1. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia|Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia | Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |South
Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
1
Roadmapmonthly newsletter
Editorial
hat future lies ahead of vehicle telematics equipment for the remote
control of commercial fleets? Embedded onboard computers,
preinstalled from factory? Or brought-in devices, a.k.a. aftermarket
devices?
For now, aftermarket devices will still take the
lead. Here’s why.
It is a fact that some truck manufacturers are
installing GPS/GPRS devices from factory, along with
software applications capable of dealing with the
basic needs of tracking and tracing. However, these applications are mainly
focused in facilitating remote vehicle diagnosis, therefore improving the quality
and effectiveness of maintenance actions. When it comes to fleet management
capabilities, these solutions have in general not evolved so much as a dedicated
fleet management application.
There is, however, other compelling reason why OEM/factory fitted solutions
have a hard time convincing customers: in general, fleets are not composed of
vehicles of only one brand. There are some explanations to this, but one of the
most frequent is that companies do not want to rely on just one truck brand,
which would probably make them lose some negotiation power in the moment
of buying or leasing more trucks. So, in general, truck fleets are multi-brand.
This brings a strong argument against using a fleet management solution offered
by a truck manufacturer. Companies would either have a system to control just
part of the fleet, or would have to deal with several different software solutions,
one per each truck brand on the fleet. This is not, of course, a convenient
approach and is usually rejected.
On the other hand, makes are still not addressing lighter vehicles such as
commercial vans. For those, fleet management must really be achieved through the
integration of aftermarket GPS/GPRS devices.
Finally, most of the commercial vehicles already on the streets, by and large,
including trucks, have not been fitted yet with any vehicle tracking hardware. So
there is plenty of room for the integration of aftermarket devices.
Valério Marques, CEO - Frotcom International
A note from the editor – If you would like to have your own say in the next edition of this newsletter please do
not hesitate to get in touch at roadmap@frotcom.com.
W
July
2013
In this issue
New Certified Partner
Frotcom now in Namibia
News and Events
Frotcom Spain
exhibited in Seville
New Features
Notebook now available
in Frotcom
Case Study
Interview with
Theodoros Nikolovgenis,
Distribution Center Manager at the
Papaellinas Group of Companies
This and much more…
2. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia|Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia | Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |South
Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
2
New Certified Partner
Frotcom now in Namibia
Frotcom Namibia is Frotcom network’s latest celebration. The partnership with
Kaiseb Engineering represents a commitment to optimize fleet management in
Namibia.
On July 2011, Kaiseb Engineering started operations
within the IT area; fleet management constituted the
main part of the business.
According to Mr. Hiskia Nangolo, Managing Director at
Frotcom Namibia, “Frotcom International is known for
its vibrant success and professional staff. Teaming up
with Frotcom to supply fleet intelligence is a featured
development for the Namibian market. We are sure we
will benefit from the strong market demand for vehicle
tracking systems in Namibia and that this partnership
will create an entrance for us to introduce an efficient,
user friendly tracking and fleet management system.
Frotcom will complement the needs of the Namibian
customers and we expect to take over most of the fleet
management activities in Namibia in three years.”
“I believe that this partnership will be a great success. The experience and
expertise of the Frotcom Namibia team will play a key role in our efforts to
achieve good results in the Namibian market”, said Nuno Liñan, CMO at
Frotcom International.
ROADMAP welcomes Hiskia Nangolo and the Frotcom Namibia team on board
and wishes them successful operations.
About Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia is a country in southern Africa.
Namibia’s economy is tied closely to South Africa’s due to their shared
history. The largest economic sectors are mining, agriculture, manufacturing and
tourism.
In 2013, global business and financial news provider, Bloomberg, named
Namibia the top emerging market economy in Africa and the 13th best in the
world.
> Capital Windhoek
> Currency Namibian dollar (NAD)
> Language English
> Population 2,100,000
> Territory 825,418 km
2
> GDP $17.737 billion
Source: Wikipedia
Hiskia Nangolo
Managing Director
at Frotcom Namibia
Did you know?
Frotcom is now available
on your Android smartphone
and iPhone
Frotcom’s application for
smartphones is now available,
bringing the main tracking features in
Frotcom to your smartphone. The
supported platforms and minimum
requirements are the following:
Android smartphone (2.3.3.)
iPhone (iOS 5.1)
You can download the application
from the Play Store, in case you have
an Android smartphone, or if you
have an iPhone, from the App Store.
In both cases, search for Frotcom.
The application features are divided in
the following sections:
Map – it is the entry point to the
application and has two distinct
display modes (fleet mode and
vehicle mode).
Fleet status – this screen displays
a list with the summary status of
all the vehicles in the fleet.
Vehicle details – you can reach
each vehicle’s details from the
map, tapping the vehicle’s info
box, or from the Fleet status
screen, tapping a row. This screen
shows detailed information about
the vehicle.
Alarms – Shows the alarm
occurrences for the day.
More – Displays information about
the application, such as the
executing version and legal
notices.
Experience the convenience of
tracking your fleet on the go with
Frotcom’s application for Android
and iOS.
3. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia|Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia | Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |South
Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
3
News & Events
Frotcom Spain exhibited in Seville
On the 1st
of June 2013, Frotcom Spain was presented as Volvo’s partner at a
new truck model presentation that took place in Seville, alongside brands such
as Pirelli and Euro-Colven.
Throughout the day, Frotcom Spain
had the opportunity to exhibit
Frotcom’s solution and its latest
updates. Professionals of transport
and logistics showed an overwhelming
interest in the advanced abilities of
Frotcom.
Between demonstrations, the
presentation of the system’s features
and the raffle of a GPS device, Frotcom
Spain guaranteed a constant good
atmosphere, as referred by David
González, who integrates the Sales
Department at Frotcom Spain.
ROADMAP congratulates Frotcom Spain for the participation in this event!
New Features
Notebook now available in
Frotcom
The Notebook is a new feature in
Frotcom. It introduces the possibility to
add free text notes to the details of
vehicles, drivers, places and clients, in
addition to creating generic notes.
These notes will remain registered until
removed by any user with privileges to
do so.
Besides permitting to search freely for
any text, the Notebook allows
companies to filter notes by date, type (All / Vehicles / Drivers / Places / Clients /
Generic) and user (note author), giving the possibility to access previous notes
from any of its details.
Tip of the month
Extension to Daily
summary report
The Daily summary report was
extended and now allows you to
check at once the evolution of
several different tracking variables
in a period.
To generate this report, choose the
Daily summary report in the
Reports folder:
To configure the report, enter the
needed parameters:
You can choose between two
formats:
1. 1. Multiple days - This mode is
available for a period up to 1 month.
It shows, for each selected variable,
its value, day by day.
2. Single day - This mode is only
available if you choose a single day.
It displays, for that day, a table
similar to the one available in Fleet
> Daily summary but which also
includes the odometer and the
information about the last trip
executed.
The output of the report depends
on the format you chose: Multiple
days or single day.
If you select a period of more than
one day, you will also have the
possibility to select the variables
you want to see in the report, such
as beginning, end, number of trips,
mileage (km), travel time, average
speed (km/h), first driver, last
driver, # of different drivers and
fuel consumption (when available,
i.e. as long as there is a fuel
consumption information source
such as CANBus or analogue fuel
sensor).
4. Roadmap Monthly Newsletter | roadmap@frotcom.com | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking
.
Fleet Intelligence
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova |Luxembourg |
Macedonia|Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia | Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone |Slovenia |South
Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
4
Case Study
Interview with Theodoros Nikolovgenis, Distribution Center
Manager at the Papaellinas Group of Companies
Based in Nicosia, Cyprus, with a history that dates back more than 80 years,
Papaellinas is one of the biggest and most dynamic organizations on the island
nowadays. The organization leads in all areas of its line of work, such as
pharmaceutical and fast moving consumer goods distribution; health foods and
natural remedies retailing; flagrances and cosmetics distribution and retailing.
Roadmap: For which main reason do you use vehicle tracking?
Theodoros Nikolovgenis: First and foremost we know where all our vehicles are and
how they are behaving. A vehicle tracking / fleet management system can make a
big difference to a company managing a fleet made up of 17 trucks and 2 vans by
improving customer service, driver and vehicle efficiency, controlling the
appointments and deliveries with our customers and providing information that can
save us a significant amount of money.
R: For how long have you been using vehicle tracking / fleet management?
TN: Since 2009. In the last six months we had a trial version of a full operational
system with Frotcom and it gave us immediate results, hence the decision of
switching to Frotcom.
R: What was the main reason for switching providers?
TN: The first thing we noticed is that Frotcom is logically designed. We switched for
a few reasons, such as routing optimization which provides us not only very accurate
directions, but also suggests alternative routes. The reports generated by Frotcom
are very simple and useful. We can choose which reports to
receive automatically with the most relevant tracking data for our analysis. The
other reason associated to our decision is Frotcom's Eco-driving. With this module
we can control accelerations and braking, idling, speeding and in some cases over
revving (RPMs) and cruise control usage. Frotcom‘s Eco-driving is helping us reduce
costs and our carbon footprint.
R: Are you happy with the service provided by your current vehicle tracking / fleet
management supplier?
TN: Of course. Frotcom has an excellent service and from the beginning Frotcom
Cyprus showed us the benefits of using Frotcom. Frotcom was so well introduced to
drivers that it was quickly accepted.
R: What are the key challenges facing your fleet operation?
TN: The continuous increase of petroleum prices and spare parts; the ability to
integrate new customers to existing routes, optimizing mileage; to have zero
accident rates; and last but not the least, to reduce the carbon footprint in our
distribution channels, in the context of corporate social responsibility.
R: How has Frotcom benefited your business and operational performance?
TN: We expect 10% cost reduction with routing optimization and 10% cost reduction
with Frotcom’s eco-driving. We would like to come up with real numbers in one year
to show that when you have the right human resources culture and the appropriate
tools, you can be a model.
ROADMAP congratulates the Frotcom Cyprus team for this successful project!
Next, on Roadmap
News and events,
more new Frotcom features
and tips will be presented.
This and more, so don’t miss
the next issue of Roadmap.
Theodoros Nikolovgenis