MAKING TELEMATICS WORK FOR YOU

The science of telematics then, includes a little bit of technical savvy, a little bit of personnel management and a healthy dose of doing what a fleet manager should have been doing right from the word go.

None of which should be of any great concern or consideration on the part of whoever is at the top of your company/ organisation, unless they are the fleet manager, of course.

It is important to realise that there is more to telematics than putting little black boxes into your fleet vehicles and expecting miracles to happen.

Once you have the information those little black boxes provide, to effect change and reap some of that return on investment, you must make the time to go through the data and act on it.

Another vital key to the successful operation telematics is overcoming the stigma of Big Brother is watching; and while this is becoming less and less of a visible problem, the issue is still there on the part of any driver who faces the prospect of having a reporting device in their vehicle.

The easiest way to combat this is to not hide what’s going on, engage with your drivers and implement robust processes, in line with keeping your people safe as the number one priority.

Anecdotally, we are aware of a significant company which uses rental vehicles to supplement their own fleet to provide vehicles more fit-for-purpose for non-core business operations.

In one instance, the driver of the rental vehicle had two weeks of operation where the vehicle was “unobservable’’ and in the last week before the rental term was up, a black box was inexplicably fitted to the car without the driver’s knowledge.

The driver found out about the device through second-hand channels and was outraged at first, then concerned for her position within the company, which to date, had been fine.

Had she done something wrong? Why was she suddenly being tracked? Did the boss not trust her? Were her driving skills being questioned?

And thus the cycle of employee/employer fear was perpetuated.

The driver was then transferred back to her core role which required a certain amount of good will on her part in regards long hours, not all of which were paid.

She was, naturally, less inclined to undertake the additional work, which could have resulted in her terminating her job completely. She has stayed with the company, but she is operating on a ‘’work to rule’’ basis.

Her boss is a little puzzled by her attitude change – she was always a driver he could depend upon to pick up the slack and now, the relationship is tinged with hostility and mistrust, all because of poor management and communication.

As far as the tools of telematics is concerned, yes, it is important to understand what you are buying and how appropriate it is for what you want it to do.

Then there is the ROI computation to consider, but above all else, if your business relies on drivers especially, you must treat those drivers with the respect they deserve.

For those who thought telematics was little more than a buzzword, wake up. It’s now become more of a byword for fleet management, especially with denser traffic volumes and a greater focus on efficiency and workplace safety.

This is no pie-in-the-sky bandwagon. Telematics is growing day-by-day and – unless you want your business consigned to irrelevancy – the time to have the conversation with your fleet manager and a telematics provider is right now.