Is telematics really necessary for technology?

Transport telematics is a field of technology that integrates transportation infrastructure, information and communication technologies to ensure efficient operation of transportation systems. It includes a wide range of technologies, including satellite navigation systems, transportation monitoring systems, traffic flow management systems, communication systems, automated transportation management systems and much more.

Sergey Nazarenko, Chief Designer for Innovative Vehicles, KAMAZ: "Selection of the most optimal route, taking into account the available orders for cargo transportation along the route of the vehicle, taking into account the offered premium and the additional mileage required for loading/unloading, i.e. additional loading with associated cargo, reducing empty runs.

Reducing the load on logistic operators and significantly increasing the efficiency of their work.

Obtaining online parameters of vehicles allows to assess their condition, plan maintenance and repair right on the trip, forecast the condition of its components, units and systems in the future, which helps minimize costly downtime due to unexpected breakdowns".

Mikhail Ivanov General Director of Betonservice (Tech-Rent brand): "With the help of GLONAVI, which we use, it is possible to set a specific list of authorized actions for each of the terrain areas, to control the location of equipment in real time, to receive data on the speed of movement and fuel consumption. It is possible to integrate the transport monitoring system with "1C Accounting" and automatically create trip tickets based on real data, accounting of expenses on refueling, fuel consumption, accounting of fuel write-offs according to the established norms and calculation of drivers' salaries".

Maxim Shishko, Director of Commercial Vehicles Department of AutoSpecCenter: "In addition to tracking the movement and technical parameters of special equipment and commercial vehicles, telematics equipment allows to control the misuse of service vehicles, for example, the driver on the way to the place of order fulfillment may try to perform additional work for personal enrichment. It can also monitor fuel consumption, mileage, wear and misuse of special equipment, conduct remote diagnostics of the vehicle and plan service maintenance.

The advantage of commercial vehicles equipped with satellite telematics is automatic remote software update and monitoring of the driver's health condition.

Violation of work and rest regime, drowsiness, inadequate behavior caused by intoxication - can be tracked on the basis of data on the manner of driving of the motorist and, if necessary, remotely block the operation of the equipment".

Eduard Mironov, Director for Procurement of Transportation Services of FM Logistic Vostok (FM Logistic brand): "When buying a long-haul tractor, most manufacturers offer free of charge or for a nominal fee to use their own M2M solution to monitor a huge number of parameters. At the output, "advanced" systems show the rating of the vehicle and driver, as well as a forecast on the performance of aggregates and components.

For companies that are not ready to understand the methodology of calculations and want to trust large manufacturers, such systems really help to make decisions on motivation of highly rated employees and plan vehicle repairs. For those vehicle owners who already have a personnel motivation system built according to certain parameters, M2M solution is necessary for indication of these indicators. They are processed either by individual employees or by an expensive system based on artificial intelligence and work with Big Data".

Pavel Selev Commercial Director of MAN Truck & Bus RUS (MAN Truck & Bus): "Telematics is based on satellite navigation systems, modern computer hardware and digital communication technologies. In addition to tracking the movement of transport and parameters of machinery operation, with the help of current digital devices it is possible to remotely warm up the engine, monitor its condition, take readings of all sensors, and predict the wear of parts, which can significantly save money.
In case of an accident, the information from the telematic device can be used by the traffic police and with the help of this data to find out how the speed of the car changed and where exactly the accident occurred.
GLONASS/GPS telematic system allows to control the fleet operation and drivers' work more accurately, reducing costs and optimizing processes within the business.
The telematic system allows remote monitoring of driver's compliance with the driver's work and rest regimes (for example, during a long-distance trip), which in turn directly affects traffic safety in passenger and cargo transportation".

Alexander Kuvshinov Director of Wialon Division, NewApex (Gurtam brand - developer of Wialon telematics platform): "Using the monitoring system, enterprises not only save money on each specific vehicle, but also optimize the structure of their fleets. Our statistics shows that the majority of vehicle fleets inefficiently use the vehicles they already have.

And almost every fleet could easily reduce the number of vehicles by 5-10% through proper load redistribution.

What else? The mentioned location tracking is only a small part of what GLONASS telematics can give to business. Another important area is controlling fuel consumption and preventing fuel theft. Sensors installed in the tank send online data on the volume of remaining gasoline. Any leakage will be detected immediately. Practice shows that fuel savings after the implementation of such a solution can reach 30%.

Trucking companies are often fined due to drivers' non-compliance with labor and rest regimes. With the help of telematic solutions it is possible to receive data from tachographs and control the driver.

Telematics has a lot of possibilities in terms of safety.

For example, if your equipment has to work in a certain zone, you can set up engine blocking when you try to drive out of it. Various SOS buttons, smart seals (to control the safety of cargo) - these are also telematics solutions. As you can see, the scope of telematics application is vast, and everything depends on the tasks that a business needs to solve".

Executive Director of MCM Dmitry Shishov: "Telematics in commercial transportation allows you to:
•reduce and optimize financial, time and material costs of fleet operation;
•simplify control and provide operational management of employees' work, for example, through the introduction of mobile applications, SMS-alerts and mailings;
•increase customer loyalty and create a competitive advantage;
•facilitate transportation planning and fleet management;
•reduce fuel consumption and vehicle mileage, while the volume of work performed increases significantly;
•Reduce vehicle downtime, fleet maintenance costs, losses from theft and misuse, and reduce the number of vehicles required for operation;
•due to the observance of discipline by employees, transportation safety is significantly increased, and obtaining operational data on the work of the fleet makes it possible to objectively resolve all disputable issues with the personnel".

Dmitry Zhuravlev, Head of Analytical Center of Montrans (MONTRANS brand): "Modern transport monitoring is a powerful computing complex in a data center, technical support service and service engineers in the fields. In the function of GLONASS\GPS telematics can be highlighted key points: collection of telemetry from moving and stationary objects, processing and visualization of data on location and parameters for operational control. A driver's mobile application to receive tasks and a mechanic's application to receive alerts and reports.

For department managers, analytics that includes: fuel balance, safe driving, efficiency control. All processes processed by telematics are necessarily compared and processed in the company's accounting systems: 1C, SAP. The accounting department is not engaged in collecting papers and comparing reports, but receives ready data from the system of impartial controller. The time of processing travel tickets is minute by minute. At the same time, there are monthly expenses for cloud processing tools and service upgrades.

You have to pay for the service."

Olesya Chuprun, Technology Solutions Consultant, John Deere Rus (John Deere brand): "Telematics systems can improve the profitability of a customer's business.

John Deere offers two types of fleet solutions. Solutions to increase productivity allow to analyze the efficiency of each machine and each operator, optimize the production process, rationally use machines at a particular site.

GLONASS equipment means control of fuel consumption, definition of working zones and time of machine operation, monitoring of work parameters, comparison of machine performance indicators in order to control and select optimal utilization. In turn, solutions such as leveling and weighing systems provide the owner not only control over the work performed and increase accuracy, but also greatly simplify the work of the operator.

Developments to increase machine uptime are the second group of solutions aimed at improving machine availability and reducing operating costs. These include obtaining diagnostic fault codes, remote diagnostics and reprogramming of machines.
and reprogramming of machines, information on upcoming maintenance, and the ability to remotely monitor operating parameters. All of this allows you to provide timely service and prevent breakdowns by responding quickly to machine notifications.

In addition, this information can be viewed from portable devices via mobile applications. It is also possible to upload data from the machines to the customer's business system using a special application programming interface."

Dmitry Zhuravlev, Head of Analytical Center of Montrans (MONTRANS brand): "Telematics in the hands of Russian users has turned into a toy. Having read advertising slogans, forums and instructions, the average person endows an ordinary recorder with extraordinary properties. Manufacturers' websites promise to get rid of headaches and increase efficiency. This is faith in marketing.

In fact, the client gets a headache in the form of a set of hardware, dissatisfied drivers, increased staff of controllers and a bunch of additional reports that cannot be believed. That's the truth of life. So, those who fell for the advertising slogans have to continue drowning in their routine, being sure that no one has ever invented anything better than trust and a measuring ruler.

Telemetry collection equipment, as well as the monitoring processing program, is only a means of data collection. The enterprise, which due to lack of experience and lack of time emphasizes its attention on the price of hardware and subscription service, very soon finds itself in a vicious circle "monitoring - people - accounting". Information from monitoring begins to live its own life, employees get used to living with new controllers, and the accounting department works with papers and trip tickets. Bottom line: there are costs, but no efficiency.

At the same time, everyone is talking about digitalization. At the moment, a proper transportation enterprise management system looks like an ecosystem of digital services, each of which collects its own data from various means of objective control (transport monitoring, telemedicine, inventory and others), then compares it with the declared data (checks in the accounting department, gas station statements, fines from government services, drivers' trip tickets, medic's marks, 1C warehouse, 1C ZUP, 1C UAT, tasks and so on).

In order for this complex to work without human and MS Excel, it is necessary to integrate monitoring data with accounting systems. It is clear that the automobile company does not have such competencies. Therefore, everything remains at the level of performers.

As an example: we supply both basic monitoring for such users and advanced fleet management system MONTRANS.ONLINE, where basic modules are integrated in one interface: vehicle monitoring, fuel balance, safe driving, trip tickets, inventory and directories, repair and driver management, exchange of requests with contractors and service. There are no similar programs on the market right now, especially with a mobile application for staff.

Pavel Selev, MAN Truck & Bus: "Satellite monitoring systems offer a large number of preconfigured reports, which can be generated with just two clicks of the mouse, thus minimizing the role of the human factor. It is possible to configure the construction and sending to e-mail the required reports on a schedule (for example, once a week), thus time losses are reduced to zero and the owner has the opportunity to remotely control the work of the fleet. There is also a possibility of operative control of the fleet work with the help of mobile application of the monitoring system.

The essence of the satellite telematics system is to simplify business processes, i.e. to make business for the owner easier, faster, clearer, with minimization of the "human factor", and thus more efficient and less costly. This is the MAN Simplifying business concept".

Maxim Shishko "AutoSpecCenter": "Thanks to the implementation of IT solutions, the owner of special equipment receives the most complete information about the condition and use of his property. For example, Trackunit trackers make it possible to track whether the special equipment was used on weekends when a lease agreement is concluded only for weekdays, which will reduce the loss of revenue for the owner of commercial vehicles. Also thanks to GLONASS GPS telematics the communication is stabilized, the amount of reporting data that the owner receives increases - not only about the location of the commercial vehicle, but also about the actual hours worked by the employee.

The ability to see where and how the equipment is working and who is driving it has also proved to be in demand among customers who rent commercial vehicles or lease them. Telematics allows to pay only for the actual use of the equipment, which is favorable for tenants".

Mikhail Ivanov, Tech-Rent: "It all depends on the goal the manager/owner has in mind.

As for errors and collusion, the possibility of this is not excluded in any human activity. Transportation telematics is just a tool. If a systematic and planned work covering both personnel and equipment is competently organized at the enterprise, its application has an excellent effect, but if not, the most advanced and effective tool will not change the situation.

Practice shows that there is a strong competition on the road transportation market. The most efficient ones stay afloat. One of the ways to increase the efficiency of trucking companies is the use of telematics systems. The effectiveness of this tool has been proven by time. In Russia, at least 80% of trucking companies already control their vehicles in one form or another with the help of telematics systems.

Alexander Kuvshinov, Gurtam: "Automation and implementation of any IT system is necessary to get rid of manual work, reduce the impact of the "human factor" and make it easier to do business. If you have to do everything manually, you are probably doing something wrong. As a rule, it is enough to set up a report with the necessary information and alerts once to receive data in a digestible form.

For example, if the car has left the required zone - you get an SMS with an alert, the fuel level in the tank has dropped sharply - an e-mail with the driver's name, the engine has been idling for half an hour - an alert in Telegram. I will not speak for all telematics systems, but Wialon, for example, has the ability to generate clear reports. If necessary, they can be uploaded to BI-systems by simply customizing a template.

- What is the average budget for installation of telematics systems per one unit of equipment? And what are the costs of subscription fees?

Pavel Selev MAN Truck & Bus: "The budget for telematics installation depends on various factors, for example, the make of the vehicle, type of telematics system, system capabilities, and so on. The subscription cost also varies from system to system."

Alexander Kuvshinov, Gurtam: "The average budget is difficult to name, it depends on the equipment to be installed, its quantity and complexity. If we talk about minimum prices, the cost of a basic monitoring kit (GPS/GLONASS tracker, SIM card and access to the platform) from our partners starts from 5-5.5 thousand rubles, the subscription fee - 400-600 rubles per month. More and more often there are variants of the rental model, when customers do not buy equipment, but pay a certain amount of money to the landlord every month. It is important to note that in 90% of cases, investments pay off in the first few months. This is due to the establishment of production discipline and avoidance of misuse of vehicles".

Maxim Shishko "AutoSpecCenter": "The average cost of installing innovative systems per vehicle depends on the number of options. For example, equipping one unit of special equipment with a GLONASS/GPS monitoring unit, sensors to monitor the work of mechanisms and a fuel level gauge will cost from 5,500 to 6,000 rubles, plus a monthly subscription fee of 450 rubles. Installation of the GLONASS system separately will be cheaper: from 3,500 to 4,900 rubles for the terminal itself and monthly payments - from 100 to 300 rubles depending on the selected tariff".

Dmitry Shishov "MCM": "The concept of "average budget" in telematics is, in our opinion, not quite correct and incorrect. Costs depend on the goals and objectives set by the customer. A company that has 2-3 units of executive class vehicles in its fleet, implements remote monitoring in order to identify the location and establish the actual mileage - this is one situation, it will cost the customer conditionally 5 000 rubles.

If we talk, for example, about KAMAZ, which consumes a lot of gasoline and oil, transports ore, then monitoring the actual weight of the transported cargo (when using axle pressure sensors), location, when controlling the scheduled replacement of spare parts - allows you to save significant funds and can pay off in 2 weeks, depending on how initially set up control and accounting at the customer.

Dmitry Zhuravlev "MONTRANS": "On average, the budget for equipping one unit is calculated after determining the set of functions that should be in the report. If it is a fuel balance, the key components are a monitoring terminal and a fuel level sensor (base from 20,000 rubles and annual payment from 7,000 rubles). If it is fundamental that the driver does not fall asleep at the wheel, then it is a video monitoring complex with control of the chauffeur's condition (from 56,000 to 78,000 rubles and annual payments of 12,000 rubles).

The option of equipping a fuel tanker with a fuel accounting controller and fuel balance with card issuance will cost 250,000 to 320,000 rubles (with or without video cameras) plus fuel cards with 20% VAT reimbursement and automatic comparison of statements for the accounting department. Annual service fees already start at 18,000 rubles.

If you plan to read tachographs without driver's participation and put a telemedicine terminal with printing of trip tickets, it is another 280 000 rubles for one workplace and subsequent annual maintenance from 140 000 rubles.

Integration with current accounting systems (and you can't give up on them, because there is a sales department, there are auditors, there are warehouses and processes) takes from 20,000 rubles for Google Docs and up to 200,000 rubles for one connector for 1C, SAP.

It turns out that digitalization is not only one-time costs (CAPEX), but also fixed costs (OPEX) for the maintenance of this infrastructure.

An important point: fixed costs for maintenance are many times more efficient than the costs of labor and human factor, because they are: a) predictable, b) scalable, and c) can be reduced without affecting production.

Those who have traveled this path have seen other horizons. Agree, 1900 rubles a month for a truck that generates income is not such a big money, given that all the figures in the reports are checked by robots for you. In particular, we have data validation included in the tariff for 700 rubles per month. Its main advantage is that you can then upload the validated data into your accounting system without violating the veto of the accounting department".

- What are the common mistakes among users of telematics in commercial vehicles and special machinery?

Alexander Kuvshinov, Gurtam: "I would call it a mistake to underutilize all the capabilities of telematics systems. Transportation telematics is not just tracking points on a map. Even with just a GLONASS device, you can make your fleet more efficient. For example, you can create optimal routes for couriers, control non-targeted trips and the use of a working vehicle for personal use.

Another mistake is to install a GLONASS monitoring system on your transportation and hope that you will not need to adjust other business processes. A simple example. If earlier the driver officially earned 30,000 rubles and pocketed the same amount of money through "false" trips and fuel drains, then, having lost half of his income, he will either quit or continue to look for ways to cheat his employer.

Therefore, the implementation of a monitoring system is a complex process that affects many aspects of the enterprise. And the more qualitative the implementation stage is, the more long-term economic benefits the company will receive".

Dmitry Zhuravlev "MONTRANS": "The most common mistake when choosing a solution provider is the incompetence of the executors of your search assignment. Who do search engines show you? Those who have paid more for marketing. Next, the performer has an important circumstance - to show its effectiveness, so he will give you several proposals and will save you money by choosing the simplest and most straightforward solution.

I'll tell you right away: options with technical specifications and description of process integration take much more time and require much more competence than the business view of your mechanic, with all due respect. Therefore, the second most common mistake is the lack of summarizing and, as a result, the inability and unwillingness to admit your mistakes.
We have a lot of examples when companies pull their suitcase without a handle until the last moment, afraid of getting a slap on the wrist for the mistakes made earlier. They often forget that it is easier to write off illiquid than to keep paying for missing service or invalid data.

Maxim Shishko "AutoSpecCenter": "The main mistakes in the use of telematics on special vehicles are committed mainly by the drivers themselves. There are many cases of deliberate damage to GLONASS sensors, covering them with iron in the car, so that it was impossible to catch the satellite signal. For business owners such manipulations also have consequences - downtime in the operation of equipment, clarification of relations with employees and contractors, dismissal of unscrupulous staff and search for new ones.

In addition, business owners often choose, buy and install M2M devices on the fleet on their own, without consultation and support of specialists. This leads to the fact that special vehicles are either re-equipped with sensors and data collection is carried out chaotically, or they are not retrofitted and then building business processes is pointless.

Small fleets are far behind in the equipment of telematics systems, but there is an insufficient number of automated solutions in large companies as well. The main reasons for this are the presence of a large number of devices on the market and players offering complex and expensive services that motorists would prefer to receive for free. Insurance companies, service providers and fleet management operators offer their own devices and platforms in addition to the systems that are required by law.

Today, only large logistics and transportation companies are engaged in equipping their entire fleet with telemetry systems, as not everyone can afford to invest in the creation of a hardware and software complex and an extensive network to meet the needs of a particular enterprise".

Dmitry Shishov "MCM": "Implementation of a satellite-based transportation monitoring system is not a panacea. If the system is implemented, and at some stage of data transfer, for example, to the accounting department, where the actual mileage figures are then entered manually - this dramatically reduces the efficiency of its use, does not eliminate the human factor, but enhances it.

Monitoring results are information material for making appropriate management decisions. If the results of monitoring are not analyzed or used in company management, the system can turn into an expensive toy instead of an effective management tool.

Pavel Selev MAN Truck & Bus: "Based on the data received by the satellite monitoring system, we can speak about the following most frequently detected errors in the use of the vehicle:

•extended idling time of the vehicle;
•insufficient use of cruise control;
•braking only with the service brake system (without using the engine brake);
•exceeding the permissible speed of the vehicle;
•failure to comply with the economic interval of the engine.

All of the above parameters affect the increase in operational fuel consumption.

Also, the analysis of data received by the telematics system allows us to talk about the frequent non-compliance with the required modes of labor and rest of the driver and cases of vehicle movement without driver's card inserted in the tachograph. This, in turn, has a direct impact on the increase of costs for payment of fines and payment of damages from road accidents".

- Is it realistic to automate business processes in a company with a large fleet of vehicles using telematics?

Sergey Nazarenko "KAMAZ": "The reality of automation has already been confirmed by many years of practice. There is not a single large enterprise in Russia (both private and state-owned) that has not implemented telematics. But telematics is not an end in itself.

A logical step in its development is to combine it with other ERP, MRO, TMS systems in order to digitalize/automate as many business processes of companies as possible, including their partners and allied companies.

Alexander Kuvshinov, Gurtam: "Realistically. Everything depends on a particular company, its internal processes, goals and plans. If you need full automation of all business processes related to the fleet, then only telematics solutions are not enough - they must be integrated into the overall IT infrastructure of the company, work in conjunction with CRM, accounting, warehouse, BI and other systems (say, from 1C) to better plan the same fuel costs or employee workload. One of the simplest examples is the integration of the monitoring system with the internal accounting system of the company, for example 1C. Data on the number of trips and kilometers of each vehicle (or driver's results) can be automatically entered into 1C and then used for further calculations, including for (de)bonuses for personnel".

Stanislav Emelyanov, Managing Partner of MONTRANS: "The scope of processes to be automated is easy to estimate. First, you need to see how many steps you take to build a final report on the organization's activities. As an example: travel vouchers are processed with a delay, the period is closed on the 15th day, invoices from service providers arrive within a month, no one checks the reports of departments, etc. Optimization of MS Excel in ERP or BI gives a huge layer of analytical information and setting up processes of exchange of verified information and frees you from accounting because it allows you to work online with management information.

Secondly, it is necessary to observe how many and what kind of papers are accumulated on desks and moved between departments. Let me give you an example: uploading data on fines from the portal of state services for 1000 vehicles with their subsequent printing, signing and payment in the accounting department takes the time of 1 employee per month (!). Our module "safe driving" occupies 1 desktop and allows us to pay fines automatically (up to the amount of 2000 rubles).

Regarding trip tickets: we participate in project groups on digital trip tickets and expect that in the next 2-3 years, trip tickets will finally be digitized, as well as telemedics. This will make it possible in the near future to write a trip ticket and pass a medic with the task being sent to the driver's mobile app. A huge amount of paper and time will be saved. The specialty of dispatcher will be a thing of the past. The logistician and mechanic will not have to collect a lot of paperwork that is unnecessary for a serviceable tractor and a healthy driver".

Olesya Chuprun, John Deere: "One of the main purposes of a telematics system is fleet management. Controlling fuel and maintenance costs is important for every customer. Data on the distribution of working hours and machine utilization are displayed in real time in the system, which allows the client to control the process directly from the office without spending time on travel or additional communications within their organization. It is also possible to mention maintenance, there is no need for daily monitoring of operating hours - all this is done automatically by the system.

Sergey Nazarenko "KAMAZ": "The time of companies that made a name for themselves on the wave of retrofitting vehicles in operation as we know them is coming to an end. Most automakers already equip their products with telematics equipment in one form or another. Each automaker has its own telematics system, which has its own technical nuances, which most fully take into account the features of the manufactured vehicles. Each large fleet has its own system (either from a vendor or self-written if its own resources are sufficient). It is quite expected that sooner or later the process of mutual integration and consolidation will begin, including with the already mentioned ERP, MRO, TMS systems".

Dmitry Zhuravlev "MONTRANS": "M2M devices at the current stage of development are too heterogeneous and fulfill purely specific requirements, so in the next 5 years there will be unification of equipment and consolidation of players. Versatility of solutions and openness of protocols for data reading should win out. Data protection, remote control, as well as unmanned vehicles are already a reality, but they will require the deployment of high-speed data exchange networks and encryption, so they will not be actively used on public roads yet, and for quarry equipment the technologies are not yet mature enough: weather conditions, pollution, vibrations will not allow to abandon the operator for a very long time, because the cost of error is very high".

Olesya Chuprun, John Deere: "The technology solutions industry will continue its development towards automation, with more and more production processes being automated and complex in nature. It is also likely to be followed by the development of solutions for mixed fleets, increasing the volume and quality of data provided. Of course, feedback from users plays an important role here, as the market of telematics solutions is developing based on the needs of customers."

Pavel Selev MAN Truck & Bus: "The M2M market is developing rapidly. In the perspective of five years, positive dynamics of the car market is expected, provided by economic recovery and expected growth of investments in production and new technologies. The revitalization of the SME sectors will have a positive impact on the light commercial vehicle segment. Economic recovery, development of the transportation system, as well as implementation of government programs will ensure growth in truck sales".

Dmitry Shishov "MCM": We see a prospect in the market of M2M solutions for commercial vehicles and special vehicles in terms of expansion and deepening of integration within the framework of digitalization of the economy, corporate sector and smart city systems.