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Though telematics and fleet management may look like almost the same thing, a deeper understanding might clear the difference. Undoubtedly they circle around the same principles and functioning, but telematics looks pretty traditional and basic when it stands in comparison against fleet management systems. This article will let you understand the connection between the two and what special features make them stand apart.
Understanding Telematics
Telematics, as the name suggests, is a combination of telecommunication and informatics. To be precise, it gathers data on your vehicle with the help of various sensors and electrical circuits to finally transfer it to a secure server (remote) by using cellular networks. It is implemented with the sole purpose of monitoring and controlling vehicles on the move.
In practice, telematics uses an intelligent computer system known as telematics devices (black box) installed in your vehicle to report all that is happening in real-time. It helps provide accurate positioning and monitors in-vehicle activities such as door opening, trailer temperature, raising the tail lifts, vehicle odometer readings, fuel efficiency, harsh breaking, over acceleration, panic alerts, 0etc. In application, insurance companies can use this to study the owner's behaviour and manage their insurance plans effectively as telematics will provide them with detailed information about the vehicle parameters.
Fleet Management system
Moving on to the fleet management system, it won't be wrong to say that telematics is just a part of it or fleet management is a broader aspect of telematics. Fleet management is an advanced telematics system that can monitor an entire fleet of vehicles. This is usually used in commercial vehicles where the health of vehicles results in better business.
In its advanced functionality, fleet management provides detailed reports on driving/vehicle behaviour and supports predictive analysis and all the features a telematics system can provide. It becomes beneficial in vehicle testing, vehicle R&D, vehicle performance tests, vehicle validations, vehicle leasing, financing, maintenance, licensing, compliance, supply chain management, accident management, subrogation, vehicle telematics (tracking and diagnostics), driver management, speed management, fuel management, health and safety management, and vehicle re-marketing. It finds application in road vehicles and ships, aircraft, railcars, and other equipment that can't run on its power, such as generators, tanks, gearboxes, dumpsters, shipping containers, trailers, excavators, etc.
How it benefits businesses?
Fleet management provides a wide range of advantage to aid and benefit businesses.
Real-time position tracking and data streaming.
Real-time updates and insights help in providing reports and alerts.
Secure central database.
Provides anticipatory maintenance management.
Improved driver safety. Driver details like contact, license authentication, medical history and other essential details.
Lower fuel consumption. Resulting in increased efficiency and cost-cutting.
Aid in improving vehicle maintenance and keeping part history.
Improve customer satisfaction.
Avoid potential warranty costs.
Improve route planning and scheduled servicing.
Resulting in complaint business by saving time and money. Benefiting the overall economic efficiency of the business.
In telematics, the data collected from your vehicle, when stored on a remote server, needs to be later analyzed and converted into meaningful information. Telematics is a more personal system, whereas a fleet management system takes care of the entire fleet (works on a larger scale) and provides analytical information in real-time on their life cycle. An advanced fleet management system can also monitor the pragmatic health of components or systems. In automobiles, it reduces the number of test drives as the R&D team can access vehicle parameters instantly, resulting in cost-effective businesses.
At Influx, we bring you an advanced fleet management system, "Streamlog". StreamLog is scalable, with options suiting both small and large fleets. One can easily stream data from Rebel loggers using StreamLog to give fast, detailed and accurate engineering data and a comprehensive fleet management system. For more information on this, please Click here