Solving the Challenge of Mixed Fleet Telematics

Tony Tye

What makes and models of equipment currently make up your rental fleet?

You don’t have to list out every single one – but chances are, there’s more than one brand of equipment in your yard.

That’s a great thing in terms of meeting customer demand, but in terms of telematics? A mixed fleet can make real-time tracking complicated.

For example:

If your rental fleet includes Caterpillar dozers and compactors, Hitachi excavators, and John Deere augers and trenches, you’d have to log into each of the corresponding OEM portals to get telematics data for each of your machines. (That’s assuming you remember all of the separate usernames and passwords and portal sites.)

That’s an unnecessarily time-consuming process – and a great way to ensure that you’ll never actually put your telematics data to good use. For every preventive maintenance schedule you don’t track, every machine you can’t quickly find when it’s time for pickup, and every overtime usage hour you don’t invoice, your business is losing money, time, and opportunities.

Mixed fleet telematics solutions help you fix these information gaps.

Consolidating Telematics Data Feeds for a Single View

The first – and most important – goal for a mixed fleet telematics program is establishing connectivity with mixed data feeds and pulling that data into a single view.

Merging OEM data from a mixed fleet has become a standard feature in most off-the-shelf telematics solutions. But – as you’ve heard before – the devil is in the details.

Industry-standard formats like AEMP and ISO help alleviate some of the pain of merging mixed fleet telematics information. However, each equipment manufacturer chooses their own authentication protocol, which data fields to populate, and how often you can request this information to update your system. This makes setup complicated and prevents you from seeing the full picture over time.

And, of course, your rental fleet likely changes fairly frequently – especially if you’re in a growth phase where you’re focused on scaling your business. As you buy new assets and sell old ones, you’ll need to add or delete the corresponding feeds. When every single update requires a call to your telematics software vendor, the effort can easily get out of control.

InTempo MX simplifies asset management with pre-configured data integrations from dozens of manufacturers. Choose from a drop-down menu, add your authentication credentials, and you’re ready to go. It’s a much faster, more intuitive way to consolidate your data feeds – especially if you’re a smaller rental company without a large IT department.

Maintaining Connectivity as Your Fleet Evolves

Keeping your eye on connectivity is another challenge. Like any solution you rely on for operational decisions, maintaining accurate telematics data will improve your results. It’s crucial to make sure you always have an up-to-date equipment list, as well as full visibility into the expiration date of each telematics unit subscription.

Here too, InTempo MX makes system administration easy. A single dashboard summarizes all the connected assets in your telematics program. The dashboard – which you can edit based on your Fleet Manager’s unique preferences – is designed to highlight exceptions that need your attention. It will alert you to any telematics unit that’s not reporting properly and provide advance notice of subscriptions that may be expiring soon.

A More Practical Solution for Mixed Fleet Telematics

InTempo MX offers a more practical, scalable solution for comprehensive connected asset management. A single, multi-brand platform puts all your data – across your entire rental fleet – in one place, right alongside your customer and contract data from your ERP.

Get data from any OEM device, or add InTempo’s hardware to assets without an existing setup. (We offer durable hardware that’s suitable for all categories and classes of rental equipment – be it compact machinery with an engine, over-the-road trucks, trailers, or attachments.) DIY selection makes the process easy; there’s no need for complicated coding, IT involvement, or calls to customer service.

Once installed, location and usage data is layered over critical rental information, such as customer names, scheduled pickup dates, and jobsite information. Display this data on a map or in easy-to-understand dashboards for full visibility into your mixed fleet; your team doesn’t have to chase down different data points from different platforms. This centralized approach lets you easily spot exceptions before they become operational problems.

Because InTempo MX gives you total visibility at every level, going beyond just a “dot on a map”, management gets the insights they need to maximize revenues and reduce operational costs. Process improvements – such as speeding up your dispatching efforts and increasing compliance with preventive maintenance schedules – are easily within reach.

Discover the Leading Connected Assets Platform for Mixed Fleet Telematics

Ready to see InTempo MX in action? Contact us today; we’ll set you up with a hands-on demo environment so you can see our solution for yourself.