“Achieving success through gamification depends on the fleet manager”
Improving driver safety is an important but not so easy task for fleet managers as they are always searching for new technologies to efficiently track and analyse driver behaviour. According to the Global Fleet Survey Connected Vehicles 2021, one of the top four main objectives is to improve driver safety and behaviour through telematics.
Gamification has emerged as an innovative approach to increase employee engagement and motivation in several industries and quickly gaining ground in vehicle fleet management.
According to Nikola Vuckovic, Global Senior Manager, Market & Fleet Safety at Philip Morris International, gamification empowers drivers to self-correct and prevent incidents, increasing awareness of their driving errors. But, applying gamification to fleets is a particular lesson for fleet managers and one that comes with various models and requires diligence.
What makes gamification effective in changing driver behaviour?
According to Zendrive, gamify coaching reduces speeding by 21%, decreases distraction of drivers by 59% and avoids overall collision risk by 49%. How?
Mr Vuckovic says gamification can make monotonous or repetitive tasks less tedious and even enjoyable. Leveraging on that, fleet managers can increase the level of driver engagement and support the active interest of users to improve their behaviours.
Mr Vuckovic describes gamification techniques as an important element of their Sustainable Fleet journey, which could support Company Strategic pillars: Improving driving behaviour and awareness of safe driving and protecting the environment. Thus, companies take better care of their employees and they adopt better eco-driving habits.
Real-life experiences prove that gamification reduces costs while improving the efficiency of fleets.
One example is EnviroVent, which used Webfleet Solutions and OptiDrive 360 for routine reporting and managed to save £36.000 by creating competition between drivers to reduce fuel consumption.
Are telematics and prizes the best combination for gamification?
Gamification programmes can integrate telematics to score drivers according to specific data such as idle time, the number of hard brakes or hard turns, seatbelt behaviour and speeding. Best drivers become leaders and share the prizes to offer an example and motivation to others.
The "safest driver" competition of the City of Austin in the US is one recent example of boosting driving safety through a prize. A competition-specific app gathers driver data. After a month of evaluation, the top three drivers who score 98 or more points share a $10.000 prize. To keep the attraction high, every week a driver is awarded $500. The project eventually aims to eliminate car accidents 100% under the VisionZero concept.
How shall gamification be applied in fleets to achieve success?
One critical question is the method to implement gamification in fleets to achieve the desired success. Nikola Vuckovic of Philip Morris International believes fleets can establish gamification engagement platforms on different levels.
The first example is an interactive educational play-board concept, focusing on the key ‘lead’ measures to improve the lag measures. The second are small office competition boards to promote competitive spirit and support reward & recognition programs. The last example Mr Vuckovic provides is perhaps the most suitable for fleets: Telematics gamification elements such as scores or points that encourage drivers to think about their driving behaviours and engage them in sustainable safe driving behaviour.
No matter the choice, fleet managers must be sensitive about one aspect of gamification to achieve results, says Nikola Vuckovic. That is engaging with drivers and inspiring them to collaborate, share and interact.
