Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/699972
40 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JULY 2016 technology Mobile rewards Fleets using tech to enliven driving experience BY AARON HUFF A bout six years ago, Paper Transport (CCJ Top 250, No. 200) reconfigured its telemat- ics platform to automate arrival and departure workflow for drivers. The Green Bay, Wis.-based dry van car- rier also purchased tablets to further expand driver connectivity. During the past year, management for the 570-truck fl eet has opted to replace both of these systems in favor of developing a custom mobil- ity platform to offer drivers an even better work experience. "We try to be as much of a driver-focused company as possible," says Peter Covach, IT systems analyst. Paper Transport, which has a turnover rate of about 35 percent, chose Omnitracs' XRS mobile plat- form because it runs on devices and operating systems that drivers know how to use. "We wanted something that was fi rst easy for the driver, and something that we could scale out," Covach says. Paper Transport customized the XRS platform to integrate with its own proprietary Android app and back-offi ce systems. The app includes a scorecard that shows drivers a daily snapshot of their overall score and individual scores in four categories: safety, production, equipment and administration. One safety metric is derived from sudden deceleration or "harsh brak- ing" events. The XRS system captures a detailed record of vehicle speed, location and driver inputs starting at 90 seconds before the event and 30 seconds afterward. The morning after a critical safety event takes place, a driver can see an updated score and drill down to view more details, such as what happened, when and where. "Our scorecard used to be very high-level and didn't have detail," Covach says. "Drivers would only get a score 30 days later. With the new iteration, we are able to download, validate and display that data to drivers in a timely manner. Now they actually believe what is coming out of scores. It has really been driving their behavior, which is fantastic." Fuel performance Paper Transport's custom mobile platform has a single sign-on for driv- ers. When a driver uses the app, his or her ID is pushed automatically to other cloud-based apps, including XRS for electronic logs, the driver scorecard and an app the company uses to deliver online training. However, fl eets don't have to develop their own mobility platform to provide feedback to drivers. A number of third-party software ap- plications and services offer driver scoring and gamifi cation programs. Some collect data by connecting directly to the vehicle's communica- tions system, while others use data from any source. PedalCoach's app and connectivity device gives drivers a score for fuel performance that is independent of factors they cannot control, such as equipment type, load weight, topog- raphy and other operating conditions. Vnomics TrueFuel gives an over- all fuel effi ciency score and instant feedback – a distinctive beep – when drivers exceed the rpm threshold for optimal fuel economy. At the end of each trip – an igni- tion on/off event – both PedalCoach and TrueFuel show drivers a fuel effi ciency score based on a scale of 100. Additional details – such as the gallons a driver wasted over a certain time period or how much time they spent in each gear – are available for review through a fl eet management web portal. Automating rewards Stay Metrics clients can use metrics from virtually any type of telemat- ics or driver management system to engage drivers with its online rewards and recognition platform. Once carriers set up the custom rewards program, clients can award automatic points to drivers for achievements. The rewards platform sends email notifications to drivers when points are awarded, prompting them to login regularly and monitor their progress. Drivers can redeem their points for more than 40,000 items in an online catalog. With driver performance data read- ily available, automated scorecards and gamifi cation programs have made it easy to recognize and reward drivers for positive contributions. in focus: DRIVER GAMIFICATION Paper Transport developed a mobile app with a driver scorecard that has four reward categories.