Without telematics, most commercial and public sector fleet owners would be lost (no pun intended). These systems are an essential fleet management tool for any businesses seeking to gain greater visibility and control over their vehicles and assets. In this article, we will describe what telematics is and how these systems work. We will also explain 5 key benefits of adopting a telematics system in your business.
What is Telematics
Telematics is the combination of telecommunications (phone lines and cables) and informatics (computers). Most commonly, telematics is used to monitor fleets of vehicles using GPS technology and on-board diagnostics (OBD) to track an assets movement on a computerised map.
How Do Telematics Systems Work?
A telematics system collects GPS data and vehicle specific data from a vehicles OBDII port and transmits this information via General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), 4G mobile data or satellite communication to a centralised server. This server then interprets the data and enables its display to end users.
Telematics devices can collect a range of data about a vehicle or asset, such as:
- Location
- Speed
- Idling time
- Acceleration and braking
- Fuel consumption
- Vehicle faults
All this data can be viewed in real-time within secure software application, like Dropapin, via a computer, tablet or a mobile device.
The Benefits of Telematics
Adopting a telematics system in your business is essential if you want your fleet operations to run effectively and efficiently. Here are 5 key benefits of implementing telematics to manage your fleet:
1. Lowers fuel costs
Telematics helps you to identify times when your vehicles are wasting fuel. For example, using a GPS tracker, you will be able to see how long each of your vehicles spends idling, as well as which routes are being travelled by your drivers. Using this information, you can change driving behaviours in your business to ensure they are acting in a fuel-efficient manner.
2. Improves driver safety
Telematics helps you to understand how your drivers are behaving on the roads. As previously mentioned, these systems will highlight to you when a driver is braking or accelerating too harshly. Using a solution like Dropapin, it is possible to monitor bad driving habits and make an intervention before an accident occurs.
3. Improves customer service
Knowing where your assets are positioned will have a positive impact on your customer service as you can provide accurate updates to your customers on how close your staff are to the job. Furthermore, for any new call out jobs you can see which of your employees are closest to the job, meaning your staff can get to the job as fast as possible.
4. Reduce unauthorised use of vehicles
A GPS tracking system like Dropapin allows you to create geofence alerts for each of your vehicles. As a result, you can be notified any time the vehicle enters or leaves certain areas. This helps to ensure that your vehicles are only being used during business hours, therefore lowering the risk of an accident taking place.
5. Lowers maintenance costs
Telematics can help to reduce your maintenance costs by enabling you to track the maintenance required for each of your vehicles or assets. Monitoring driving behaviour and vehicle wear and tear will allow you to carry out any preventative maintenance before your vehicle breaks down or becomes unsafe, ultimately saving you money in the long-run.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for taking the time to read our article. We hope you now have a better understanding of telematics. If you have any questions regarding the topics discussed in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. A member of our expert team will always be happy to help.
