Telematics: Revolutionising fleet management all over the word
Telematics was first introduced over 15 years ago, and since then it’s completely revolutionised the fleet management industry. The original purpose was simple; record the location of vehicles and report on how long journeys had taken. Nowadays, thanks to advancing technologies, it can do much, much more.
At first we perceived the whole idea of telematics as intrusive to our employees; but nowadays it’s widely accepted by both companies and their respective employees. The benefits are also well understood, with many acknowledging that their lives would be much more difficult without it.
The benefits of telematics
As previously mentioned, the core benefits of telematics are to record the location of vehicles and report on how long journeys had taken. However, they now also provide us with intricate information about how the vehicle is being driven.
Aggressive acceleration, sharp cornering and speeds at any given time are just some of the important metrics that we can now measure. This information can help fleet and logistics managers gauge some important insight into how their vehicles are being driven; as well as highlighting any areas where there’s potential to save money.
A study, reported in Fleet News, showed that in 2016 nearly 40% of UK businesses are already using telematics.
The finding indicated that 68% of businesses using telematics saw a reduction in fuel bills and 55% saw a reduction in wear and tear. Meanwhile 48% said there was a reduction in vehicle downtime, contributing to further savings.
Who uses telematics?
You’d be excused for thinking that only companies in the automotive industry use telematics, but that’s not the case at all. Many companies operating in a variety of different industries use telematics to track both their vehicles, and essentially their employees.
It gives managers the opportunity to see the location of their staff whilst they’re out of the office. This may seem intrusive (and in some situations extreme), but it does satisfy a lot of people who hold the positions of power.
Despite this, the area of business that we most frequently use vehicle tracking solutions is most definitively the automotive industry; for obvious reasons.
Telematics connectivity solutions
The majority of telematics solutions are fairly simple. This is because they involve small devices (that are equipped with M2M SIM cards) being fitted into a vehicle. These devices will not necessarily be visible inside the vehicle and may only be active at certain times, but this connectivity remains critical to many large businesses.
As we move forward and our technology evolves, telematics will become more and more complex. The connectivity that we use will become better and our solutions will become more discreet. As this happens the data we produce will become even more accurate; helping to improve our procedures and systems even more.
