Fleet FAQ? Fuel Management

Q. What are the latest advancements in technology within fleet management?

A. We’re starting to see a lot of points of integration, whether that be with data or systems. Telematics devices provide a rich data set that can be utilized in a number of ways. Driver safety, are they using a seat belt? Optimized routes, are they going far out of their way to job sites? Vehicle efficiency, are they idling at jobs or accelerating harshly? These are just a few of the benefits of telematics data. But we’re also beginning to see more decisioning tied to both telematics and fuel card data. For example, in certain market segments, we have pioneered the ability to marry engine control module (ECM), telematics and mobile communications data with the fuel transaction, which enables us to efficiently deliver greater insight; more proactively drive certain behaviors and manage exceptions in real time; and provide better financial controls for the company. We can also leverage this technology as a fraud prevention measure. An example of this is how we are leveraging the integration of the vehicle device and fuel card data to measure real-time tank-level data against the fuel transaction, which allows us to identify a siphon or theft event instantaneously. Through this proactive monitoring, the company outlines their desired ‘trigger events’ and we send real-time notifications back to the fleet managers when any of those ‘triggered events’ occurs. We can also utilize this technology to decline a transaction before the authorization process, based on certain criteria established in the technology integration.