When it comes to gaining market share, the best offense is a good defense. For fleet owners in midsize fleets, this boils down to maximizing the value of everything within their organization however this is easier said than done, as fleet owners typically have a hand in every aspect of their business: procurement, analytics, risk, market strategy, etc. One way to ease this burden and start boosting results is by finding solutions that provide immediate value to fleets, like trailer telematics. The data generated from trailer telematics can have a profound impact on how fleets operate, driving productivity, cutting costs, reducing risk and so much more. From leveraging insightful data to winning business, here’s how midsize fleet owners can benefit from investing in trailer telematics.
Generate Analytics
For small and midsize fleets, it’s often less about data-driven decisions and more about meeting day-to-day demand. However, this no longer needs to be the case. Trailer telematics can play a pivotal role in generating key analytics that can be viewed from dynamic dashboards and comprehensive reports to help fleet owners discover inefficiencies in maintenance, route planning, driver performance, trailer utilization and more. Idle reports can be leveraged to quickly locate trailers that are sitting unused or delayed in detention and get them back on the road. This improves asset utilization but can also help fleet owners find operational weaknesses—such as trailers that are being frequently underutilized or overutilized—which can lead to more revenue and less maintenance upkeep.
Inform Procurement
With trailer backlogs and component shortages wreaking havoc in the industry, purchasing new and used trailers is a challenge right now for fleets of all sizes. Although nothing can be done on a macro level to change the market, improving efficiency through boosting fleet uptime is a surefire way to improve trailer output. With trailer telematics, fleet owners can make use of brake reports, tire pressure monitoring alerts and fault codes that can help them track the health of the assets they’ve invested in. Analyzing these trends could lead to discovering inefficiencies that can be addressed for improved longevity. Plus, in the long term, fleet owners can leverage this data to help them purchase trailers with components that are expected to last longer.
Reduce Risk
As is the case for any business owner, managing risk is of the utmost importance. From cargo theft to insurance claims to roadside safety infractions, there’s plenty to worry about. This is especially true for fleet owners, who employ drivers to carry valuable cargo across the country every day. Trailer telematics technology can mitigate some of the risk involved with owning a fleet by providing remote around-the-clock visibility into trailers—empty or loaded—through camera cargo sensors. This generates a visual record which can provide clarity to discussions involving product quality at delivery, improving customer relations. Camera cargo sensors can also be used to check that standard loading procedures are being followed on a trip-by-trip basis, ensuring employee safety. Lastly, while trailer telematics solutions can’t prevent cargo theft, fleet owners can keep an eye on the location of their trailers and can view when assets are being entered or used without authorization by using asset tracking along with camera and door sensors.
Driver Retention
According to an ATA report, large truckload carriers—over $30m annual revenue—had a 90% annual driver turnover rate, with smaller fleets resting at 69%. While this looks promising for smaller fleets, the turnover gap is narrowing as enterprise carriers increase pay and benefits offerings to retain their drivers. Lacking the coffers of larger carriers, growing fleets can fight back against driver turnover by improving driver convenience, wellbeing, comfort and performance through technology like trailer telematics.
One area where simplification can provide value is by incorporating trailer ID sensors within yard management. Drivers pulling the wrong trailers are in a lose-lose situation: they aren’t earning money and fleets aren’t earning revenue. With trailer pairing confirmation, drivers can eliminate the costly mistake of hooking to the wrong trailer and leaving the yard through trailer coupling notifications that dispatch can monitor remotely.
Win Business
Being smaller has its perks. For growing fleets, using trailer telematics technology to provide a better experience for customers can be the ticket to winning business from bigger competitors. Plus, without any previous large-scale investment in now-obsolete technology, small fleets can quickly pivot and adopt the newest technology to get ahead.
Just like in any other business environment, smaller companies can often provide more personalized service and attention to their customers versus an enterprise churning out production to meet demand. Real-time location tracking provides tremendous value through asset visibility that can lead to accurate ETAs, which are often expected from customers in this era of Amazon and Uber.
Taking Market Share with Trailer Telematics
Owning a midsize fleet can be a stepping stone for those that are interested in scaling operations and expanding business on the back of innovative technology. Using trailer telematics, fleet owners can maximize their productivity and efficiency to create a better service for customers, reduce unnecessary expenses, retain talented drivers and more.
Want to see how trailer telematics can work for you? Check out our free smart trailer solutions brochure and discover the benefits of incorporating trailer telematics in your growing fleet.