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Clive Meakins, Oracle: How telematics can improve your fleet management
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Telematics is a fast-growing domain within fleet management. Companies are demanding accurate, immediate information to help them run their fleets as economically as possible. But apart from providing information on the behaviour of the car and the driver, Oracle’s sophisticated systems also bring an added advantage in terms of residual values, as Clive Meakins explains.
Which areas of fleet management benefit most from your products?
Clive Meakins: The principal benefit is that information from the vehicle is fed directly into the central system held by the fleet manager. This means that real time, accurate data reaches him much more quickly than before. Fleet managers, for example, are very concerned about fuel use and fraud. Normally, they get information about this from fuel cards. But they cannot know just which car was being filled up, and mileages given are very often not correct. With our system, linked to the fleet management system, the fleet manager knows when a car is being filled up, where it is, and what the mileage is.
Do your products have any effect on the crucial area of residual values?
CM: Very much so, this is a major area. What we are providing a fleet manager is a way of proving that a vehicle has been treated well during its lifetime. He can show that it has been properly maintained, and even more pertinently, properly driven; with our system, a usage certificate can be produced which guarantees this.
Can you go into some more detail about exactly how residual values are improved?
CM: The system can provide data on such detailed points as the number of incidents of severe braking during a car’s lifetime, the number of times it has been subject to high revs at low engine temperature, the number of times the rev limit has been hit, average speed over its lifetime, or the amount of time spent at constant high speeds, indicating motorway use. The fleet manager can use this data to offer incentives to the driver for good driving behaviour, by letting him consult data for his own car on-line, and then comparing it with pre-defined benchmarks.
Where do you see telematics going in the future, in car terms?
CM: Firstly, telematics device prices are now low and dropping, so I believe telematics could soon be standard, fitted equipment on most cars. And then it will be used for services such as road charging and pay-as-you-drive insurance. For the fleet manager, it will give him automated trip reporting and time-sheets, and will allow him to check on such items as brake condition – which helps in the area of duty of care legislation. This information coupled with improved driving behaviour will also be of use in keeping insurance costs down.
| 30/08/2007 | Tim Harrup
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