The Benefits of Integrating Telematics & Fleet Management Software

Thanks to telematics, you can gather more data about your fleet than ever before, but what is telematics and how does it make sense of that data?

You’ll have heard of telematics, but do you really understand what it is and, more importantly, how it can help you? Breaking it down to the basics, telematics can:

• Track your vehicles
• Monitor diagnostics (warning lights, fault codes, etc)
• Oversee driver behaviour
• Track fuel usage and efficiency
• Plan routes

Which means if you have access to this data, you’re sitting on a goldmine of information about how your employees behave behind the wheel, as well as data on how the vehicles are performing.

But what does all the data really mean and what can you do with it? Even high quality information will quickly lose value if you have to work extra hard to understand it. So while telematics is fantastic you need to remember that it’s only by placing the data in context that you can really start to see the bigger picture.

For example, telematics may alert you to a fault code on a vehicle, but what do you do with this information? If the information generated never leaves the telematics software is it providing actionable information on defects or is it just raw data?

We recommend combining the telematics data with a fleet and maintenance management system – this way, the fault codes can be raised as defects and resolved before any serious issue or downtime occurs.

And it’s the same story with driver behaviour data. A fleet management system can reveal the bigger picture by comparing vehicle and fuel costs, training effectiveness, automated alters and more.

We think a good fleet management system should be able to:

• Integrate seamlessly with other systems and software
• Easily sort through complex amounts of data
• Be adaptable to business needs
• Create reports that are relevant to your business
• Provide relevant information when it’s needed
• Provide the information in a simple, appropriate format

To make the most of telematics, you need to integrate the data into any good enterprise level fleet information system – giving you all the data you will ever need to make your fleet and your drivers safe and legally compliant.