June 2023: Greener and more functional
MAGAZINE N.289
by Flottes Automobiles
06/01/2023
MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Fleet management software is constantly evolving, in particular to support the energy transition. But these changes also concern the more traditional management functionalities and the applications made available to drivers. Essential improvements to stand out in an increasingly competitive sector.
The energy transition is accelerating the pace of changes made to fleet management tools by their publishers. Thus, as the parks become electrified, this software connects with energy suppliers and their charging stations, to be able to trace both fuel and electricity consumption. “The energy transition is one of the areas in which we are investing and which are revolutionizing our tool”, summarizes Géraud Porteu, managing director of the service provider GAC Technology. And to support its customers in this new environment, GAC Technology offers them a module to track orders for charging stations.
TELEMATICS IN AMBUSH
In this dynamic market, other players wish to impose their products: telematics operators. By the end of the year, Kuantic should launch a device that will combine data from telematics and the functionalities of fleet management software.
“Our line of development is based on a specific partnership with a fleet management software publisher, with the aim of bringing to market a product that now only has a single interface“, announces Stéphane Boutonnet, Sales Director France by Kuantic. Because telematics devices, such as those marketed by Kuantic, can be useful for fleet managers to collect important data: vehicle allocation, monitoring of driving behavior, geolocation, mileage, etc. But the interfaces of these tools do not offer the resources necessary to organize the management of a fleet: to be alerted of overruns of the laws of rolling contracts, to trace the invoices of service providers, etc.
Kuantic’s approach therefore aims to market a tool that uses telematics data and provides indicators to manage the fleet. “Our offer will integrate fleet management and telematics into a single interface, that of fleet management. We will transmit the data to bring more added value to what we offer today: the mileage data will be used, for example, for the automatic calculation of benefits in kind (AEN)”, illustrates Stéphane Boutonnet. An approach that meets a real need of fleet managers for a reliable and easy-to-use tool.
To this end, some companies are also developing their own tools, based on the use of telematics data, in order to more easily monitor their contracts, maintenance or even vehicle-related claims “Our customers have several tools on their office and want to simplify. And more and more of these customers want the data to be sent directly to fleet management software”, adds Stéphane Boutonnet.
TAILOR-MADE TOOLS
While Kuantic’s tool is intended for fleets of all sizes, this service provider also provides “a simplified offer for small fleets, with simpler, more readable reporting, on an ergonomic portal in order to monitor several vehicles, and which gives in particular the state of the maintenance of these vehicles or even their mileage”, explains Stéphane Boutonnet. A turnkey product which will therefore position itself in direct competition with those of fleet management software publishers. A logical development: telematicians, in their field of activity, find themselves in competition with manufacturers who equip their vehicles with telematics boxes in the factory and also offer information feedback interfaces. To stand out, an offer of products with higher added value is therefore essential.