TRACKER survey highlights the benefits of fleet and driver monitoring

The latest survey from fleet telematics expert, TRACKER, reveals that 63% of businesses say telematics helped them reduce costs during the tough economic climate. Improving fleet and employee efficiency is the most common reason firms use fleet telematics (54%), followed by a desire to improve customer service levels (44%). TRACKER Fleet is TRACKER’s next generation fleet telematics solution, offering businesses the control and information they need to drive up efficiency and driver safety, while reducing costs.

Making Fleet Savings
63% of those surveyed say telematics saved them money, with 22% stating that TRACKER Fleet improved their fuel consumption through better route planning. The utilities market reported the greatest savings, with 73% of TRACKER customers from this sector saying telematics reduced their costs.

“In the current climate, fleet managers are under pressure to keep costs down and TRACKER Fleet continues to deliver. Now, with fuel prices reaching record highs, it has never been more important for businesses to explore avenues to make savings and our figures firmly show the real benefits telematics can bring to a business’s bottom line,” Stephen Doran, Managing Director for TRACKER comments.

Improving fuel usage was a key reason for investing in telematics for 29% of businesses. However, whilst fuel usage is a significant concern that businesses aim to address through telematics, the survey shows that the key driver for this is reducing cost, rather than their carbon footprint – in fact, just 10% of those surveyed claim to use telematics to cut their CO2 emissions.

Doran adds, “Once again, TRACKER Fleet is bringing real results to our customers. The rising price of fuel means fleet managers need to adopt the latest technology to increase fleet efficiency and reduce their fuel usage.”

Focus on Customer Care
44% of TRACKER customers choose telematics in order to improve customer service levels. It’s not surprising to see that the Service Management industry was most keen to improve in this area with 64% wanting to enhance employee efficiency and 57% focusing on customer service levels.

Doran says, “Our survey clearly demonstrates the return on investment that telematics can bring businesses, as 69% saw most improvement in getting drivers to delivery and callout destinations. 38% of TRACKER clients saw a significant improvement in customer service levels.

Driver Safety
With the increased requirement to meet Duty of Care standards, 29% said improving driver safety was a major reason for installing telematics, with 24% focusing on meeting their Duty of Care. A further 20% said telematics could help them better understand driver habits, whilst 15% said that they wanted it to help them keep an eye on maintenance issues.

“TRACKER Fleet is our enhanced telematics solution, offering a range of important features, including Transient Voltage Detection technology to provide true idling data, a Driving Style module for monitoring driver behaviour and the latest in battery powered modules for assets with no built in power supply, such as trailers. Following feedback from our customers we have relaunched TRACKER Fleet to deliver the very latest in telematics technology, offering a deep level of monitoring and driver behaviour information. And our customer-focused approach is clearly delivering the results businesses need, regardless of size or sector.”