TORONTO – General Electric (GE) has expanded its award-winning telematics solution to Canada. The offering, rolled out in the United States in 2006, gives companies with vehicle fleets the critical line of sight into how their assets are performing in real time.

"Now more than ever, businesses are looking for smart, efficient ways to reduce operating costs while simultaneously increasing productivity. Our solution provides an answer, offering a powerful suite of back-office fleet support services with robust analytics all on one easy to use integrated platform," said Stephen Ulanoski, general manager, GE Capital Solutions Telematics program. 

GE's comprehensive telematics solution provides Web-based access to vehicle asset performance metrics including CO₂ emissions as well as related alerts, trend charts, exception reports, and customizable mapping. The integrated solution not only allows customers to see in real time where their assets are, but also offers clear strategies for improving performance and puts them on their way to greening their fleet operations. 

GE's six-sigma trained fleet telematics experts compile more than 100 customized reports, allowing businesses to take into account stop frequency, stop duration, and drive time, along with many other critical data elements demanded by diverse fleet types. The reports and analysis help customers understand the impact of each on their business.  

"For example, if it takes 30 minutes to visit one customer and 60 minutes another, the data and our analysis helps our clients understand what's behind that. Once that's captured and the costs are understood, we help our clients take proactive steps — whether it is better route planning or more strategic resource allocation and pricing — to optimize the operation. The results are immediate and significant, delivering the competitive advantage our customers want and need, especially now," Amit Jain, product manager, GE Capital Solutions Telematics program.

Augmented with additional current fleet data, actionable recommendations provided by dedicated telematics consultants enable significant operational improvement in a fleet's performance and cost management. On average, customers have realized double-digit percentage improvements in worker productivity, expanded business capacity, fuel consumption, carbon emissions, accident rates, and overtime costs, according to GE.

Businesses using telematics are also better able to meet their customer service level agreements, ultimately strengthening customer loyalty and driving more revenue.

For a leading pest control company with 1,000 vehicles, the monthly telematics benefits alone have resulted in a savings of 190,000 liters of fuel; 20,000 hours of drive time; 450 metric tons of CO₂ savings, and 8,000 hours of operational planning.

GE's telematics solution is available for a flat monthly subscription fee.