• A Maryland-based HVAC company (35 vehicles) saved over $21,000 in fuel costs in their first six months using GPS fleet tracking, and saved over $100,000 in labor charges
• Peterson Industrial, Inc., an Alabama based company focused on industrial and commercial piping, plumbing and metal fabricating, anticipates annual savings of around $350,000
• A Navtrak study reports average reductions in overtime of 13.4%

Before Navtrak, I was spending a lot more time trying to keep track of my trucks instead of growing my business. This was very frustrating to me and I needed a solution that would free up my time in that area.

TeleNav Track is available in several packages according to a business’s needs, and at various pricing levels. TeleNav Track features include GPS navigation and wireless forms, dispatching and barcode scanning.

Related posts:

• AT&T partners with TeleNav Track
• OpenGTS – Open source fleet tracking
• Who uses GPS fleet tracking and why?
• Garmin fleet management GPS tracking
• TomTom WORK GPS fleet tracking

TeleNav Track is an affordable enterprise-grade application for companies of all sizes and includes multiple features, such as GPS-enabled location-tracking, mileage-tracking, wireless time sheets, alerts and detailed location-reporting to capture field data. A premium version of TeleNav Track is also available with features including wireless forms, dispatching, barcode- scanning support and voice and on-screen turn-by-turn GPS directions. Initially, TeleNav Track is available on the new BlackBerry® 8800 and HP iPAQ hw6920 Mobile Communicator, both of which have integrated GPS.

TeleNav Track is available now directly from AT&T’s wireless business-to-business sales force. There are two monthly subscription plans. The entry-level TeleNav Track service plan, TeleNav Track Plus, is $12.99 per device; the TeleNav Track Premium service plan is $21.99 per device. There also is a one-time setup fee of $19.99 for each subscriber. An AT&T data plan is also required. Unlimited AT&T Push to Talk service is available for an additional monthly charge of $9.99 for each device. AT&T Push to Talk service also features a pay-per-use option of $.15 for minute.

The system has three components:

• TomTom WEBFLEET: an easy to use web-based service, giving access to 24-hour vehicle management and comprehensive reporting tools. TomTom WEBFLEET allows businesses to view their vehicles’ and drivers’ exact locations and manage new tasks.
• TomTom LINK: a compact, small unit placed inside each vehicle, allowing users to automatically and cost effectively transfer current vehicle positions (using GPS) and other information (via GPRS) to TomTom WEBFLEET.
• A TomTom portable navigation device (PND): either the TomTom GO 910 or TomTom GO 510.

Two-way communication is enabled as well:

Office-based managers can communicate with drivers by sending orders and text messages, enabling client orders and locations to be updated and new tasks and navigation coordinates to be sent to appropriate drivers. Drivers can send (standard) messages on order and work status.

The cost is less than $2 per day for TomTom WEBFLEET, $500 for TomTom LINK (per vehicle), plus the cost of the PND.

Technorati tags: GPS tracking, TomTom WORK

“It cuts down on guys leaving the job site. It helps us with our payroll costs because guys can’t fudge on their time sheet. We know when they get to the job, and we know when they leave the job,” he said.

The system, in use for six years, cut labor costs at the Aurora-based commercial landscaping company by about 3 percent in the first year.

Another company has seen increased sales as a result of GPS tracking:

Plumbing company Roto-Rooter, which has 1,500 service technicians throughout the country, started providing techs with GPS-equipped cellphones more than a year ago, said Steve Poppe, the company’s Cincinnati based chief information officer. Roto-Rooter technicians in Denver will be getting the phones in 2007.

The system is now used by about 390 of the employees in a number of cities. It assures the closest person to a customer who has called is the one dispatched. Drivers can also use it to find the location.

Many Roto-Rooter employees work on commission and don’t get paid when they are driving to and from a call, Poppe said. The system helps them maximize their pay.

Roto-Rooter’s GPS system is linked to mobile printers used to generate invoices at client sites.

When a technician begins generating an invoice, the system notifies the dispatch center.

The high-tech dispatch system has resulted in a 20 percent increase in service calls.

Privacy concerns are mentioned in the article, including this important reminder:

The issue gets particularly thorny when the person being tracked can’t turn off the GPS device at the end of the day, said Philip Gordon, chairman of the privacy practice group at the Denver law office of Littler Mendelson.

“There might one day be a claim that the tracking is so pervasive that it was something like stalking, but there is no case law so far advancing that theory,” Gordon said.

Both he and Orvis advise employers who plan to track their workers to let them know they are doing it, to tell them the reasons and to be sure that it doesn’t go on after work.

Technorati tag: GPS tracking

The privacy commissioner accepted that the company’s use of GPS could help locate missing vehicles and help dispatch employees to improve customer service.

However, the commissioner expressed concern about the use of GPS as an employee surveillance tool.

She concluded that it might be acceptable in certain situations — which are defined and communicated to employees beforehand — to use GPS as an employee surveillance tool.

“Systematically using GPS to check up on workers and try to determine how well they are doing their jobs would be going too far,” Stoddart said. “Employers do not have carte blanche to use GPS to constantly monitor their workforce.”

Technorati tags: GPS tracking, GPS surveillance