Ways to do this are not always immediately obvious, or in fact very easy, but when uncovered they can come as an apparent ‘ray of light'. Better use of technology, such as tracking and navigation, may hold the key and offer some interesting findings.
Today's congested traffic conditions can be very frustrating, wasting fuel from idling engines and valuable time that should be spent earning, not to mention increased pollution and driver stress. But telematics can make a significant impact on reducing these problems, leading to more jobs in a day and lower fuel bills.
It's not just simply a matter of having a satnav in your vehicle either, although this is an excellent driving aid. Integrated systems, or ‘connected navigation' to use the telematics industry jargon, combine vehicle tracking with satellite navigation and two-way communication. This can help you get more out of your workforce, give you information about trends that inform better business decision making, help keep your employees safe and you stay in compliance with legislation.
Research by leading telematics company TomTom WORK shows that a connected navigation system can result in:
- 10% more jobs in a day
- 40% saving in mobile ‘phone costs
- 11% reduction in driving distances
- 15 % cut in fuel costs
Who wouldn't want business improvements and savings like that? Satellite navigation and vehicle tracking have been around for some time but these days they've become a lot more sophisticated and satnav can now include detailed route intelligence. TomTom have patented their own technology called IQ routesTM, which includes average speeds at certain times of the day along a particular route, or where you are likely to encounter hold-ups and congestion.
This, as well as live information such as HD TrafficTM, enables drivers to avoid congestion and quickly find alternative routes. All of this information is fed back to the office via GPS to enable you to give customers accurate arrival times. There's plenty of evidence too that satellite navigation reduces driver stress and keeps people safer.
Vehicle tracking devices can also deliver a lot more information than simply the location of the vehicle. You can capture data on instances of excessive speeding, long periods of idling and out-of-hours private vehicle use. This can help you to cut your fuel bills as well as enabling you and your employees to stay on the right side of regulations or taxation issues, such as vehicle Benefit In Kind tax rules, Lone Worker legislation, Duty of Care, and the Working Time Directive.
Mobile ‘phone bills may also now be a significant cost to your company and they can also pose a risk to the safety of people on the move. Modern satnav devices now come with built in hands-free and also text to speech functionality, so orders can be sent from the office and read aloud through the sat nav unit, reducing the use of mobiles and increasing safety. The driver simply touches the screen to accept the instruction and navigate straight to the customer.
Back at base they can give customers an accurate time of arrival and also monitor the entire job flow of orders, order acceptance and order completion between office and driver. Integration with back-office functions can even result in the immediate print-out of an invoice, thus improving job flow and ultimately cash flow.
Connected navigation systems are available at a range of very affordable prices, for any size of business, and you can expect pay-back on your investment within six to eight months. An important thing to remember here is that you not only have to find a system that meets your immediate requirements, but need to choose a solid provider who is constantly innovating and can satisfy your needs as they evolve and grow with your business.
The key is to select a strong, stable and well-established company with the core competencies to deliver best-in-class solutions, whatever your budget. Look also for a company whose R&D spend and new intelligent features show that they actually understand the market and where it is going and use this to deliver high value products and services, not just ‘me too' products.
Careful choice of telematics partner and products will be an investment in time and effort well made. You'll start to see savings almost immediately. Your customers will be more satisfied, leading to repeat business, and while employees might perhaps at first be sceptical that there's a ‘big brother' aspect to this technology, they'll soon be won over by its many benefits both to them and to the business.
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