The future of smart technology and future fleet management is now here.
Designed to tell you what you don’t know, systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) learn from your data over time to deliver personalised analytics and insights.
With all this vehicle and operational data, fleet management solutions turn this info into visual insights to offer businesses significant benefits.
Research conducted by McKinsey reveals transport companies that embrace analytics in their operations can generate an additional three to five per cent return in profits.
Here are three useful data insights, according to Teletrac Navman, that will drastically improve your business operations.
Fuel Use
Fuel is the second largest expense for Australian transport businesses, as discovered in the 2019 Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report. While AI-based fleet management software lets you track your assets in real-time, you’ll also have a clear view of your vehicle’s idle times, along with insights into harsh usage like over-revving, speed or overly heavy braking.
By combining GPS fleet tracking with these insights in real-time, you can see exactly where delays are occurring to cut down on idle time that churns through fuel.
With built-in search, you can ask the system where idle or excessive driving is occurring, showing you where there is opportunity to improve driver habits and reduce fuel costs. Routes can also be better optimised. Back office workers can guide workers to jobsites via the quickest route possible with turn-by-turn voice navigation.
You can see where delays are occurring by viewing replays of each driver’s day.
That is overlayed with vehicle performance data alongside speed and altitude graphs, allowing you to see where there is opportunity to improve routes to cut fuel costs.
The Telematics Benchmark Report found businesses leveraging the power of technology reduced their fuel use by an average of 9.5 per cent. Where fuel costs can easily go into the six figures, this is a dramatic fuel saving for any business.
Job and Driver Status
Businesses are working around the clock to meet the increased demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you still need to effectively manage your resources while ensuring workers are safe and compliant.
Fleet management systems enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning offer instant visualisations of driver and asset data. With a quick glance, you can see where all your workers are and the status of their current job.
If an urgent job comes through, you can use the system to assign the nearest employee. You can also better schedule jobs based on a driver’s real-time working hours and fatigue status. The last thing you want to do is put your workers at risk.
A clearer view of each drivers’ work and rest hours takes shape with visual dashboards and compliance insights which are built into familiar tracking views that also cover vehicle maintenance information, mass data, and speed management. Rest assured your workers are compliant with Chain of Responsibility (CoR) requirements, drivers are safe and effectively managing fatigue.
Smart telematics also offer insights into driver behaviour. Managers and back office workers can easily identify problem trends and address them accordingly.
Set up a geofence around common crash sites, alerting drivers to steer clear or take an alternate route. You are able to drill into the data to get a better insight into what is happening instantly — no more combing through reports that are pages long.
Vehicle Maintenance
The physical condition of your vehicles plays a vital role in driver safety. Small errors can lead to potentially fatal consequences. Sending a truck off for immediate repairs, or even before it needs servicing, throws out your job scheduling, putting you at risk of missing deadlines.
Electronic pre-trip checklists keep maintenance teams aware of any new or potential faults. If the issue is severe, the vehicle can be grounded before it leaves the yard, or parts can be ordered to be fitted once the vehicle returns.
Alongside intrinsic engine management and vehicle performance metrics, you get data on potential vehicle faults to help you swiftly address issues.
By combining electronic pre-trip checklists, vehicle maintenance schedules and vehicle analytics with data like engine hours, odometer values and service history, operators have a comprehensive understanding of the current state of their fleet.
You can schedule jobs accordingly by relying on real-time analytics, instead of systems that just report out data and make you read between the lines or manual paper service logbooks that could be outdated or filled out with inaccurate information.
Not only does all this data streamline vehicle servicing, but you’re guaranteeing the safety of your drivers and other road users.
According to the Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report, only one quarter of Australian transport businesses are using big data to inform their business operations.
Organisations that jump on advanced technologies like smart telematics solutions will immediately reap the benefits. With a complete view over your business, you can use data insights to reduce operational costs, improve driver safety, streamline vehicle servicing and improve your customer service.