Drivers are an integral part of any service based company. Outside of performing the job well once they get to the client site, they also have to deal with traffic, potential mechanical problems and a myriad of other potential pitfalls that may befall anyone that is on the road a lot. Roadside assistance is when a driver calls dispatch or their boss and someone is sent out to help the driver. This help can mean taking over materials and the job, moving the vehicle and/or giving a lift to the driver back to the shop or home.

There are two kinds of roadside assistance companies – internal and 3rd party.

An internal system is the most common. This is when a company simply sends another driver from the company to help the distressed fleet vehicle or driver. InTouch GPS has devices that can track and relay information back to the dispatch on the vehicles exact location, which other fleet vehicle is closest and the best route to get their from any location.

3rd party roadside assistance companies offer a paid for service that usually includes an agreement with a towing company or even mechanic and can be called to help a disabled fleet vehicle and driver. To be clear, Intouch GPS does not offer this service, however we help 3rd parties through the integration of our GPS fleet tracking find the most expeditious route to a vehicle as well as a ton of other services, reports and features included for one small monthly price.

This GPS fleet tracking is often incredibly reliable and response time, service calls and driver safety all can be improved.

To learn more about how GPS fleet tracking can help reduce costs, increase profits and enhance driver safety contact us today.

Electricians provide a valuable and necessary service. As someone with pretty good mechanical savvy, I tackle most home repairs, but anytime I need almost anything electrical done I will call a professional. Becoming a good electrician takes time and often newer employees work through an apprenticeship to journeyman to master. While there are still plenty of solo practice individuals, there are also plenty of people who are employed with mid-to-large electric companies.  Since these companies provide energy, they are vital to any community and can often have large fleets. Working with electricity is a dangerous job and safety is of the utmost importance on the job.  However, it is also important on the way to the job. That’s where InTouch GPS comes in.

We support electric companies and electricians across the United States and while each business is unique, there are often broad sweeping challenges or practices that GPS fleet tracking can help with.

GPS Fleet Tracking For Electric Companies

Electric companies often have two different roles for which vehicles are deployed.

1. Dispatch a person to service any residential or commercial electrical issue
2. Handle power outages due to storms and other acts of nature and get power back on

In both of these, it is important to be able to know where your worker/vehicle or asset is located, how long have they been there? If additional help is needed or an issue arises you can easily find exactly where someone is and come to their aid. These service heroes are often working in dangerous aftermath of storms and high winds, so being able to keep them as safe as possible is a company responsibility.

GPS Vehicle Tracking allows you to gain valuable data on driver behavior. An authorized user can pull historic reports as well as see real time activity and gather business intelligence.

• How long is a person at a service call?
• Do we have the  right sized fleet and manpower to fill the needs of prospective clients?
• Are they where they are supposed to be and doing what they are tasked to do?
• If they come across somewhere impassable, what is another route to their destination?
• Are they speeding or driving aggressively?
  (which burns excess fuel, hurts reputation and is unsafe?)

GPS fleet tracking gives you these answer and insights about so much more.

When a person knows that the boss has the ability to monitor their activities they are much more likely to be doing what they are supposed to be doing.

You can use the system to see how fast people are going- of course safety is paramount, but the potential damage to your reputation of unsafe drivers is also a key factor in being able to tracking this (and many other) aspects of their driving. Not only can you easily pull a dashboard and see current and historic data, you can also choose to be sent real time alerts to immediately be able to correct the problem.

With these and many more benefits, electric companies have increased their bottom line and stay with us. If you would like to be the next electric company or electricians to start increasing ROI while reducing costs, contact us today for a quick no pressure one on one web demo about what we can do for you.

Property Managers and Property Maintenance professionals have a ton of things to be responsible for. As multi-unit housing, student housing, apartments and condos are becoming ever increasingly popular, their duties are just expanding. One of the items that property managers are responsible for are the vehicles that they and their staff use to check on residents, tour the grounds, inspect and ensure safety protocols and perhaps maintenance calls as well. They shouldn’t have a big burden when it comes to tracking and managing the vehicles as well. Tha’s where InTouch GPS comes in. Our easy to use, affordable system helps make a more efficient use of time and automates many things that were done manually before. This allows property managers to have the time they would have used managing their fleet to be used elsewhere instead.

We support property management companies across the United States and while each business is unique, there are often broad sweeping challenges or practices that GPS fleet tracking can help with.

Property Management | Property Managers

Property management companies often have three different roles for which vehicles are deployed.

1. Dispatch a maintenance person to service any issue
2. Show residents facilities
3. Security

In all of these, it is important to be able to know where your worker/vehicle or asset is located, how long have they been there? If additional help is needed or an issue arises you can easily find exactly where someone is and come to their aid.

GPS Vehicle Tracking allows you to gain valuable data on driver behavior. An authorized user can pull historic reports as well as see real time activity and gather business intelligence.

• How long is a person at a maintenance call?
• How long do tours take?
• Do we have the  right sized fleet and manpower to fill the needs of prospective clients?
• Is security where they are supposed to be and doing what they are tasked to do?

GPS fleet tracking gives you these answer and insights about so much more.

When a person knows that the boss has the ability to monitor their activities they are much more likely to be doing what they are supposed to be doing.

You can use the system to see how fast people are going- of course safety is paramount, but the potential damage to your reputation of unsafe drivers is also a key factor in being able to tracking this (and many other) aspects of their driving. Not only can you easily pull a dashboard and see current and historic data, you can also choose to be sent real time alerts to immediately be able to correct the problem.

With these and many more benefits, property management companies have increased their bottom line and stay with us. If you would like to be the next property management or property maintenance company to start increasing ROI while reducing costs, contact us today for a quick no pressure 10 minute demo about what we can do for you.

Pests– Roaches. Ants. Rodents.

Some people abhor the mere mention of these. Others make eradicating them from your home or business their business. InTouch GPS works with a myriad of companies-all kinds of business vertical, all sizes of fleets. While our platform is industry agnostic the fleetcentric nature of service companies mean that we get a lot of call from fleet managers, department managers and business owners of pest control companies.  In today’s blog we are going discuss some of the benefits to the pest control industry. We work with hundreds of pest control companies across the United States and while each business is unique, there are often broad sweeping challenges or practices that GPS fleet tracking can help with.

When many people think of GPS fleet tracking they think of fleet vehicles -a legion of trucks and cars ready to go out and service customers. While this is accurate, we define a fleet as any assemblage of vehicles that a company uses. Often pest companies have vans and trucks-usually wrapped with their logo or if you are lucky like we are in Florida you may even see a vehicle modified to look like an insect or bee.  Read about many of the benefits that we offer to our current pest control companies and how we can hep your company.

Pest Control

Pest Control companies have two main service offerings

1) Routine Pest Control and Prevention

2) Emergency Situations Involving Pests (termites, bee swarms, etc)

Regardless of which service the company is being utilized for the benefits of GPS fleet tracking run the gamut for them all.

Improving Efficiency 

GPS Vehicle Tracking allows you to gain valuable data on driver behavior. An authorized user can pull historic reports as well as see real time activity and gather business intelligence.

• How long is a person at any respective spray site?
• Is their an average time among your drivers?
• Are the going directly from jobsite to jobsite?
• What is an acceptable time in which someone can do the job efficiently?
• Are your drivers timecards an accurate representation of their work?

GPS fleet tracking gives you these answer and insights about so much more.

When a person knows that the boss has the ability to monitor their activities they are much more likely to be doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Speed Control 

As discussed many of the vehicles in pest control companies are often branded. Ambassadors of your company as they drive through residential neighborhoods. Are they speeding?

Caustic chemicals and high speeds don’t mix…

You can use the system to see how fast people are going- of course safety is paramount, but the potential damage to your reputation of unsafe drivers is also a key factor in being able to tracking this (and many other) aspects of their driving. Not only can you easily pull a dashboard and see current and historic data, you can also choose to be sent real time alerts to immediately be able to correct the problem.

Idling Control

Often warm, muggy environments are a perfect habitat for pests. In these areas where pest control serviceman go it, there are often hot and humid temperatures- walking around, in attics and crawlspaces- are your drivers using vehicles for climate control? Are they keeping the vehicle on when they shouldn’t be. You can see how long a vehicle is idling to learn the answers to these questions and ultimately save money on fuel costs. We suggest having a driver policy meeting to set expectations about each of these events and what is authorized and what is not. Sometimes it may not seem like much- a few dollars saved here or there, but when you multiply it across the total

Customer Validation

Occasionally work is done when no one is home. If you receive a complaint that no one showed up or no one sprayed this week/month you can verify or refute the accuracy of that statement through tracking. Many customers set up frequent recurring job sites as landmarks and send customers reports to show them the times they were there in advance. GPS Fleet Tracking allows you to verify exactly when the vehicle arrived at the site and when it left.

With these and many more benefits, pest control companies have increased their bottom line and stay with us. If you would like to be the next pest company (or any service company) to start increasing ROI while reducing costs, contact us today for a quick no pressure 10 minute demo about what we can do for you.

At InTouch GPS we believe that ANY size company in EVERY industry
that utilizes a vehicle for their business can benefit by reducing costs and increasing profits through GPS fleet tracking. We work with many industries across the nation and would be hard pressed to find a company vertical that we haven’t worked with before. However there are specific industries that we see more often than others. Here are three of those industries and a few examples of how we help them specifically.

Plumbing and HVAC Industry

Plumbing and HVAC crews often get a customer route and plan of action each day. GPS Fleet Tracking can make sure that the most direct and efficient routes are being taken. For plumbing disasters, and other HVAC emergencies, time is often of the essence.With GPS Fleet Tracking A dispatcher can see which vehicle is closest and available and provide them directions to the waiting customer. While doing so, the dispatch can also set the expectations for the customer for the estimated time of arrival. You can also use historic and real-time reports to determine work force necessity and future man power planning more accurately.

Lawn Service Industry

There are many moving parts to a lawn service crew. This nebulous term can include crews who mow the lawn, Tree cutting and trimming service providers, landscapers, and others. Typically a team lead is responsible for his/her crew and have certain projects throughout the day. GPS Fleet Tracking can provide demonstrable proof that a crew was on time, how long they worked their for, and when they left. Real-time alerts can be set to notify if any of your fleet vehicles are speeding, or driving aggressively in residential and commercial areas

Construction Industry

There are many facets of a construction project. In all phases, timeliness, punctuality and attention to detail are vital. GPS Fleet Tracking can ensure that all vehicles and project members are on sight and working. GPS Fleet Tracking also enhances security by being a theft deterrent since construction projects often work around the clock, you can specifically manage time card reporting through tracking to ensure

These are just a few of the many ways that GPS fleet tracking can benefit the above companies and yours. InTouch GPS works with several thousand companies across the United States. Although we never require any contract of any sort, we are proud to say that we have over a 96 percent client retention rate year over year. We believe that great customer service, an easy to use affordable product that helps companies quickly benefit is the key to that figure. Discover what InTouch GPS can do for your company today by contacting us to answer any questions or experience a quick, no pressure demo of our system in action.

US fleet tracking practices differs greatly from fleet tracking practices in other countries. The United States is a melting pot of cultures, customs and traditions. Some of the traditions or practices

we see in other countries seem strange to us, just as ours would seem strange to them. For example, In Greece when a child loses a tooth, it gets thrown on the roof for luck instead of here where the tooth gets tucked under the pillow where a fairy enters your home and trades it for money…okay maybe some of our traditions seems a little strange as well. While there are not a lot of traditions associated with fleet tracking, it is interesting to compare and contrast the practices in US fleet tracking and companies elsewhere around the world. Let’s look at three of those differences. 

US Fleet Tracking

Vehicles

In US fleets most service vehicles are four wheeled- primarily trucks and vans. In Europe and Asia over half of the registered business service vehicles are two wheeled- motorbikes fitted with large baskets or pull-along trailers carrying the goods.

Green Initiative

Since the mid-90’s “going green” has become more and more important in the US. Going green is not as important to developing countries, however in other 1st world locations such as the European union it is important. While cost reduction and increase of profits is usually the main reason US fleet tracking is utilized, a greener fleet is a nice secondary benefit.
Service

US Fleet tracking uses the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network. This network incorporates a range of satellites that use microwave signals that are transmitted to GPS devices to give information on location, vehicle speed, time and direction. While GPS fleet tracking is relatively new, the core technology framework it is built upon has been a staple infrastructure in North America for quite some time and is reliable and used in all almost every corner of the United States and other parts of North America. (InTouch GPS has a few clients in Canada and some that operate back and forth between the American and Canadian border- while this is a small percentage we are proud to offer incredible service to these companies.) In other parts of the world, there is not an established infrastructure and to even consider having fleet tracking similar to the US fleet tracking set-up is an impossibility.
There are many other aspects contrasting US fleet tracking practices against those in other countries, however wanting to run a successful business can be considered a universal idea. To learn about how the US fleet tracking that InTouch GPS provides can specifically help your organization, contact us today.

Usually the blog posts InTouch GPS create are about the benefits of fleet tracking to the companies we serve, best practices in GPS fleet tracking, developments in technology or other fleet related news. Today, we are taking a small detour of the norm and writing about one of our employees, David Walloch.

Read below to learn more.

Biography

Across the country, people are enjoying relaxing after a long day, having fun with the kids or simply cooling off from the heat. According to the CDC 

• There are 10.4 million residential and 309,000 public swimming pools in the United States

  

• In the United States during 2009, there were approximately 301 million swimming visits each year by persons over the age of six

That’s a lot of pools!! Over 40 percent of those are professionally cleaned or maintained by a pool cleaning service. There is huge market for pool cleaning.

How GPS Vehicle Tracking Can Help Your Swimming Pool Cleaning Company

When you mention vehicle tracking

When many people think of fleet tracking they think of fleet vehicles -a legion of small white trucks ready to go out and service customers. While this is accurate, we define a fleet as any assemblage of vehicles that a company uses. Often pool companies have vans and trucks-usually wrapped with their logos. Read about many of the benefits that we offer to our current pool cleaning companies and what we can offer to you.

Pool Cleaning companies have two main service offerings

1) Maintaining and Cleaning

2) Emergency Repair of any Pool

Regardless of which service the company is being utilized for the benefits of GPS fleet tracking run the gamut for them all.

Improving Efficiency 

GPS Vehicle Tracking allows you to gain valuable data on driver behavior. An authorized user can pull historic reports as well as see real time activity and gather business intelligence.

• How long is a person at any respective job site?
• Is their an average time among your drivers?
• Are the going directly from jobsite to jobsite?
• What is an acceptable time in which someone can do the job efficiently?
• Are your drivers timecards an accurate representation of their work?

GPS fleet tracking gives you these answer and insights about so much more.

When a person knows that the boss has the ability to monitor their activities they are much more likely to be doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Speed Control 

As discussed many of the vehicles in pool companies are often branded. Ambassadors of your company as they drive through residential neighborhoods. Are they speeding?

Caustic chemicals and high speeds don’t mix…

You can use the system to see how fast people are going- of course safety is paramount, but the potential damage to your reputation of unsafe drivers is also a key factor in being able to tracking this (and many other) aspects of their driving. Not only can you easily pull a dashboard and see current and historic data, you can also choose to be sent real time alerts to immediately be able to correct the problem.

Idling Control

In climates with large pool communities it can often be blazing hot summers- are your drivers using vehicles for climate control? Are they keeping the vehicle on when they shouldn’t be. You can see how long a vehicle is idling to learn the answers to these questions and ultimately save money on fuel costs. We suggest having a driver policy meeting to set expectations about each of these events and what is authorized and what is not. Sometimes it may not seem like much- a few dollars saved here or there, but when you multiply it across the total

Customer Validation

Occasionally work is done when no one is home. If you receive a complaint that no one showed up or work wasn’t done you can verify or refute the accuracy of that statement through tracking. Many customers set up frequent recurring job sites as landmarks and send customers reports to show them the times they were there in advance. GPS Fleet Tracking allows you to verify exactly when the vehicle arrived at the site and when it left.

With these and many more benefits, pool cleaning companies have increased their bottom line and stay with us. If you would like to be the next pool company (or any service company) to start increasing ROI while reducing costs, contact us today for a quick no pressure 10 minute demo about what we can do for you.

It is hard to believe it is already the month of May. While some places like Orlando, Florida or San Diego, California have a never ending summer, for most of us, May is when we start making our summer plans. That includes vacations, what to do with the kids with school being out and if you are in the fleet business-how to prepare your fleet for the heat. Here is a valuable checklist of best practices that IntouchGPS recommends you follow to make sure that your fleet is ready for the summer.

I. Get Rid Of Winter’s Changes

In an earlier blog, we discussed best winterizing practices for your fleet. Now that Winter is over, the first step in getting ready for the new season is to revert back to your summer vehicle persona.

• For places with harsh winters remove snow chains from your tires or swap out from snow tires to summer tires if applicable.
• Conduct a thorough inspection of windshield wipers, (especially since with the heat often comes more rain.)
• Complete a full interior and exterior cleaning, including under the vehicle where salt and snow may have lodged from the roads.

II. Summer-ize Your Fleet 

Now that your vehicle no longer has winter’s remnants, let’s perform some basic maintenance. Here are some tips from the National Institute For Automotive Excellence:

• Air Conditioning

  A marginally operating system will fail in hot weather. Have the system examined by a qualified technician. Newer models have cabin air filters that clean the air entering the heating and air conditioning system. Check your owner’s manual for location and replacement interval

• Cooling System

  The greatest cause of summer breakdowns is overheating. The cooling system should be completely flushed and refilled about every 24 months. The level, condition, and concentration of the coolant should be checked periodically. (A 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is usually recommended.) DIYers, never remove the radiator cap until the engine has thoroughly cooled! The tightness and condition of drive belts, clamps, and hoses should be checked by a pro.

• Oil

  Change your oil and oil filter as specified in your manual more often (every 3,000 miles) if you make frequent short jaunts, extended trips with lots of luggage, or tow a trailer.

• Engine Performance

  Replace other filters (air, fuel, PCV, etc.) as recommended more often in dusty conditions. Get engine drive-ability problems (hard starts, rough idling, stalling, diminished power, etc.) corrected at a good shop.

• Windshield Wipers

  A dirty windshield causes eye fatigue and can pose a safety hazard. Replace worn blades and get plenty of windshield washer solvent.

• Lights

  Inspect all lights and bulbs; replace burned out bulbs; periodically clean dirt and insects from all lenses. To prevent scratching, never use a dry rag.

• Tires

  Have your tires rotated about every 5,000 miles. Check tire pressures once a month; check them while they’re cold before driving for any distance. Don’t forget to check your spare as well and be sure the jack is in good condition. Examine tires for tread life, uneven wearing, and cupping; check the sidewalls for cuts and nicks. An alignment is warranted if there’s uneven tread wear or if your vehicle pulls to one side.

• Brakes

  Brakes should be inspected as recommended in your manual, or sooner if you notice pulsations, grabbing, noises, or longer stopping distance. Minor brake problems should be corrected promptly.

• Battery

  Batteries can fail any time of year. The only accurate way to detect a weak battery is with professional equipment. Routine care: Scrape away corrosion from posts and cable connections; clean all surfaces; re-tighten all connections. If battery caps are removable, check the fluid level monthly.Avoid contact with corrosive deposits and battery acid. Wear eye protection and rubber gloves.

Driver Policy Meeting

The last part of getting ready for the summer has to do with your fleet drivers. Make clear your expectations on what is allowed in regards to the heat and your driver. Are they allowed to use the vehicle for climate control and keep it on between jobs or while on break? IntouchGPS has made driver policy templates that may help you define and annotate your policies to the drivers. If interested in getting a FREE driver policy meeting template, simply call us and we would be more than happy to send you one.

Even without requiring a contract we have thousands of clients across the US who utilize our GPS fleet tracking products and services year over year. To discover the benefits of GPS fleet tracking that many others are taking advantage of, please contact us today to schedule a no pressure demo of our system.

GPS Fleet Tracking

GPS Fleet Tracking solves many problems that business owners and fleet managers face. In our experience, every company has a unique challenge that they are looking to solve, a particular piece of data that want or just to become more efficient in their fleet management overall. The two reason companies utilize and continue to use GPS fleet tracking is that is proves itself over and over again. GPS Fleet tracking reduces costs and increases profits. While there are a myriad of benefits, there are three that we see most often.  These are lower fuel costs, an increase in productivity and an increase in safety.

Lower Fuel Costs

• Fuel cost is one issue that never can be completely solved as long as we continue to rely on gasoline and oil to power our vehicles. However GPS fleet tracking can help mitigate the costs through many different ways. Now that an authorized user has the ability to monitor certain vehicle variables and driver behavior they can keep track of actions which use fuel. Some of the things the user can monitor include A) speeding B) times used C) route and dispatch control and D) idling.

1. A) You can set speed limits and be notified through text, email or automated reporting in real time when a speeding event occurs. You can create a speeding policy and allow the report to help gauge if drivers are following the policy or not.
2. B) You can set operating hours for any vehicle and alos be notified through text, email or automated report if that vehicle is being used outside of authorized times. This prevents moonlighting and fuel being used for purposes other than your business. We have also seen these alerts help companies lessen the severity of theft since you are able to track when and where a vehicle is and be notified immediately if it is being used when it is not supposed to be.
3. C) Find the nearest available vehicle to a call and dispatch them by being able to monitor in real time their position. You can also send routes to drivers or help lost drivers with the most direct and efficient route possible.
4. D) Idling, especially used as climate control can not only burn fuel quickly but also harm your vehicle mechanically.  GPS Fleet tracking allows you to monitor idling per vehicle and determine if the reports seem excessive or not.

Increase Driver Productivity

When the cat is away the mouse will play. This adage is just a metaphor for typical human behavior. Even people who aren’t doing anything “wrong” often up the ante when the boss is around or they know they can be monitored at any given time. The driver’s also are now accountable for every minute of their day so there is no lollygagging or forays into places and events they are not supposed to be. With the aforementioned increase routing and dispatch through GPS fleet tracking there is also far less unnecessary windshield time and more time for clients and jobs.

Increase Driver Safety

A rushed job is often a poor job and can be a dangerous job. Your driver just got lost and is now rushing to get to the customer on time. The routing and dispatch from the GPS tracking give them the best route and allow someone to lotify the customer when they can expect the driver there. ( if it is business model to do so) Less speed, less danger. Less time on rode overall, less danger. Also if a driver ever needs assistance the dispatch knows they last reported and able to send help immediately.

These are just three of the many benefits of GPS fleet tracking.  Learn more about why so many people trust InTouchGPS to help solve their challenges.