True location intelligence ROI: Looking beyond fuel savings

Fuel savings, fuel savings, fuel savings. As enterprises look to justify investment in telematics, routing and work order management technologies, many immediately gravitate towards fuel savings through idle reduction and efficient routing as a key benchmark for return on investment. To be sure, fuel savings is one of the most immediate benefits of incorporating a location intelligence platform across your company’s fleet, and one of the most quantifiable.

When employing a rich, seamless platform such as the one provided by Telogis, there are a wealth of opportunities you should also consider as providing cost savings in the long run. In this article we’ll take a look at a few of these opportunities that our customers are currently experiencing and that may help further improve your bottom line.

Fuel Card Management

Telogis and FleetCor recently announced a global partnership for the integration of telematics and fuel card reporting that will assist in bringing greater visibility to a business’ fueling activities, improve reporting, and help reduce unauthorized fuel card use with the ultimate goal of driving down total fuel expense. The partnership includes the introduction of the Telogis Universal Premium Fleet Card powered by FleetCor and the launch of the next-generation fuel management module for Telogis Fleet.

Bottom line: the integration of fuel card data with telematics helps ensure that only authorized vehicles are being filled and that your company’s profits aren’t filling someone else’s gas tank. Alerts can be set up that identify if a card is used without an authorized vehicle present, or that if a pumping session exceeds a certain gallon amount. It also centralizes fuel transaction reporting instead of having to deal with logs and receipts. These functions help cut down on fraudulent fuel card use and provide another level of fuel savings.

Field Management Co-Location

One of our biggest customers did a study spanning 575 crews and 92 field supervisors that showed that productivity increased by 22 percent and safety performance improved by 69 percent if a field supervisor was on site for more than 5.5 hours in a given shift. The Telogis field management co-location module uses GPS to determine when a foreman/supervisor’s truck is located on a jobsite or other location related to the job, such as a maintenance shop or depot. This compares when a vehicle is specifically “co-located” at a jobsite with other field resources to determine how much time is spent on site. This shows each supervisor’s daily routine and allows management to make decisions about how field resources are deployed and supervised. Increases in productivity and safety, and a more efficient deployment of field supervisors will positively impact the bottom line.

Asset Management

Our customers are finding that these technologies help identify under-utilized assets throughout the fleet and help deploy them to where they can be of the most use. For instance, if a company is considering renting or purchasing additional trucks for one location, but can identify that there are three trucks at another location that haven’t left the yard in three months, they can request those trucks be reallocated rather than buying new trucks. Having that direct visibility into how each asset is used (not just vehicles — generators, UTVs, trailers, equipment, etc.) can help you save money in acquisition costs over time.

Fuel Tax Rebates

We have a number of customers specific to the oil & gas industry that spend a lot of time operating on private roads. Businesses may be able to claim federal fuel excise tax refunds for fuel used off public highways (refer to irs.gov for current instructions and rulings). Many states also provide refunds for off-road travel. A telematics solution can help identify the amount of time operated on and off public highways, and help companies receive rebates for tax overpayments.

Safety & Insurance Savings

One of the primary reasons large companies deploy location intelligence solutions is to improve safety. There are immediately quantifiable benefits here (a safe driver typically uses less fuel and puts less wear & tear on a vehicle), but there is also a wealth of costs you don’t see until an incident occurs. Travelers Insurance reports that:

“…the medical and indemnity costs from motor vehicle claims in 2007 and 2008 averaged $65,875, well above the $40,043 which makes up the next highest claim cost of slips and falls.”

A few ways in which telematics improves employee and asset safety while also lowering operating costs:

• Reduction of work injury claims through coaching and more effective use
• Reduced replacement costs associated with replacing vehicles damaged in accidents
• Reducing unauthorized use that can lead to damages and loss of an asset
• Retrieval of stolen assets
• Potentially lower insurance premiums

Each of these factors has tangible and quantifiable savings that can be realized given careful examination. As you look to incorporate greater levels of location intelligence into your enterprise, look beyond the very obvious benefit of fuel savings to see the other ways your company can save money.