Marc DeCarlo
The sad truth is, most small and medium-sized fleet businesses go through the same journey when trialing fleet tracking solutions.
See if this matches yours:
You’ve started testing out the most well-known solutions on the market.
I’m talking about the Samsara’s, Geotab’s, Verizon Connect’s, Nextraq’s and Azuga’s of the market. Large, long-term providers of GPS trackers and software.
Maybe it’s been a few months. Maybe it’s been a few years.
So far, you see the value of tracking your fleet.
Their sales pitch definitely hyped it up, but still.
Knowing the whereabouts of all your drivers, the safety and compliance benefits. You feel more in the loop, and it’s nice knowing you’re not operating completely in the dark. You’re satisfied, but not WOWED.
There’s no shortage of information online about tracking solutions, and it can be overwhelming to figure out what the right one is for your business without going through months of trial and error.
And that’s exactly why this article was written:
To save you the headache of getting roped in to the yearly contracts and high-pressure sales these larger tracking companies use when you haven’t had a chance to properly educate yourself on what else is out there.
So here’s the thing about going with large fleet tracking companies…
They have glaring weaknesses when it comes to three important areas:
1) Customer service
2) Customization
3) Flexibility
And if you’re taking the time to read this, these weaknesses could be costing you a lot of unnecessary time and money.
Honestly, how frustrating is it when you call to speak with a customer service rep, and no one gets back to you? Then having to message, and re-message, and re-message, and call and re-message again.
That would be fine if they had solid email support, right?
Wrong.
It’s not uncommon for weeks and months to go by with no response.
Most of these large companies can’t handle the influx of support requests they get, so there’s always confusion between their internal departments that delays response times for weeks, months and sometimes not at all.
But what happens when trackers fail, and you need support asap?
You call the “24/7 support line” and get automated responses that don’t give you the answer you need. And then when you finally get someone on the phone, they direct you back to the same vague help documentation that caused you to call in the first place.
We’ve all been there, and it’s not a good feeling.
Or what about the painful and expensive installation process they put you through?
They make you deal with an outsourced company for installations, so there’s always discrepancies and unnecessary complications when scheduling installs and repairs.
You see, large GPS tracking companies have convinced users into believing that they’re getting a solution that satisfactorily fits their needs. When in reality, you’re just a number to them.
They just lump you into a one-size-fits-all solution. And you’re not a one-size-fits-all business.
And on top of that, once they get your business, it’s like they stop caring about keeping you happy as a customer — especially for small and medium sized fleet businesses.
“But if they have thousands of users, it can’t be so bad.”
It’s true, large companies’ software gets the job done.
Keyword software. But everything else — customer service, customization and solution flexibility — is mediocre at best.
Because here’s what happens with large GPS tracking companies...
They become complacent with service and upgrades as they try to increase margins across the account lifecycle. Meanwhile, technology and service are evolving in the market. This creates gaps, opportunity costs and unrealized benefits you’re accepting by staying put with your current provider.
So what’s the answer here? What can solve this problem, while still providing you with software that is just as functional but that actually has consistent and accessible customer service?
Managed services.
For small and midsize fleet companies, having a GPS tracking company that provides managed services to remotely monitor and manage their fleet tracking platform is a no-brainer.
Managed service providers can improve efficiency, reliability, security, and maintenance — all while lowering costs and freeing your time up to work on getting more deliveries done, not tinkering with your platform.
Outsourcing these functions to a partner with technically skilled and specialized engineers in new and emerging technologies alleviates these pressures on you. Help is always available — days, nights, weekends or holidays — to support customers.
You don’t want to deal with unexpected and peripheral costs of managing your own solution. You don’t have the resources to train staff, deploy systems and manage equipment. Outsourcing initiatives to a managed service provider can break down costs into fixed monthly payments, as opposed to the large capital expenditures that come with managing systems in-house or signing long-term contracts.
Every company is different, which is why you shouldn’t settle for a one-size-fits-all solution. You need to deliver on your core values, not what large GPS tracking companies say your core values should be.
Now let’s answer an important question: “Where exactly are you losing money with large fleet tracking companies?”
Most of the time, large companies’ software is fine. The technology checks most of the boxes you need it to do.
But when something breaks, you waste time and energy getting in touch with a customer service rep.
When you have to go through multiple people, you waste time and money. When they send you the wrong parts for installation, you waste time and money.
When you spend more time than you want tinkering with the software when you should be focusing on getting deliveries done, you’re wasting time and money.
When you have to email support over and over again to get the answer you need, you’re wasting time and money.
When they take weeks to get repairs done, you’re wasting, you guessed it, time and money.
As you can see, it’s not a product problem. It’s everything around the product that they fail to deliver on.
But how do you know which bucket you fall into? How do you know if you would be better suited for a larger company with a more hands-off, one-size-fits-all approach (because some companies do) versus a smaller, more hands-on and more consultative approach?
If you can check these 3 boxes below, you’re a better fit for the latter:
You don’t enjoy figuring things out on your own or dealing with multiple people to get simple tasks done.
Solid support teams are hard to come by. It’s tough to find one who places importance on working with customers at every stage to ensure the solution delivers results.
If you really want to avoid the experimentation, trial and error, and extra time invested, you’re a fit for managed services.
That means you prioritize responsiveness to help resolve any issue that arises and it never feels like you have to "battle" to get a resolution.
The goal here is for you to have peace of mind knowing that if there’s an issue, you’ll have direct and quick access to experts.
You’re not willing to compromise when it comes to continuity and reliability on installation and repairs.
We’ve seen so many fleet owners get frustrated with the amount of downtime they experience with their existing fleet tracking solution. Even more frustrating was that the downtime was often unexplainable and proved to be tedious to try and troubleshoot.
You want a provider who gives you reliable, continuous service even when repairs or installations need to happen. You don’t want lengthy and cumbersome processes for either.
You want only the features you need right now, with the option to add more as your operation grows.
In your trials of larger companies' solutions, you might’ve found that they offer tracking with limited features, but still-too-high pricing. With managed services, you’ll be in complete control over updates and feature upgrades based on how often the solution is being used and scaled.
This is a popular choice for many small- and medium-sized fleet companies, especially in the slower months or the offseason. You want an affordable solution that includes only the features you really need.
You should be the one dictating how you use your solution, not the provider. But if something does go wrong updates-wise, you have access to the provider who’ll get to the bottom of it with you and not send you a load of copy and paste rubbish that doesn’t even match your question.
A lot of companies force updates on you that sometimes break existing features you use all the time and want to stay the same. Then you’re spending hours and hours rolling back to the previous version. You need a provider that won’t force updates on you other than the ones you choose to receive. For example, security updates that don’t break existing features.
Now tell me, how many boxes did you check?
If you checked 2 or more, you’re in the same boat with thousands of small- and medium-sized fleet businesses who’ve been burned by larger tracking companies.
Burned by the update overkill, horrible service from the “customer success” department, and unreliable, unpredictable experiences with repairs and installs.
Which means you’ve made progress…
You’ve already started taking baby steps toward finding the ideal solution. And you recognize that it’s just as much about service as it is product.
But you’re tired of the companies that are too big to care that make you feel like they’re hanging you out to dry as soon as you get roped into a contract. And you don’t want to fall for another one of their sales pitches.
You don’t want to continue the wrong solution. You want to feel taken care of by your provider while still seeing the ROI.
If this sounds like you, I encourage you to schedule a call with RAN Wireless. We’re a fleet tracking managed services company based out of Pompano Beach, Florida. Our customers work with us to:
● See real-time data on drivers’ behavior.
● Optimize working hours instead of expanding the team.
● Improve driver routes rather than wasting fuel by not knowing.
● Prevent accidents and vehicle wear through preemptive maintenance. Here are some features for our GPS tracking and optimization platform:
● Location Data. Know exactly where any driver or vehicle is located on the GPS map at any given moment.
● Geo-Fence Alerts. Set up a Geo-Fence alert to get a real time notification alert if your tracker arrives or enters or exits an area.
● Sensor Data Reading. You can trace your vehicles and events within the specified area.
● Automated Reports. Get information on harsh driving, high vehicle speed from every tracker. It’s updated in real-time so you’re getting the most current information.
● Historic Locations. If you need to see where your vehicles have been, you can view your trackers historic locations with detailed address information.
● Fully Customizable. You’re able to view data from your trackers on any iOS or Android device or web browser.
We can give you a full demo of our software and managed services. We can put together a proposal for what it would look like to work with us. We have several different packages you can choose from.
We don’t do cookie cutter solutions because you don’t need a cookie cutter solution.
Requesting a quote or reaching out to have a conversation doesn’t cost you anything.
When we talk, we’ll ask you some preliminary questions about your business and see if it’s a good fit to work together. Since our approach is consultative, we’ll figure out the gaps in your
fleet that need to be filled, and adjust the proposed solution accordingly. That way, you’re getting a tailored solution that’s curated to get you the results you’re looking for as quickly as possible.
Now I’ll be frank here. Your other option is to keep doing what you’re doing, and keep seeing the same results.
● Waiting weeks to get a reply from support, sometimes not at all.
● Battling with multiple reps to get something simple done.
● Dealing with constant updates that slow your software down.
We have dozens of highly specialized engineers to help you get your solution up and running, fast. We work with you to educate you on the right features for you, and add features on an ongoing, as-needed basis.
And here’s another benefit to you: the switching cost is minimal. Since we have a team of experts who specialize in fleet tracking for small- and medium-sized businesses, we’ll be able to put together a custom plan to get you installed and up and running on our platform quickly.
The process for installation is quick. Our customer service is not outsourced. We’re in constant contact with our customers.
So if you’re ready to move to a solution that can provide you with software that’s just as functional but that actually has consistent and accessible customer service...
Email [email protected] or click here for a free quote.
Sincerely, 
Marc DeCarlo
Founder, CEO, RAN Wireless