A guide for the construction industryProductivity for professionals: vehicle tracking in the construction industry means satisfied customers

Anyone seeking to expand his business will sooner or later need to think about better and more efficient ways of working. Smaller firms usually run on small margins and are therefore are not in a position to make huge

upfront investments. This calls for practical solutions that also significantly reduce the volume of work. Vehicle tracking is definitely one such solution. This guide will demonstrate what modern tracking systems can do for you.

Create less work, and offer more to your customers...

Amazing but true, even a simple tracking system can save unnecessary work.Provided it's connected to a good software or online platform, which presents all the information in a clear format when and how you need it. This should ideally be a secure online platform that is accessible any time and anywhere. Don't underestimate the power of live information from your vehicles: it allows you to enhance customer satisfaction, reduce administrative overheads and be much more productive. Not only will it save time in the office and on the road, you'll also be able to take better care of your core business: good construction work.

Professional vehicle tracking

lets you do more in less time

- here's how:

1. The right information, right fomat, right time.

With vehicle tracking, you'll know exactly where each vehicle is. If a request comes in from the building site, when your employees arrive, all that's needed is a quick glance at the system. This replaces time-consuming phone calls and callbacks. Not only will it save you and your drivers time, it also saves your customers time.

2. Professional service

Professional data collection inspires confidence and proves your reliability. Especially if you act as a subcontractor for larger general contractors that use software you may need to integrate, and have requirements and processes you need to be able to provide report for. This is where the reporting function becomes important. delivering quick insights into your vehicle operations that you can share.

3. Automatically record completed journeys

Distances and travel times that are recorded manually can be hard to track later on. With GPS fix, this is now

Vehicle tracking functions and technical terms:

• Tracking: Where is the vehicle? Actual vehicle tracking to determine the current position

of the vehicle• Tracing: Where has the vehicle been? Tracing allows you to track past journeys and travel

times.• Alert: Is something unauthorised happening? The alarm system notifies you immediately when the

vehicle enters or leaves a specific area.• Reports: What was that again? All the information collected is presented in concise,

professional reports.

a thing of the past: for example, it records exactly where your vehicles have been during the day and how much time they have spent on the road. So for each journey, you can see the origin and destination as well as the precise arrival and departure times.

4. Faster, easier management

Vehicle tracking allows you to analyse working and journey times directly in the system. This includes reports on vehicle movements with different levels of detail, such as by route, by day or any other time periods. This eliminates the painstaking collation of information from barely legible forms in order to determine the mileage. The analysis of the hours worked and the hours spent behind the wheel is performed directly in the system. This saves a lot of time. And everyone knows that time is money.

5. Evidence at the touch of a button

Misunderstandings can easily arise but there's no need to let them spoil a good customer relationship. It's useful if a glance at the system enables you to provide evidence such as a precise log of the whereabouts of your employees and the exact departure time.

6. Protect your vehicles from misuse

Your vehicles are the life-blood of your business. That's why it's useful to know what happens to the vehicle when you're not around. The sophisticated monitoring and reporting functions of modern tracking solutions mean you'll always stay in the picture. The tracking function allows you to see exactly where your vehicle is at any time. If it makes an unscheduled departure from a specific area, it sets off an alarm. Ideally, you can determine the area yourself and change it whenever you like. If, for example, an employee borrows a vehicle, you can make sure he really does just drive home (and not to a different construction site ) or job.

7. Continue growing your business

Good data is the basis for improving productivity and service and cutting costs. By evaluating past journeys, as a professional, you'll quickly discover ways to grow your business. This might mean reducing expenses, for example, through shorter journey times or offering more services to your customers or faster and more structured invoicing of your services. You are the best person to decide what needs to be done and modern vehicle tracking can help you.

What vehicle tracking can do for your company

Who wouldn't prefer to work with a cordless drill instead of a screwdriver? The same goes for administration: used correctly, vehicle tracking is the first step in efficient fleet management for many manufacturers. And it's also worthwhile even if you have only a few vehicles, for example, two or three vans, goods vehicles or cars. That's because it's not just for keeping track of the vehicles, it also collects and analyses times on site, driving times and standstill times. Large amounts of data accumulate quickly and all used to have to be recorded and processed manually. A professional vehicle tracking system takes care of all that. And best of all: automatic recording means no errors and instantly available information.

How other building contractors are benefiting from vehicle tracking

"Our employees used to do everything on call, now they're saying: We couldn't work without the TomTom™ solution. We save time and money, but we're also a lot more punctual and this has significantly increased customer satisfaction. Vehicle tracking allows all the relevant information for the efficient and safe control of the vehicle to be recorded and transmitted. Even in development areas without street names, drivers are now able to reach their destination quickly. A radius is entered around the target building site in the online app. If the driver is within this radius, we know he has reached the construction site. We can also see his estimated time of arrival, based on the distance. This means we always have an overview of where there are spare vehicles and where there is a backlog of jobs "

Jörg Schmautz, Technical Director,Betonwerke Pfullendorf GmbH

The staff at Betonwerken Pfullendorf GmbH can't imagine

ever working without TomTom™ solutions.

What to look for when purchasing and installing the system

A GPS fix system typically consists of a device that is attached to the car, and software that allows you to view the data - ideally on a high quality road map. What to look for: Anyone who wants to use vehicle tracking shouldn't need to be a software professional. Make sure the system can install itself and is easy to use. This reduces installation costs and it has an additional advantage: you can set off immediately and start benefiting straight away. Monthly rental options are also a good option. There are no fixed software and hardware costs and the system is always up-to-date. Once the solution is in use, the quality of the support also comes into play. Before you buy, you should check whether support is available in your own language to offer advice and answer questions.

Finally, it's also important to know that you'll be able to work with a system in the long term. The deciding factors include: whether you can expand the solution by adding new options or other programs such as navigation and traffic information, fuel consumption calculation or direct job downloads to the vehicle.

5 Questions:How to choose the right vehicle tracking solution

• How accurate is the tracking, e.g., how often is the position updated?

• Is it possible to analyse past journeys, e.g., by route, speed and distance?

• Is the solution certified according to international standards and can you install it yourself?

• Does the manufacturer provide ongoing support during operation?

• Is it possible to add other functions or other solutions if you so wish?

Many trade journals also provide information on the Internet. It's also worth looking up GPS tracking and fleet management on the TomTom Telematics website.You'll also find a list of partners offering advice on the topic.Today, WEBFLEET from TomTom Telematics is helping more than 30,000 companies save time and cut costs.

See for yourself!http://tomtom.com/telematics