DENVER, COLORADO [28th April 2022] – SambaSafety, the market leader in driver risk management technology, has acquired Collision Management Systems (CMS), the Milton Keynes, UK-based leader in telematics, camera and corporate data aggregation and risk analytics.

SambaSafety serves more than 15,000 global corporations and insurance carriers with driver monitoring and online training on the Qorta platform, as well as risk pricing solutions. The merger will allow customers of both businesses to leverage the powerful combination of telematics and camera critical events data from CMS and SambaSafety driver risk data sources, providing the most comprehensive view of driver risk available anywhere.

“CMS chose SambaSafety because of the close alignment of our collective mission to make roadways safer through data insights, as well as SambaSafety’s enthusiasm to invest in expanding our footprint and capabilities for customers in the US and Europe. We couldn’t be more excited about the path forward,” noted Charles Smith, CEO of CMS who will serve as Vice President, Product – Connected Vehicle in the new merged entity.

The highly complementary solutions will significantly increase overall risk visibility for Qorta customers and for the first time in the market, deliver a consistent transatlantic risk and compliance management solution for employers and insurers.

“We have long seen the potential of bringing ‘live’ critical events detail from telematics and cameras together under the same pane of glass with MVR and CSA monitoring insights and claims data on the Qorta platform. Today’s announcement will facilitate making that vision a reality for global risk and safety professionals,” said Allison Guidette, CEO, SambaSafety.

Guidette continues, “Both companies are moving quickly to take advantage of each other strengths and we expect to make several exciting announcements in the employer, insurance and partnership space very soon.”

To learn more about SambaSafety, visit https://sambasafety.com

About SambaSafety

Since 1998, SambaSafety has been the leading North American provider of cloud-based mobility risk management software for organizations with commercial and non-commercial
drivers. SambaSafety serves more than 15,000 global employers and insurance carriers with driver risk and compliance monitoring, online training and deep risk analytics on the Qorta platform, as well as risk pricing solutions. Through the collection, correlation and analysis

of driver record, telematics, corporate and other sensor data, we not only help employers better enforce safety policies and reduce claims, but also help insurers make informed underwriting decisions and background screeners perform accurate, efficient pre-hire checks.

How can Fleet Managers reduce the impact of distracted driving?

At 60mph a vehicle travels more than the length of an Olympic sized swimming pool, every two seconds.

A distracted driver taking a quick glance away from the road could cause huge problems in that distance.

Unsurprisingly then it is estimated that four out of every five accidents involve some form of distracted driving.

With such a potential for accidents, fleet managers need to reduce the associated risk. To keep drivers safe, limit the impact on fleet insurance and protect brand & company reputations.

This can be accomplished through awareness, training, policy, and driver monitoring.

Distracted driver in traffic with one hand off of the steering wheel

What is the definition of distracted driving?

Highways England defines distracted driving as the act of driving while engaged in other activities.

It is split into three types of distraction:

Visual – driver takes their eyes off of the road

Manual – driver takes their hands off of the steering wheel

Cognitive – driver’s mind wanders to the point their focus is on something other than driving

Causes of driver distraction

Causes of distracted driving include:

Using a mobile phone

This is seen by most as the biggest distraction factor in driving. It covers taking or making phone calls, reading or typing texts, or using smartphone apps and features.

By their nature, phones hit all three types of distraction – visual, manual and cognitive.

The 2021 RAC Report on Motoring highlighted the use of mobile phones as a major concern amongst drivers. It also detailed the use of handheld phones while driving has a big skew to younger drivers, with 43% of under 25s saying they use a handheld phone while driving. Compared to (a still concerning) average of 26% of all drivers.

The report also reveals that one in five under twenty fives admit to video calling while driving.

The current insight is that hands-free phone calls are no safer than holding a handset for a call. As the cognitive distraction outweighs the manual distraction factor.

Further, with smartphones doing more than just making calls, the distraction potential has grown. There is a striking correlation between US motor vehicle death rates and the 2008 introduction of the iPhone. Basically, after the iPhone and other smartphones hit the market, the motor death rate stopped declining and in some years increased.

Lost in thought

While mobile phones are seen as the biggest cause of driver distraction. 2013 research by Erie Insurance in the USA stated that the cognitive distraction of drivers being lost in their thoughts was the biggest cause of accidents. With a figure of 62% of all accidents being attributed to this cause.

With the uptake of smartphones since that research, which is the bigger distraction could be debated. Plus phone use is easier to prove, as a cause, than a driver being lost in their thoughts.

However, cognitive distraction is clearly a major factor in road traffic accidents. If only because most of us can only focus on a single task for thirty or forty minutes. And we, therefore, have an inbuilt tendency to drift in our focus and concentration.

Rubbernecking or looking outside and away from the road.

Looking outside the vehicle, either directly or indirectly, via the mirrors, is known as rubbernecking.

This is particularly dangerous as the distractions can be both frequent and longer than other causes.

A four-second look in the review mirror at 60 mph, will see the vehicle travel over 100 metres. That scenario is a classic cause of rear-end collisions. As the distracted driver fails to realise the vehicle in front has stopped, and they run into the back of it.

A 2004 research paper in the USA by the University of Virginia attributed 10% of accidents to rubbernecking.

Eating, drinking or smoking

Taking hands off the wheel to eat, drink or smoke is another major form of driver distraction.

It has both a manual component and a cognitive one, which grows if the driver is concentrating on not spilling the contents of their drink or food. Plus, should that happen then the distraction factor is multiplied.

Research reports that drivers are three times more likely to be in an accident while eating or drinking at the wheel.

Adjusting the vehicle settings, using Sat Nav, reaching for an object

Adjusting elements in the vehicle, from the radio to aircon to the comfort of the seat belt, are all very common distractions for most drivers.

Again, while they may be less than two seconds, that equates to a 50-metre distance travelled.

A new disturbing fact is that touch screens in vehicles are increasing the levels of in-car distractions.

A Transport Research Laboratory report from early 2020 showed that distraction times from using touch screen controls could be as much as 15 seconds. Or 400 metres at 60mph.

Driving while tired or drowsy

Being tired while driving is recognised as a major cause of accidents and is as dangerous as drink-driving

Tired drivers have slower reaction times, reduced attention, and less road awareness. All of which impacts their ability to drive safely.

Statistics quoted by BRAKE, based on Police findings, highlight that up to 20% of accidents are caused by driver fatigue. That 1 in 8 drivers admits to falling asleep at the wheel. And driving at 6 am is twenty times more likely to lead to an accident than driving at 10 pm.

Othe people in the vehicle

Passengers are an obvious cause of distraction to drivers.

Stats show that younger/less experienced drivers are more prone to this distraction. With more experienced drivers having had the time to develop the discipline to filter out much of the distraction caused by the passenger.

However, it remains a distraction and one that both the driver and the passenger(s) need to work together to avoid.

Actions fleet managers can take

As distracted driving is such a big cause of accidents, fleet managers need to factor it into their risk management programs.

Company driving policy

A starting point is to have a clear driving policy. This should detail the company’s rules on taking and making calls while driving, the use of mobile phones for other uses, and other topics such as eating and drinking while driving.

This not only sets out expectations for drivers to adhere to but also provides a backstop that the fleet manager can use if disciplinary measures are needed.

It also supports the drivers, as a policy that states that no driver will be expected to answer a hands-free phone call while on the move, removes pressure on drivers to take calls while driving.

Instill a safety first culture

While a company driving policy is a keystone element of a fleet risk management program it needs to be enforced and encouraged.

Enforcement will have an effect but the encouragement of all involved to live the policy will have a bigger and more long term impact.

A fleet manager leading by example and encouraging their drivers to work to the policy will create a better safety culture than one rule-lawyering the policy.

The attitude of the drivers will become one of “that’s how we do it here” rather than “that’s how I’m supposed to do it here”. A small but key difference.

Steps to this are both planning and mandating a regular break & rest schedule. Incorporating these into the route planning, delivery schedules and deadlines. Plus being prepared to defend these as standards and necessities to be maintained when pressure increases on the fleet.

Another element is Transport and Fleet managers leading by example and refraining from using distractions such as mobile phone calls to drivers.

Encourage drivers to avoid becoming distracted through regular reminders of how they happen, what consequences they can have.

Support this cultural element with formal training and awareness programs for both new and existing drivers.

Driver training and awareness

As part of the driver training program include a section on the nature of distractions, their impact and how simple practices can avoid them. Underline this with the statements about the company driving policy and how it is encouraged.

Follow up with reminders on the nature of distractions and best practices to avoid them, both through normal staff communication channels and in management reviews.

Regularly highlighting the issue will make it a conscious and habitual response amongst drivers.

Driver monitoring

As with any management task, the more you can measure the simpler it becomes.

To address driver distractions technology provides a range of solutions.

The first one is phone records. Monitor phone use by drivers against their driving record. Is there a pattern of using the phone while in motion? If so address this with the driver. Reminding them that in the case of an incident the first thing that is interrogated by the police is phone records.

Telematics, while it can be a potential cause of distraction, also offers a solution.

The latest telematics systems can help monitor driver behaviour and alert the driver and fleet manager to both incidents and patterns of distraction.

From phone usage to lane departures, to monitoring driver drowsiness, telematics can capture this data.

This data can then inform individual drivers about their driving and specific areas of distraction while spotting trends in groups of drivers.

Telematics needs to be part of the safety culture within the fleet. Drivers may have concerns that the video telematics is spying on them. Addressing this upfront as it’s not a case of spying but a case of helping ensure their safety will help build trust between fleet managers and drivers.

How Clara can help fleet managers reduce driver distraction.

Clara, our software platform, brings together telematics and other data.

It standardises and normalises the data from all these disparate sources to provide fleet operators with the clear insight needed to take action.

Be that to incidents in real-time, or to the risk trends of the fleet, depots, or individual drivers.

This capability supports fleet managers in their monitoring and management of their drivers and how they can reduce the risk of distracted driving.

Find out more about Clara, here.

Seventeen ways to lower commercial fleet insurance

Commercial fleet insurance premiums can reduce through the following seventeen steps.

We have grouped them into five areas. Drivers, technology, vehicles, insurers and fleet safety management.

While some are simple practical steps. For example, keep your vehicles secure when not in use. The majority involve gathering analysing and using data. To make informed decisions to reduce risk and improve safety

The result will better control your commercial fleet insurance costs.

Vehicles travelling at night in busy intersection, demonstrating the need for good commercial fleet insurance

Drivers

Good drivers have fewer accidents and incidents. Good Drivers have fewer claims. Fewer claims mean better premiums.

So, having programs and processes to hire, train, and support good drivers, is a big step in getting lower commercial fleet insurance.

Clean license drivers are best

It is best to have drivers with clean licenses.  As drivers who have points or convictions will affect your premiums.

To achieve this start by only hiring new drivers who have clean licenses.

Then if a driver gets penalty points or convictions, update your insurer. They can reassess and discuss the situation. So that you are not surprised by any resulting changes.

Use driver training programs

Having valid driver training programs will lead to cheaper premiums

Additionally, ongoing training will reduce driver risk. As they will be in fewer accidents. Fewer accidents mean fewer claims, which means less impact on your premiums.

If running programs in-house is not possible. Using an external training company will help

Plus the range of driver training programs – from basic to intermediate to advanced. Will allow tailoring of training to your drivers’ needs.

But be sure your insurer recognises the training company. Before committing to using them.

Monitor your drivers

Duty of care means that you already have driver risk programs and regular license checks.

After this, it is a good policy to monitor your drivers. To look for trends in fleet risk.

These could be in individual drivers’ behaviour. Along certain routes. During bad weather. At specific times of the day. Or during certain seasons.

Through this, you identify those drivers, teams, or depots with higher accident trends. Versus the average for your fleet or against industry benchmarks.

Once identified you can target support to those drivers at higher risk. Or those falling below the fleet’s driving standards.

This support can move in an escalating format. From management interventions to training courses, through to disciplinaries.

While this approach helps fleet managers address risk issues. The insight and supporting information. Can also prove your fleet risk management, and improvements in fleet safety. When discussing premiums and rates with your insurers.

That is, monitoring your drivers and acting not only reduces risk. It can also help secure lower insurance premiums.

Keep an eye on the younger drivers

As part of the above, give particular focus to monitoring your younger drivers

Younger drivers are more prone to dangerous driving than older drivers.  With accidents peaking in drivers aged eighteen to twenty-five. Because of this many insurers increase rates for younger drivers.

So, be sure to watch and support your younger drivers, to both help and make sure they drive safe.

Technology

Technology can offer a range of ways to help reduce commercial fleet insurance premiums. Telematics provides valuable insight into driver behaviour and vehicle use. Trackers, alarms, and immobilisers help prevent stolen vehicles or their recovery.

Telematics is a must

Telematics is a core part of any driver monitoring system.  As well as a general fleet management solution.

The data that be got from telematics systems has increased in the last decade.

Anyone wanting to lower their commercial fleet insurance should start with this technology.

As telematics is a core part of what CMS does, we have looked at telematics in these previous posts:

What can you do with telematics data?

Fleet Safety – why having lots of data does not always make it more effective

Telematics data – how to deal with too much

What is telematics?

Use trackers, alarms, and immobilisers.

Running in parallel with telematics is the installation of trackers, alarms, and immobilisers.

Trackers pinpoint the location of a vehicle. Increasing the chances of recovering a stolen vehicle

Alarms and immobilisers help prevent stolen vehicles, in the first place.

Combined, the anti-theft impact of these technologies help reduce insurance premiums. Or help secure lesser rates.

Cameras are great for evidence

The most important role of dash cams or in-cab cameras is showing who’s at fault in an accident.

Videos are evidence when proving blame and defending against fraudulent claims.

Basically, footage of someone crashing into you, makes the insurance process smoother.

Plus, proving you are not at blame, should not affect your insurance.

Dashcams looking into the cab also show what the driver was doing. Helping identify distracted and dangerous behaviour. For evidence in claims. Or helping in driver reviews by fleet and transport managers.

Vehicles

Keep your fleet young

Having a fleet of younger vehicles could save on your insurance premiums

Newer vehicles have up-to-date security. Making them harder to steal while also having better safety features.

They will also have lower emissions and better fuel efficiency.

While you’ll need to choose the vehicles to get the job done. A consideration of the insurance costs, if there are options, could save you money. 

Keep vehicles secure overnight

Proving to your insurer that your fleet is secure, when not in use, can deliver cost savings.

Secure patrolled depots will be the best. But even using benchmark locking systems helps.

Keep vehicles in a good condition

Vehicle maintenance is a key part of fleet operations and management.

If your vehicles are not well maintained your risks will only go up. 

The potential for breakdowns, incidents and accidents increase. Having more of these impacts your fleet insurance. So, keeping the fleet well maintained helps with your insurance costs.

Fleet management software helps in this but also engage with your drivers. Encourage and empower them to highlight issues, however small. So those items falling outside of the maintenance schedule are dealt with, and not left.

Insurers

Working with your commercial fleet insurer, sharing your fleet data and its trends. Will help get you into a great position for negotiating the best premiums.

Review and shop around at renewal time

Don’t settle for your existing insurer’s quote. There is a good chance you’ll get a better offer.

But, if you want to be loyal, ask your insurer for a better quote.

They may even have some suggestions on what you can do to lower the cost. You can support this with your driver and incident monitoring data. Show how you’ve improved in these areas. Illustrate that you are driving down your accident rate.

So, schedule time to at least look at the market offers, at renewal time. Plus, gather the information on your fleet safety management and the impact it is having.

With this, you’ll get yourself into an informed negotiating position with your insurer.

Combine insurance policies

Investigate the options of combining policies. This could lead to reduced overall premiums.

If the insurer wants to keep your business, they should at least be open to these sorts of discussions.

Buy the cover you need

Using your safety data and insight, check that the insurance you have is what you need.

If you don’t need the maximum cover, don’t get it.

Examine what you need, based on your insight. And use that to inform your buy rather than what the insurer recommends.

The two may be the same, but they could also be different, and you could save.

Increase your excess

If your number of claims is coming down, an option may be to increase your excess to get lower premiums.

Again, analysis of the data you have on your fleet will help inform if this is a valid option or not.

Isolate your worst drivers

Your worst drivers only make up 10-15% of your fleet drivers. But, they will be impacting your premiums.

Training, management intervention, and other support will help them improve. But to help reduce insurance costs, you could move them to a separate policy.

That is, put those bad behaviour, more accident-prone drivers, on a different policy.

You can identify and track those drivers through your monitoring.

When you have that information, discuss it with your insurer. What would happen if you isolated those drivers? Would your main premiums go down? Would the decrease outweigh the cost of the extra policy?

If yes, then put it in place.

Fleet safety management

Rapid FNOL and risk insights are key to helping you get better insurance premiums.

Know your risk situation and trends

Combine your driver data with your claims data and other relevant data to assess your risk.

Know where you are now, how the trend has moved in the past and what it’s likely to do in the future.

Share, confirm and work this data with your insurers so that you agree on the situation. Then work together on a fleet safety and risk management plan to make your fleet a better risk.

This level of management insight and control. Coupled to the engagement with your insurer. It will put you in the best place for discussing insurance premiums or getting new quotes.

FNOL – don’t waste time making a claim

We covered the benefits of making First Notification of Loss (FNOL) in this recent post.

The basics are, the faster you take control of an accident, the more you can control the costs involved.

Technology can help with this. But again, encouraging, and empowering drivers to notify fleet managers as soon as possible after an incident will help.

By controlling costs, through rapid FNOL. Claims will be lower and the impact on your insurance premiums minimised.

Clara can help with commercial fleet insurance

Our software platform, Clara, can help in lowering fleet insurance premiums.

Bringing together data, from telematics to training records to licence checking. Clara cuts through the data noise. Alerting fleet managers to only the incidents they need to react to for FNOL. While giving them the trend information for fleet safety management programs.

Clara automates and simplifies the answering of these four questions;

(1) Is your risk profile going up or down?

(2) What high-risk behaviours are common in your fleet?

(3) Which drivers are the highest risk and most likely to have a claim?

(4) What incidents are happening right now that I need to respond to?

Go here to find out more 

Data normalisation is being used more and more in the fleet management and risk management communities, in relation to big data.

Understanding what data normalisation is, knowing why it is important to today’s fleet operations, including risk management programs, gives fleet operators and fleet managers a real advantage in both valuing, and utilising the big data they are already gathering.

As a short answer, data normalisation helps fleet risk management by making all elements of the collected data comparable and consistent.​

With this, accurate insights on the where, what and who of a fleet’s risk trends can be gained, allowing fleet managers to address them through training and management resources.

On the other hand, without effective data normalisation, big data insights can be flawed, leading to the wasting of training and management resources by deploying them in the wrong places.

Big data and fleet management

The amount of data being produced, collected, and stored has been estimated as growing at an average rate of 40 to 60% a year.

This extends to a fleet’s vehicles and drivers.

As they become more and more connected, fleet managers work to use this data to better manage fleet operations and reduce associated risks. The benefits from this being, reduced incident rates and claims costs, through improved training effectiveness.

Of course, this data abundance is only set to grow.

In the last decade, we’ve seen the rise of telematics, dash cams, GPS devices, smartphone apps, and tablets in fleet management, as ways to deliver efficiencies in operations, improvements in safety, and better customer service.

In the coming decade, this trend will only increase with 5G, (semi) autonomous vehicles and the true, mobile, always-connected Internet of Things.

Add to these in-vehicle data points, the increasing amount of out of vehicle, employee data we now have in digital formats – such as reviews, training records, and compliance checks – and the effective use of big data is a big challenge.

The Joe Bloggs, Mr. Bloggs and J. Bloggs problem 

With big data, the integrity and ability to synchronise data across multiple and disparate data sources is the key to its use and value.

As a human, reading the above sub-heading, you would suspect that Joe Bloggs, Mr Bloggs, and J. Bloggs are all the same person, and therefore data attributed to one should be attributed to all.

Well, at least suspect enough to check into it.

For a machine that deduction is not as intuitive, but is crucially important if the full benefit of all the associated data is to be realised.

This is where data normalisation comes in. It addresses the challenge of data-sets becoming bigger and more diverse, and how to incorporate them into a platform for effective analysis.

If this challenge isn’t met, gaps in the data sets grow, which in turn leads to wrong insights and wasted actions.

All of which can be masked by the belief that as the data is so big and rich, the insights, conclusions and actions must be correct.

Meaning that what should be a virtuous circle can become a vicious circle.

Other big data issues for fleet management

In addition to this Joe Bloggs challenge, big data for fleet management has other challenges.

The complexity of a system of systems

Big data is driven by the growth in connected platforms, and the amalgamation of all the data they take in and pass on. A system of systems.

Understanding the nature of this system and its connections, so that when something is wrong it can be identified, isolated, and corrected is a skill in itself.

Of course, as the connected world grows, so does this system of systems.

The shortage of professional big data analysts

With this exponential rise in data, a huge demand has been created for data scientists and data analysts, to both work the data and, just importantly, to understand it.

Also, their skill set needs to cover communicating what they find to other parts of the business, such as fleet managers, in ways that can be understood.

This crucial capability is in short supply.

Uncertainty about the future elements of data management

A further challenge for fleet managers wanting to use big data insights is the changing nature of the technologies available.

Adopting the right tech for the job is a crucial decision in itself. It is also one that impacts the range of choices that can be made in the future, so it needs to be well thought out.

Data privacy and security

A concern in everything and anything to do with data is that of security and privacy.

By its use of disparate data sources, this is a vulnerable area for big data and therefore always needs to be a front of mind consideration for fleet operators.

Data normalisation – the solution to big data issues for fleet risk management

Big data is mostly what is called unstructured data. Organising it and turning it into a structured form that can be used for analysis and insight by fleet managers is what data normalisation does.

Data normalisation covers these five core areas:

Removal of duplicates. This cleans up the data, making it easier to analyse.  

Grouping. Making related data easier to access and use by having it in close proximity.

Resolve conflicts. Again, cleaning up the data and improving the insight from analysis of the data.

Formatting. Converting data into a format suitable for further processing and analysis.

Consolidation. Combining data into a much more organised structure, again making it easier to access and analyse.

An important point to note is that data normalisation is not a static, one-time activity. It is an ongoing, critical, process.

The benefits of data normalisation

A fleet risk management database should use data normalisation so that the data can be visualised and analysed.

Without it, a fleet operator can collect all the data it wants, but most of it will simply go unused, and not benefit the fleet’s operations.

Additionally, data normalisation means databases take up less space. Saving data warehousing costs and improving performance, as a database that isn’t clogged with irrelevant information means analysis can be actioned more quickly and efficiently.

Of course, the main reason to use the data is to look at how to improve fleet operations and safety. This can become a complex task, if the data has come from multiple sources, as cross-examining them can be challenging. Data normalisation makes that process easier allowing fleet managers to answer the questions they have, more quickly while knowing that the data they are using is accurate.

That is, data normalisation creates a virtuous circle.

Clara has data normalisation baked in

The challenges and benefits of data normalisation for fleet management are at the very heart of Clara, our risk management platform.

As the following graphic shows, Clara takes in data from any source, and through our expert and specialist data normalisation processes, makes the data consistent and comparable.

This delivers fleet managers time-critical alerts, for the rapid management of incidents and FNOL management.

Plus, the risk analysis and insights, in a simple single view, of their risk profiles for prioritising training and management resources to address medium-term issues.

Data normalisation as used by Clara, CMS' SaaS Platform for fleet risk management - Diagram showing how it works

If you’d like to find out more about Clara, and how it can help you with your fleet risk management programs, please call us on +44 (0)345 241 9449 or contact us here.

How is technology changing fleet management?

Fleet management has benefited over the last decade from advances in technology.

GPS, telematics, fleet tracking, mobile comms, fleet management software and more have all helped.

Operating costs have tightened. Profits boosted. Compliance streamlined. Fleet operators have remained competitive and driver safety has improved.

But things continue to change.

Autonomous vehicles, 5G networks, wearable tech, advanced telematics, augmented reality, mobility as a service, blockchain and electronic vehicles are all set to impact fleet management in the coming decade.

Let’s examine how.

Vehicles on a busy road showing how fleet management technology can help with fleet safety

Three Broad Areas

Fleet management technology impacts fleet operations in many areas.

To help understand it, we group the elements into three broad areas:

(1) Fleet Safety
(2) Fleet Operations
(3) Fleet Data

Fleet Safety

Safety is a key element in pushing fleet management technology.

Covid has caused an increased focus in this area. Be that in cleaning regimens, or driver physical and mental health.

Answers have come in driver well-being programs, supported by in-cab technology data. Combined these improve safety. From spotting bad driving habits, to checking drivers are mentally fit to drive.

Other technologies for improving fleet safety are wearable tech for drivers, advanced telematics and (semi) autonomous vehicles.

Covid

While not a technology, Covid affected fleet management and its use of technology.
It pushed fleet operators, fleet managers, and drivers to adapt to evolving circumstances.

The changes included:

Upscaled health and safety procedures. Cleaning routines, social distancing, wearing PPE all became standard to keep drivers safe.

Increased demand. E-commerce became the norm. Resulting in a huge increase in shipping, both to hubs and last-mile delivery. Forcing fleets to upscale and pivot.

Remote fleet management. The fleet manager needed to work from home. Having to learn to track their teams and work through software, rather than face to face.

These changes continue to impact the fleet industry, having often become the new normal.

Wearable tech for drivers

An item looked at by fleet operators is the use of wearable technology by drivers.

Smartwatches offer a two-way solution.

They can give drivers important information with minimal distraction. And they can also send back important data about the drivers’ well-being to fleet managers. Such as health information on the drivers’ fatigue and stress levels.

Combined with telematics systems. Wearable tech creates a more detailed data picture of the driver’s safety.

Advanced Telematics

Telematics continues to be the core technology in fleet management and a key tool for a fleet manager.

Providing real-time updates on locations, vehicle status, and driver behaviour.

As the use of telematics data is a key element of our work, on fleet safety, we have produced articles on the use of telematics data and the issue of having too much.

(Semi) Autonomous vehicles

This is the big-ticket item in fleet management.

The driverless, autonomous vehicle. Be it a car, a van, or a truck.

The accepted scale of vehicle autonomy is the SAE scale. Which has five (or six) levels of vehicle automation.

While the technology exists today to have Level 5 driverless cars. The legislation, acceptance and trust in the concept working on public roads are several steps behind.

Meaning that we are at about Level 2+ “Advanced Partial Automation” or Level 3 “Conditional Automation”

So, the forty-ton driverless HGV is still a while off. But semi-autonomous vehicles are with us.

Radar, automated braking, and all-round camera systems are on HGV’s. Making them safer vehicles for both the driver and those around the vehicle

Such technology is in cars and is making its way into LCVs

This technology will make vehicles safer to drive and be around. As machine reflexes take over from human ones should the situation dictate? Plus, there will be benefits in congestion and pollution levels. As the vehicles are driven more efficiently.

Fleet Operations

At an operational level, technology will impact fleet management in the areas of mobility as a service, remote fleet management, voice commands, electric vehicles, and augmented reality.

In all these areas the key benefits are flexibility, efficiency and safety.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

While MaaS is a massive opportunity in our near-future personal mobility. It is also becoming an element in B2B Fleet Management.

The acceptance of Uber as both a service for users and a revenue source for vehicle owners is seeping into B2B fleets.

For example, 70% of products in the U.S.A. travel by road. And more than half of fleet operators are having difficulty finding drivers. To solve this combined issue fleet managers could use on-demand services akin to MaaS.

B2B MaaS drivers could move products when businesses run out of in-house resources. Drivers could rent out their services to complete last-mile deliveries. Which is the business model of Roadie, a crowdsourced delivery service (an now part of UPS)

One we highlighted in this post about home delivery.

While this won’t replace traditional fleet operations, it is becoming a viable element.

Augmented Reality

From efficient vehicle loading to safer driving, Augmented Reality (AR), has a massive role in fleet management.

Already in use in parts of the US air force. AR guides staff wearing smart glasses in maintenance, repair, and inspection tasks. Reducing errors, omissions, and other mistakes. As well as speeding up the task rates.

For drivers, AR can help training, build route familiarity, and simulate incidents. Which makes the driver more cognizant of the situation and safer on the road.

Additionally, AR can deliver enhanced and updated route information to the driver. Making them more efficient in their operational tasks and safer.

Further AR helps with the loading of the vehicles. Scanning and loading every item is a time intense and complicated task. With AR glasses, loaders know where every item needs to be inside the vehicle. Drivers then know where every item is when making deliveries. Again, speeding up tasks and reducing errors.

Electric Vehicles

As with autonomous vehicles, Electric vehicles (EVs) are a big item in fleet management technology.

Environmental, sustainable, legislation and commercial factors are driving the move to EVs. Amazon operates a growing fleet of electric delivery vans. Other services are following suit.

While the vehicles are similar to drive, they are not the same. Plus, maintenance and support needs are different. For example, roadside assistance is different for EVs in tasks as simple as wheel changes.

So, while the move to EVs will only increase. Being the only option from 2030. There is a set of new tasks and knowledge that fleet managers have to master. As covered in this recent Forbes article “How Electric Vehicles Are Disrupting Fleet Management”

Voice commands

Alexa, Cortana, and Siri are now part of our everyday. They make tasks simpler and support safer multi-tasking.

Adding these connected services to vehicles gives drivers and fleet operators more communication and support tools.

Voice commands can order route replans, find new destinations, or update HQ staff.

Removing the need for the driver to take their hands off the wheel or their eyes off the road.

Making for more efficient and safer operations.

Remote fleet management

Covid had a huge impact in this area. With fleet operators having to rapidly pivot to remote fleet management for their fleet management solution.

That has meant moving to cloud-based fleet management software. Investment in mobile communications. And a cultural shift in management methods.

Technology has supported this. Telematics has been supporting a remote workforce for years. So the main change has been for depot and HQ staff.

As Covid recedes, the question will be how fleet managers change. Will they revert to their old methods, stay remote or be a hybrid of the two?

Whichever the choice, the pandemic has proved the technology can support it.

Fleet Data

Data is now a key element in fleet management. Or rather the increased amounts and availability of it.

Fleet managers can now measure, analyse, and inform on any part of their fleet’s operations.

Thanks to the amount of data that they have.

This will change further with new technologies and considerations coming into play.

5G, Blockchain, IoT, big data & AI, and data security will all have an impact.

5G

The 5G network is a game-changer in the way the connected world works. Speed, number of connections, and uses will all be more when the network is operational.

We looked at its impact on fleet management and other areas in this article.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a secure record-keeping method. Decentralised and distributed, it brings transparency and accountability to data records.

For fleet management blockchain keeps track of vehicle maintenance, driver’s history, delivery information and many other elements in the most secure, detailed, and transparent way possible.

Additionally, with more data transmitted between parties, data privacy becomes an issue. Blockchain helps here too.

Blockchain then is a technology that helps everyone trust the data.

Keeping communications and working together effective.

IoT and the connected fleet

A connected fleet has been possible thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT).

Bringing safety and efficiency for the driver and the fleet operator. But more than that it has changed data collection from a passive activity to an active one.

Making the fleet manager more aware of the real-time situation, and better able to take proactive action when needed.

Cybersecurity and data security

With the increase in data from the fleet. Fleets become more tempting targets for cybercriminals.
Looking to steal data or cause disruption.

So, it is important to protect the data. As any flaw or a breach in the system can lead to commercial and safety issues.

Data security has thus become a concern of fleet managers. They now need to look for and spot potential threats and actual breaches. Plus, know what to do when they spot them, or they happen.

Of course, being good at data security is a commercial advantage for both customer trust and fleet operational efficiency.

AI, big data, and machine learning

The final point on fleet data is how with big data, fleet operators can use AI for insights on improving their operations.

Technology has delivered this capability to even modest-sized fleet operators.

They can now interrogate their data for patterns and learnings on their fleets. Which can deliver cost savings, improved safety, and better customer service.

An example of this from nearly two decades ago is UPS’ research into its big data.
This identified the cost in time lost for making left-hand turns (in the USA). That is, the amount of time wasted by waiting to cross traffic.

From this UPS started route planning that minimised the number of left-hand turns.

The value of this insight and action?

$300m to $400m in the first year.

Additionally, as highlighted by our US-based customers. Turns that cross across traffic are the single most hazardous manoeuvres drivers take. The accident rate is higher than in any other action.

So, eliminating turns across traffic not only saves money it also improves safety.

Nearly twenty years later, AI capability has improved exponentially. As has the amount of big data.

Meaning that insights such as UPS’ should be available to any fleet operator prepared to go looking for them.

Finding them will deliver savings and improvements in driver and fleet safety.

Conclusions and Summary

In 2018 Shell published a report called “Future of Fleet”

It concluded that:

“The pace of change in commercial fleets is accelerating rapidly, and the industry will look radically different within the next 20 years. Alternative fuels, data analytics, automation, and greater connectivity will require new business models, skills, and partnerships between fleet operators, manufacturers, energy and technology providers, and start-ups.”

Nearly four years later, the trends predicted in that report are well in place.

Fleet’s are moving to electric vehicles as the 2030 deadline is only two or three purchasing cycles away.

Covid changed so much. From driver safety protocols to remote fleet management, to increased demand.

Thankfully, the innovation and technology helped that unprecedented pivot be a success.

No doubt a tough one, but also a success.

The near future will see drivers wearing smartwatches and glasses to help with both communication, driving and monitoring of their health.

They will be driving electric-powered vehicles, following routes that are constantly reviewed and updated to be as effective as possible.

The vehicle will be communicating with its surroundings and other vehicles over the 5G network. It will be constantly aware of the road situation, stepping in when safety becomes an issue.

And when the driver arrives at a delivery point their smart glasses will id where the package is in the van.

Meanwhile, back at base, the fleet management team will have data streams giving them a total picture of what, where, how, and when their drivers and vehicles are. Plus, their reporting analysis and insights will be highlighting areas for improvement and efficiency.

CMS and fleet management technology

At CMS we very much exist in the world of fleet management technology.

Clara, our cloud-based platform, takes in the information from telematics, wearable tech, and other sensors to provide analysis and insights for fleet managers and fleet safety.

And as the amount of data and range of sources continue to grow, Clara will combine them all and continue to deliver the risk management insight and incident alerts that make fleets safer.

Telematics Data – what can it be used for?

Telematics data provides insights on vehicle performance, location, and driver behaviour. Also, telematics helps communication, routing, plus vehicle status, performance, and speed monitoring. All of which helps with effective and efficient fleet management.

But what other insight and benefits can telematics data deliver?

The answer to that groups into three areas:

(1) Inform strategic decisions

(2) Optimise fleet operations, including safety

(3) Improve customer service

Combined, these give fleet operators a competitive edge. One that delivers cost savings, drives customer loyalty and protects company reputation.

Let’s look at the elements that deliver this.

Busy city street showing telematics data flows from vehicles

Where and how does telematics data help?

Vehicle utilisation reports for purchasing plans

Telematics data provides vehicle utilisation reports. These help fleet managers understand which vehicles are being over or under-utilised.

Over utilised vehicles indicates a need to buy more of this type of vehicle. So that the fleet can keep up with usage while minimising wear and tear on the current fleet.

Underutilised vehicles don’t fit the needs of the fleet or the company’s customers.  They are thus wasting money.

Utilisation reports are useful for informing buying and selling decisions. Helping right-size the fleet for business and logistics operations.

Boosts fleet productivity

With real-time GPS data, drivers can lessen traffic delays.

Fleet operations managers can give new or extra site visits to the nearest vehicle. Plus tell the driver the most efficient route to get there.

Lowers administration costs.

Telematics data simplifies administration and compliance.

Through digital tachograph/ELD data, and automated mileage expense reports. Reducing manual administration and reporting.

As well as supporting tax compliance reporting.

Reduces fuel and maintenance costs.

More efficient routing reduces the number of miles travelled. Which reduces fuel consumption, and wear and tear.

Carbon emissions also fall, reducing the fleet’s carbon footprint.

Telematics data also provides warnings about mechanical problems and maintenance needs. Removing the need to rely on drivers to report them. With alerts coming from mileage, engine use and diagnostic codes. Thereby cutting the risk of breakdowns, unplanned downtime, and disruptions to customer service.

Couple this with driver behaviour data to track wear and tear in detail, and preventative maintenance planning becomes efficient and effective.

Tracking driver behaviour also identifies areas of waste. Such as long periods of engine idling, harsh braking or rapid accelerating. All of which helps reduce fuel costs further.

Real-time vehicle location tracking

By knowing the exact location of every vehicle, at any time. Fleet and operations managers can make routing adjustments on the fly.

Adjusting to changes in traffic, breakdowns, difficult weather conditions, and other impacts on their initial plan for the day.

Through this, they switch resources around to ensure deliveries reach customers when they need to.

Plus, they keep clients informed about their delivery’s estimated time of arrival. Which increases customer satisfaction, through better customer service.

Improves safety

Addressing unsafe driving behaviours. Such as speeding, harsh braking, hard cornering, tailgating, and distracted driving. Helps with fleet safety and fleet risk management.

Telematics data gives fleet managers the information to coach drivers on safer driving. Both on ad-hoc items and as part of a continuous improvement program.

Accidents alerts, for FNOL management and emergency aid, also come from telematics data.

Additionally, telematics data assists with accident reconstruction. Helping insurance claims determine liability and identify drivers who aren’t at fault.

It is this use of telematics data to improve safety that CMS specialises in.

How does CMS use data to improve fleet safety?

Aggregating and combining telematics data and other digital information is what CMS does, with Clara, our SaaS platform.

Clara takes in data from telematics, sensors, training records and other sources and combines them to give better insight into the four key risk management areas:

Is my risk profile going up or down?

What high-risk behaviours are common in my business?

Which drivers are the highest risk and most likely to have a claim?

What incidents are happening right now that I need to respond to?

It does this by removing all the irrelevant data noise, which is a common problem with telematics systems.

Leaving the fleet management team with clear FNOL alerts that they need to take charge of.

Plus, the sharp insight into their fleets’ risk to deploy resources to address the issues and improve safety.

With Clara, CMS use telematics data to make fleets safer, making the World safer.

Fleet Risk Management – what is it, what does it cover and what are the benefits?

Fleet risk management is both the tasks and the programs involved in running a safe fleet.

It is a fundamental area of Fleet Management, while also crossing into the domain of a company’s Health & Safety management.

After all, if you have one thousand drivers on the road at any one time. You not only want to be efficient in the way that the fleet is run but also know that those drivers and other road users around them are safe.

So, the core aspects of a fleet risk management program need to cover both the physical operations and the compliance/regulatory environment of the fleet’s operations.

Increasingly technology is impacting these areas, with the use of Telematics data, in particular, being a great tool for improving fleet risk management for fleet operators. Of course, this area is the particular focus of CMS, as we work to make fleets safer.

While fleet risk management covers many areas, they group into these three broad categories:

(1) Avoiding or minimising the impact of incidents

(2) Meeting regulatory and compliance needs

(3) Brand and company reputation

From these, a simple way to summarise the benefits of an effective fleet risk management program is that it works to protect your businesses’ three P’s – People, Property, Profit

Fleet manager working on fleet risk management issues

What areas does fleet risk management cover?

Driver Safety

This covers both safe driving best practices and driver safety.

For example, an issue all fleets face is driver distraction. Which is one of the biggest causes of accidents.

With in-cab technology, drivers can be warned when they drive distracted, are becoming drowsy and/or are driving in an unsafe manner.

Additionally, ongoing monitoring of drivers via telematics data can highlight specific issues (tailgating), habits (late braking), or route related items (speeding in a 30 mph zone), which can then be addressed by the management team through driver training and coaching safe driving.

All of which not only helps drivers with their drive-safer habits. But also helps focus and target limited driver training and fleet management resources to where they are needed. Helping fleet safety in a more efficient way and effective way.

Compliance and regulations

One of the biggest headaches fleet managers experience is keeping up with the rules that govern commercial fleet operations and the related paperwork.

Technology helps, with tracking of the regulations and rules, the checklists of which drivers have and haven’t been tested or audited, and automatic updates on driver journeys from telematics and tachographs/ELDs.

However, it still remains a fundamental responsibility of a fleet manager to ensure that their fleet complies with all regulations, no matter how the tech helps.

As such, they need to ensure that:

The fleet’s vehicles are all fit for purpose, inspected regularly, and follow a planned maintenance schedule

All drivers are fully trained to operate their specifically allocated vehicles. Are fully aware of the company’s safety policies and the broader compliance regulations that it operates in. Plus, that the drivers are in good health and hold a valid driving license

The fleet’s operations provide realistic and reasonable working schedules with proper driver breaks built it.

Fleet Maintenance

Maintenance is a vital part of fleet risk management as it affects driver safety and fleet efficiency.

With technology fleet managers can efficiently maintain vehicles by monitoring areas such as engine data, tyre pressure and braking systems.

This technology helps fleet risk management by providing alerts to issues before they become problems, helps with maintenance tasks efficiency, and keeps costs down while improving fleet safety risks.

What are the benefits?

From the above the benefits of effective fleet risk management become:

Employee Safety

Fleet risk management ensures that a company’s drivers and other staff work in a safe environment. It also ensures that those drivers don’t put their own lives or those of others at risk.

Regulatory Compliance

An effective fleet risk management program ensures that a company’s fleet meets its compliance requirements, and thereby avoids the costly fines and legal battles associated with non-compliance.

Saves costs

Insurance costs, accident management costs, plus legal fees and fines are all significantly reduced through an effective fleet risk management program.

Helps maintain brand and company reputations

Keeping a fleet’s operations out of the headlines for putting lives at risk and playing fast and loose with employee safety, is a key business benefit. It helps maintain a company’s and its brand reputations, which at the corporate level is a paramount benefit of any fleet risk management program

How can it be improved?

The goal of any fleet risk management program is to reduce risk. Therefore, to reduce risk the following areas should be addressed.

Regularly identify and monitor areas of risk.

That is establish the fleet, depot, team and individual driver risk profiles, and monitor to see how they move over time. Down being good, up being bad.

For example, identify the most at-risk drivers and provide them with individual training and management support to address their specific problems.

Hire good, qualified people

All managers know that hiring good people can make a huge difference.

First, check and confirm qualifications to avoid any compliance or regulatory issues.

After that, hire people that you trust to drive safely, behave correctly, complete jobs properly, and get the job done with no risk or drama.

Remember, it’s always okay to be picky about who gets hired.

Because customer satisfaction, plus company and brand reputations, are all on the line.

Use On-Board Telematics

Telematics provides a range of insights on driver behaviour — from hard braking and speeding to the location and time of such events. Insight which wasn’t easily available just a decade ago.

With this insight, both drivers and their managers can better understand driving patterns, habits, and identify the driver’s risk factors. Further, these can be put into context by comparison to other drivers on the fleet. So that the risk can be ranked, and training resources deployed accordingly.

Simply, telematics can reduce accidents and prolong the life of vehicles. Key parts of any fleet risk management program.

However, there are issues with the use of telematics, which will be picked up in the next section.

Automate Vehicle Maintenance

A top priority in fleet risk management has to be the maintenance of the vehicles.

Regular, scheduled maintenance is part of the fleet manager’s role, and should not be left to the driver to notify about.

Again, technology helps, as telematics systems and onboard sensors, can be combined with automated scheduling assistants to alert fleet managers when vehicles are due for service.

This automating of vehicle maintenance means fleet managers can be proactive and planned about taking vehicles off the road for servicing. Meaning that the fleet uptime can be optimised and, more importantly, for risk management, vehicles that need a service are not being used.

Digitised Document Management

The logistics and delivery industry is benefitting from digital technology in the use of telematics, onboard sensors, and even the ability to communicate with drivers when they are on the road.

The other area where digitisation can help deliver better productivity is in document management.

That is the move away from paper-based management systems to electronic ones.

This makes information more available to everyone who needs it. Crucially, it also allows information to be combined to generate more and better insight.

With that combining and aggregation of digital information, fleet risk management programs take a real step-change in reducing risk and keeping people safe.

It is also where we come in.

How does CMS help with fleet risk management?

This aggregation and combining of digital information is what CMS does, with Clara, our SaaS platform.

Clara takes in digital information from telematics, sensors, training records and other sources and combines them to give better insight into the four key risk management areas:

Is my risk profile going up or down?

What high-risk behaviours are common in my business?

Which drivers are the highest risk and most likely to have a claim?

What incidents are happening right now that I need to respond to?

It does this by removing all the irrelevant data noise, which is a common problem with telematics devices.

Leaving the fleet management team with clear FNOL alerts that they need to take charge of.

Plus, the sharp insight into their fleets’ risk to deploy resources to address the issues.

With Clara, CMS makes fleets safer, making the World safer.

Claims, Risk, or Underwriting – which commercial fleet insurance department benefits the most from telematics data?

Commercial fleet insurers have faced profitability challenges through a period of poor results, caused by increases in both loss frequency and severity.

This has led to a need for better approaches to assessing risk potential, and the growing acceptance that using telematics data can help address these issues, which in turn will help restore profit margins.

Within the commercial fleet insurance operation, the impact of using telematics data is definitely helping but in different ways.

Overall, it can be said to be helping underwriters over the longer term, whereas the gains for the claims and risk departments have been found in the short term.

Busy road junction with telematics data flows overlaid to illustrate how data can help commercial fleet insurers

How telematics data helps commercial fleet insurers.

Commercial fleet insurers spend millions processing claims and writing policies.

Simply reducing the number of claims will lower their cost of business. Not to mention the costs of underwriting and risk management.

To achieve this, the use of telematics data is taking commercial fleet insurers on a journey from being reactive, as they use hindsight to predict the future, through to a predictive model based on a cognitive data-driven understanding of what’s likely to happen.

That is, the metaphor moves from trying to predict the future by looking in the rearview mirror to predicting the future by looking out of the windscreen.

As an example, risk management is currently a reactive model based on the client’s claims frequency and severity.

With the correct use of data, this will become more targeted and tailored to each client’s fleet, enabling the commercial fleet insurer to create and offer a portfolio of supporting risk management services, all based on and triggered by the client’s telematics and related data.

These in turn will help the client address their risk factors to lower their claims frequency and severity. Leading to cost savings for the commercial fleet insurer, lower premiums for the client, and a stronger partnership-based business relationship for the two organisations, which will aid customer retention for the commercial fleet insurer.

General foundations for better use of telematics data

When embracing the use of telematics data, commercial fleet insurers should aim to achieve these three core foundations:

  1. Create a low touch, data sharing process for the telematics data for their customers.
  2. Standardise all telematics and other related data sources into one central data structure.
  3. Enable claims data and other data sources to be easily uploaded and incorporated with the telematics data.

If these are delivered then the specific benefits for claims, risk and underwriting can be realised.

Claims – Improving FNOL management, and liability decision making

For Claims, there are key short or near term benefits of using telematics data. Enabling the transition of the claims process from being reactive and hindsight based to being proactive and insight-driven.

With this, the whole process moves from being initiated by, and reliant on, the client notifying the claims function of an incident, to the subsequent manual collection of the incident information. To a state of automated reporting direct to the claims team, enabling their fast and proactive FNOL management and their resulting improvements in liability decision making due to a greater depth and easier access to the pertinent information.

Steps toward this evolution include:

Over the medium term, the claim process will be further optimised by getting to a position of foresight driven claims management.

This includes using big data and insight to improve in areas such as repairs, professional indemnity, and fraud assessment capability.

Into the long term, claims will reach a cognitive state, enabling predictive claims management that delivers a straight-through process where everything is essentially mapped out ahead of time, as a series of interlinked and interdependent scenarios.

Risk – more targeted and able to spot those clients going in the wrong direction

The delivery here is to be more effective in helping clients reduce their risk, and ultimately, their claims frequency.

This is enabled by both the commercial fleet insurer and their client being better able to share an understanding of the client’s risk profile, and from this, take the right preventative steps.

Currently, risk management is defined by the reactive approach to claims frequency, severity and/or by client spend

With telematics data, the short term goal is to move to the proactive insight-driven stage, which will make risk management more targeted.  It will also enable risk managers to identify, flag and support those clients going backwards in their risk management.

That is, support clients with data derived risk management improvement programs

From that point, the commercial fleet insurer can set client risk goals, and deliver cross book benchmarking best practice programs, to their clients.

Finally, the long term goal will be a move to the predictive model, and the creation of an ecosystem of risk management services that are all informed and triggered by the client’s data.

For example, there is a slight upswing in speeding across the fleet, this is picked up and those drivers responsible automatically receive messaging about speeding and an invitation to attend a CBT course on the dangers and issues of speeding.

Actions to take towards this evolution include, for better risk targeting:

And for identifying clients going in the wrong direction

Underwriting – establish client risk pre-quote and improve visibility of the risk

As with claims and risk management, underwriting is currently, and predominantly in the hindsight driven mode, with traditional underwriting models being based on prior experience and broad insight.

With the use of telematics data, the short term goal of underwriting is to use a prospective client’s existing telematics data history (typically the last 90 days), to establish a more personalised understanding of their risk, pre-quote.

Doing this moves the client away from a traditional quote based on their location, sector, size, fleet mileage, etc to one based on their fleet’s actual performance over the recent past.

This not only means the client gets a more accurate quote, but the commercial fleet insurer is also getting improved visibility of the detail behind the risk they are underwriting before committing to taking it on.

Ideally, as the relationship with the client moves forward, with this flow of data, the underwriting team gets a more granular understanding of each of their clients, without disproportionately more work, at all stages of the client lifecycle.

Actions that need to be taken to establish client risk, pre-quote, are:

And those for improving the visibility of the risk

With these in place, over the medium term underwriters will be able to build new pricing models based on this new data and work quarterly restrikes of premiums based on the risk trend

In the long term, the commercial insurer will be able to deliver pay how you drive (PHYD) and/or pay as you drive (PAYD) based insurance products and be ready for the growing amount of connected data that the new vehicles and 5G will deliver.

Summary and conclusions

The use of telematics and other data across the three commercial fleet insurance activities – claims, risk, and underwriting – is leading to huge improvements in customer service, as everything becomes more tailored, more efficient, and more transparent to everyone involved, compared to the past.

Plus, there is a related reduction in the admin costs of commercial fleet insurance as everything becomes more streamlined and less time-consuming.

Data is the lynchpin in this transformation.

By combining data, more informed decisions on risk, claims and underwriting can be made. Meaning there will be the more optimal use of risk capital, more risk reflective pricing and the ability to give risk management advice, programs, and alerts.

Over time, this will move the insurance model from being an annual process to one that will or can reflect the true situation at any point in time.

Clara can do all this for Commercial Fleet Insurers

While all of the above is possible, the aggregating, standardising, and normalising of the myriad data sets is a major task in itself.

That is why we built Clara, as it does all the heavy lifting for commercial fleet insurers.

Giving users the information they need, filtered from the data noise, to both act rapidly when incidents happen and to develop risk management programs to reduce future incident frequency

Clara is an incredibly powerful piece of software that can be used within a commercial fleet insurers risk management, claims and underwriting functions, to support all of the use cases detailed above.

Ultimately, Clara enables a commercial fleet insurer to enhance its digital proposition whilst reducing risk, lowering claim costs, improving risk selection, and increasing profitability.

To see how Clara does this, please request your free Clara demo here.

Using your fleet data to prove you’re a better insurance risk

News and industry articles highlight how the insurance industry is changing with the use of big data and technology.

This started in the consumer market and is slowly becoming a reality in commercial markets, as those same consumers seek the agility and flexibility for their business operations that they get in their private lives.

But how about flipping this?

Data showing in traffic

How can commercial fleet operators better use their own fleet data to show their risk profile situation and improvement to their insurers? And, by so doing secure better insurance rates.

That is, how can you use your fleet data to prove you’re a better risk?

The problem of doing it the same old way

While change is happening, the traditional insurance method still dominates commercial fleet insurance.

That is your fleet’s insurance is calculated on the basis of what sector you are in, how big your fleet is, your prior claims history, your operating times and where you operate.

While this has been the accepted way of doing things, is it necessarily a good indicator of your specific risk, considering it’s essentially based on years of averages from loads of commercial fleets, and not your fleet’s specific situation?

Or, put another way, are you still paying for issues that happened three years ago, which you’ve addressed, and you are now leading the way on, in fleet safety in your business sector?

How to use your fleet data to prove you’re a better risk.

How can you change the model and use your fleet data to have a better discussion with your insurer about your premiums?

At CMS we’ve seen several of our customers do just that, using the following topics and their supporting data sets, from their use of Clara, our fleet risk management system.

Your fleet’s risk profile

Using the data from your fleet risk management system, you can show how your risk profile has changed (normalised for changes in mileage, driver, and vehicle numbers) over time.

With this, you can detail how your five biggest or most common risk factors have changed. Plus, highlight what steps you’ve taken to achieve this.

This can be taken down to depot and driver level, to demonstrate both how much data you have, but also how you can use it to target problem areas at a very precise level.

Driver engagement

You can use driver engagement as a metric to demonstrate how you’ve supported your analysis and insight with action.

For example, with your fleet risk management data, you can show how many touch points – be they management interventions or training sessions – you have had with your drivers to help them become more aware of their risk factors.

With such data, you can then show how drivers, both new and established, have improved over a three month period, for example, due to this management and training investment.

Claims

FNOL – first notification of loss – is a key driver in claims cost management, as we highlighted in this article – the faster an incident is reported the faster management resources can be deployed and the better the resulting control of related costs.

Over time, this improved claim cost management will lead to better premiums.

However, this goes further. The more information that you can provide to your insurer for individual incident claims, the better they can work to reduce claim severity, from their point of view. Savings for your insurer, derived from your actions, should then benefit you.

Of course, doing this a few time is not enough. To have an impact the data needs to be of good quality and in the quantity of 70%+ of your claims supported by it, to be of value in demonstrating your control of the situations to your insurer.  

Challenge your insurer

While all of this might be alien to your insurer or broker, why not challenge them?

Turn the discussion around by using your fleet data to back up your situation and answer your case for better insurance.

Ultimately, you’ve got nothing to lose by doing it.

Also, you’ll be demonstrating additional value for the time and energy you’ve invested into fleet risk management and the collection and use of the associated data.

Data is key to Fleet Safety – but you have to use it right.

If you can measure, then you can manage, is the dictum of every entry-level management class.

To measure you need data, so it follows that the more data you have, the better you can measure and thereby the better you can manage.

The logic makes sense, but the practice doesn’t always follow.

Fleet Safety Data - Image of busy street with 5G network

As psychologist Barry Schwartz highlighted way back in 2005, too much data can lead to a Paradox of Choice. Meaning that when given too many options to choose from, we have a hard time deciding or making a choice at all and can fall into analysis paralysis. We then fail to take effective action through fear of making the wrong choice.

This paradox and situation hold true for fleet safety management. Where a multitude of data sources can, on the surface, imply levels of analysis, insight, action, and control that means the risk management and fleet safety is being done well. But in reality, too much data could be preventing the tasks from being done as effectively as possible.

More concerningly, in the realms of safety and risk management, if the worst happens and formal investigations prove that the data was available, but was not being acted on, then the legal consequences for the organisation can be severe.

Best Practice to using your fleet safety data effectively.

Given that what we do at CMS is data aggregation, and from the many customers we have helped to improve their risk management programs, we have a strong insight on how to best use data for fleet safety management.

Start with a plan

When working with customers, we recommend that they consider the following checklist, accept that mission creep will happen, so they shouldn’t try and hard code what things will look like in three years’ time, and above all, start small. That is start with one or two areas of the business and build from there.

With this approach, we have found an effective road map can be built for using data to become better at fleet safety management, and the pitfalls of the paradox of choice and analysis paralysis can be avoided.

The checklist – five steps to better use of data for fleet safety

1. Define your main goals.

2. Identify the data sources.

3. Agree on the initial use cases.

4. Work out how the use cases fit into your current processes.

5. Engage your data protection officer or team.

Define your main goals.

There is a range of reasons why you should use data to improve fleet safety. In our experience, they can all fit into one of eight categories.

Whilst all eight will contribute to improved fleet safety; we have found that by identifying three primary goals, from the eight, there is a greater focus on what needs to be done, better buy-in from the broader business, and use cases (see later) are more easily prioritised.

The eight are:

1. Reduce incident frequency

2. Reduce claim costs

3. Improve incident investigation and response effectiveness

4. Improve driver training effectiveness

5. Improve driver assessment and onboarding

6. Reduce vehicle damage

7. Reduce data management time

8. Increase data visibility to senior leadership

Identify the data sources.

There are multiple data sources that exist within a business. Ensuring that they are all identified and can be used, is a straightforward task when following these steps:

Identify the systems.

These will break down into in-vehicle systems, operations and logistics systems, HR and employee systems, claims, notification and insurance systems, and compliance and training systems.

Document the data points.

For each system, it’s good practice to list out all the data points that are stored in that system.

Agree on the data transfer method into your fleet safety management system.

This will normally be either via API link, Excel reports or manual input and will no doubt vary by the data source. Documenting which method is being used by each source will help highlight where checks and double-checks need to be made, to avoid errors.

Agree on the initial use cases

Use cases are the specific activities that you want to embed into your fleet safety management system. This informs the people/departments using the system on what to do and what to focus on.  

The best practice is to prioritise these use cases on the main goals that have already been agreed on.

Again, like the goals, from our experience, we recommend that you focus on no more than three use cases initially.

The use cases we have identified with our customers are:

New Driver applicants

Driver debriefs and interventions.

Targeted training/eLearning

Depot or branch benchmarking

Aggressive drivers

Cultural risk/Health & Safety Policy

Claim data quality

Incident review board

Escalated incidents

Work out how the use cases fit into your current processes.

When implementing a fleet safety management system, we have found that the best results are achieved when the existing processes are disrupted as little as possible.

Once the uses cases in the previous section are selected, we recommend working through the following questions for each one:

Who currently owns/runs the use case?

What information/insights would they benefit from having?

What would they want to be alerted to? 

Would the action they take based on the information or alert change or just become more informed?

Engage your data protection officer or team.

The management and oversight of data is a critical part of all organisations’ activities.

In order to ensure that the fleet safety management system is netted in and compliant with your organisation’s data protocols, we recommend engagement with your data officer or team with the following steps:

Document

Detail the data sources, goals, use cases and process implementation considerations you have gone through to the data officer or team

Meet with

Organise a meeting with your data protection officer or team to answer any questions they may have from the documentation stage, and to give them a hands-on demonstration of your work. We’ve found this not only builds comprehension but also trust.

One thing to note: You aren’t collecting any data that your business was not already collecting. Simply, that the data is now being used more effectively, as well as bringing clarity to what data is of use and what is not needed. 

A proven and successful methodology for fleet safety data management

As we detailed at the start, the amount of data available for fleet safety management can be the cause of an issue in itself.

However, we’ve found that by following the above five steps, and the elements of each of them, that data can be fully utilised and significant advances in fleet safety management achieved.

Indeed, this is the process we use when onboarding our fleet safety management system, Clara, with customers.

We’ve found it leads to fast and effective results as it delivers the right information and alerts to the right people so that they can act.


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