended in the summer of 2009. Today many would argue differently, for figures show that businesses are still in slow recovery. The key factor over the last few years - and possibly the biggest - is that consumers, companies and the state are all locked in a race to straighten out their finances. Which means each of these will be trying to reduce costs.

Of course, for many businesses it is easy to reduce costs by looking at expenditure and simply cutting back, reducing staff and overheads, even moving premises. However, this is often reactionary and short term and does not allow for business growth or changes in customer demand.

For businesses with mobile workforces there is another way to reduce costs – and this involves optimisation of current resources with technology. With today’s advances in web based applications, investing in a business solution no longer means purchasing hardware, software and expensive support services. Solutions are now readily available that can be deployed in the field and accessed securely on the Internet without investing in costly infrastructure.

Optimising resources

For a business with a mobile workforce, the costs that need close scrutiny are the driver’s time and vehicle routing and maintenance. While a professional operations manager can plan and oversee driver routes, vehicle running and maintenance, a computer can do a much better job of analysis and planning.

An example is route optimisation. A simple route from A to B can be easily planned. Add into that route several drop off points and immediately the number of routes becomes more complex. Factors such as different average speed, traffic congestion, access and roadworks and immediately fuel costs will fluctuate. Planning so many variations to optimise routes is a task that a computer programme is made to crunch through.

 

And it’s not simply a matter of daily management and planning. Monitoring job completion over the air and comparing this with the plan is key. Ensuring regular vehicle checks can also reduce costly maintenance bills. Capturing such data and analysing it for meaningful intelligence can be easily managed using mobile technologies.

 

These arguments make even more sense when you quantify them with real figures. The average costs quoted for a driver and vehicle is £50,000 a year, a not insignificant amount. By utilising effective technologies to optimise route plans and eliminate unnecessary journeys a business could reduce these costs by 10-20%. This could equate to a saving of between £250k - £500k a year for a fleet of 50 vehicles or more. Definite food for thought.

Choosing the right technologies and provider

The figures easily support the case for why a business should adopt technology for its route optimisation and mobile workforce management tools – the second important decision is how to execute it.

Such has been the rapid innovations in the past few years that there are now many business applications available on the market that capture driver data, increase efficiencies and reduce costs. And many of these solutions are readily available, plug and play offerings.

Software available as a cloud based solution or software-as-a-service means that a business can benefit from the latest technologies, built-in security and the assurance that upgrades are automatically implemented. More users and increased storage capacity can be easily accommodated with no disruption to daily business and without big additional costs.

There are also two other important factors to consider. Choosing the right professional services partner is key to ensure that the technologies adopted are right for the business. This means selecting a first class provider with proven industry credentials that can provide responsive support both at start up and ongoing. A rapid start up minimises costs and ensures a fast return on the investment.

The second factor is to choose systems from one provider and on one platform. Selecting different solutions and supplier platforms can result in costly integration issues and difficulty in sharing data, reducing the ability to use important intelligence to optimise resources.

There is no doubt that the power and versatility of technologies available today, coupled with the ubiquity of fast Internet connectivity, means that organisations are now able to harness enterprise-grade solutions for managing their mobile resources. Businesses that choose to adopt these technologies can quickly reap the benefits of these developments by optimising their workforce and reducing costs.

Following a three step approach will ensure business success; by selecting a proven industry supplier, adopting a single platform for connected vehicle services and thirdly ensuring that the data is used for future planning as well as resource optimisation.

 

 

Overview: 

While most people are enjoying their summer holidays, the staff at GRITIT are hard at work getting ready for the long, cold winter months ahead. It’s the tough winters that GRITIT counts on as the UK’s leading provider of gritting services, supplying winter services protection and winter risk management services to organisations in the retail, commercial, financial, high security, industrial, logistics, health and education sectors.

With more than 166,000 service visits, of which 99.99 percent were successfully completed, maintaining a 99.2 percent customer satisfaction rate and the British Institute of Facilities Management Service Provider of the Year 2013 distinction, it’s clear that customer service is of supreme importance to GRITIT.

“We work from 6pm to 6am, so are an ‘unseen service’, therefore it is critical that we can track and manage our operatives on site and have the ability to guarantee to our customers that the services they requested have been completed,” said Brendon Petsch, IT Director at GRITIT.

“So confident are we of our service, and our ability to ensure customers’ sites are safe for the public and employees, we stand the liability for clients in the event of an accident or claim.”

Harnessing the Power of the Cloud to Manage Data:

To support this bold stance GRITIT accumulates millions of pieces of data during the course of a season and employs cloud-based telematics – also known as location intelligence – software from Telogis that works with its existing technology investments to identify the key pieces of data it needs to improve overall operations. The ability to create efficiencies within its workforce and streamline processes – particularly through the ubiquity of mobile devices – is passed on as an added value to GRITIT’s customers.

“Smartphones and handheld devices are the backbone of our business. Despite the phenomenal increase in usage and adoption of mobile devices and cloud based technologies in the last five years, the telematics software industry has not kept pace. That is where Telogis is different. The combination of its cloud/Software-as a-Service software platform and cutting edge mobile solutions means the very latest technology is always used,” said Petsch.

Platform Approach Supports Multiple Devices:

The first stage of the plan was to replace GRITIT’s existing systems with Telogis’ fully integrated, single platform for location intelligence. Previously GRITIT used two disparate systems, one for mobile device reporting and job allocation and the other for locating vehicles and assets. Getting the two systems to talk to each other in the past took some major software development.

The appeal of Telogis was the automatic integration of all of its solutions, so the initial implementation was smoother and the GRITIT team was up and running more quickly.

“Operationally, updating our systems to work with just one platform is great. The (Telogis) system works really well and is easy to use,” said Petsch. “The rest of the industry is still in the dark ages when it comes to smartphone and tablet software, whereas with Telogis we are able to use the very latest Android and iOS devices.”

Location Intelligence supports GRITIT operations in the Field:

GRITIT is now using numerous solutions as part of the  comprehensive Telogis platform: Telogis Fleet is used to track all vehicles during and after service for proof of attendance. As the vehicle arrives on site, the amount of data collected is increased to enable them to track exactly where the vehicle is within the site, as well as monitor driver behaviour like speeding, idling and out of hours use of the vehicle.

Telogis Progression offers real-time job creation, tracking, alerts, job reassignment if things don’t go to plan and job completion reporting. It also provides real-time alerts that notify GRITIT supervisors when drivers have completed work and validation that drivers were on the job site to complete their work. This helps them maintain their job completion rate throughout each shift. If staff are running behind, jobs can easily be assigned to other drivers by dragging and dropping a job onto another driver’s route, where it automatically shows up on his job list. At the end of the shift GRITIT performs a final check by reconciling completed jobs with the actual location of the vehicle at that time. This allows the company to maintain its gold-standard customer satisfaction rating.

Using Telogis Mobile running on a smartphone or other handheld device, drivers receive their job allocations and are able to report on each job, logging arrival and departure times, any issues and site conditions. Details specific to certain sites for example, site access codes, are stored in the Telogis system and supplied to the drivers as required. This way, drivers can easily convey site conditions by attaching photos to their form responses which provides easy confirmation for supervisors and customers that a site has been serviced to spec.

Additionally, GRITIT managers complete random site inspections to ensure quality is maintained, and they too report back to head office in real time. Because all the documentation received from the field is available within the Telogis systems in real time these inspections can take place within minutes of jobs being completed. In this way, if there are any issues onsite such as a leaking pipe or someone that shouldn’t be there, the client is alerted immediately.

Powerful Real-time Reporting Provides Proof of Service:

Strong reporting is a key part of the Telogis platform, and an integral part of GRITIT’s service to its customers. With Telogis GRITIT is now able to build its own customised reports to exactly match client requirements.

Unlike most other organisations in the industry, GRITIT uses its tracking data proactively to provide proof of service, and as part of its daily reporting to clients. If any job does not go ahead as expected, an alert is produced by the Telogis system, enabling GRITIT’s management team to resolve the issue and alert the customer as necessary in real time.

Next Step – online tracking for the customer:

The next phase of the implementation is to further integrate the Telogis platform with GRITIT’s business systems, using Telogis Data Exchange (TDE). Ultimately this will enable the collection of information from drivers’ onsite via mobile devices that will pass through the entire organisation seamlessly such as providing information to contracts, finance/invoicing, and HR.

Brendon Petsch sums up; “It is still relatively early days with the Telogis system, but everything is running well and we are looking forward to a long and successful partnership. Ultimately GRITIT would like to provide live tracking data to our customers through Telogis Live, so that they can see for themselves exactly what is happening on site. We are proud to be taking this innovative approach and Telogis is the ideal partner to help us realise our business goals.”

 

 

As the general public continue to raise their expectations for service call and delivery times to fit within their own personal schedules the ability to make supply and service chains ever more effective and dynamic is likely to be the difference between those companies that thrive and those that are left behind. 

Technology is of course a major enabler in allowing companies to meet these demands and Telogis have just launched a further extension of their already comprehensive, cloud-based, location intelligence software platform. The new module is called Telogis Appointment and will be revealed at this years Commercial Vehicle show at the NEC next week (running from the 29th to 31st May) Appointment is the latest addition to theTelogis Route Planning Suite

Telogis Appointment improves customer service by allowing consumers to choose delivery windows that are most convenient for them while also being most cost effective for the deliverer. It helps shipping companies reduce turnaround times by matching delivery slots to customers’ open times to receive goods, and automates ETAs to the receiving parties via text or email – all in real time.

“Businesses that embrace a customer-centric service model and implement mobile and location intelligence technologies aimed at expediting, improving and personalising the customer experience will ultimately grow market share and remain competitive,” said Newth Morris, Telogis co-founder and president, Telogis Route and Navigation. “By providing a higher level of service to their own customers, Telogis’ customers benefit from increased fuel savings, mobile worker productivity and profits.”

 

Intelligent Appointment Scheduling that Maximises Profitability

When customers interact with online scheduling tools or speak with a customer service representative by phone, Telogis Appointment will provide a choice of available appointments based on pre-determined criteria such as delivery cost, available resources, proximity of existing vehicles and resource capabilities of technicians or delivery specialists.

Telogis’ integrated work order management, routing and scheduling programs provide customer service representatives with optimised appointment times/windows that allow the customer to choose a time that works best for them. This dynamic back-office coordination takes into account factors such as vehicle location, onboard tools, skill sets, routing and schedule, and only presents appointment options that will be profitable.

Telogis Appointment also delivers integration to/from existing Customer Resource Management (CRM) or other customer service portals and initiates a call to/from appropriate applications in order to present profitable appointment options.

 

An Integrated Platform Approach

Telogis’ platform approach for any mobile enterprise gives customers a seamless, integrated SaaS solution on which to build a more productive, efficient and compliant fleet and manage all aspects of their mobile operations. The Telogis platform combines strategic and dynamic planning, advanced mobile apps that log delivery drivers’ Hours of Service (HOS) and other compliance requirements plus easy-to-build mobile forms, commercial navigation and telematics.

Now in version 6.0, the Telogis Route Planning Suite supports static, fixed-route and territory planning as well as dynamic routing, routing support specifically for vehicles carrying hazardous materials and commercial trucks. This enables Telogis customers to be more responsive and provide a higher level of service for their own customers. The Telogis Route Planning Suite ensures that plans are built so that key customers are visited regularly and operations teams can more effectively manage last-minute jobs, resulting in increased efficiency, revenue and overall customer satisfaction.

As well as appearing at the CV Show next week Telogis will also be appearing at this years Service Management Expo which is in London's Excel on June 17th,18th & 19th and will be giving a presentation during the Field Service Solutions Theatre which Field Service News is proud to be hosting. 

 

 

 

In the third and final part of our exclusive interview with Telogis UK General Manager Sergio Barata, we find out what Sergio's thoughts are on the impact of smart phones on field service software and what he thinks is the next stage for the field service industry...

FSN: Given your such a fan of the iPhone, do you think that the consumerisation of mobile devices has led to a major shift in the design of the interfaces you and your competitors are designing?

SB: Telogis never really developed heavily in a Windows Mobile development - we just never felt it was right for us. Our belief was that these things would take care of themselves.

There were companies that would have 20 engineers just developing an environment [for Windows mobile]. We just felt that this was never a model we could get behind, however, we were always happy to partner and integrate and take a more open approach.

Now with the newer iOS and Android systems we can take advantage of the situation and have some pretty compelling technologies. Just downloading an application and updating it now is completely seamless whereas previously companies had to throw thousands of pounds at project management to get an update out to the field. So we are big believers in what’s happening with the mobile handsets and tablets. 

FSN: What is the biggest trend in solutions that you are seeing come to the market? What are your clients most commonly looking for today that they weren’t asking for two years ago?

SB: Today the market is asking for our platform. Two years ago we were pushing a platform and the benefits because we believed it was the right way forward, even though the market wasn’t necessarily asking for it. There were some organisations that were interested in that conversation - today we are finding that most of the market is asking for it.

One objection I have heard on a number of occasions is why would I deny the company the opportunity to have best of breed in all particular elements?

That’s an interesting discussion in that a large part of our platform, if you took it individually, is best of breed anyway. ABI Research last summer rated us as the most innovative telematics solution you can buy anywhere today. Even if we ranked third or fourth in each of those disciplines, it’s all about leveraging the data that each investment creates, rather than the sum of each of those pieces.

Now customers know what they are trying to achieve and ask us to present our platform. Often they may have a requirement for one of the elements, but it is now a very easy conversation to show the benefits of the whole holistic approach.

FSN: What do you think the next biggest technological advancement in field service will be?

SB: I think that bringing more Big Data to the field service individual, to the actual agent, is something we will see. I have seen it with driver behaviour for example. The traditional driver behaviour solution is that you put a unit in my vehicle, I drive and if I violate the rules then my line manager prints it out, confronts me and then hopefully I improve.

We have a solution called Telogis Coach, which has all of those same elements but does it in a very non-confrontational way.  It gets the driver to buy into the process through a portal on his phone, which just creates a different dynamic and environment for him to digest the information. I personally think treating agents in this way will engage them more positively.

People are ready for more information as long as it is done in a way that the employee can say, “okay this is positive, it’s not big-brother, they’re not policing me”. The trends towards more efficiency will probably add more benefits for the agents as well, whether profit sharing or incentives.

FSN: What is the biggest difference between when you started in the industry and today?

SB: I think the biggest difference between when I started and today is now we have new devices and tools to deliver the level of information required, which along with more platforms mean you can bring more and increasingly diverse data together and interpret it better. As a result we are seeing greater understanding both from agents working in the field and in the central offices alike, helping organisations work smarter and better.

Missed the first parts of this interview? Find part one here and part two here

Want to learn more about Telogis? Find more news, features, videos and resources in the Field Service News directory 

 

In part one of this exclusive interview with Telogis' Sergio Barata we learnt both about his personal background and the background of the company. In this second part of this three part series we discuss the growth of Telogis and the technology that makes Sergio tick.

FSN: With the launch of progression a few years ago Telogis stepped much more firmly into the field service software arena rather than solely fleet management. We have seen similar moves from other companies with a fleet technology background such as Trimble and TomTom, are the lines blurring between mobile workforce management and fleet management technologies?

SB:There is no doubt that telematics on its own is a pretty competitive space with a low barrier to entry. I think Trimble, TomTom, Telogis, companies like this, have taken that next step of investment in terms of R&D in trying to develop a more holistic approach. I do think that the companies that win will be those that offer true value to any organisation.

FSN: Since 2009 Telogis has been on the acquisitions trail with the purchase of Darby, Remote Dynamics, Integris, Onboard Advisor, Maptuit and Navtrak across just three years. How have the acquisitions of these companies shaped Telogis’ own development both as a company and also in terms of your product lines?

SB: We have been fairly aggressive in our acquisitions, having secured companies for either market share or for more depth in a particular segment of the market place. For instance we acquired Maptuit as a very dynamic navigation technology that we have integrated into the rest of our offering. We are always monitoring the UK market to see what makes sense.

FSN: One of these acquisitions, Onboard Advisor was a risk reduction product and you subsequently partnered with Travelers Insurance on their IntelliDrive fleet safety program. How important is technology in improving driver safety?

SB: The telematics driver-profiling element is essentially a tool for our largest customers, the enterprise fleets, to help bring in behavioural change that will increase opportunities to save on fuel and insurance costs.

We look for technology that allows us to engage the drivers directly in an innovative way to help manage and improve their driving behaviour; the idling, how they drive - sudden braking, acceleration, their speed. We then needed tools and dashboards to take that underlying data and the driver profiles to help large organisations change business practices to make improvements.

Certainly Onboard Advisor and the tie up with insurance telematics has been very important for us and our largest accounts, which have global fleets that deal with these issues and can now take advantage of this approach.

FSN: What was the first piece of technology that made a huge impression on you both personally and in a work environment?

SB: I think the biggest impression on me personally as well as the workplace, has been my iPhone.

Working in a technology led industry I got into smart phones and the Internet early. I’ve always been an early adopter but I don’t think anything has changed the way I think as when first picked up my iPhone. I had Nokia N70s, Blackberrys and so on, but nothing has been as complete, as easy to use and as seamless as the iPhone. 

 

Read part one of this interview here

Find out more about Telogis in our online directory here

Having become a regular member of the Deloitte Fast Track 500 Telogis have become a firmly established leading provider in the US. Field Service News caught up with Sergio Barata, the man tasked with leading the charge into the United Kingdom.

FSN: You have been involved with Telogis since they launched in the UK. Firstly could you tell us a bit about your own background and also the approach you took when introducing what was a successful US product to the UK market?

SB: I moved to the UK just over ten years ago when first working for a mobile start-up and have worked in the LBS (location based services) space ever since. 

Initially starting in pure Geo Spatial technology, I find myself now immersed in the sector. I joined Telogis back in 2008, having just come from another US based software company where I had spent time localising and refocusing their key capabilities for the UK.  On joining Telogis, I had some specific views on how we should launch the company here – the leadership team understood and bought into the fact that we would have to localise correctly if we were to launch in such a competitive environment.

We initially started with our GeoBase product, thinking that if we could correctly localise and licence this within the UK as we have done in the US, we would have a strong platform to build upon. Once the underlying technology was in place, we could introduce the rest of our SaaS solution which is all built around this.

Since the early days Telogis has grown rapidly both in the UK and wider.  When I started at Telogis we had around 120 people in the whole organisation, now we have nearly 500. In the UK we have just moved into our new facility, which will allow us to continue to grow substantially.

FSN: With Telogis only being founded in 2001, you are in relative terms still a young company within the field service industry. Do you think this gives you an advantage in being able to build a cloud based solution from the ground up rather than having to adapt a legacy solution?

SB: We launched as a SaaS company, which in 2001 was quite a brave thing to do. Browser adoption, both as a way of working and technologically still wasn’t quite there - but that quickly shifted. The vision our founders had clearly worked. Around 2005/6 all our competitors had essentially become organisations supporting their customers in the field - not black boxes but servers with their software running on them, so their ability to innovate was hampered. Being cloud-based has meant we didn’t have these issues.

The other critical decision we made was not to develop our own hardware and to remain hardware agnostic. This has meant that our R&D budgets have been focused on the data, the software and our platform, which we are now selling as a strategic approach.

I think not having an incumbent legacy, adopting the hardware agnostic approach and choosing to be SaaS from day one has allowed us to remain innovative and scalable, which has been a key part of our success to date.

FSN: You recently wrote an article for Field Service News in which you talked about the platform approach, something we are hearing more and more of within the industry. Do you think this model, i.e. working with one provider for multiple solutions is likely to be the future for field service software?

SB: We certainly see the benefits of it!

When we meet customers we find many burdened with costly overheads and challenges of integration, even to the extent that they are not meeting the ROIs and initial business case. The costs that it takes to get systems to talk to each other can be significant.

There are also other elements: different companies have different commercial models - our telematics is a subscription model, making it straightforward to cost and manage. Other systems often have capital expenditure costs upfront and deploying different systems and suppliers efficiently can be very challenging.

We think starting with one part of a solution and then integrating other elements is the right approach. We never advocate the ‘big bang’ approach to implementing a complete solution - it’s not commercially or even technically feasible to embrace a whole system at once. Our strategy is based around ‘lets put one piece of the solution in and then work with you on building a longer term strategy and at the end you will come out with a holistic approach.’

The other question we address is the integration of our systems - the telematics, the routing and scheduling - with the customers’ systems that they have already deployed. We have some interesting platform tools, middleware/application programme interfaces that are essentially self-help modules that we can offer our customers to help this integration.

 These may be scripted alerting, customised reporting on driver stats or just workflow management that actually allows them to translate data between our solutions and their other systems. Integration can become seamless – there are even situations where they don’t even need to log into our system, they are just communicating with the cloud and getting the data straight out of it.

Look out for the next part of this exclusive interview coming soon...

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