Geotab Connect 2023, the telematics service provider’s annual conference, is back for the first time since January 2020. Colin Sutherland, chief customer officer, Geotab, took the stage to open the show and set the tone. He spoke about the importance of people and relationships in the usage of vehicle data. He noted that technicians are now predictive maintenance managers and fleet managers are now making big decisions based on data-driven business intelligence. The truck telematics segment has evolved from a dot on the map to the data generator that allows fleets to work more productively and efficiently.
Next up was Neil Cawse, chief executive officer, Geotab. Here are his top takeaways.
- Geotab has 3.2M vehicles connected, a 60% increase from the last Geotab Connect in 2020.
- “Last year, Geotab devices saved 120 lives,” Cawse noted. “The biggest factors in death are speed and aggressive driving. Telematics can cut accidents down by 30%. Nussbaum has seen a $300,000 insurance savings in its policy renewal.”
- Geotab’s EV Suitability tool and Green Fleet Dashboard are helping fleets transition to zero-emissions battery electric vehicles. Cawse also noted that the move to EV is also about saving on operational costs. “Do not think about sustainability as a ‘green initiative’; think about it as a smart business decision.”
- “We’re hitting a critical mass when it comes to data. We’re helping fleets benchmark themselves against the best fleets in the world. Our goal is to help drive your efficiency, safety, sustainability, and operations goals. We can give you a single pane of glass to see all of your data,” Cawse said. Operational saving standout solutions included fuel efficiency savings and vehicle right-sizing to help save on costs.
- UPS earned an award from Geotab as Cawse noted that back in the early days of the company UPS pushed Geotab to get data off of the engine BUS and today it’s collaborating with Geotab to do things that “most people wouldn’t even understand.” UPS has 100,000 vehicles connected globally.
- High Availability Mode (HAM)–a product that will soon launch–is suited for large customers that prioritize uptime on Geotab Go devices. Cawse noted that the company had put a big focus on availability and reliability with more than 99% device uptime. “Downtime is limited to one minute a month,” he said.
- Vehicle cameras: Geotab is focused on integrating video data into the Geotab dashboard “to make it feel like a Geotab product.”
Sabina Martin, associate vice president, product management, Geotab, provided insight into Geotab product development. She noted that the goal is for the My Geotab dashboard will be AI-enabled and that the Safety Center dashboard update will allow benchmarking to see how your fleet stacks up against other comparable fleets in your application.
Editor’s note: Here’s a fun fact. Benchmarking has long been a vision of Cawse. He talked with us about it back in 2018 and now it’s coming to market. Click below for a look back at that story.
Martin then announced that Geotab is positioning its platform to be hardware agnostic. “We’re making decisions for our platform that make the most of the data we receive,” she noted. A vehicle eligibility tool will be made available to inform fleets if OEM connectivity is available or if you’ll need a Geotab Go device.
