ERM Advanced Telematics provides telematics devices for fleet management service providers. The company is getting more involved in the fleet management service market in Australia. Fleet Auto News recently had the opportunity to speak with Eitan Kirshenboim, the Chief Marketing Officer at ERM Advanced Telematics, about the company’s opinion of the fleet management services currently available in Australia.
FAN: How do you see the market for fleet management services in Australia?
Eitan: There is a lot of potential for fleet management services here in Australia. From what we see, the market for fleet management services is evolving quickly, although it is still at its initial stages of growth.
The statistics shows that penetration and take up of fleet management services across all vehicle segments is still relatively low. At the same time, the prices for fleet management services in Australia are reasonable. However, many of the fleet management service providers – both local and international brands – in the country mainly offer only entry-level location tracking services. There are some providers that are offering basic fuel monitoring and basic driver behaviour monitoring services, which is a good start, although this does not offer full value to fleet owners.
All this, of course, means that there are a lot of opportunities for growth and innovation in Australia.
FAN: Where are the big opportunities for fleet management services in Australia?
Eitan: There are certainly good market conditions in Australia and the potential for advanced fleet management services across all market segments is significant.
Take for instance fleet management for the trucking sector. Given the long distances that must be driven in the country, many trucking companies have outfitted their trucks with external fuel tanks. We have spoken with a number of trucking companies in this situation. The feedback that we are receiving is that despite subscribing to fleet management services that includes fuel monitoring, these trucking companies are only able to gather partial information. This is a missed opportunity for both the fleet management service provider and its trucking company customer.
We also see opportunities in the motorbike segment. Location tracking and security services are in demand, although this segment is underserved.
My point here is that there is a market need in Australia for advanced fleet management services just waiting to be filled.
FAN: What innovations could help fill this market need?
Eitan: Fleet management service providers should be in the position to leverage any available telematics information gathered from a vehicle into a useful fleet management services. In parallel, these services must give fleet owners with timely information that contains real value for improving operations and reducing costs.
To reach this goal, fleet management services must be integrated throughout the entire fleet management operation. I will show my point using the examples of tire monitoring and driver behaviour monitoring.
Tyre monitoring is a relatively new service that some fleet management service providers offer. This is an important service as tyres are one of a fleet manager’s largest operational expenses after fuel. For this service, sensors are fitted on a vehicle in the aftermarket in place of tire valves. These sensors monitor the pressure and temperature of individual tires on a vehicle.
Current practices are that an alert is sent to the driver’s dashboard when the pressure or temperature of a tyre passes a predefined threshold. The problem with this practice is that it relies on the driver to take action, which is almost always ineffective. This is especially true in the trucking sector in Australia where multiple drivers are used on long routes.
For tyre monitoring and similar services to be effective, they must be fully integrated into the overall fleet management service. This means that the alert regarding low pressure or high temperature in a tyre should be sent to the fleet manager to take immediate action.
This also applies to driver behaviour monitoring services. These services exist today to monitor for instances of harsh braking, aggressive accelerations speeding during turns and so on. However, one-size-fits-all sensors are typically used on all vehicle types.
This is problematic because each vehicle type has its own unique behaviour based on parameters that effect the maneuverer severity of a vehicle, such as its size, weight, suspension systems and tires. These sensors are only capable of identifying potential instances of inappropriate driving.
Here, alerts must be sent to the fleet management application for further analysis to try to match the alert with the vehicle type to determine if there was indeed an incident of inappropriate driving. This too is problematic because it assumes that the service provider has access the know-how to accurately automate this analysis.
This practice also requires that a lot of unnecessary data to be transferred and analysed, which is expensive. A better approach would be to fine tune the sensors to each vehicle type and have the analysis performed on board rather than relying on the servers.
FAN: How involved is ERM in the telematics market in Australia?
Eitan: We are at the initial stages of developing relationships with fleet management service providers in Australia. We are currently involved in a number of interesting pilots for fleet management services targeting trucks, motorcycles and business vehicle fleets. There is a lot of potential in Australia and we have strong expectations.
