For some years now FleetWatch has contended that there exists a gap in the fleet management market and that gap resides in the offerings suitable for the ‘butcher, baker, candle-stick maker’ sector.
The benefits of a fleet management and tracking system are well-known and include the improved management of fleet vehicles in terms of accurate record keeping for insurance, tax and driver remuneration purposes. Also high among the benefits are live vehicle and trip tracking as well as improved driver behaviour which leads to reduced fuel consumption, wear and tear and fewer accidents.
Few small fleets have been able to harness these benefits due to the costs associated with most of the larger and more established fleet management and tracking systems. This gap was identified by GPS Logbook which has now introduced an upgrade to its original system called the GPS Logbook LIVE.
This system is directly aimed at small and medium business owners such as plumbers, electricians, building contractors and the like with one or more vehicles – as well as at companies that offer company vehicles to their employees.
With a compact and rugged design, the GPS Log Book LIVE simply plugs into the cigarette lighter of a vehicle or can be installed permanently in the vehicle at an authorised dealer. It records every trip using high sensitivity GPS and intelligent logging software.
The GPS Logbook LIVE version uploads this data automatically via the GSM network, where it is stored for the mandatory five-year period and can be viewed online anytime and from anywhere. Users have the ability to track the movement of a vehicle using Google Maps – live and in real-time – on the GPS Logbook website or review the trips later at their convenience.
Each trip can be categorised and annotated with comments, resulting in quick, detailed and SARS-compliant tax logbooks, comprehensive records of billable hours and extensive mileage and usage data for business owners.
Taking this convenience even further, standard GPS Logbook users can now enjoy the benefits of the PRO Account, extending the functionality of the device to include a mobile app, automatic address look up and even more detailed categorisation of each trip, allowing users to customise their own categories.
GPS Logbook LIVE users will automatically get the new benefits of the PRO Account as part of their monthly subscription cost, which covers the sim card, airtime, data management and live Google maps usage ensuring the vehicle is continuously tracked, monitored and that the data is updated in real-time. Existing GPS Logbook users can choose to subscribe to the PRO Account as part of their current GPS Logbook package at a nominal monthly cost.
FleetWatch can only guess at the amount of money lost by the thousands of small businesses around the country due to the lack of vehicle management controls but it must run into many millions of Rand. With this product, the one or two vehicle companies can now harness the major benefits of an entry level fleet management, automated log book and tracking system – and that has to be good news for this sector.
