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1. ®
magazine
DRIVING VALUE dollars
turning fleet data into
BY LISA BONNEMA
WITH THE RIGHT STRATEGY, M2M CAN HELP FLEET
MANAGERS MANEUVER THE ROUGH DATA TERRAIN
GUIDING THEM DOWN THE ROAD TO PROFITABILITY.
W
hen it comes to fleet- “When we first did the pilot, it was very
management systems, there overwhelming because we didn’t know
is certainly no shortage of what we were looking for,” he says. “We
technology solutions—or data for that had so much data, we didn’t know what
matter. Today’s systems can provide to do with it.”
gobs of fleet information, ranging It wasn’t until O’Connell and his
from realtime GPS (global positioning team started to segment the data that
system) tracking and engine diagnostics they began to get a clear idea of what
to whether or not your driver is wearing the system could do for the company’s
his seatbelt. And while information is bottomline. “I don’t need a second-by-
certainly power, some of today’s fleet second of everything,” he explains. “I
managers are finding there can be too need snapshots of data, and I need to
much of a good thing. know when things change. I also need to
That was certainly the case for Mike prioritize what is important to us.”
O’Connell, director of fleet at Frito- But when you are swimming in data,
Lay. When the snack giant decided how do you even know what to reach
to add telematics to its fleet of 17,000 for? The answer to that question will
delivery trucks, the business possibili- vary by company, of course, but there are
ties were endless—an opportunity that some current trends that are leading fleet
both excited and bewildered O’Connell. managers down the road to profitability.
Reprinted with permission from the July/Aug 2011 issue of Connected World magazine www.connectedworldmag.com

2. GO5 is a GPS vehicle-
tracking device that can
track g-forces, engine
and battery health
assessments, and more.
NAVIGATING THE DATA certainly don’t have time to translate systems and can create “geofences”
There is no question the transportation stacks of data reports. The key, Bonte to react to changes in location. “The
industry understands the importance explains, is finding a good data-process- software will watch the vehicle in
of technology. ABI Research estimates ing solution that does the work for you operation and if it sticks to the rules, it
this year, fleet-management systems and, more importantly, creates value out is silent,” explains Dale Calder, founder
subscriptions will surpass 2 million, with of the data that is being collected. “I of Axeda. “But if for some reason it falls
that number quickly climbing to more would really look at companies that can behind or goes outside of the geofence
than 3 million by 2015. According to actually provide that business intel- … it can notify someone who can take
Dominique Bonte, ABI’s group director ligence dimension and not just work action on it.”
of telematics and navigation, the problem with a hardware vendor or a software Calder says the trend is to use the
is many companies never moved beyond vendor that sells black boxes or software platform to correlate the telematics data
“the dot on the map” GPS provided—a packages and then leaves you very much with other logistical information such
misstep Bonte believes was largely caused to your own devices,” he says. as routing and the supply chain. “By
by a lack of vendor support. “It was very The good news is vendors are stepping tying all those things together, you start
much pushing technology and then once up to the plate with a new generation having the software do things for you,”
it was sold, it was up to the fleet manager of automated solutions that take the Calder remarks. “So the person who was
to try and do something with it,” he says. burden off of the fleet operator. Foxboro, watching 50 trucks can now handle 500
But like most of today’s executives, Mass.,-based Axeda, for example, offers trucks because he doesn’t have to watch
fleet managers are trying to do more a platform that allows users to build them—the system watches for him. He
with less manpower, which means they location-based services into telematics just has to handle the exceptions.”
Reprinted with permission from the July/Aug 2011 issue of Connected World magazine www.connectedworldmag.com

3. Focusing on the exceptions has
certainly worked for Frito-Lay. Using
the GO5 telematics system from
Geotab, the snack provider has created
data “scorecards” that are helping
O’Connell identify vehicles that are
not meeting idle and out-of-route mile
goals—the two metrics the company is
measuring to drive down fuel costs.
To meet its out-of-route mile goals,
for example, the company integrates
engineering data from its routing system
with the actual mileage measured
from its telematics system. “We take
those engineered routes against actual,
and then we scorecard the variants,”
O’Connell explains. If a vehicle falls
outside of the target mileage range,
O’Connell is automatically notified and
can respond appropriately.
And Frito-Lay is reaping the benefits.
According to O’Connell, the company
is just shy of meeting its 50% reduction
in idling goal, and it hasn’t even finished
equipping its entire fleet with the
telematics system. “You don’t have to be
100% implemented to still influence the Today’s fleet-management systems can keep track of where
organization,” O’Connell says. “As we trucks are supposed to be, and compare that information to
phase in regions, we are absolutely seeing where they actually are. This can cut down on workers taking a
performance flow through, and we are little “time off” while technically on the job.
meeting our fuel plan.”
INSURED SAVINGS
Driver measurements such as idle time
and out-of-route miles are just two can now tell operators if drivers are use telematics will have a clear advan-
examples of one of the most recent speeding, heavily braking, aggressively tage over companies that do not use the
shifts in fleet management, according turning, and perhaps falling asleep at the technology. “You can actually monitor
to Colin Sutherland, who is the vice wheel. In addition to increasing effi- your fleet closely and take corrective
president of sales at Geotab. “Prior to ciency and reducing wear and tear on the action way before the government is
2010, I can say most fleets were just vehicle, monitoring driver behavior can going to find out,” she says. “So you can
interested in managing their running help operators weed out the bad drivers meet the new government standards and
cost per mile, which would be fuel, and potentially prevent accidents before improve your positioning in terms of
tire, maintenance, cost of the asset,” he they even happen. quality of your fleet.”
explains. “But, of course, as the economy With the Dept. of Transportation’s In fact, some companies are taking
changes and sometimes you are driving new Compliance, Safety, Accountability these solutions a step further and using
significantly fewer miles because your (CSA 2010) initiative—which will hold telematics systems to drive down insur-
business is gone … the idea of analyz- drivers and their employers accountable ance costs. According to Sutherland,
ing your fleet based on running cost per for unsafe driving—enhancing safety pest-control service provider Orkin has
mile had to change.” is certainly at the forefront of several been successfully doing that for more
As a result, some fleet operators are motor carriers’ minds. Sylvia Karmanoff than eight years now, and other compa-
now using their telematics systems is highly experienced in the area of nies have just recently started to see
to measure the one thing they can fleet management. She is managing the benefits available from the strategy.
control—driving behaviors. Telematics director of technology consulting firm “Fleets can reduce between $1,000-
systems equipped with accelerometers KEMSI and believes companies that $2,000 per vehicle per year in claim
Reprinted with permission from the July/Aug 2011 issue of Connected World magazine www.connectedworldmag.com

4. costs,” Sutherland says. “Self-insurance how I want him to respond—(either) for the company by allowing workers
claim reduction costs for some fleets yes/no, type a full response, or use one to do more work in less time, it saved
equal the fuel savings that they can get of my canned responses. The key value the cable provider costs by reducing the
from telematics.” proposition in the whole thing is stream- number of contract laborers it needed to
Many insurance companies are also lining communication between the field hire overall.
starting to offer discounts to fleet opera- and the backoffice.”
tors that implement telematics systems ON THE HORIZON
with safety-measurement capabilities, The idea of doing more with less will
continue to be a key trend for fleet
management, according to Ewing.
As fleet operators start to add
more hardware and data plans
to their fleets, Ewing says there
A fleet-management system can accurately track a vehicle’s whereabouts, but will have to be some consolidation.
that’s just the beginning. Today managers are monitoring idling, hard braking, “You are starting to introduce a lot of
routes, and engine health. different form factors and data plans
into the vehicle—smartphones, laptops,
and Garmin displays,” he says. “I
continue to see that consolidating into
fewer form factors; otherwise it’s going
a move Sutherland believes will make to get really crowded in the truck.”
insurance reduction the largest trend in According to Ewing, a large cable Jeff Newman is the senior vice
fleet management. “Frankly, it will be provider was able to use its telematics president of business development for
defining the telematics industry for the systems to increase the number of work telematics hardware supplier Enfora,
next three years,” he says. orders it completed in a day. “Once they and he says the concept of mobile
installed our system with a Garmin on hotspots may offer fleet operators a way
INSIDE THE CAB
Another more recent trend in fleet
management is connecting drivers to
the backend office to increase efficiency
and, in turn, drive sales. Todd Ewing,
senior product manager at Sage
Quest, says this strategy has
been especially beneficial
for metro fleet operators “You can actually monitor
such as plumbers,
cable technicians,
your fleet closely and take
and utilities. corrective action way before
By using Sage
Quest’s system,
the government is going to
which includes find out.”
under-the-dash equip-
ment from hardware — Sylvia Karmanoff, KEMSI
supplier Enfora and an in-cab
display from Garmin, Ewing
says companies are essentially auto-
mating their business.
“It’s giving them a remote way to
deliver stops without having to have
paper sheets, without phone calls and
updates and statuses,” Ewing explains. it, they were able to go from 110 to 115 to consolidate data plans and integrate
“As a dispatcher, I can send a simple work orders per tech per month, up to all of the fleet’s critical data, including
message down, have it appear on the an average of 160 orders,” he says. Not cargo inventory. Fleet managers would
Garmin as a pop-up icon, and decide only did the system increase efficiency
Reprinted with permission from the July/Aug 2011 issue of Connected World magazine www.connectedworldmag.com

5. “You are starting to introduce
a lot of different form factors
and data plans into the
likely be on board
with a solution
vehicle ...”
that made it easier — Todd Ewing, Sage Quest
to consolidate all data
through one system.
“That hasn’t been done
before because typically those
have been one-to-one relation-
ships in wireless,” Newman says. “Now
with this mobile-hotspot concept, you
can actually scale and manage differ-
ent wireless technologies inside of one
concentrator, and you can aggregate software solution. Cloud-based systems
those back to a backend system that can are your best bet, he says, or combined
manage all of that information.” solutions that involve several vendors to
Of course, it’s anybody’s guess as to provide a comprehensive system.
what tomorrow’s fleet-management “Every fleet and every segment
systems will look like, which is exactly is different,” Bonte notes. “What’s
why Bonte of ABI Research says it is important is that the fleet manager can
important for companies to think ahead be assured that when he works with a
and choose solutions that are based provider, that provider will be able to
on an open strategy so they aren’t tied support his needs not just today, but in
to one specific piece of hardware or the foreseeable future.”
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR DRIVER?
Today’s telematics systems are not only to identify an employee that was padding multiple fuel purchases in which the location
helping fleet operators get a clearer picture hours and falsifying time-sheets. In addition, of the truck was not verified, and the
of what their vehicles are doing, but also by using the reporting suite’s new fuel card customer had the proof it needed to handle
what the people inside their vehicles are application, the customer detected the same the situation appropriately.
doing. Using a combination of GPS technol- employee was committing fuel card fraud. The fuel card reporting solution, developed
ogy and accelerometers, fleet operators are By combining GPS tracking data with by Wright Express, is also capable of calculat-
starting to separate the safe drivers from the fuel card purchase data, the customer was ing MPG data and anomalies, as well as the
erratic drivers and, in turn, are improving able to generate reports on all fuel card easy identification of non-fuel purchases and
the quality and safety of their fleets. In transactions, and more importantly, see an IFTA (Intl. Fuel Tax Assn.) state mileage/
fact, thanks to some creative data use, fleet flagged activity where a specified vehicle fuel purchase report. According to GPS
operators can even separate loyal employees was not present for the associated purchase Insight, advanced data tools like fuel card
from those who commit the worst chicanery. transaction. After reviewing a color-coded reports are taking fleet management to the
GPS Insight, a supplier of GPS fleet- report—green for verified purchases and red next level by putting the control back into
tracking solutions, said one of its customers for potential fraud—the customer was able the hands of fuel operators—and taking the
recently used its telematics reporting suite to see that the employee was actually making wheel away from unfit drivers.
Reprinted with permission from the July/Aug 2011 issue of Connected World magazine www.connectedworldmag.com