Tracking and managing thousands of vehicles is no small task. Management must be effective and efficient for operations to run smoothly.
Tracking and managing thousands of vehicles is no small task. Management must be effective and efficient for operations to run smoothly. This increased need for operational efficiency is one of the main drivers for the fleet management market, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. An increase in maintenance costs, fuel consumption, regulations and accidents have all made the need for better, more effective fleet management solutions and services a necessity. As a result, the fleet management market is estimated to grow from US$9.5 billion in 2016 to $27.9 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 23.9 percent.
This year, North America is expected to hold the largest share of the fleet management market due to the technological advancements and early adoption of fleet management in the region. The APAC region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021, according to reports. The major growth drivers in this region include increasing technological adoption and opportunities across industry verticals, particularly in India and China.
One way of increasing operational efficiency and effectiveness is with the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data. “IoT and big data are providing better tools for fleet management solutions to be more effective,” said Jose Carames, IoT Smart Mobility Director at Telefonica. “For a company of thousands of vehicles, IoT and big data allow processing of this information and obtaining useful insights that allow a more efficient business.” Not only is the IoT helping to increase efficiency, it’s also opening up new opportunities for fleet management solutions.
Impact of IoT
Increased connectivity and integration of systems is an obvious benefit of the IoT, and in fleet management it is no different. Furthermore, the IoT could help future-proof a fleet management solution investment.
“A solution that begins as a vehicle-centric application can evolve to interoperate with a cargo tracking solution or incorporate monitoring for driver behavior, if it is based on a vehicle networking architecture,” said Benoît Tournier, Director of Marketing for Transportation at Sierra Wireless. Integration of additional accessories such as cameras or portable navigation devices; an efficient way to download new applications to vehicles in the field; and consolidation and integration of data from diverse sources are required to enable such additional functionality, he added. The IoT is the perfect catalyst for meeting such requirements. Beyond future proofing, Theresa Revon, Head of Enterprise Product Marketing at Cisco Jasper, identified five core areas where IoT solutions have had the largest impact on fleet management.
Preventative maintenance
According to Revon, connected devices enable fleet managers to monitor the health of their vehicles. They typically come with alerts for service needs such as low battery, coolant temperature, engine check and inspection reminders, to name a few.
Lower costs
The goal of all managers across industries is to optimize their costs — this includes fleet managers. “By having all devices, drivers and vehicles connected, fleet managers can better understand how their dollars are spent, and identify areas in which money can be saved,” Revon said.
Fuel is an obvious major expenditure when it comes to fleet management. In fact, according to Patrik Axelsson, CTO of Axelerate Solutions, “Almost all of our customers within the fleet management area think that optimization of fuel consumption is the most important IoT service. We’ve seen some really interesting cases where we measure on every detail in the driver behavior to be able to optimize every single detail. Just to give you an idea this can include: invalid gear, over speeding, too much idling, not enough coasting, harsh accelerations, harsh braking and a lot more.”
Greater safety management
Fleet management systems have significantly advanced over the years, now able to connect vehicles and monitor driver activities. “This provides fleet managers with much more transparent insight into fleet performance and driver behavior to know where vehicles and drivers are at all times, identify potential problems much sooner, and mitigate risks before they become larger issues that can jeopardize customer satisfaction, impact driver safety or increase costs,” Ravon explained. In fact, systems can go so far as to predict which drivers are most likely to have an accident, giving managers a heads up on how their drivers are doing on the road.
Optimized emissions
Energy optimization across the industry is supported by IoT solutions. For example, idling vehicles add to global CO2 emissions. By monitoring vehicle activities such as idling and actively monitoring CO2 emissions, as well as providing dashboards that provide insight into the emissions, fleet managers are able to monitor their environmental impact.
Big data availability
Ravon pointed out that new, enormous amounts of data and deep data analysis enabled by fleet and transportation devices are changing what we know about the transportation industry. “This data enables predictive modeling and empowers fleet managers to operate more safely, efficiently and profitably.” Previously, such large amounts of data could not be effectively used. Now with the IoT and big data, fleet managers are looking to maximize what they can get out of their data.