GPS Tracking In the Modern Business Environment

Since GPS’s arrival in the late 90s, things have really changed. Initially only used for posh mountain climbers and military applications, GPS tracking has quickly been incorporated into the fabric of modern life – we use it for satellite navigation systems, we use it on fancy digital watches: and most importantly and usefully of all, we use it to help fleet based businesses keep an eye on their valuable assets. 

What is the most valuable asset of a fleet business? Its vehicles and its drivers. Without either there is no real delivery, there’s no reliability, there’s no job. As such, the vans and trucks and cars that compose the fleet run by a fleet business need to be watched over at all times: something that has never really been possible until the development and expansion of GPS tracking technology. Now that Global Positioning Satellite tracking is an everyday application, which makes it a lot cheaper than it used to be when it was only for rich mountaineers and the army, every fleet based business in the British Isles is able to keep an eye on its investments: with some rather surprising results. 

There is, of course, GPS and there’s GPS – in the same way that there’s wine and then there’s good wine; there’s Prosecco and then real champagne. Some companies have managed to develop GPS applications that knock the old “press button and you’re here” idea into a cocked hat: applications that can relay all sorts of real time information through a tracking satellite to a home programme that collates it all into meaningful data and reports. 

One such company is Britain’s own SimplyTrak, whose GPS tracking suite has been routinely saving thousands of pounds for fleet managers every year since it was first installed. The suite delivers real time information about everything: speed; location; fuel consumption; time spent idling; time spent on routes not officially sanctioned by the company. It even sets up warning routines when a vehicle or driver strays from a recommended path – or when the vehicle is used at unauthorised times or in unauthorised places.

The drivers, no doubt, who have been used to popping out to the shops on company time, are less than happy about the technology – but then, as the saying goes, if you aren’t doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about. This new GPS tracking application is able to save money instantly for every company that installs it – allowing fleet managers to maximise fuel consumption and cut down on journey times from the word go. There’s more than that though: you’ve also got the reporting capability, which lets users study meaningful data and reports regarding average use, average fuel consumption, and time spent in traffic jams and so on. That kind of information can be used by fleet managers to develop money saving practices they’d never even thought of before. 

GPS tracking has come a long way since its inception back in the 90s. Like all new technology, it needed its time to really come into its own: now, it’s there, and fleet companies all over Britain are reaping the benefits.