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“Another component,” said Tam, “looks at the worker by monitoring driver behavior.” Hard braking. Hard acceleration. Harsh turning. These things all impact fuel use, vehicle wear and tear, and vehicle safety.

Trimble reports that in their work with Cox Communications, they were able to save that company $2 million in fuel costs each year.

Tam also said that the use of telematics can impact insurance premiums as well. “There is a positive push towards insurance companies asking fleet owners to make fleets safer,” said Tam. Telematics can provide that insight into driver behavior that increases fleet safety, and can, therefore, result in positive premium consideration for fleet owners and operators. In addition, Tam said that one customer realized after a year of watching fleet activities that they simply had too many vehicles, many of which were barely being used. As a result, they were looking at a 5-10% reduction in fleet size after one year.

There’s also a customer service angle to better managing installation and service fleets. “As competition increases in areas around satellite and Internet providers, telcos and cable companies have a greater need to differentiate, to be more efficient, and effective,” said Rich Chinitz, Director of Marketing for TOA Technologies. TOA is one of a number of companies focusing on mobile workforce management, and they emphasize that efficiency is a boon to customers, as well as a way to reduce emissions and cost.

“Now, with more transparent social media channels like Twitter, there is greater opportunity for customers to voice their dissatisfaction on services they receive,” said Chinitz. “Enhanced workforce management can better manage appointments and being on time can significantly improve customer satisfaction.”

And this, of course, is also a cost issue at its heart. “Customer retention is much less expensive than attracting new customers – and all cable, satellite and telcos must make this of highest importance,“ said Chinitz, “as they’re not growing as rapidly as they once had in the past.“

When these workforce management solutions are integrated into a wider management/activation suite, which they often are, the customer satisfaction benefits are even more obvious. Cycle30 integrates TOA’s planning and scheduling modules into its platform, for example.

So while providers are striving to modernize their fleets and embrace alternative energy to reduce carbon emissions, there may be ways to enhance user experience and reduce costs and emissions while those next-gen fleets are still on the way. Smart management goes a long way towards making that happen.

Happy customers. Happy investors. Happy planet.