Telematics is an integral part of fleet management. Fleets use it at every step of the process, and it has innumerable uses across all fleet operations. Telematics is the technology that tracks data such as location, speed, fuel efficiency, HoS, maintenance needs, and more. It’s instrumental in fleet tracking, ensuring safety, complying with regulations, and keeping vehicles in good working condition to be on the road. Telematics systems are only helpful, however, if fleets implement them appropriately. What are the best uses of telematics systems, and how can fleets harness them to their advantage?
Telematics for Safety
One of the top advantages of telematics is that it improves safety for drivers. Fleet managers can track driver behaviors such as speeding, hard braking, harsh cornering, and rapid acceleration. Systems like Azuga track this behavior and automatically pinpoint drivers for targeted coaching based on the mistakes they frequently make on the road. Fleet managers can also use this data in a driver rewards program like Azuga Driver Rewards, which assigns each driver a safety score based on behaviors tracked by telematics, awarding high-scoring drivers with gift cards and other fun bonuses. These practices create a culture of safety among the fleet and show drivers just how important safety is. There are many ways to use telematics to promote safety for your business. You just have to find what works for your fleet.
Tracking Maintenance Needs
Keeping track of the maintenance needs for so many vehicles can be challenging, especially as your fleet grows in size. Eventually, it becomes impossible to manage manually. That’s why telematics can track maintenance needs for you and alert you when vehicles have specific care requirements, such as engine trouble or tire problems. Furthermore, if you set up scheduled maintenance alerts, you can prevent trouble before it even occurs. Preventative maintenance is another way that managers keep their drivers safe. It not only keeps fleet drivers safe but everyone else on the road as well. It even keeps fleets productive by preventing breakdowns that cause downtime while vehicles are on the side of the road or undergoing repairs. Keeping track of maintenance doesn’t have to be a concern with telematics at your disposal.
Tracking Location
The most prominent feature of telematics is tracking location, which fleets can use in various ways. Firstly, managers can use it to ensure there is not any unauthorized use of company vehicles. Unauthorized use may seem trivial to the driver, but it can add to the already hefty fuel costs of the business and expose the business to unnecessary liability.
Secondly, tracking prevents theft. If a thief ever targets a vehicle, the fleet manager can use telematics to track exactly where it is and alert the authorities to the vehicle’s location. This increases the vehicle’s recovery chances significantly.
Compliance with Regulations
Keeping compliant with the ever-changing regulations imposed on fleet drivers can be challenging for managers, but it is a critical aspect of fleet management. One primary use that telematics has in keeping fleets compliant is in e-logs. Telematics automatically tracks hours of service, logging data necessary for fleets to have on hand in case of an inspection that can happen at any time. The fines for non-compliance are steep and can hurt a business immensely, so having this data available is crucial to a company’s success.
Going Green and Saving Money
One of telematics’ most appreciated uses is in saving fuel. Fuel efficiency is of optimal importance for most fleets, and telematics helps reduce fuel usage in a variety of ways. First, it can track driving behaviors such as speeding and idling. Managers can view reports that show these behaviors and pinpoint precisely where they need to make changes to save on costs.
Telematics is also instrumental in route optimization, which finds the most fuel-efficient route from Point A to Point B. By using route optimization every day, fleets can save significantly on fuel use while saving time and increasing customer satisfaction.
By tracking vehicle maintenance, telematics also improves fuel economy. Low tire pressure can significantly increase how much fuel a vehicle uses, and telematics can easily track that data and alert managers to the problem.
Conclusion
As you can see, telematics is instrumental to fleets across the board. Tracking helps keep drivers and vehicles safe and helps businesses save money. Azuga offers the best telematics solutions available in the fleet industry. To give our technology a try, simply try a demo on our website today!
