“Companies that are working the hardest [to realize the opportunities telematics systems can provide] are not segmented by fleet size, either,” Thomas adds. “Smaller to medium-sized fleets in many cases are being the most aggressive with technology because they have to compete with the big fleets.”

It is one thing to suspect your company could be getting more from its investment in telematics technology, but it can be another matter entirely to actually move to the next level. That is why many telematics solution providers have also developed consulting services to help customers translate more data into actionable business intelligence.

PeopleNet, for instance, can incorporate a “professional services discovery process” into the initial implementation of its system, which maps out a company's current processes and then identifies the things that could be improved and the dollars associated with them.

At Teletrac, the company has “ambassadors” whose job it is to make sure customers get the maximum value out of a system, according to Drew Hamilton, the company's executive vp. “Ambassadors have assigned accounts and are responsible for making sure that customers are trained,” he notes. “It is a simple task with an enormous impact on satisfaction.”

“We try to do a better job educating customers about what they can do with our mobile workforce management system,” notes Ravi Acharya, associate director of business-to-business marketing for Tele-Nav. “Any technology is the same; you begin with the basics and then learn what else can be done. Many customers today need to see a payback on their technology investment sooner than in the past, so one of our roles is to show them how to get more ROI [by utilizing the full potential of a capability.]”

As fleets and their technology suppliers work together to realize the full potential of the data today's telematics solutions can provide, they continually turn up new applications, moving the leading edge of telematics utilization forward and then forward again. At PeopleNet, for instance, one area of new activity is what the company calls “predictive analytics,” or using telematics to help customers make decisions about the future before events happen.

It is all about cause and effect, explains Brian McLaughlin. “Suppose a driver has an hours-of-service violation,” he says. “The system can automatically send a warning letter. If he or she has a second and third violation plus recorded instances of over-speeding, the system can send another letter, set up a meeting with the driver and mandate viewing of a safety video right in the cab, and the entire process can be automated.”

Predicting which drivers are most apt to stay with the company is another emerging use for telematics data which Qualcomm is exploring, according to Chris Silver. “We have an application called Predictive Performance Service that takes data from many different sources to build a profile of the type of driver who is most apt to stay with a company,” she says.

Drew Hamilton of Teletrac sees two other applications on that leading edge: vehicle mileage taxation (VMT) and commercial pay-as-you-go insurance. These are not the result of fleet and supplier collaboration, but of different interest groups using the data telematics provide to accomplish other objectives. Using telematics to track actual mileage and assessing taxes or tolls accordingly is already being piloted in some places to help raise funds for infrastructure rebuilding, he notes. Pay-as-you-drive insurance, already piloted in the U.K., varies rates based upon what actually takes place, including factors such as speed, miles driven, hard braking/rapid acceleration, time of day, traffic patterns, and so on.

The true, transformative power of telematics is being revealed day by day as people use technology to combine information they already have, illuminating new areas and make new things possible. “One little system can impact so many areas,” notes Tom Lemke of Trackwell ADS. “It is just a matter of taking the tools we already have, putting them all together and using them.”

Telematics at work: One fleet's success story

Central Freight Lines' LTL operation keeps some 700 drivers busy moving freight for customers in the Midwest, Southwest and Northwest through the company's more than 50 terminals. Consolidating mostly time-sensitive loads from multiple shippers and then routing them efficiently day in and day out is a huge and complex task, so in 2008 Central Freight Lines made the decision to use digital communications technology to bring timely, actionable information into its dispatch management processes.

The company chose to work with Cheetah Software Systems Inc., and they dubbed the project the Digital Dispatch Management System, or DDMS. The first pilot began in October 2008 and by May 2009 the organization-wide rollout was complete. Basically, the Cheetah system utilizes drivers' delivery manifest data, pickup requests, digital maps and a dynamic routing algorithm to provide dispatchers with the precise information they need to make critical decisions.

The Cheetah DDMS determines projected delivery times, provides real-time driver location and status, suggests optimal pick-up driver assignments and reports dynamically on estimated pick-up times. It will also proactively display alarms when drivers are delayed or when service windows are in jeopardy. “What is unique about Cheetah is that it was specifically developed for pickup and delivery,” says Mark Stein, director-operations services for Central Freight Lines. “It follows our processes. We send our data to a Cheetah server; they put it into their environment and then we all tap into it with various applications.”

According to Stein, the investment in the new system was an investment in the company's future, but it is already delivering significant benefits only months after its implementation. “We are already seeing gains in productivity and reduced fuel costs,” he notes. “For example, in the past we put out the same number of drivers every day. Now we can manipulate and balance the number of drivers assigned to various routes; maybe we need 50 drivers one day, 42 the next and 48 the next. The system will actually make suggestions and tell you the cost of going from the first-choice scenario, to the second, to the third.

“Drivers used to go out with manifests and then fill them in as they went along,” Stein says. “Then the information was entered into the system at night when they got back. Now, within about 40 seconds after a load is picked up, a pro number has been assigned and tracking begins. We also have a lot of data about the specific attributes of a load, such as weight and cube.

“This lets us do outbound load planning while the truck is still en route,” he continues. “That process, if it happened at all, used to happen right on the dock at the terminal. This tool is like having a crystal ball for what you need that night for the line-haul operation.”

Stein says that the system is also helping them build stronger bonds with customers and to vary charges as appropriate. “Everyone wants lower costs,” he notes. “With DDMS, we don't have to charge every customer the same price per stop. GPS data shows us what actually happened at each stop: when the driver arrived, began unloading, finished unloading and departed. This allows us to point out where actual times and costs are to each customer and to look for efficiencies together. Customers can also use the system to track their freight.”

“The more information you have, the better decisions you can make,” observes Don Orr, president of Central Freight Lines. “You have to take the numbers and aggregate them, however, to tell the ‘stories’ that will let you do things better than you did before.”