December 14th, 2006
I’ve been looking for a way to get my field personel under control. It’s not that they’re dishonest, it’s that sometimes they take advantage because there’s nothing keeping them honest. I’m bound ethically to do what I tell my customers we’ll do; our billing must reflect exactly the hours we worked on each project.
- Fudging time won’t keep us competitive…
- Side work using my trucks, materials and equipment has to stop…
- Our PR goes out the window when company trucks are parked at the bar…
- Don’t get me started on drinking on company time and Workman’s Comp Insurance…
I’m positive a GPS Fleet Management System will pay for itself the first month;…keeping it in place will help keep the wheels on my company.
A huge investment took place getting this company rolling. Lots of time, effort, money and sacrifice. I owe it to myself, my family, my ‘guys’ and my customers to manage this company and what’s been built.
This Online GPS Management System gives me tools to:
- Dispatch the closest truck
- Know when maintenance is due
- Check work start and stop times
- Stop week-end trips using my fuel
I’m convinced a GPS Fleet Management System will pay for itself the first month;…keeping it in place will help keep the wheels on my company.I’ll admit I’m a little heavy on the pedal, but when I had the company logo painted on the side of my truck, it changed my thinking. “Leave a little earlier…” you say. Ya, ya, now if I could get my guys to think that way we’d all be better off. I will offer this in fairness; My GPS report for the previous week will be available to anyone that gets a review based on a GPS vehicle report.
I’ll admit I’m a little heavy on the pedal, but when I had the company logo painted on the side of my truck, it changed my thinking. “Leave a little earlier…” you say. Ya, ya, now if I could get my guys to think that way we’d all be better off. I will offer this in fairness; My GPS report for the previous week will be available to anyone that gets a review based on a GPS vehicle report.A small ethical price will be paid for these cya activities but this will provide ‘Review Opportunities’ for the guys and I’ll stick to some good advice, “Review the best; Release the rest.”
My daughter got over it;
So will the guys.
Signed,
The Management
PS: I’m getting a small grin on my face because our bonus plan just got a huge shot in the arm. …theft recovery before vandalism takes place gives me some peace of mind. Hmm, all this is giving me some peace of mind!
I’m glad the guys over at teknia micro figured all this out. I understand it took a while to find a usable, affordable GPS Asset and Fleet Management System. They say it was a challenge to get the right equipment and online management system all in the same package.
There’s a lot of GPS tracking units out there but they are too expensive, bundle the wrong features for us or the Online interface is awful. These guys got it right! I need this…
teknia micro
December 12th, 2006
Many of you have wondered about our coverage of CES 2007 this year and our
focus will be GPS Fleet Management tools and Home Automation Products and
usage. As always, anything of tech interest is fair game and may be on our
radar this year.
Filed under: ‘GPS Fleet Management’ Web tech ‘Home Automation’ tekniaxp
GPS Fleet Management
It looks like the GPS equipment manufacturers have achieved fair pricing levels for their products so that most businesses can take advantage of GPS technology as GPS equipment prices have continued to fall and are now in the $400 - $500 range for a unit that will be a good tool for managing people, vehicles and assets.
GPS Fleet Management systems still suffer from usability issues but on-line
tracking prices have stabilized in the $30-$90/month/unit range. The lower
pricing is for checking asset location; higher pricing is for constant tracking
and dispatch features used by towing, taxi or limo companies.
Last year at CES we saw overpriced equipment and service rates. This year we hope to find ‘asset tracking’ and GPS Fleet Management tools for people that are serious about tracking and managing their wandering assets. We think that GPS Equipment and online tracking systems have the potential to become one of the most cost effective management tools for small business fleets ever sold or imagined.
Businesses are demanding sensible features and maybe the lights are beginning to turn on for some of these GPS vendors. There is finally some acknowledgment that this technology can do more than remotely unlock a car or give someone directions to the nearest restaurant. Not only are these features un-necessary for business owners to have, they are expensive to staff and the features raise the installation costs of GPS units.
We feel that business owners that have a few trucks in their service fleet need less features but better reporting that the current GPS Fleet management offerings. We will be looking for initial service plans that have full time tracking plans for 2-3 months then allow you to back-off to a cheaper plan for maintenance, monitoring and theft recovery.
A normal business GPS equipment install should take a half-hour or less. Complicating the install with remote shut-off (not-recommended due to liability issues) or door un-lock can add $150 - $300 to the install cost, not to mention the down-time of your equipment.
GPS Equipment Installation is pretty straightforward and with equipment that takes advantage of your standard ODB Port Installation can take as little as 20 minutes so beware some of the looks you get as the service rep estimates $400 and half a day with a raised eye-brow to justify his price.
No joke $400, use your imagination to figure out which national installer of automotive accessories gave us that bid with a straight face but when challenged, the manager ran out and said, ‘Oh, we could do it for our standard shop rate of $60/hour if you prefer.’
We said, ‘We would prefer a better bid and we’ll get back to you…’
Home Automation Products
We are thrilled with our Control 4 Home Automation system and will compare
Control4 to other vendors as CES approaches. More later…
December 18, 2006 in GPS, Home Automation, Web/Tech | Permalink