The technology revolution that has changed how companies monitor and manage their fleets has been nothing short of staggering. What once was unheard of – the ability to gather, aggregate, and share large amounts of data about your assets to make better decisions and more effectively manage your business – is now possible. And as technology continues to improve, gathering and acting on even more data will become even easier.
As with all innovations, the most significant benefits are those that have dollar signs attached to them – what will drive more revenue, what will enable you to cut costs, and what will improve efficiency.
With a telematics and data platform, one of the most powerful capabilities – automation –
is also one that can produce some of the greatest returns. With one of these platforms, to which all your vehicle and other assets are connected, you not only get access to data, but you can automate processes and reporting to save both time and money. Let’s look at two automation capabilities – electronic logging devices (ELDs) and digital inspections – and the positive financial impact they both can have.
How ELDs Save You Money by Keeping You Compliant
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-registered ELDs are federally mandated in interstate commercial vehicles for which drivers are currently required to keep a record of duty status. These include commercial vehicles that weigh 10,001 pounds or more, or vehicles with placarded hazmat loads. Compliance with this mandate is important and can also be expensive if the vehicle owner is non-compliant.
In 2021, driver and vehicle inspections resulted in more than 146,000 violations related to driver logs, including missing or falsified logs. Even if your company is cited with a small fraction of this number of violations, it can cost you thousands of dollars – money that you could instead have contributed to your operating revenue or invested in purchasing updated equipment or hiring more employees.
By installing electronic log devices (ELDs) on your commercial fleet vehicles, and capturing ELD information in your telematics data platform, you can automate the process of drivers keeping updated and accurate logs. With this automated technology, you can capture any time a driver’s status changes throughout their shift and when they take breaks. You can also be alerted when they’ve reached their driving time-limit for the day or week – and have a record of all this activity that keeps you free and clear of violations and costly fines.
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How Digital Inspection Maximize Equipment Resale Value
Even though most of the vehicles in your fleet won’t require ELDs, you’ll likely still want to all of your vehicles and assets to be connected into your telematics data platform so you can conduct automated digital inspections – and you’ll want to find a solution that offers digital inspection capability without the need for installing ELDs on vehicles that don’t need them.
One reason digital inspections are so valuable is that they can help with resale value. An important factor when considering the cost of a new piece of equipment is how much of that cost you might be able to recoup when you are ready to sell it. The key to maximizing your equipment resale dollars is taking proper care of that equipment when it is part of your fleet. That means keeping up with scheduled and preventative maintenance and promptly making needed repairs.
With automated digital inspections and telematics-enabled tracking and alerts, you can stay on top of asset maintenance and keep your equipment operating at peak performance across its lifespan. You can even track maintenance records in the system for each asset.
Then when you go to sell, not only will you be able to offer a piece of equipment that has been well-maintained and is likely to be in relatively good condition, but you’ll be able to provide a complete record of the piece’s preventive maintenance and any repairs that were made – a combination that can help you get top dollar for your equipment sale.
A System That Boosts Your Bottom Line
A powerful telematics and data platform will provide many benefits to your business, including the ability to pay for itself through automation capabilities like the ones described above.
These benefits point to the biggest advantage of a telematics and data platform: how it can help you manage your business more effectively to bolster your businesses’ profitability.