Mobile Fleet Management Cuts Costs
Fleet Advantage provides fleet services to Costco Wholesale that includes installing electronic sensors in freight trucks and trailers. Equipping vehicles in the shipping industry with sensors to better manage deliveries is a growing trend. The ROIs resulting from mobile fleet management are:
- Improved fuel efficiency
- Analysis of driver behavior that enables improvements to be made that drives down operating costs
- Detailed reports that enable companies to see when holding on to an old truck costs more than leasing a new one – again this helps drive down operating costs.
- Data gathered by sensors that allows companies to better make cost comparisons between buying or leasing delivery trucks.
Mobile Imaging App Helps Reduce Costs and Improve Efficiencies
Mobile image cloud apps (MIC) on smartphones are becoming more popular among companies in banking, healthcare and insurance. Since 2000, cameras on smartphones have been used to photograph documents such as bank checks, hospital records and insurance claims. Lately, this has become more popular and more companies are adopting strategies for turning smartphone cameras into basically scanning devices. The anticipated ROIs are:
- Digital photographs taken by smartphones can eliminate a lot of paperwork that was once needed including handling deposited checks, photographing driver’s licenses, insurance claim forms and other documents.
- Photographs of documents saved on a network make them quickly and easily available to anyone with access to the network no matter their location.
- Insurance companies can expedite refunds and insurance payments to customers.
- Patients may be able to use this technology to quickly photograph medical receipts for expedited reimbursement.
RFID Proof of Concept Delivers Big Returns
American Apparel conducted a pilot test program that gave RFID tags to 50 stores nationwide testing the usefulness of tracking merchandise. The ROI on RFID-enabled stores was no more than six months. Here are the areas that are reported to have driven the ROIs:
- Improved security and a 75 percent reduction in theft.
- The RFID system has proven to reduce shrink, improve stock levels and reduce employee turnover.
- Better visibility of merchandise on the floor led to better customer service.
- Stores with the RFID program were able to increase sales an average of 50 percent more than stores without RFID tracking due to better stock management and the reduction of loss.
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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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