Does GPS Tracking Actually Make Business Sense (Cents)?

Teleogis is just one of what seems to be a million GPS Tracking providers out there. But they are well established and unlike many are doing something to add visibility to the market segment and provide data on what GPS vehicle Tracking and GPS Fleet Management is really worth.

They funded and have released a free, third-party report with some very interesting business data. (simple registration required, but worth it). Now you know and I know that you can’t accept reports funded by someone with a vested interest in the outcome, except with a large grain of salt. But this report is pretty comprehensive and believable. Go get a free copy for yourself and read it with your rose-colored glasses safely put away in your desk drawer. I think you’ll find, as I did, that the data pretty much speak for themselves, regardless of who paid for the collection, collation and authoring.

This is one table from the report that I could not agree more with:

Notice the bottom group. Nothing to actually compare costs with because these business owners did not know their costs. Based on years of personal experience in the business, with both government (Federal, State, County, Municipal and School) and commercial fleet operators I can testify that, if anything, Aberdeen’s figures here are low, not exaggerated. A significant number of fleet managers are just flying by the seat of their pants … with or without GPS tracking technology. It is truly scary.

If you are a business owner, manager, government official or a citizen concerned with the way your local government operates I strongly suggest you read up on this and take action. It doesn’t matter if you immediately buy into tracking the fleet vehicles (although the rate of return (ROI) on operating cost savings alone was found to average 90 days or less. But you do not need to track your vehicles with GPS to know your fuel costs and maintenance costs per mile … and if you don’t? How can you possibly be a manager? Remember, you can’t manage what you can’t measure!

According to the report, other benefits of fleet management-related automation include:

• 26% improvement in regulatory compliance
• 23% increase in warranty recovery
• 15% decrease in vehicle downtime
• 15% reduction in average travel time “windshield time” per job

I also have yet to find a company who does not recover up to an hour per day per driver productivity. It’s simply amazing. Learn, implement, measure … what would a 28% increase in revenue do to your own bottom line?