In a world of rising costs and need for improved efficiencies, organisations with fleets of all shapes and sizes are turning to telematics as one aspect of their fleet solution. Telematics is an essential part of any fleet management solution that has capabilities in capturing data which can help reduce costs, improve driver safety and productivity, while unlocking numerous beneficial opportunities for your fleet.
But where does the data go?
For best practice, telematics data should integrate with your fleet management software system so your fleet team and departments across your organisation, all have visibility to relevant and easily digestible information. Without this integration, organisations would have to extract and analyse their raw data themselves causing an administrative nightmare.
So, what is telematics?
What is telematics?
Telematics is a means of collecting vehicle data that uses global positioning system (GPS) tracking information and/or on-board vehicle diagnostics (OBD) data to capture fleet information. This is done via an in-car telematics device that is usually plugged into the OBD port, or hard wired where needed.
Fleet telematics devices can capture a range of vehicle and driver information including vehicle locations, live odometer readings, trip data including kilometres driven, date and times of events, driver behaviours, fuel and toll information, idle time, battery levels and more.
Telematics is generally just the ‘how’ behind how your data is captured and is only the starting point to running a more efficient and productive fleet. More importantly however, it’s the amalgamation of your fleet telematics data and fleet management software that enables organisations to really understand how their fleet is being used to be able to make improvements.
How telematics works and why you need it
Once your telematics device captures data, it then sends the information via the cellular network to an online, usually cloud-based, fleet management software system that stores and reports on all your information.
By using telematics across your entire fleet, you’ll gain invaluable insight into almost every aspect of your fleet including how vehicles are actually being used, business and personal use percentages, driver behaviours, pool vehicle bookings and use, fleet operations, fuel and toll information, sustainability reporting and more.
With no more paper logbooks, data entry or lack of visibility over your fleet, you can use telematics to utilise, optimise and make real change for your fleet.
Core benefits of telematics:
| Improves fleet utilisation | Improves driver safety | Minimises operational costs |
| Driver ID captured | Improves driver compliance | Increases fleet security |
In general, the specifications of your telematics devices is far less important than the data collected and valuable insights you receive and are presented with from your fleet management system. As long as your device is 4G compatible and can integrate with a secure fleet management platform to report on your fleet insights, you’ll be able to harness its complete capabilities.
Why you need an integrated telematics and fleet management software system
Having an integrated telematics and fleet management system allows your transfer of data to be easily utilised by your entire team. With centralised visibility for everyone in your organisation, each stakeholder will have access to the information they need to make their jobs easier and help manage a more efficient fleet. For example, your HR team will have access to driver safety reports and your finance team will have access to your FBT logbooks.
LBM’s specific plug and play fleet telematics device does exactly that. All of LBM’s products are integrated with both telematics and our fleet management software solution. Even KeyHub, our all in one, key storage and management unit, integrates with our other products.
It’s our integration capabilities that hold the key to producing valuable insights your team needs to make better decisions to run a cost effective, efficient fleet. It’s not just about the telematics device.
How an integrated fleet system works
An integrated fleet system works by integrating trip data from vehicles to your fleet management system. A trip in a vehicle is defined by there being a starting and end point of a journey. This trip data is captured by an in-vehicle telematics device and is sent to your cloud based fleet management platform.
Trips can hold critical information to understanding how your fleet is actually being used. Without this information, it can be nearly impossible to establish how many vehicles you need to run your fleet.
Trip data can help determine which vehicles are essential for your fleet to run smoothly, who is using them and is it within your policy requirements, identify vehicles that are being under-utilised to determine which vehicles can be removed or transferred across the organisation, and more making everyone’s jobs easier.
How trip data is captured and what it can tell you with an integrated system:
▼ Telematics device in vehicle ▼
▼ Driver makes a trip ▼
▼ Trip is recorded ▼
▼ Trip notification to driver ▼
▼ Trip classified by driver ▼
Trip information sent to fleet management software platform
▼ What integrated trip data can tell you within each LBM product offering ▼
Vehicles booked by not driven
Vehicles taken without a booking
Returned late
Picked up late
Returned early
Vehicle utilisation
Speeding
Hard braking and acceleration
Rest periods
Dusk and dawn driving Total driving time
RightSizing your fleet
Vehicle utilisation scores
Fit for purpose allocation
Lease budget utilisation
These are only some of the overarching product offering LBM has to offer.
Geofences can also be useful when attached to trips to help you monitor and report on your fuel tax credits, private road use and zone alerts.
What about telematics for electric vehicles?
Once you’re using EVs, certain telematics devices are also smart enough to capture and report on battery levels and even report on the electricity put into vehicles. This can allow you to reimburse employees for home charging if it’s within your policy.
LBM’s solution can support organisations from very beginning of their EV transition through to implementation strategies to actually using EVs in your fleet, and all the unique requirements they come with.
If you’d like to know more about how an integrated telematics and fleet management software system can benefit your fleet, get in contact with our team today.
