The Silver Lining for Telematics Fleet Management Services in Europe

Hayden

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17th March 2014

If integration can be achieved, the market may finally reach that crucial tipping point. 

Although it became clear at Telematics Update’s European fleet telematics conference last week that the market is lagging behind the US, the message was not negative. Amsterdam was taken up by the future: the macro factors that will influence the market six years on, how Big Data will change the way business is done and, especially, how and when fleet telematics services will be integrated, perhaps around a common open platform.

Speaking during a panel discussion on integrated platforms for fleets, James Hookham, managing director, policy and communications, of the Freight Transport Association, said that fleet managers in the United Kingdom were calling for an open platform and greater integration.

One reason, he said, was that “no one fleet manager is able to comprehend in its entirety one particular provider’s solution.”

“And there are good corporate reasons for not investing all your telematics investment in one supplier,” he went on. “Certainly, all my members don’t source their vehicles from one manufacturer.” According to him, many of the 14,000 members of his association are resisting the telematics sector because they think they will get locked into one supplier and get a poor deal.”

“The sourcing of products and services from different providers allows fleet managers to feel confident that they’re not getting locked in to one provider and will be able to continue to use legacy systems in the future and not find themselves holding last year’s model,” he said. 

And, declaring that he felt fleet telematics was currently “a big-company game,” Hookham suggested that an open platform would be “an important way to permeate out in the smaller fleets.”

Telematics Update Connected Fleet Report 2014 seeks to discover why telematics suppliers continue to innovate and yet fleet managers remain reserved. The fleet telematics market is on the verge of great change. Fleet telematics is undergoing significant consolidation as larger companies such as Trimble acquire niche providers, while wireless carriers and larger fleet owners introduce their own products. Fleet owners are yet to experience the ‘silver bullet’ solution to fleet management that many expect from the promises made by telematics providers over the last decade. The connected fleet report provides crucial analysis on the development of the fleet telematics market.

A complimentary report extract is available to download on the website: http://www.telematicsupdate.com/fleet-report/

Peer reviews

“The preeminent report on the telematics fleet industry today. It provides in depth knowledge regarding everything from fleet telematics to UBI. The interviews and quotes from industry experts as well as fleet managers sets this report apart from others. Engaging and full of knowledge, this study is a must read for anyone involved in the telematics and fleet industries.”

Nicholas Ehrhart, VP of Business Development, Donlen Corporation

The full Connected Fleet Report 2014 is available to purchase via the Telematics Update website: https://secure.telematicsupdate.com/fleet-report/purchase.php

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