FleetBoss Report

February 2005

GPS: A Technology Whose Time Has Come!

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have become so popular in such a short period of time that a recent consumer poll ranked GPS satellites in a list of the 10 most important innovations in the last 75 years.

The Henry Ford educational institution featuring the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich., conducted an online poll asking visitors what they thought were the most influential innovations in the last 75 years. The poll of 2.5 million respondents was conducted in
conjunction with the 75th anniversary of The Henry Ford institute.

Global positioning satellites ranked fourth behind air conditioning, penicillin and personal computers.

Brian Carroll, president of FleetBoss Global Positioning Solutions, Fern Park, Fla., knows firsthand what a difference GPS solutions have made towards improving the way people work and live.

“When you stop to consider the universality of uses for GPS, it shouldn’t come as any great surprise that this technology ranked fourth in a list of the top innovations of the last 75 years,” he said.

“Although its commonplace commercial use is less than a decade old, the public can now utilize GPS in almost every area of life, including roadside assistance, 911 emergencies, teen driver tracking, lost pet location, homeland security, etc. The most fascinating aspect of GPS’ high innovation ranking is the fact the world is just beginning to scratch the surface of all the ways GPS can be used to improve our quality of life and business,” Carroll explained

The primary benefits of GPS solutions encompass what virtually every company owner measures in his or her daily business—increasing productivity, reducing operating costs, and improving customer service. GPS helps reduce operating costs and fights rising insurance and fuel costs that can cut deep into profit margins. Tracking where and when these expenses are used is an essential feature of a GPS solution for fleet management profitability.

For example, with GPS, dispatchers can clearly see what the status of a driver is that is assigned to a particular account and determine if they have fallen behind. With this knowledge they can redirect another technician or contact the customer proactively to avoid a costly service complaint.

Efficient routing practices equate to faster customer service in many industries. Vehicles are often dispatched to assigned territories within a service area. The ability to find the closest vehicle or to advise a phone-in client on how soon service will arrive can be invaluable to customer satisfaction and referrals.

Product Benefits
GPS software also helps service and installation technicians locate customers’ homes and businesses and map out the easiest routes. Information gathered by a FleetBoss system is downloaded directly to a client’s computer for instant access and permanent storage. Data is accessed in-house, and not through an unsecured Web site that might allow a company’s data to be seen by a competitor.

Some examples of benefits available to customers include:

Fighting rising fuel costs — By monitoring unnecessary vehicle idle times, eliminating speeding, and maximizing dispatch routing efficiency, a service company in Orlando, Fla., decreased its fuel costs by nearly 15 percent, according to Carroll.
Eliminating unauthorized use and moonlighting — Fleet managers for a HVACR business in Lakeland, Fla., were able to use data to identify and hold accountable those drivers who were using vehicles for personal use during business hours.

Note: The majority of the content for this article originally appeared in "GPS: Living Up To Its Popularity," by John R. Hall in The News: Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration, 10 December 2004.