June/July 2007

Lately several telematics suppliers have announced working relationships with related systems providers, suggesting that integration is the way forward. But how much of it is really going on, and what are the benefits and challenges? Robin Meczes reports

Tracking vehicles or other mobile assets is all very well, but what do you do with the data that's generated? In many instances, of course, telematics systems incorporate their own reporting functions to help make sense of the data they produce; and for many customers, that may be enough. But increasingly, it seems, what some customers are now looking for is the integration of that data into other operational or management systems.

A good example is a recent tie-up between routing and scheduling software specialist Paragon and telematics provider Isotrak, who earlier this year announced a joint telematics and route optimisation product, TTS, which will allow initial routing optimisations to be reviewed and reworked from live vehicle tracking data as vehicles and drivers go about their working day.

TTS (Total Transport Solution) essentially integrates Paragon's existing routing and scheduling software with Isotrak's existing vehicle tracking solution. The system will allow transport managers to adjust route plans in real time in response to unforeseen circumstances such as delays, adverse weather and traffic congestion, all on the basis of data supplied by the tracking system. It also provides the ability to compare actual with planned schedules after the event.

 

Aimed primarily at fleets of 100 vehicles or more engaged in multi-drop work, TTS will also automatically recalculate second trips for drivers during execution and will continuously refine job schedules in response to actual running times.

Up to now, say the two companies, fleets have had no option for tying the execution of their actual daily schedules to any kind of re-optimisation facility Ð meaning that although warnings may be received from a telematics system about things falling behind schedule, no recovery suggestions can be generated. In much the same way, a telematics system in isolation lacks any routing, scheduling and optimisation intelligence.

Two firm orders have already been received for TTS from large users in the retail sector, says Isotrak marketing director Craig Sears-Black. And this isn't the first time Isotrak has integrated its telematics systems with other systems either, he says. Among the latest examples is a new contract with Asda that will see Isotrak fit its ATMS system to some 950 trucks and 1,600 trailers and integrate the information it generates into an existing Manhattan Associates routing, scheduling and resource allocation suite.

That integration, says Sears-Black, will provide many benefits, including freeing drivers from the need to log journey details manually, and allowing continual updates of schedules with live re-optimisations of driver allocations. Roll-out is scheduled to be completed by the first quarter of next year.

In fact around 75 per cent of Isotrak sites so far have involved integration with some other kind of system, says Sears-Black. Such integration isn't always easy, but most back office systems can be interfaced with Ð if you know what you're doing. There is a certain skill set required. It's not something you can enter into lightly, he says. If you don't have the right expertise, it can be difficult to get all the interfaces right, and there are some horror stories around where whole systems have failed as a result.

Another, slightly different example of integration is the recent announcement by Microlise and truck supplier MAN ERF (UK) that the latter is to start distributing the former's Fleet & Distribution supply chain management system.

The move means that in addition to its existing truck telematics system Ð which focuses largely on vehicle and driver performance Ð MAN ERF can now offer customers a series of wider, logistics-related modules that include features such as lone worker management, job planning and scheduling, drivers' hours compliance monitoring, trailer tracking, proof of delivery recording and stock movement tracking.

Microlise product director Matthew Hague says that his firm has integrated basic telematics data with many other systems in the past, and customers are increasingly looking for such one-stop-shop solutions. More and more, such customers want one on-board box, one aerial, one interface and one SIM, with all the data going to one system Ð even if disparate data is then used in disparate ways, he says. One-stop-shop, scaleable solutions of this sort will grow and grow and grow.

There is no shortage of telematics companies who agree with this point of view. Quartix sales and marketing director Andy Kirk, for instance, says that the integration of telematics data with other systems allows it to be used at a much higher level than would otherwise be possible, and that this is particularly useful in terms of reporting functions. All telematics providers produce a range of reports that are useful at operational level, but integration means that at a much higher management level, people can have the data they want without further intervention, he says.

Kirk estimates that fewer than 5 per cent of Quartix customers currently require such integration, but says he's sure that figure will grow. I think there will be more and more integration with back office systems in the future Ð particularly for those in the service maintenance business, who compete by being able to react quickly, because the essence of that is having the data on which to react, and integration provides that ability, putting the data in front of them in a format they're already used to.

The variety of systems into which telematics data can be integrated seems virtually unlimited, too, from routing and scheduling to ERP and from vehicle maintenance software to workflow management systems.

Logistics management software specialist Mandata, for instance, says it is already integrating information from telematics systems into Sage payroll systems via its Manpack3 supply chain software, using the telematics data to confirm things like start and finish times and overall hours of work.

Adam Constable, business development manager for telematics at the firm, says that following the recent acquisition of Leeds-based telematics provider Wharfe Electronics, Mandata is also developing a new Web-based offering that integrates all sorts of other vehicle telematics data, too. This even goes to the extent of capturing images of drivers via in-cab cameras and squirting such images via the telematics system into Manpack3. Such an ability should be ideal in high-security applications Ð for example, where vehicles are carrying high-value loads such as cigarettes or alcohol that are attractive to hijackers.

In the future, says Constable, further integration of telematics data into other systems will be driven by two key influences Ð insurance and road tolling. Insurers, he says, will increasingly want to use telematics data to see for themselves how vehicles are being driven and over what mileages; road tolling, meanwhile, will almost certainly involve the setting-up of a central database, the fitment of telematics technology to every vehicle, and an automated system for debit or credit card payments. Both, inevitably, will require integration with whatever telematics systems are used, he suggests.

But such integration isn't without its problems, he adds. We have three or four customers who use Manpack3 and have asked us to integrate it with their existing telematics platform, but the telematics companies in question have said they aren't interested, he explains. They obviously feel it could affect their revenue Ð perhaps because we offer our own telematics system and it's very competitively priced.

The issue of interfaces is also a concern to fleet management software specialist CFC Solutions, which says that the lack of common data output standards in the telematics world is a major hurdle to greater integration of such data in fleet management systems.

Andy Leech, business leader at CFC, says such integration could drive many efficiencies, but the telematics sector has not really served fleet operators well on this score up to now, and there is little prospect of any change in the next few years. Everyone is investing in, and protecting, proprietary technology, he says. Devices from different providers all use different technologies and data standards, and none has got anywhere near establishing itself as the overall leader.

It's a point borne out by routing and scheduling specialist Paragon Software Systems, whose MD Will Salter says that the lack of common data outputs from telematics systems often means a dedicated interface needs to be written for each one Ð and that takes time and money, as it involves some fairly rigorous testing before an interface can be certified. The upshot of that, says Salter, is that Paragon will only develop such interfaces where customers specifically request it.

Paragon does have a standard format it requires telematics providers to supply, but few firms seem willing to adhere to it, he adds. We are increasingly being asked to integrate such systems into ours by our customers, he says, but the issue remains one of telematics companies making the effort to meet the Paragon standard Ð and we've not seen much evidence of that so far.

Such issues may affect the degree to which telematics systems have been integrated with routing and scheduling and fleet management software, but in other sectors Ð job scheduling and workflow management systems, for instance Ð integration with telematics systems is now fairly common. The use of handheld or fixed in-cab devices to provide drivers with instructions and schedules from such back office systems, based on their actual progress during the day or their proximity to particular customers, is an established feature of many different systems.

Steve Cowper, business development director at Masternaut, says the ability to see the location of individual vehicles relative to a running board with highlighted data on arrivals in a user's own, regular back office application, running within an integrated web service, is something a lot of customers are starting to look for. Masternaut is also starting to work on providing Web-based customer portals that make all that information available to third parties, so that customers of customers, too, can track and trace vehicles they are waiting for.

The issue of making telematics data available to customers is also raised by Tom O'Connor, managing director of DigiCore, who says it's one of two key areas driving the integration of telematics data with other systems at the moment Ð the other one being the ability to compare planned and actual routes and schedules.

Like others, however, O'Connor suggests other influences will come to the fore in the near future, and among these he includes the integration of radio frequency identification technology. I see RFID as a key area of future integration, because this will allow full supply chain tracking of goods and assets and integration of that data into a supply chain management system, he says.

In the end, says O'Connor, telematics data is really nothing without such integration. It's fantastic to have all the data a telematics system produces, but if you filter it enough, that data becomes knowledge Ð and that's the key thing in any organisation, he says.

The upshot, says O'Connor, is that integration of telematics data can only increase in the future. It's all about enhancing productivity. Telematics is one tool for doing that and it really needs to be added to all the other tools businesses already use to enhance their productivity, he says. It may not be there today, but it's a certainty for tomorrow.