GPS Tracking ROI

What if you had a business practice that had only about a 50% success rate and I offered you a service that would increase your yield to over 99% while reducing your annual costs by a factor of say, 100?  You would probably at least read further to see if I had something real in mind or if I had been smoking some prohibited substance, yes?

And what if I told you that you were already engaged in that 50% yield business even if you didn’t want to be?  Surprised, perhaps?

Well, you are in that business and so am I, the convicting and ‘warehousing” of criminals … especially the egregious form categorized as sex offenders. 

Don’t worry, you don’t have to take my word for the wildly optimistic performance claims though, read this excerpt:

TRENTON, N.J. - Electronic tracking bracelets worn by high-risk sex offenders on parole help prevent new assaults, the Parole Board has found.
Of 225 sex offenders monitored by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, only one has been implicated in a new sex crime, according to a report released Wednesday.
“This monitoring strengthens public safety by tracking the most dangerous convicted sex offenders living in New Jersey communities,” Parole Board Chairman Peter Barnes Jr. said…. or read the whole article … it’s quite illuminating.

Recidivism of sexual predator type offenders has an alarmingly high rate.  50% or more repeat their crimes if paroled.  No matter what kind of medication, counseling or other state-funded programs are provided the (almost all) men repeat their crimes again and again.  The only real solution we allow in our present day society is to incarcerate the offenders (usually after they have repeated their crime while on parole and thus ruined at least two children’s lives).  Warehousing is a horribly expensive solution, running up into the $30,000 and more per year range … hundreds of thousands of dollars per prisoner lifetime.  Not to mention the tragedy of being unable to offer any alternative treatment.

But just pause for a moment and think on what the state of New jersey has found … more than proving my frequently expressed contention that GPS tracking for parolees (at the cost of a few hundred per year per offender) saves a fortune in money, saves children who will never know, and saves even the lives of these man who can thus contribute something to society … perhaps even supporting their own families … instead of repeating their crimes again and again.

If your state isn’t into this with both feet it is time to find out why?  GPS tracking does not cost, it pays and pays and pays.

Yesterday I was on the expressway and it started to pour.  traffic, of course, didn’t seem to slow down all that much, and then up ahead I saw the sudden glow of dozens of brake lights as everyone came to a halt … thankfully with no wild swerving or skidding.  We were stuck in barely moving bumper-to-bumper stop and go for a long time until finally we crept up on the wreck that had created the slowdown … at least two intercity buses and two trucks still at the side of the road … at least one truck driver I later found had died before rescuers could cut him from his mangled cab.  I don’t know how many were injured on the buses, but they certainly didn’t look pretty.  Could one word of warning at the right moment have helped?  We’ll never know.

Messaging: I remembered my first big GPS client, back when I worked for the USAF and had the task of making a GPS tracking system “happen’ for a general who commanded a fleet of more than 2100 vehicles, most with young, inexperienced drivers who covered several million miles per year.  The first system we showed the general for his purchase approval was a very basic one … price means everything, or so some think.  The general looked it over and said, “Not what i want … I want to be able to message any vehicle or the whole fleet whenever I need to.” 

I thought for the moment he was just being picky … later I found out how many accidents that fleet had endured in the past two years and how many letters of condolence the general had written to young men’s families expressing his regret for their deaths or disablement. 

It may have sounded like an excessive ‘want” at the time, but we found an affordable system that did let the general message the troops at will … and when the weather was bad he would haunt the control center, looking at updated weather conditions and sending out warnings of areas where ice was reported, warning people to turn off their speed controls when the temperature dropped below freezing and letting the folks hundreds of miles from home in blinding snow storms know that someone who cared was watching and new what they were going through.  Can’t attach a dollar figure but the accident rate for the first year with GPS tracking was less than half the last year before GPS tracking.  If you lead men and women, in uniform or not, never underestimate the value of letting the “troops” know the boss rides with them.  Messaging for your GPS tracking system can pay off big.

Telematics:  This is one of those 50 cent words that stands for hooking signals about what the systems of the vehicle are doing into the information mix that managers use to manage.  It’s a complex subject, but let me share one quick and easy to understand example.

A client ran a municipal fleet of several hundred vehicles, including nearly 200 pickup trucks.  It was an area that saw snow a lot in the winter and over the years the city users hade demanded that truck after truck be equipped with four wheel drive as they were replaced.  When tracking was brought into the picture nearly 80% of the pickups were four wheel drives.  Give that a little thought.  Not even mentioning the extra fuel it burns, a four wheel drive pickup costs 5 to 6 thousand dollars more over it’s life span than an equivalent two wheel drive.  And, having live din the area I knew how seldom one really needed four wheel drive.

Of course, every department head and driver insisted that their mission needed four wheel drive … so how to prove it without a political battle?  Telematics to the rescue.  We equipped a sample of the fleet with GPS tracking systems that included a connection that showed when the four wheel drive was enaged rather than just going along for the ride.

Result?  in the first year more than 85% of the four wheel drive trucks never used the feature … regardless of how much the drivers claimed they needed it.  Just using this data to replace these more expensive trucks with much less expensive alternative vehicles more than paid the entire GPS tracking implementation bill. How many unused features have your drivers talked you into?

You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

The following is a paid review. I was compensated for my time to research and write. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Introduction: I was asked to review a website and product offerings of a GPS tracking supplier a few days beck. The company is LandAirSea Systems, Inc. and here’s what they say about themselves, in part …is a leader at the forefront of GPS tracking technologies since 1994 … world’s most powerfully engineered GPS tracking equipment….The GPS tracking capabilities …. determine the location of the GPS tracking device within 2.5 meters…. pretty impressive. I sure don’t mean to cast a brick, but this company shares a very common failing in the industry … self focus. I am sure they are good. I know people who have sold and used their equipment (although I am a bit mind boggled by the brash statement that they provide tracking significantly more accurately than the GPS itself is rated to do … 2.5 meters indeed …) … but I digress. the point is, every company is good in some ways, what the end user wants to know is, what is my benefit in buying this company’s devices, how do I use them and “what’s in it for me”? This website doesn’t do much to help a non-techy, non-GPS-geek at all..

Website Findings: The company website is very 1990’s looking. Annoying Flash animations, narrow format and very Web 1.0 product brochure oriented. The navigation system is built around the product model designations … if you were looking for a particular type of system, price range, etc., would you know the difference between a 3100-Ext or a 3100-Int? Again, very new prospect unfriendly …people want to be guided not sent down menu trees to find they are in the wrong place. The company’s server, and domain name are all openly registered in the US and the site has been up since at least 1997 so that should give visitors confidence in their stability. Contact info is clearly displayed in several places … this is a very important plus to me as “out of touch” dealers pose a big problem in the GPS industry. the lack of an 800 number is a very “last century” touch, today’s 800 number plans are way too cheap to expect prospects to spend their own pennies to talk.

Product Findings: Although the parent company seems to have other products, on this site they are selling several passive … after the fact or “post mission” trackers … you carry or mount the product and after a period of time you upload the data to a computer and view the vehicle’s past activities … and one live tracker, which uses the cellular telephone system to transfer data to a monitoring computer on a near-real time basis.

“Post Mission” tracking is a real enigma of the industry. Most people shy away from GPS tracking because of monthly cost .. there is none with this technology. yet most prospects seem to think they need real-time tracking when, in a great many cases, they don’t. These post mission devices are very worthy of a test in the user’s specific environment, because they frequently provide the greatest ROI of all systems, with the least complexity. The most bang for the buck.

“live” tracking with the data being transferred via the cellular system is suitable only for certain areas. there is no reliable way to tell if systems of this type will serve you well unless you test, and test thoroughly in your own environment. The cellular carriers themselves are very optimistic in their stated coverage zones,it’s an inexact science and I never recommend anyone buy into it sight unseen.

I note that much of this company’s equipment is battery powered. this is a two-edged sword for sure. On one hand you have no installation and wiring hassles. On the other, you have the continual problem of battery replacement, batteries going dead when least expected and actual unit loss or pilferage. I’ve worked with both categories of systems, believe me, hard-wired professional installations are well worth the extra one-time cost. I do not recommend un-mounted battery powered units for anything except proof of concept use.

A very interesting feature of this company that I have long advocated for others in the industry is that they have a national connection with the Pep Boys automotive supply and maintenance chain. This provides stocking and installing dealers nationwide and should be a big plus for the end user. The only downside I see is the level of expertise of the average sales associates in these stores. They are unlikely to know much about GPS tracking and are likely to either ignore the product or to over sell it with unfounded performance claims. None the less I certainly welcome the innovation.

Conclusions: A well engineered, “old school” style company with limited but reliable products. Actual customer value is always hard to assess in these ‘desk top” type reviews but from the on-line pricing I have seen I would rate LandAirSea overall as being a bit over priced for the packages offered but well worth a test for users who match up with the product’s capabilities. Conditionally recommended.

The following is a paid review. I was compensated for my time to research and write. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.

It’s getting near the end of the year.  Your plans to make your business even better in 2008 are already well firmed up, aren’t they? Hmmm, not yet?  Well it’s still not too late to plan … remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In addition to all the other aspects of planning you need to do to make your business the best it’s ever been in 2008, you must think hard about GPS tracking.  In my 20 plus years with this technology here are a number of common myths I have seen holding businesses back … and why they truly are myths.

1. GPS tracking is unnecessary - I can keep track of my fleet well enough using cell phones/voice radio:  Sorry, this is absolutely wrong thinking.  Not only do you waste hours per month asking drivers where they are, there are some drivers who will tell you what you want to hear, not where they actually are.  And what about the driver who doesn’t really know?
2. We don’t need GPS tracking because we trust our people: Indeed I hope you do.  In the few cases I have been involved with in which GPS tracking was used to fire employees the managers were never really surprised.  One way or another they knew the employee was a “bad apple” before they used GPS tracking.  I guess they weren’t confident enough in the managerial skills to make a decision without the technology assist.  But, by a huge percentage, employees are good and they want to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.  However, a manager must measure.  Ronald Reagan said it best … “Trust but verify”.
3. All of our drivers are going to quit if we get GPS tracking:  Sounds plausible but absolutely won’t happen.  Many drivers will even “get on the GPS bandwagon”, especially since it verifies their good behavior, gives proof of meeting appointments, performance goals (you do have performance goals and incentives, don’t you?) ad increases their safety.  This is especially true if you involve employees from day one … employees are one of your best resources in source selection … they know how the system ought to work, because they are the ones on the road.
4. Our company is so busy, we’d never use a GPS tracking system: this is one of the top warning signs that your business is out of control … running you instead of you running it.  GPS tracking will save time and make the business less of a hassle if you let it.  One county executive told me once that he was against the idea of buying a GPS tracking system because “we have supervisors who we pay to be on the road and watch the employees.”  Now that’s clever thinking.  Pay people wages even higher than the workers and give them expensive vehicles so they can drive around and play ‘cat and mouse” games with the workers.  (read my series called Tales of November 4 for some chuckles on this subject) Real efficiency in action there, Mr. Commissioner.  And I suppose the next step is to hire supervisory supervisors to go out and watch the supervisors?  get real.  This is 2008 staring us in the face.  You can not afford to pay people to watch people.  A properly specified and sourced GPS tracking system will empower supervisors to do supervisory work, while keeping better track of employees than any roving watchman ever could.
5. My company ( county agency, school district, etc.)  can’t afford a GPS tracking system: Of all the bone-chilling, business-killing myths out there, this one is the most absolutely bogus.  The truth is, you can’t afford not to use GPS tracking.  I have sold, installed, and supervised the installation of thousands of GPS tracking systems.  I have never seen a case where the ROI (Return On Investment) was longer than six months.  Period.  You can reduce up front capital outlays also by intelligent business leasing plans … often you don’t need to come up with more than the first month’s lease payment, and you’ll own your own system in two years or so …taking a tax deduction along the way for the leasing costs.  And speaking of taxes?  Of course you need to ask your tax advisor, but be sure to look over the IRS section 179 provisions.  You can buy qualified equipment for your business and expense it directly, rather than depreciating it over years … this reduces the actual costs directly by the amount of your business tax rate … how’s that for a little “sweetener” to make up for the “sourness” of paying income tax.

In short, if you want to get 2008 of as the best year ever for your business, get GPS tracking and write me back at the end of 2008 and tell me how it helped.

I’m not a big advocate of physical violence but I see so many of these cases … managers of vehicles and drivers who can’t produce federally required records and other most basic business profit-protective documents … that I couldn’t blame a judge if she or he just leanded over frm the bench one of these days and whacked some trucking excutive upside the head to get his attention.

This news here?  Damn disturbing, and not just because it’s such a repetitive refrain:

… Steven Copple, a Phoenix lawyer for the winning side in the court battle, argued that significant monetary damages were warranted in the case because Swift failed to cough up driver logs the company was required to keep under federal regulations.

The logs, which Swift claimed it was unable to produce, may have shed light on whether the Swift driver at fault in the crash may have been cruising down a roadway in a fatigued physical state, Copple said…. the full write-up on this huge slap  upside the head is here.

Now tha6t fine is a pretty big slap to Swift trucking.  It’ll probably get reduced on appeal, as these things so often do in this legal marketplace we call a court system, but none the less, it’s big.  It’s even more sad when it never had to happen.  Proper GPS driver logs that would have either proved the company’s innocwence or alerted them to a problem driver months before someone had to die are so cheap in comparison to liability insurance  premiums that it’s mind boggling.  And compared to a judgement like this?  “Priceless” as the commercials say.

Here’s the other disturbing part to me:

In April, Swift shareholders voted to approve the sale of the trucking firm to the Glendale businessman who founded it more than 40 years ago.  Jerry Moyes was to pay $31.55 per share, or about $2.4 billion in cash, and take on $332 million in debt to regain control of the company. He had been forced out as chief executive in October 2005 but remained on the board of directors.

The characters running the company were brand new, theoretically hand selected “new blood”, broiught in by shareholders.  They, demonstatably, could not even keep basic business records.  best of luck to Mr. Moyes who now must buy back his own coany and try to set it back on its wheels again.  The hidden costs behind these huge judgements affects thousands and thousands of people in the background … many who just tried to earn an honest dollar and make a place where people could work … all for the lack of some basic business sense.

2008 is fast approcahing.  It’s time to make plans for your business.  If you want to know some cost effective ways to keep driver records …. and save a lot … talk to me, GPS tracking can make it easier.  But even if you decide you aren’t going to automate?  Do something.  The life and the business you save may be your own.

I don’t often post ballyhooing AT&T, Motorola and other huge, slow to react “big names”, but here’s a case where credit is certainly due.

…. the Texas Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System (SNETS), is the country’s first statewide citizen-evacuation system …  read the rest of the story about how the great state of Texas is taking the bull by the horns and using technology to protect citizens and save resources with RFID and GPS-tracked vehicles.

The emergency planning of most states consists of a small office on the sidelines, manned by a few dedicated folks who do “table top” exercises and regularly moan to the governor and legislature that they can’t do anything more without funding.

This is often true … because at the leadership and supervisory level much of our government leadership operates on the “If it happens, we’ll fix it” theory.  The only problem with that is, in the case of natural or man-made disasters, the question is never “if”, it is “when”.

Yes, in order to get something like this set up in advance you do need to spend some time and dollars.  You also need to exercise the system and keep it alive by regular simulations, complete with critiques and changes in procedures driven by “lessons learned” during testing.  But what is the outcome if you don’t make this initial investment?

• People die.  Got to be worth something to prevent this, no?  One need only look with sadness at the performance of FEMA and various state governments during Katrina and other disasters in recent memory.
• It costs more to fix thinks after they go wrong than it does to make them go right in during the process.  Do not fall into the trap of shortsightedness … focusing on this quarter’s returns and ignoring the long-term value.
• Taking action now will not only uncover problems you didn’t know about … it will show you hidden strengths and assets you didn’t know about either,

Try some disaster planning and see what happens … I bet the pluses will way outnumber the negatives … if you only get off the dime.

Hat’s off to the great state of Texas.  they may have inflicted the reigning Bush upon the world, but they are working hard to make up for their mistake.