GPS tracker security best practices

Being a fleet owner, you want to operate it at optimum levels as you juggle between responsibilities. Apart from your daily operations, you also need to keep your business in compliance with regulations and policies laid down by your regional and national authorities. There is always a need to run operations in tandem with several variables. With a properly laid out organogram and a consistent structure, your business will be able to grow and expand by leaps and bounds. The structure gives every stakeholder their set of roles and responsibilities that help walk the tight rope and perhaps keep you, the business owner, out of your depth. Having a fleet management best practices guideline helps keep the operations smooth and effective.

A company that has structure where the people at different level work as per specified guidelines, directly contribute to efficiency of the business operation. They help establish strategic and business protocols for managing your fleet of vehicles.

Finances – As you buy and operate your fleet of trailers, you face challenges involving prices for shipments. While the inflow of funds is from your clients to your business, there are many payment obligations to you. Your trailer feet will need regular maintenance and repair costs. In addition to that, there is depreciation along with overheads. Having an accurate accounting helps capture the related costs and expenses. This is very essential to your company’s financial health.

Database – Having a comprehensive database takes you a long way. It helps with analytics as you can sift through lengths and breadths of data collected at various points in the process. Having a thorough financial record is of prime importance. You just can not spend a majority of your time management following the Just-in-Time principle. A comprehensive database with the most relevant information will help to track all pertinent data that can also provide timely, user-friendly reporting.

Vehicle scheduling – The vehicle fleet needs timely replacements to continue to work effectively. This issue isn’t just limited to finance. Any use of a substandard vehicle will definitely compromise the safety of the company’s employees and cargo, customers and suppliers. In order to get in control of the situation, as a business owner, you need to carry out a proper life-cycle analysis. It will definitely help the company determine the criterion for appropriate replacement scheduling.

Keeping abreast with the land laws – Keeping up to date with the regulations and industry standards is of pinnacle importance. Ignoring such an important piece in the business system is not acceptable. Federal, as well as provincial regulations, are updated regularly. Being a business person, you need to stay in line with the compliance requirements. You can join industry organizations, chambers of commerce, and other industry bodies. You can also keep yourself updated with reputable periodicals and magazines that carry the latest current industry trends.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1174544/gnss-device-installed-base-worldwide/

Several companies have switched to GPS systems in order to track the movement of goods, drivers, consignments, and other assets. They provide dashboards to customers, suppliers, supervisors, and management for ease of tracking. GPS maps capability also provides geofencing features.

We discuss the effective trailer GPS security best practices in the following points.

Know the location status of your employees

This is one of the most basic features provided by GPS systems. However, it plays an important role in tracking. It directly impacts employee accountability. Supervisors, along with other stakeholders, can keep a lookout for employees to ensure that job work is being carried out correctly. Systems equipped with IoT devices can keep a continuous track of employee movements and send out alert notifications if any irregularity is observed. Geofencing capabilities play a role in ensuring that the employees do not step out of the virtual fences set up around their place of work. Alerts are triggered as and when the employees step out of the virtual fences.

Curtail possibilities of false claims

First off, any reimbursement claims made by the employees or contractors can be cross-checked from the tracking records. In case of receipt of complaints from clients, you can sift through the employee records and check for compliance. GPS tracking systems can definitely monitor and track the movements of employees. They can even track several company assets’ movements in the form of vehicles, vans, pallets, etc. The GPS systems record l0ocation with each check-in and report. They provide you with a historical view of where your employees were and what time.

Ensure safe patrolling activities

Adding another level to accountability features, GPS systems can be used to make sure mobile patrols are conducted safely. The system can track vehicles to keep track of undesirable events like overspeeding, any hard stops that may cause shock to cargo, and sudden fast acceleration to provide a comprehensive overview of your employee driving habits. GPS systems provide tracking details to supervisors, clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders for an idea about vehicle patrol party location. As the vehicle speeds, stops and haults are records, you can check vehicle speeds at each level. Such type of tracking does not only mean that driver behavior is to be monitored but also ensures the vehicle fleet’s longevity.

GPS may provide a false sense of security

A GPS beacon may share your employee’s location working on the site. It can not ensure that the employee is working on the allotted job. Customers may see the contract worker’s location at the work site, but the GPS device may not inform what kind of work is being carried by them. Hence this may lead to a false sense of security to their client. Also, for many companies, the low level of accountability provided by GPS beacon can lead to misplaced assurances. A false feeling that if the personnel are present at the job location, they must be working towards the delivery of the allotted job.

Absence of full accountability

A distinct guard management system is designed to communicate and document the tools that provide end-to-end coverage. In case an incident is noted by the sensor. In this instance, the worker moves out of the specific virtual geofence. The software provides tools that help report such an incident. The communicating regarding the undesirable event is shared almost immediately with the management, the clients, as well as all other stakeholders.

Also, when the GPS systems compile reports, they do not provide you with full data that you, as a customer, need to establish trends and illustrate the value your company is creating for the client. Such an oversight can not help where opportunities to cross-sell or up-sell arise during client interactions. GPS is a highly useful tool for companies, but it should be used in combination with other existing technologies. IoT enabled cameras to come to the rescue to this effect when they sync the GPS location with cameras’ recording.

As GPS continues to exhibit its importance as an effective guard management software system, it doesn’t illustrate all the routine preventative measures. These measures ensure to make your security team valuable. You should choose a GPS tracking, and reporting system along with other IoT enabled accountability technologies. This will definitely help your company to prioritize communications and client success.