M2M solutions for transport and logistics

Always knowing where your vehicles are: What used to be wishful thinking on the part of fleet managers is now possible thanks to machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. The result? Optimized and more efficient route planning, and – in effect – reduced costs. Walmark and MODRÝ ANDĚL, two companies that operate in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, use M2M tracking services by T-Mobile Czech Republic to achieve this.

The automotive industry has seen a huge increase in sales over the past few years. This has led to a major boom in the industry, creating opportunities for fleet management solutions such as vehicle tracking devices, fleet analytics, and more. The development of better fleet management tools is driven by environmental concerns, CO2 emission reduction norms, and, above all, fleet operators’ need for operational efficiencies. The technologies that enable reliable fleet management are hardware devices such as RFID tags and readers, sensors, display terminals, cellular and global navigation satellite services, and M2M communication in particular.

How does it work?

At companies with a vehicle fleet, one of the fleet manager’s main tasks is to always be fully informed about the fleet. M2M communication provides smart assistance with this. Various sensors in each vehicle send data to a built-in telematics system with an M2M SIM card or a module with an M2M SIM chip. The latter automatically relays the information to an M2M platform that collects and processes the data. The fleet manager then accesses the information via a web portal on a computer or tablet.

Our customers in the Czech Republic: Walmark and Modry Andel already trust us

Whether you are, like Walmark, a major consumer healthcare player in central and eastern Europe with a leading position in dietary supplements, or, like MODRÝ ANDĚL, a provider of passenger transportation in the Czech Republic, tracking your fleet via M2M is useful in many different sectors.
The challenges both companies faced in the past were remarkably similar: They needed to save time when logging their vehicles, gain a better overview of their entire fleet in real time, and know where the cars are at any given moment. The introduction of an electronic M2M solution for these demands was the next feasible step – and the relevant technology made other benefits possible as well.
T-Mobile Czech Republic provided Walmark and MODRÝ ANDĚL with a smart and easy M2M solution. By equipping the vehicles with SIM cards, a mobile Internet connection, and a fleet management platform, T-Mobile guaranteed a simple, secure, and efficient monitoring service. This paid off, according to Robert Faltýnek from MODRÝ ANDĚL: “The solution helps us to maintain a high standard for our services and allows us to achieve better customer service,” he says.

Reducing costs – improving customer service

Why are both companies so pleased with the new technology? Because it offers them a whole host of benefits. An electronic logbook makes vehicle administration much simpler than it used to be. The two companies now have a perfect overview of where their vehicles – and the employees that drive them – are at any given moment, so they can track every movement and provide mobile navigation tips if necessary. Based on that information, routes can be planned more efficiently, resulting in time savings and ultimately in reduced operating costs and more customer satisfaction. The fact that the tracking devices optimally protect the vehicles from theft is a great added bonus.

These logistical benefits, however, still aren’t the whole story. A reliable and secure mobile network in your vehicles is also very useful for many other things: If you transport people rather than goods, you can offer them additional services to make their journey more pleasant. You could provide much more flexible payment options, for example, by giving passengers a choice between paying via credit card or with their smartphone. They could also be offered free, high-speed Wi-Fi to surf the Internet, check their e-mail, or communicate with friends and family during their car ride. Finding a ride would also become more convenient, as allocating the nearest available vehicle to the relevant customer via smartphone becomes easy when every car has a mobile Internet connection.