Fleet management is, by nature, a complex beast that requires constant monitoring and adjustment as requirements change. Telematics—systems that track fleet data in real-time—has completely changed the game for the better.
Telematics has changed the way we operate fleets. Gone are the days of manual entries, high risk of human error, and wondering why your fleet expenses keep increasing without being able to pinpoint why.
Whether you have a fleet of five vehicles or 50 000, the right telematics solution will ensure your fleet is always running at its best and adding the value it should to your business.
It’s important to note, however, that simply installing a telematics system (or simply GPS) is not the answer. An efficient telematics system includes the following:
- The correct telematics system that collects the data you need to optimise your fleet
- Software algorithms that can automate data collection and reporting so that you don’t have to sift through all the information
- Software/Algorithms that can red flag any concerns and keep track of route and maintenance scheduling (to name just a few)
- A system that will generate reports that are useful so they can be turned into actions to improve your fleet operations
- An expert fleet partner that can assist with all of the above and ensure you are offered the right solutions for your specific business and fleet needs
Time is money
Instead of having to look at data for each and every vehicle on your fleet, which is impossible in most cases, you have an automated system that collects and reads the data for you and compiles reports that will flag any concerns. Then you only have to take a look at the cases that have been flagged.
Using fuel management as an example, EQSTRA uses an algorithm that rates the probability of fuel fraud per vehicle. This allows you to flag high-probability vehicles and dig into the data to see what is going on. This significantly reduces the time spent looking for the problem vehicles and allows you to zone in on those that have already been flagged.
Dirty data is dangerous
A big part of effective fleet management is data cleansing. When data is collected there are certain ‘weak’ spots where errors can slip in. If you don’t know where/how to look for—and eliminate—these errors you will be working with incorrect data. This can be frustrating at best and at worst can lead to unnecessary and expensive decisions that would have been avoided if you had a system that could automatically pick up inconsistencies and potential errors.
One example is when vehicles are being refuelled. Many fuel cards require that the odometer reading be included with the transaction. This means that a single typo from a fuel attendant can change your odometer reading from thousands to millions. This will completely throw out your vehicle performance data. Unless you know that a typo occurred, it’s going to take a while to figure out why all your data for this vehicle is suddenly outside the norm.
Data experts know how to spot anomalies and make sure that they are in fact errors before correcting or eliminating them. This is where a tried and tested automated monitoring system will flag that an error has occurred, saving you a lot of time and money.
A once-off issue can easily be a mistake, but if the data shows consistently high consumption figures then there is definitely something wrong. EQSTRA has seen cases where vehicle consumption was reading as high as 50 litres per 100 km for a vehicle that should only be using 10 litres per 100 km. And that’s only on one vehicle. If your fleet is losing this much money to fuel fraud over multiple vehicles it quickly adds up.
In one example a company had a fleet of over 100 Toyota Hilux vehicles. The telematics monitoring system picked up that a certain vehicle was filled with 51 litres of fuel and then travelled only 30 km before again filling 75 litres in the same vehicle. This is a very clear indication of fuel fraud. Everyone with a fleet of vehicles knows that with the price of fuel no business can afford to lose this amount of money on a regular basis. And that’s just one example.
By opting for a telematics system that interfaces with your fuel management data, you will receive alerts/regular reports (it depends on your preference) when suspicious transactions take place. This allows you to quickly identify what happened and address the situation before you suffer more fuel losses.
EQSTRA uses GPS data to validate distance readings that are received from the odometer, which can be compared to the information captured by the bank when the fuel was purchased. If these systems are showing discrepancies/differ by more than 10%, it is a clear indication that something isn’t adding up. This is one way to ensure data is cleansed and that you are working with accurate information.
It’s important to know that some companies prefer to have access to all of the ‘back end’ information used to generate alerts or reports. This allows them to do their own double-checking of the data being collected by the telematics system. At EQSTRA it’s entirely up to the client what information they want to see on their dashboard.
Data interpretation
The above is an excellent example of how important the interpretation of data is. Without the algorithm that identifies a spike in mileage (incorrect odometer reading) or the increase in fuel spend, it would take an incredible amount of time to sift through all the data and find out exactly where this fuel overspend is taking place. You would have to compare fuel usage of all vehicles to see which ones are spiking, and then look at route history to see if the spikes were legitimate, and then comb through bank statements to see when and where the additional fuel was purchased…..you get the picture!
Small mistakes can throw out all your fleet data and if you’re not able to identify mistakes you will be working off incorrect information. For this reason, telematics and algorithms are the only way to stay on track as they immediately point you in the right direction.
A few years ago EQSTRA did a fleet audit for a new client in order to identify which telematics solutions to implement and the audit showed that this client had already lost more than R800 000 over a 5-year period due to fuel fraud. EQSTRA managed to bring this down to near zero within the first six months of their partnership.
You must be able to trust your data
With a robust telematics system in place and a fleet partner that knows what to do with all the data, you are able to keep your fleet risk and costs to a minimum.
But this can only happen if the data you are collecting is correct and if any errors are automatically picked up and flagged. A good example comes from an FMCG company that was operating a fleet for 500 sales reps. These 500 reps serviced around 40 000 customers between them and one of their KPIs was to visit at least 95% of the customers allocated to them on a monthly basis.
The reason for these visits was to check on stock supply at all locations, ensure the company’s brand merchandising was correctly displayed and in good condition, and also to capture any feedback from the outlets on how sales of their goods could be improved.
Before partnering with EQSTRA these sales reps were being measured on time spent with customers. When arriving at the customer they would log a call to say they are now at customer X, and when they left they would again log a call saying they have now left customer X.
The problem was that the company had no way to verify this information which led to many ‘ghost calls’ being logged. Some sales reps would log outlet visits and inspections without ever going to the location at all. Some reps simply didn’t have the time to visit everyone and in other cases, there was no reason to visit specific customers. Whatever the motivation, ghost calls were being logged.
EQSTRA came on board and discovered that ghost calls added up to 2.5 days per rep—which means the company was losing 2.5 days per employee to ghost calls.
The following was implemented:
- A digital map of all customer locations was drawn up.
- An algorithm was designed to plan the most efficient routes and schedules for sales reps.
- An automated GPS system was installed to check that vehicles were in fact at the locations indicated when a call was logged for that customer.
Results
- Time spent at the customer base increased by 15.8%.
- More efficient route planning reduced fuel spend and increased customer contact time.
- Many knock-on positives such as improved merchandise displays and quicker re-stocking happened because all customer visits were now taking place instead of ghost calls being logged.
- No more employee time was lost due to ghost calls.
This is an excellent example of how much can be lost when you’re working with false data. This company had a system in place, but the data was easy to corrupt. By implementing a telematics and tracking solution EQSTRA was able to ensure the data can be verified. With the picture provided by telematics it was possible to dramatically improve the operations of this fleet.
A critical point: many fleets with existing telematics systems aren’t making full use of the data available. Many companies don’t realise they already have access to specific data that could help them solve many fleet frustrations. This is simply because fleet operations and telematics isn’t their field of expertise.
Some even spend a small fortune on adding additional systems not realising their current system already has the capability to track the information they need. They simply need a fleet expert to review their systems and set them up to track (or extract) the information that’s needed.
Reduced risk
Every fleet is different, so the solutions applied, data collected, and corrections that result will always vary. But there are a few points that are almost universal when you invest in the correct fleet telematics system and partner with fleet experts to interpret the data:
- Cash Savings: from fuel to vehicle maintenance
- Time savings: which translates into financial savings, but also the ability to keep focusing on your core business
- Insurance savings: with the right systems in place you will have fewer vehicle incidents or need for repairs. This improves your claims record and therefore reduces your insurance costs.
Healthy fleet ecosystem
The details in this post, and so many on our blog, reiterate just how interlinked all fleet operations are. If one area is performing poorly it quickly affects the rest of your fleet. The scary part is that without a benchmark you might not realise that your fleet is overspending and underperforming.
On the flip side, when fleet issues are correctly identified and fixed, it improves performance across the board and can lead to savings in nearly all aspects of your fleet operations.
The only way to get a clear and accurate picture of all your fleet operations is to have the correct data collection systems in place and a partnership with experts who know how to use this data to optimise your fleet operations and save your business a lot of money.
No matter the size of your fleet it's always worth it to get an expert fleet audit done, contact our fleet management team today to discuss your requirements.
