The Brave New World of Telematics

Business Insights
05/07/2017

Fears about telematics are over as fleet managers embrace the brave new vehicle-tracking world in a big way. More businesses than ever, it appears, are using the new technology.

There was a time when this area covered little more than the task of logging where a vehicle was, or had, been with the resulting data being processed by an in-house IT section.

But in barely more than a decade, telematics has grown to incorporate data gathering on fuel consumption and engine performance, driver identity and fault codes which are then whizzed up into some cloud-based app for further analysis. And thanks to super-smart other types of software, telematics incorporates integrating the data to relevant fields such as risk management, safety compliance, invoicing and maintenance. It can also be connected to driver training, CRM or route planning systems, thus becoming a powerful business intelligence tool to help fleet managers optimise efficiency and performance.

Such wizardry did bring some concerns, with people worrying about the constant monitoring, but the benefits have now been found to vastly outweigh these fears.

The most recent figures contained in a report from the RAC showed that telematics’ use almost doubled last year, a clear indication of its acceptance. RAC Telematics MD Nick Walker said that businesses’ recognition of the benefits it brought far outweighed previous possible concerns about tracking.

“The world has moved on; the old ‘Big Brother’ image is well behind us as people see the benefits and look at how they can bring them into their own fleets,” he said. “One of the very clear factors that we saw from the report, and from what we’re hearing from customers, is that telematics is now being associated with cost reduction, cost benefits, more insight and duty of care, than it is about pure tracking and the older benefits of telematics.

“People are looking for things like vehicle condition monitoring and vehicle diagnostics. When vehicles have faults, fleet managers want to know so they can anticipate and plan downtime. Vehicle health is a real key part of the future of telematics, and that is really nicely aligned to what we’re doing at the RAC.”

Because its core business is keeping people and machines on the road, the RAC has been focussing heavily on vehicle diagnostics.

“We’ve also invested in the technology to deliver this to fleet managers so they can get that genuine insight, to keep their fleets on the road, minimise downtime and maximise uptime,” he added.

With the increased focus on the ‘connected car’, businesses are expecting telematics technology to enable more integration with other motoring services, Mr Walker pointed out. For example, half of those surveyed say they wanted direct reporting of faults from the telematics device to their fleet manager or chief mechanic, so they knew as soon as possible when there was a problem. Also cited by respondents among the top reasons for introducing telematics to their fleets were: lower fuel costs (55%), fewer accidents (43%) and a reduction in maintenance costs (31%).

The RAC report not also looked over recent history, it also set out to see what fleet managers wanted to see from telematics in the future, such as greater integration with other motoring services, including breakdown and accident management.

Mr Walker said: “Telematics has delivered a huge amount of power into the hands of the fleet manager or business owner who can now see what is happening with their vehicles and be proactive in terms of how they deal with it.

“What our research suggested was a very strong level of telematics take-up in the UK, and our message to businesses is that with this level of technology available, it is vital that fleet managers make the right choice and get the right solution for their business. “It is no longer about just keeping tabs on staff or vehicles, it’s much more about managing the vehicle as an asset.”

So, if you haven’t already incorporated this key technology into your fleet, you are really missing out. It is time to take advantage of all the benefits telematics can offer today’s fleet manager and business owner.