Great GPS Tracking Gets Better

It's a great Christmas present when news pops up in your browser that one of your old business friends and former suppliers is expanding and doing well.

I sold Geotab hardware products for several years and found both the products themselves and the support and engineering folks at the company absolutley top drawer.  More importantly their buisness-oriented GPS management software is hands-down the best in the business.

There are a lot of suppliers out there who make good boxes but their software always seems to be oriented toward 'Hey, wow, look at the dots' kind of effort. 

Geptab knows what fleet management is all about, from tracking how fast a truck is going to measuring the time a sweeper is actually sweeping and not just driving around ... highly recopmmend.  I love the format of this site ... looks like a lot of great information to make 2009 a better year for all fleet management folks.

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Telematics Home

Geotab
is an end-to-end developer of both the devices that are installed in
your vehicles as well as the software that you use to report activity.
Geotab is uniquely positioned to provide a solution that is driven to
respond to your objectives. With Fortune 500 companies as customers,
Geotab continues to drive innovation with value across your company. It
is our focus and capabilities to deliver customer-driven solutions that
sets Geotab apart as a business solution provider that enables your
growth as well as expense reduction. Geotab has been providing
solutions that combine GPS technology for business users over 10 years.
With flexible choices, Geotab provides the most universal base vehicle
platform and scaleable software in the industry. Geotab takes the risk
out of your decision and enables you to focus on your needs.

Great GPS Tracking Gets Better

It's a great Christmas present when news pops up in your browser that one of your old business friends and former suppliers is expanding and doing well.

I sold Geotab hardware products for several years and found both the products themselves and the support and engineering folks at the company absolutley top drawer.  More importantly their buisness-oriented GPS management software is hands-down the best in the business.

There are a lot of suppliers out there who make good boxes but their software always seems to be oriented toward 'Hey, wow, look at the dots' kind of effort. 

Geptab knows what fleet management is all about, from tracking how fast a truck is going to measuring the time a sweeper is actually sweeping and not just driving around ... highly recopmmend.  I love the format of this site ... looks like a lot of great information to make 2009 a better year for all fleet management folks.

• Main Page
• News
• Request More Info
• Visit Our Site

---

Telematics Home

Geotab
is an end-to-end developer of both the devices that are installed in
your vehicles as well as the software that you use to report activity.
Geotab is uniquely positioned to provide a solution that is driven to
respond to your objectives. With Fortune 500 companies as customers,
Geotab continues to drive innovation with value across your company. It
is our focus and capabilities to deliver customer-driven solutions that
sets Geotab apart as a business solution provider that enables your
growth as well as expense reduction. Geotab has been providing
solutions that combine GPS technology for business users over 10 years.
With flexible choices, Geotab provides the most universal base vehicle
platform and scaleable software in the industry. Geotab takes the risk
out of your decision and enables you to focus on your needs.

GPS Tracking Means No Option For Failure

This is a test of a new way to enter content. We shall see…

Curve Ball # 3

That evening, I am activating my SPOT personal locator beacon and one of the items that is needed is the serial number. It is on the device underneath the battery cover. I locate it after unscrewing the cover, hard to do with a pencil I might add. The serial number and authorization number is on a sticker but half of the last number is cut off. I called SPOT’s help line and they said they could get the last number to me within one day. I decide to try a few numbers because the last number looks like either a 5 or 9. I try my luck with the 5 and it works - success! Then I set up my Spot home page and the hour glass appears after I complete the required fields. It is up for fifteen minutes and so I decide to call the help line again. They inform me that their system is down. They said check back in ten minutes. I am not a whiz when it comes to GPS and internet technology but the layman’s question becomes “what if your system is down when I need help?” Read more on Lite Flyer’s blog

I’ve written about the excellent … at least in concept …. SPOT Personal Locator several times in the past. I still think the idea is gangbusters. But I also have written incessantly … I even retired, actually because of the idiocy … of government agencies and commercial companies who provide potentially life-critical services and, especially when the ‘Net is involved, just let failures occur and expect their customers to accept this bullshit.

Strong word? Damn right.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE for a life-saving or life-supporting system to be down. Period. Simple, relatively inexpensive fall back systems and techniques are readily available … if only company management would be less involved with their own compensation packages and ‘exit strategies’ and more thoughtful about what service they have contracted to provide.

Failure is not an option and furthermore, it is not necessary!

GPS Tracking Busts Bad Employee

Aren’t supervisors supposed to be aquatinted with what’s going on in management?

GPS Busts City Official

Chicago’s superintendent of sewers took a break from his workday and hit the links, but his whereabouts were traced through a cell phone, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Winston Cole has been placed on administrative leave with pay after he was tracked to a suburban golf course when he was supposed to be on the clock at the Water Management Department’s South District headquarters. When GPS-equipped cell phones were distributed to city employees and tracking devices were installed on city trucks, the stated goal was to increase employee productivity. Sounds like it’s working.

I could go on for days on this one. One of my first clients was county government. They bought a few vehicle units for a test and proof of concept. They installed them With the Knowledge of the Employees (something I always recommend) on the county-owned cars of several supervisors. What do you think happened the very first week of operation? Yep! One of the supervisory officials (who, remember, knew this was on the car) went to a golf course for an afternoon — while on the taxpayer’s’ clock! Amazing.

Another client was in the alcoholic beverage distribution industry. Obviously, they are even more interested in the prevention of drunk driving and substance abuse of employees than many other industries.

I sent a letter to the company president offering to make presentation to him on the advantages his company could realize by using GPS tracking for his company vehicles and he took my up on an offer to track one or more of his trucks as a trial. He took me up on the offer.

The vehicle he chose was a pickup that was assigned to one of his key supervisors. In this case he didn’t inform the employee and we installed the unit in a covert manner. In fairness, the president did hold a meeting the same week we installed the test unit to emphasize the company policies on drinking and driving and proper use of company vehicles. Should have been a clue, no?

Well the first week’s data showed that the night of the day of the safety meeting the ‘tracked’ supervisor went to a bar after work and traveled to three other bars where he spent his time … perhaps drinking only soft drinks? … until 4 am and then apparently took a nap in the bar parking lot (the bar he was at closed at 4 am) and then reported to work at 6 am the following day. All those hours at various bars, tow hours maximum of sleep and then back to work on busy streets in a company vehicle! Just how stupid was this guy?

You should not assume the worst about your employees. The vast majority are hardworking, dedicated and truthful. But the number of ‘bad apples’ out there certainly has amazed me … GPS Tracking is one of the better, faster, cheaper ways to separate the whet from the chaff.