Hooking up your equipment to a GPS tracking device seemed like something straight out of a spy novel a few years ago and only used when the asset was something related to national security.
But as GPS technology has progressed, devices have become more affordable and freely available so assets of all types are being tagged with GPS units. GPS tracking software used to track the units are also a lot more powerful and user-friendly, making them a far more valuable investment for businesses of all sizes.
How are GPS systems helping some of the world’s largest fleets turn green? And what does this have to do with President Obama’s ambitious aims of reducing the 11 billion barrels of foreign oil imported every day, by over a third? The two are connected and part of a wider movement among corporate fleets to minimize and reduce any negative impact on the environment.
AT&T joins the National Clean Fleets Partnership
AT&T was recently announced as one of the five charter member fleets included as part of the National Clean Fleets Partnership, along with FedEx, PepsiCo, UPS and Verizon. The partnership aims to help large fleets reduce fuel use through a range of green fleet initiatives such as electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and fuel-saving measures into their day-to-day operations.
With GPS becoming more and more common on mobile phones, you may be wondering if you can get GPS on your AT&T phone. How can you find out?
AT&T provides a helpful resource for customers, showing instructions on how to activate the GPS option on your phone. There are a range of AT&T phones that support GPS including:
With fuel hitting $4 a gallon in many parts of America fleet managers are turning to GPS systems to cut costs and control fuel use among fleet vehicles. In fact, overseas some are saying that fuel costs are overtaking depreciation as the single largest operating expense for fleets.
Traditional GPS systems are designed to direct drivers along the fastest route between two points, but newer GPS systems and telematics software are introducing smarter navigation that can significantly reduce fuel consumption.
It can take only a moment of distraction to lose a child. Any parent will tell you that they only looked away for a minute and when they turned around again their child was gone. It’s that split second where a parent’s heart skips a beat and they fear the worst.
But even if your child hasn’t been kidnapped you still worry what’s happened, where they are and how long it will take to find them. And you very quickly start to feel like a bad parent or guardian for letting them wander off. Of course, it happens to everyone. Children are naturally curious. It doesn’t take much for them to get distracted by a bunch of balloons, an icecream stall around the corner or a bunch of kids playing Need for Speed in the appliance store next door. Before you know it it’s like they’ve vanished into thin air, particularly in a crowded place where they are dozens of kids around.
When an earthquake hits and huge buildings around you are breaking up and raining from the sky, it’s unlikely you would be wondering where you left your car and how you could retrieve it. But after you’ve safely escaped the danger zone, you might be wondering how you can be reunited with your car.
This is the situation facing hundreds of car owners in quake-ravaged city of Christchurch in New Zealand. When the 6.3 magnitude quake hit the central business district of Christchurch, massive buildings crumbled and people ran for their lives, leaving thousands of cars in parking buildings, on the street and in private lots. Now that their lives have returned to some type of normality, they are keen to retrieve their vehicle but it’s proving more difficult than anticipated.
GPS fleet tracking is growing in popularity as managers discover the many benefits of being able to follow their vehicles in real-time, as well as generating reports on worker activity.
But some employers worry that by tracking staff using GPS will expose their business to a lawsuit. Is it legal to use GPS to track staff?
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Situational awareness is the new buzzword among fleet managers and VPs, particularly those operating in high-pressure, dispatch situations, where trucks, drivers and other assets need to be corralled to respond to emergencies or ad-hoc jobs where little notice is given.
What is Situational Awareness?
Before we can talk about how GPS is helping create situational awareness, we first need to cover what it is. Essentially it is all about providing decision-makers (e.g. fleet managers) with the big picture, a 360 degree view of not just the fleet but other assets that need to be coordinated to respond to a new work order.
If you’re a fleet manager looking for recognition, then the NAFA Sustainable Fleet Awards 2011 (previously called the Green Fleet Awards) might be the perfect vehicle for you to earn the accolades you deserve.
Every year NAFA accept submissions from members for efforts made to make a fleet more environmentally-friendly, reducing its carbon footprint.
Every business changes over time. No business can remain unaffected by the surrounding economic environment of its competitors, its customers and changing technology.
So it’s absolutely critical that your business is prepared for change. Sadly for many businesses, change is the one thing they can’t cope with.
Change is such a challenge for modern businesses that an entire industry has been built around helping businesses deal with it. Change management consultants assist businesses to survive the growing pains of an ever-changing world.
