Benefits of Shipment Tracking – Your Guide on GPS Tracker Integration for Business 

If you own a business that ships products of any kind or manages a fleet of vehicles, being able to see what is happening on the road is imperative. GPS tracker integration software allows you to see what is going on with your shipments, your drivers, and your vehicles through real-time and historic data reporting. Having this data at your fingertips opens the doors for opportunities to leverage analytics that streamline operations, eliminate revenue leakage with connectivity, help reduce theft, and make remote operations more transparent, almost instantly giving you more control over your business. When you add in the fact that the GPS tracking integration software boasts as high as a 150% return on investment ROI in just a few months after implementing one, GPS tracker implementation could be the next best move for your company.  

That said, this article will get you up to speed on what GPS tracking systems are, how they work, and all of the benefits associated with shipment tracking and fleet tracking for your business. We will also be going over what the best options are for GPS tracking integration software, in case you decide to invest in one of the premade options that are currently available on the market. 

Benefits of GPS Tracker Integration for Business – Shipment Tracking and Fleet Management 

There are many advantages to GPS tracker integration for businesses that ship products or manage remote operations or fleets. GPS shipment tracking devices are easy to transport from one place to another, and they are excellent for time management, and confirming the transfer of assets on shipments and trucks when your drivers are in transport.  

In case of an accident, you will get notified about the occurrence and how and where it has occurred, making it easy for insurance companies to know where they stand on insurance claims. Some GPS software can also detect possible accidents on the road and advise drivers and managers accordingly. If you own a moving company or you are on the road a lot, GPS tracking can optimize your routes, alert you to high traffic areas, accidents, or road construction present on your upcoming trips, and help you find the best route to make your trips as easy as possible. This is especially helpful in the auto relocation business where people need their vehicles back as soon as possible. 

If your company ships products of any kind,  the right GPS tracking software integration will update information every 10-20 seconds about where your trailers are during shipment and transportation, allowing you to communicate and inform customers about the whereabouts of their goods, and when they can expect to receive them. 

Here is a list of the benefits of GPS tracker integration for businesses: 

Route Optimization 

Being able to observe and communicate the shortest and the most convenient route to get to a destination ensures reduced gas usage and increases efficiency, helping you minimize time and fuel. 

GPS tracking systems make it easy to manage your fleet and track your shipments, your drivers, and your customers right. Being able to get the exact location of your fleet lets you operate efficiently and stay on top of demands even better.  

GPS shipment tracking eliminates a lot of the obstacles that can deter deliveries, and help you get packages there on time. This lowers cases of misrouted shipments, helps you respond faster to accidents and broken-down vehicles, and helps prevent theft.  

Reduce Paperwork 

GPS tracking devices have an internal storage capability. This means that you will also be able to reduce paperwork. Important statistics taken between the time your cargo was shipped to the time it arrived at your client’s location are recorded electronically, allowing you more precision, more control, more savings, and better efficiency throughout your company.  

If your containers and trucks are equipped with GPS tracking devices, the insurance companies could give you a break too, because this makes their job easier when dealing with cases of lost cargo. 

If you run a cargo business or you ship internationally GPS tracking will also help to reduce time wasted at the port identifying cargo. The management can easily use the information provided by the GPS tracking devices to identify the right containers, reducing operational costs and downtime due to delays. 

Lower Transportation Costs  

Fleet management is costly to say the very least. Whether you have a fleet of delivery vans or trucks, rental cars, or a fleet of specialty or other type vehicles, you have to look at fuel usage, insurance costs, the cost of maintenance and repairs, and a ton of other factors in order to properly manage your fleet. At the end of the day, if not managed very closely, all of these expenses can cause bottlenecks in your budget that eat away at your profit margins.  

With the integration of a GPS tracking system for your business, you will be able to track all of your daily activities in real-time, allowing you to have more control and identify those bottlenecks so that you can start working toward getting rid of them and putting that money back in your pocket where it goes. 

Real-Time Monitoring of Driver Safety and Behavior 

As you most likely are already aware of, a lack of visibility in fleet management can be a very costly problem. Being able to see what each vehicle in your fleet is doing in real-time and have a record of what they’ve done throughout the day can be exactly what you need to see what happened in the event of an accident.  

With more visibility for your fleet, you’ll be able to tell whether your drivers have completed their deliveries or jobs, whether they are taking unplanned stops or unneeded breaks, whether they’re driving into unauthorized areas during the route if they are driving their vehicles harshly, or using their vehicles to after hours.  

Improved Customer Service  

Customer demands are always changing. Since the pandemic started, customer demand is on the rise in a lot of industries. Due to these changing demands and high expectations, offering same-day delivery service for many businesses is a necessity just to keep up with the competition. Without having the ability to see in real-time where your fleet is, it’s hard to respond to customer urgency and provide the level of service that you would like to provide for your customers. 

Monitoring of Mileage, Driving Speed, and Fuel Consumption 

It is a tedious task for fleet managers and administrators to oversee the fuel consumption and mileage of a fleet. If your fleet drivers have been reporting their mileage and fuel consumption every day before or after work, there’s a good possibility that there’s a bottleneck of data and associated costs that will be eliminated by the precision data reporting of a GPS tracking software solution.  

With the right GPS tracker solution in place, you can monitor the mileage, driving speed, and fuel consumption of your fleet and drivers, delivering more precise reporting and more savings than manual reporting could ever allow. This has been saving companies with fleets up to $250 per vehicle, per week. That is a huge saving! 

Increased Fleet Security 

With the right vehicle tracking solution in place, fleet management supervisors are able to use tablets, personal computers, and mobile phones to gain instant access to real-time and historical data that will reveal important factors about your fleet vehicles, and your drivers. With most GPS tracking software solutions, you will be able to tell the speed the driver is going, all the stops that the driver has made on the route, and more.  

With this data, you will be able to better monitor your driver’s performance, behavior, and driving habits throughout the day, and in the event that one of your vehicles gets stolen, you’ll be able to tell exactly where the vehicle is located and track it along the way. 

Quantifiable Improvement of Fleet Efficiency and Performance 

Aside from the many benefits listed above, you will also notice a quantifiable optimization of logistical operations and an overall reduction of administrative resources very quickly after you implement GPS tracker integration for your business. As soon as you are able to see the data from your fleet in a more precise manner you will be able to start making changes that will improve all aspects of your business. 

How Does GPS Tracker Integration Work? 

GPS tracker integration works by transmitting the exact position of your vehicles, and then sending a signal out that contains that information, plus the precise time as measured by an atomic clock. The receivers are set in strategic areas around the globe to pick up these signals and figure out how long it took the signal to reach their location. Then, the receivers measure against their own internal clock to find out your location. After picking up signals from three or more satellites, a device can tell exactly where the satellites are at trilateration.  

Planar orbits have been planned and maintained so that almost anywhere in the world that you go, you should constantly be in view of at least four satellites. The more satellites that are in view of a receiver, the more precise it can detect your location. In most circumstances, a receiver’s position can be calculated to the proximity of within just a couple of feet, or even a few inches. Accuracy also can be affected by other factors such as sensitivity, interference sources, and which types of satellites are in view. 

How Much Does GPS Tracker Integration Cost in 2022? 

Most fleet and truck GPS tracking integration systems will run you between $15-$250 per month depending on a number of factors such as how advanced the system is, hardware and/or software that comes with it, whether it’s leased or bought outright, and the features that come with it, just to name a few. But with companies reporting 150+% ROI within just 2-3 months, the investment is well worth it.  

Here are some of the main factors that are involved with the pricing of GPS tracking software integration for shipments and fleets: 

• The Size of Your Fleet 
• The Features That Come with the Software 

• How Advanced the Software or Hardware Is? 
• Additional Hardware, Software, or Features That You Add to Your Package 
• Additional Charges Incurred by the Supplier 
• The Length of Your Contract (When Applicable) 

How To Implement Your Own GPS Tracking System 

If you run a large company with a fleet, you may find that you have specific needs that will require custom software development to address critical functions within your company. If you have access to on-site developers or end up deciding to try to build your own GPS tracking system for any reason, this next section will go over some of the components that you’re going to need to get started with the development. 

Determine Your Needs and Make a List  

The first step in planning out the development of your own GPS tracking system for your business is to determine and create a list of your pain points and needs. List out all of the different characteristics of your GPS tracking software, what you need it to do, what you would like to track, what’s going to be different between your software and the software currently available on the market, etc. During this process, it is also a good idea to get with your developer(s) and outline the timeline that you think you can have the software done within, any costs associated with developing your software, and any steps that you will need to take during the process and through to completion. 

Here are some points that you may want to consider if you’re building your own GPS tracking system for your business: 

Determine Pain Points or Areas That Could Use Improvement 

Closely analyze day-to-day fleet operations, driver security issues, maintenance and repair problems and expenses, customer relations, and all other internal operations to determine pain points and any areas that can use improvement. 

Know What Options Are Available for Fleet Management Software 

It’s always a good idea to look at the currently available options for fleet management software to determine any missing features that may be beneficial to your business and offer you a competitive advantage if you end up marketing your own software. (our best recommendations are listed below) 

 Don’t Forget Your Sales Lifecycle and Order and Delivery Timeline 

It’s a good idea to closely analyze your order and delivery timeline to find areas where data collection could be beneficial to your business. Being able to track where your inventory is, how much inventory you’ve got, and what products are headed to which address in your customer database is going to offer data points that collectively allow you to control business operations on a whole different level.  

Think Outside the Box  

Carefully analyze all aspects of your business from manufacturing to warehouse management, and through all aspects of fleet management to properly and accurately identify any software characteristics that you think could be added that would be beneficial to your custom logistical software. 

Get Employee Feedback 

Allowing the employees to put in their two cents during the initial stages of software development is never a bad idea. This will allow you to get a better idea of company needs from workers in each department. You can easily create a feedback form in Google forms that will ask each department within your company specific questions about day-to-day operations that will help you get a better idea of what your custom software might need to offer to be able to close gaps that could benefit different areas of your business operations. 

Development Costs and Implementation  

After making all of these assessments, you want to create a list of options that you would like to see in your software to manage your day-to-day operations. Then, after you have your software solution in clear sight, you want to discuss bringing an off-the-shelf logistical software solution to the table with your developers.  

Don’t forget to think about running costs, subscription fees, maintenance fees, and yearly support fees if any APIs or other software is going to be integrated with your solution. You also want to take into account any software upgrades, delays that might come up, or workarounds that you might need at any given point in the development process so that your developers can be alerted to that and respond in a timely manner. 

What to Look for in GPS Tracker Software for Business 

If you manage a fleet, a GPS fleet management system can prove to be an integral part of your fleet management strategy. With the right data returned from your routes every day, you will be able to better manage and improve expenses, peak productivity, optimize utilization, and keep up with compliance and safety on a day-to-day basis.  

Here are some of the main features to look for in GPS software for fleets: 

• Vehicle Efficiency Monitoring 
• Precise Location Tracking and History 
• Vehicle Engine Performance Reporting 
• Vehicle Mileage & Fuel Efficiency Reporting 

• Vehicle Idling Times Reporting 
• Vehicle Speed Reporting 
• Vehicle Emissions Data Reporting 
• Diagnostic Trouble Code Alerts 
• Driver Safety & Behavior Tracking 

• Hardware and Software Integrations  
• Data Processing Servers 
• Customer Support 
• Delivery and Navigation Features 
• Mobile Access 

• Geo-Fencing Zone Features 

Most Popular GPS Tracker Integration Software – Our Top Two Choices 

GPS tracker integration software is an important business decision that helps you manage your fleet better and can save you a ton of money in the long run and improve your cost and performance metrics across the board. We decided to give you our recommendations for the best GPS tracking integration software options available on the market today. Each one of the following GPS tracking solutions providers will have a paragraph or two about their solutions beneath their title, with a list of features under that, so that you can get a good idea of what each one has to offer if you’re looking to invest in a GPS tracking solution for your business today! 

Azuga End-to-End Fleet Management Solution 

Azuga is one of the most popular GPS tracking solutions providers currently available. They offer GPS tracking solutions for both small businesses and enterprise fleets, and their solutions are designed to be an end-to-end fleet management solution that will drastically improve your daily operations and almost instantly start saving you money. Azuga brings features like real-time driver visibility, fleet visibility and status, rewards and gamification, and a ton of other tools to the table to improve overall productivity and cost-effectiveness.  

View helpful insights about vehicle idling, vehicle stops, vehicle speed, hard braking, and any possibility of risks and accidents, plus other helpful data that will help you keep track of your fleet vehicles’ health and diagnostics metrics. 

Azuga Benefits 

GPS Trackit 

GPS Track it GPS tracking integration software is another option for businesses that would like to start saving money by implementing a GPS tracking system. GPS Trackit provides flexible solutions with no long-term contracts and they guarantee your money for 30-days.  

GPS Trackit Benefits 

Qaurtix Vehicle Tracking System 

With Quartix, your business can be up to date with real-time metrics and increased fleet productivity. Quartrix software offers fuel consumption tracking, live fleet tracking, driver analysis, vehicle history, engine hours monitoring, and much more. All these metrics are great for businesses who would like to boost their analytics and start cutting costs. Quartix gives you quick web access and precise controls, allowing you to navigate through its features very easily.  

Qaurtix Vehicle Tracking System Benefits 

Your Guide on GPS Tracker Integration for Business – Final Thoughts 

If you manage a fleet of vehicles, ship products, or deliver products or services in the US, investing in the right GPS tracker integration software solution for your business is a very important decision. It’s important to know ahead of time what options are available to you and what features each provider offers, so that you can align their features with your specific business needs and see which one is best for you. This will help you get to work even faster after implementation to start instantly analyzing your data and communicating with your drivers to start optimizing your business’ efficiency, performance, and budget. 

We hope that you enjoyed this article on GPS tracker integration per business, and if this article has helped you out today, please give us a share of social media so they can help others!  

Target core pages with anchor text: 

https://www.rcgauto.com/industries/auto-relocation/ (anchor: Auto Relocation) 

References: 

https://fiduciasoft.com/blog/implementation-gps-tracking-monitoring-for-business/

https://easternpeak.com/blog/gps-trackers-what-it-takes-to-create-a-gps-tracking-system/

https://www.simform.com/blog/make-gps-vehicle-fleet-tracking-system-hardware/]