The small business is the epitome of the American Dream. People have and are continuing to take risks and start their own company to provide much needed services to their community. The people that take these risks see a need and have an idea on how to solve it and use resolve and dedication to make it happen. The challenges of a start-up are different than a second stage company and completely different than a large enterprise.

The largest difference between the stages these companies are in is often cash flow. While profitability is always incredibly important, the compliment to it- reducing costs- is equally as important.

Fleet vehicles are the backbone of so many types of companies- from service industries, to construction, energy, telecommunications and so many others. Cutting costs related to these fleets is a quick way to increase your bottom line. GPS Fleet tracking from InTouch GPS has proven itself over and over again in helping companies do both.

Benefits of GPS Fleet Tracking for Small Business

GPS Fleet tracking provides real-time and historic data which allow for actionable decisions about fleet vehicle driver behavior. Some of the things that are reported on include speed, location, vehicle idling and so much more!! GPS fleet tracking allows you to truly know what your vehicles are doing at any part of the day. Just knowing you have the ability to monitor their behavior often results in drivers doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing at most times.

Fleet tracking software is an investment that will prove its worth and continue to cut costs as your small business or startup grows.  As you grow, the ROI of fleet tracking grows as well- often exponentially instead of linearly. Here is some of the business intelligence that GPS fleet tracking can provide. Can you answer with 100% confidence any of the below aren’t happening without GPS fleet tracking?

• Timesheets are accurate?
• Vehicles are not being used for any purposes or places not authorized?
• Employees are at where they are supposed to, when they are supposed to be?
• Employees are not speeding or driving aggressively in order to make up for lost time?

Now, GPS Fleet tracking is not just about stopping negative fleet activity. It is also about ways to help your business.

Benefits of GPS Fleet Tracking to Small Business

• InTouch GPS increases productivity in a myriad of ways. Here are just a few of the ways we have seen GPS fleet tracking help business increase profits and become more competitive.
• Help lost drivers get to a destination, avoid vehicle congestion or simply route them quickly to a next job.
• Inform customers of ETA’s without having to interrupt the driver
• Showing your customers that you invest in the company to serve them better can separate your company from those that don’t.

At InTouch GPS we work with all kinds of companies in all sizes. Whether it is 1 driver or several thousand our platform was built to help you make a more efficient use of time, reduce costs and increase profits and safety. Contact us today to learn about our services and what we can do for you and your business.

It seems that almost all of us lead busy lives. We are juggling more and more tasks and we are quickly draining our most valuable commodity-Time. As consumers, we have grown to expect service companies to do an incredible job and do it in a quick manner so we can get back to our lives. When I bought my first house, I remember the cable company telling me that the service man would be there between 8 am- 5 pm.

Wait, what? So I will just be sitting by idly waiting over such a long period of time?

Fast forward to present day- dispatchers and service technicians can give you a much smaller time window or near exact ETA and start the consumer/business relationship on a positive note right from the start.

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 cable and other telecom companies.  We work with some of the major cable and telecom players as well as smaller companies that may have as few as one vehicle.  We support cable 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.

Cable companies usually have a morning muster ( or other shift muster) then the cable technicians, linemen and other service operators hit the road.  Read about many of the benefits that we offer to our current cable companies and how we can benefit you.

Cable Industry

Cable companies have two main service offerings

1) New Service Installation

2) Escalated Technical Issues

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 cable job?
• Is there an average time among your drivers?
• Are they 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 cable companies are often branded and are ambassadors of your company as they drive through residential neighborhoods. Are they speeding?

Heavy coax cable, materials, tools, T1 systems, servers and high speeds are not a good combination.

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 cablers have to crawl through attics or appropriately named crawlspaces in order to fix an issue. They may have to brave the elements- rain, heat, snow – are your drivers using the vehicle as 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 Experience

In today’s tech driven world, customers are often inpatient to fix a technical issue or raring to go when they move into a new place to start hitting on all cylinders. With the ability for dispatchers to manage expectations of ETA and be able to route the closest driver for any technical “emergencies” the customer is happier and more likely to stay a customer. With all the choices that your customers have, every drop in the bucket matters.

With these and many more benefits, cable and telecom companies have increased their bottom line and stay with us. If you would like to be the next cable 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.

Adoption and implementation of GPS fleet tracking is an investment decision typically made by the business owner or other senior level leader in a company. Fleet managers or IT personnel are asked to vet potential vendors and see who they like and why and finally a decision is made. Very often the final factors come down to price and level of service. Once the company and product/service has been decided upon, the next step is implementation.

Fleet Tracking Adoption

There are many people who will be involved in the implementation process and sometimes this is where fleet tracking adoption gets difficult. Many people don’t understand what GPS Fleet tracking even is. You want to get buy-in from everyone involved to maximize the fleet tracking ROI.

To avoid Fleet Tracking adoption problems here are three basic rules to follow.

1) Communicate specific goals to the person managing the fleet tracking.

That way they know what to look for, what to pay most attention to. For example if you tell someone cut costs using this thing, they will have no idea what to do next. If you tell the person, we need to reduce fuel costs by 2 percent in the next quarter, they will know what areas to focus on. Give specific, measurable goals to the person using the system.

2) Take Advantage of FREE dedicated training and support to your team.

InTouch GPS has an experienced support team whose sole purpose is to make sure that clients are comfortable using the software to accomplish any task. Whether a first time user or experienced veteran of the system, we want someone to feel comfortable that they have the right tool to accomplish the task. If the user has any question on how to use our application to solve any specific problem our support team will walk you through how to set up the system to do tasks and reporting related to that (or any other) problem. We have many years of experience solving almost every imaginable problem and know how best to set up the system to do what you want it to do. We are dedicated to your success.

3) Ensure the drivers understand what is being tracked and why 

You want the people on the ground level to understand that fleet tracking is so much more than “big brother is watching”. Fleet tracking has many benefits specific to them such as not having to call them to tell a customer an ETA, being able to send directions if lost, more efficient means more profitable and the more likely there is a job to be had tomorrow in the first place. Here is a blog about 8 ways that the drivers benefit from fleet tracking.

If you are thinking about adopting fleet tracking into your business, talk to the GPS fleet tracking leaders at InTouch GPS to see a no pressure demo or to have any questions answered.

Across the nation, backbacks are being packed, lunches are being made and students are trickling in…summer is over.  This also means that the roads are going to be filled with young and inexperienced drivers-often talking on their cell phones or just not paying the attention of their surroundings as much as a more experienced driver may be.

If you have certain routes, you may see an influx of drivers or new vehicles along the way. Take this into consideration as your fuel usage may suffer waiting behind buses or just in general much more volume.

How To Mitigate The Effects With Fleet Tracking

Be Aware of Children Walking To and From School

Pay attention to areas around schools, especially, as they are often filled with children who have short attention spans, dart in and out of traffic, and do not necessarily follow the rules of the road. Be watchful and take it slow.

Ensure Your Maintenance Is up to Snuff .

This is the time of year when you most want blinkers, brakes, brake lights, headlights, and other mechanical parts of your fleet vehicles to operate at optimum efficiency. In addition to your other winterizing protocol it’s also wise to have a decent vehicle checkup before everyone else is in a mad dash to winterize. Get in ahead of the crowd and rest assure that your vehicles are safe and sound.

Eliminate Distractions

Not paying attention while driving is not a good plan no matter what time of the year it may be.  Remember your business name is the one that’s associated with anything that happens in those vehicles.

To learn about how to increase safety all while reducing costs and increasing profits, contact InTouch GPS today for a no pressure sales demo.

Fleet Tracking Offers Numerous Benefits

Fleet tracking is no longer just for the largest and biggest corporate fleets, but has become the industry standard for just about any company that has any size fleet.  InTouchGPS serves companies with several hundred vehicles to companies throughout the US with just a single vehicle. The benefits are size agnostic. There are numerous benefits to fleet tracking for companies in every vertical as well.  Let’s talk about three important things to know about fleet tracking.

1) Fleet Tracking Offers Peace of Mind

Fleet tracking offers a current and historical record of your drivers activity. Even if you never intend to use it, you have the ability to in case there was ever a question that came up or a situation where you had to validate something did or didn’t occur.

2) Fleet Tracking Allows You To Manage Remotely

We offer our fleet tracking services on all smart devices. Concerned with what your drivers are doing? No longer are you tethered to your desk, having to keep a close eye on your people- you can be on job sites or at projects or working yourself and still have the power to manage and observe fleet activity in the palm of your hand.

3) Fleet Tracking is an Investment, Not an expense

We have a dedicated onboarding team- they will test devices remotely to make sure everything was installed correctly, train you on best practices and ALWAYS be there if you have a question about our application. When implemented correctly, fleet tracking can do many things. We recommend starting with your largest issue or fleet challenge and using fleet tracking to solve that, then moving to the next thing. Even resolving one issue often translates directly to more profit or a reduction cost. A large majority of our clients see the system pay for itself in less than three months.

To discover what fleet tracking can do for your company, contact us today with any question or to schedule a no pressure demonstration of our system.

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.