The Top
10 Mistakes to Avoid When
Choosing a Mobile GPS Solution
An effectively implemented GPS solution can bring
a wealth of benefits to your enterprise. But all
the benefits of using GPS can be jeopardized if
you make even one wrong turn while navigating the
process of selecting the right GPS solution for
you needs. So here are the 10 mistakes to avoid
when selecting a GPS solution:
Mistake #1 - Limiting your platform options
– The GPS hardware choice you make will
determine what your overall options for GPS will
be down the line. A single-purpose “Black Box”
GPS solution may at first seem to fit your
needs, but for the life of the device it will
only do one thing, collect and send GPS points.
While there is no doubt that this a very useful
thing, it also means that you won’t be able to
take advantage of all the great things GPS is
doing to improve the operations of other
enterprises. On the other end of the scale, you
need to consider if a GPS enabled cellular phone
is the best solution. It has a very limited user
interface for enterprise applications, many
features don’t work if you’re in a cellular dead
spot and you’ll rack up ongoing monthly GPS and
data service charges in addition to airtime.
We’ve seen that a mobile computer (handheld,
tablet, laptop, etc…) with GPS is often the best
choice in terms of leveraging a single mobile
hardware investment that gives you the
flexibility to get the most out of GPS.
Mistake #2 - Limiting your use of GPS to a single
application in the field
– This goes hand in hard with the first mistake.
You can chose an open platform, but then fail to
exploit the benefits of GPS by only using it for
one thing. You're doing your business a disservice
if you just use GPS for real-time tracking. You
can also use GPS to monitor field worker
productivity and efficiency, navigate, collect
customer and asset location information, validate
transactions and inspections…you can even use it
as a time clock.
Mistake #3 - Not fully exploiting the GPS data you
collect on an enterprise-wide basis –
There is a common misconception that Improving
dispatch operations is the only real use for GPS
in an enterprise. The reality is that there are
many benefits enterprises can gain from GPS and
most of them don’t have anything to do with
real-time vehicle tracking. GPS can help you
monitor on-time performance, identify safety
violations, analyze stop times for better
operational planning, gather accurate locations
for all your customers, look for inefficient
routing, add “location stamps” to transactions
and inspections, manage maintenance schedules, tie
into accounting systems to provide mileage and
time clock functions and more. I’m sure you can
identify additional areas where location would
help you improve your specific operations.
Mistake #4 - Not fully understanding the ROI
- GPS delivers a very nice return on investment
when you just look at fuel and labor savings, but
that’s where the ROI begins, not ends. GPS can
help you increase fleet safety, reduce accidents,
improve on-time performance, add more stops per
day, reduce maintenance costs, cut insurance
premiums, fine-tune your routing and retain
customers though better service. There’s even some
evidence to suggest that GPS route analysis can
reduce workers' compensation claims. And if you
are deploying a mobile automation solution, GPS
can be integrated with your core solution,
increasing the overall ROI on your investment in
mobile computing equipment. All of these
improvements add to your bottom line. There are
also returns that are hard to quantify, such as a
customer that recently used GPS vehicle history
tracking data to avoid a lawsuit by proving none
of its trucks were in the area of the alleged
incident.
Mistake #5 - Thinking GPS is easy
– The fact that hikers use cheap GPS units to find
their way through the woods and many cars now come
equipped with GPS navigation systems has led to
the erroneous idea that “GPS is easy.” GPS really
is “rocket science” and trust me that it wasn’t
“easy” for the companies that developed the
hiker’s GPS or the in-dash navigation system in
the new Lexus. And in these examples we are
talking about single-purpose systems that rely on
a number of advantages that are not available to
the enterprise user. Neither of these systems
requires integration with business processes and
have either utter simplicity (the handheld hiker
GPS units) or unlimited power and peripheral
hardware (the in-dash navigation systems) on their
side. Mobile GPS solutions face challenges that
can include battery power management, interference
from multiple radios (wide area, local area,
Bluetooth), integration with field automation
software and other issues that make it vital that
your GPS provider understands all the potential
pitfalls and has the proven experience and
know-how to make your solution a success.
Mistake #6 - Getting too focused on the technology
– It’s important to resist the temptation of
getting too focused on what GPS does instead of
what it can do for you. I may not be a
particularly neutral observer, but GPS has a high
“coolness” factor. It’s easy to get mesmerized by
the mechanics of the satellite system, the various
protocols and hardware form factors. Instead, you
should seek to understand the capabilities of GPS
and then examine how the technology can help you
improve your field operations. You might end up
with hardware that isn’t the “coolest,” but you
will be able to implement a GPS solution that
delivers wide-ranging and measurable benefits to
your organization.
Mistake #7 - Linking GPS and wireless technologies
– It’s a myth that wireless data and GPS are a
necessary combination. In some cases, such
as real-time vehicle tracking, wide area wireless
data transmission is needed. In most other cases,
you won’t require the added expense of accessing
GPS data in real time. For example, a consumer
goods company may want to monitor the activity of
drivers following static delivery routes. The
routes traditionally don’t change and it is
extremely rare to have to reroute a truck for an
emergency delivery. This company knows they don't
need real time data, but they also know GPS can
help them improve driver productivity, save fuel,
improve their routes, reduce accidents, manage
customer location information and even help
navigate their new drivers along their routes. All
the data needed to do this can be “batch
processed” at the end of the day, without the
complexity or expense of wireless data. (To be
completely honest, 802.11 wireless technology is
often the best way to transmit GPS data at the end
of the day when the vehicle is back in the depot –
even better is that it doesn’t rack up airtime
charges for every byte sent.)
Mistake #8 - Thinking GPS is not ready for
business use
– GPS may be the hot "new" thing on the block, but
it actually predates the Internet as a consumer
technology. GPS is a technology that has been
proven in life and death situations in the
military and commercial navigation. Don't let
hikers using cheap GPS, or the talk of using it to
track where your dog roams make you think GPS is a
toy. It is a battle-proven technology that can
help you improve your field operations today.
Mistake #9 - Not integrating GPS with field force
automation applications
– In the first wave of GPS for enterprises, it was
a standalone solution that did one thing –
real-time vehicle tracking – and did it well.
Today, you will get the most value from your
mobile applications if you approach GPS as an
intrinsic part of your overall solution. Think of
your solution as providing your field workers with
a single device and user interface that manages
the worker's assignments, verifies where
transactions were completed, navigates lost
drivers and tracks vehicle travel for greater
safety and efficiency. That’s how integrating GPS
can significantly increase the value and
capabilities of your mobile field application.
Mistake #10 - Assuming GPS can't help your
business
- If you think GPS is for the “other guy,” you’re
right. Unfortunately, that “other guy” is your
competitor. The truth is, if you have workers in
the field, chances are that GPS can help you
improve your productivity and cut costs. With
average field worker productivity said to hover
around 50%, GPS can help you extend your control
over field operations in a way that will make a
real contribution to improving your bottom line.
Knowing the mistakes to avoid will make the
process of selecting and deploying your GPS
solution much smoother – and make the solution
itself a much stronger one. Rather than ending up
with mixed results or disappointment, you’ll
succeed with a GPS solution that delivers process
improvements in the field and financial returns
throughout your organization.
Mike Forbes
LinksPoint, Vice President
Marketing & Product Development
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