Fleet management the TomTom way

Tuesday, 04 May 2010 14:32 Written by Theo Boshoff

Dutch navigation company, TomTom, through its TomTom Work business, has unveiled its WEBFLEET offering for South African businesses.

The WEBFLEET business tool is a web-based, always-on, fleet and order management application, which Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director for TomTom Work says is a "connected business solution that will assist companies to manage commercial vehicles online from a central point, with integrated reporting and constant communication between the office and drivers."

"With WEBFLEET, users will be able to send and receive messages, coordinate movements and generally manage a vehicle fleet with the benefits of reducing vehicle operational costs, become more green, more mobile, and see increased profits," Schmidt adds.

The tracking and tracing function of the solution ensures companies have safety and security built-in, with the ability to see exactly where a vehicle is in real-time, recording all stops and driving information along the way. This can be plotted on a map and is automatically stored in the system for 90 days.

The dispatch office is also always in contact with drivers without having to call them, as the system allows for text messages to be sent to and from drivers via their in-car TomTom navigation device. The communication ability, notes Schmidt, is available at a flat rate using GPRS signals. "The cost stays the same and does not relate to the amount of messages being sent, which can lead to up to a 40% saving on a company's phone bill," he says.

In addition to the communications ability of the system, there is an order management function, which Torsten Grünzig, Country Manager for TomTom Work South Africa says is directly integrated with a company's workflow system. "This enables companies to allocate delivery orders to available drivers or those closest to the delivery address, based on real-time information supplied by the system, saving time and money," Grünzig says.

Reports can be requested at any time pertaining to working times, trips, mileage and orders. According to Grünzig WEBFLEET is now also ully integrated with Pastel, allowing for better management and time savings in terms of payroll and billing processes.

The solution, says Joost Jetten, Vice President for TomTom South and Sub Saharan Africa is not only for large trucking and companies, but for any organisation that has to manage a commercial vehicle fleet, including SMEs.

For the tracking and tracing functionality only the cost is R150 per month per device. For the full system the cost per month is R240 per device.

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