Any organization that needs commercial vehicles to function engages in some form of fleet operations and fleet management. The purpose of fleet management is to oversee all fleet performance and fleet maintenance in order to increase productivity and help a business run as smoothly as possible. Fleet managers are in charge of fleet operations and might be tasked with responsibilities that include vehicle maintenance, overseeing fuel consumption and fuel costs, driver management, asset utilization, route planning, and the implementation of any programs that increase company productivity and decrease instances of waste.

 

Fleet management companies often use vehicle telematics or fleet management software, like Samsara, to increase fleet efficiency and help reduce operational costs.

Why use GPS fleet tracking?

Whether you have a fleet of two or two thousand vehicles, you need an easy way to monitor where each vehicle is, and how it's being used

Every company faces different challenges and has different reasons for considering GPS tracking. However, we do hear a lot of the same things. Once your employee walks out the door and steps into their vehicle, you no longer know exactly what they are doing for the rest of their day. It’s one thing to glance over to see if the person is at their desk or not, but when they are in the field, you lose an element of control.

GPS fleet tracking means you no longer need to call drivers to find out where they are, or worry about how to provide evidence to a customer that a driver was actually there. Eelink web-based software allows you to easily follow your vehicles turn by turn, gauge how long they have stopped in a particular location, and view past travel history.

In addition, our GPS tracking technology enables you to monitor unsafe or inappropriate driving behavior, helping you to ensure your employees are safe and accidents are minimized. You can also set up email or text alerts to notify you if employees leave early, make unauthorized stops or take extended breaks.

By using GPS tracking, you can eliminate unauthorized stops, track employees going home early or during the day, taking extended lunch breaks, and not actually being where they say they are. If you ever have problems with missed stops, incomplete jobs or side jobs, this is a great solution to keep on top of what’s actually happening.

With all time stamps and history stored for three years as standard, GPS tracking puts business owners, dispatchers, service managers and operations in the driver’s seat and in control. You don’t have to repeatedly call employees to find out where they are, who is closest, how long until they are done or if they are free. You no longer have to worry about how to prove to a customer that your company was actually there. You can just pull vehicles up on a map, view history, run reports and set alerts to automate the majority of your tracking workload.

Once these systems go in, they pay for themselves. One hour of overtime or time spent not working, pays for more than a month of service. Most businesses save significantly more than this. GPS tracking pays for itself in saved time locating employees, more production, safer driving, less unauthorized miles driven and faster dispatching, which means you can arrive at a customer sooner.

By automating your fleet management with Eelink GPS devices , you can save time, increase your employees’ productivity, enhance driver safety and provide better service to your customers.
 

How does GPS tracking work?

Global Positioning System (or GPS) refers to the satellites orbiting the Earth that beam down signals that can be picked up by suitable devices. Your smartphone uses these signals to determine your location, for example.

Once installed, the GPS tracker continuously receives GPS coordinates from these satellites. It also receives information such as the position of the vehicle, speed, location and engine status. It will then relay the data via cell towers into our servers. You can then log on to the internet via a desktop computer or mobile device and see exactly where your vehicle is located.

Our GPS trackers have strong receivers that are accurate to approximately 6 ft., meaning you can even pinpoint parking spots.

The devices update between every 10-60 seconds while the vehicle is moving. With our custom algorithms, we deploy multiple techniques to conserve data while keeping the GPS tracking as accurate as possible.
 

How do I install a One Step GPS tracker?

Our GPS trackers can either be plugged in or hardwired into a vehicle, depending on your requirements.

The plug in device can simply be plugged underneath the vehicle’s dashboard in the onboard diagnostics (OBDII) port. This is the same plug that mechanics use to find out what is wrong with a vehicle. Once it’s plugged in, you will never need to charge it and if it’s removed you will be notified by text or email. Our product plugs into all 1996 and newer vehicles.

The plug in device can also be hidden several ways for a more discreet installation. Speak to you Eelink Communication technology sales representative for more information.

The other option is to hardwire the device inside the vehicle, normally under the dashboard. It gets connected by three wires: Constant power, Ground and Ignition/Accessory. Once installed, the device will never need to be charged and is a great tamper-free solution.

Our trackers are designed to withstand the impact of daily, year-round travel and are covered by a Lifetime Device Warranty as long as you are using our service.

Do I need to purchase a data plan?

Each device comes with its own built in data plan that you do not have to pay extra for.

When the GPS trackers are in an area without cell service, the device will still have access to the GPS satellites and will store approximately 16 hours of data. Once it reconnects to the cell network, it will upload the activity that occurred during the time it was out of range. Therefore, a lack of cell service only results in a loss of real-time tracking and normally only for short periods of time.