Fleet software is generating reports nobody reads
Fleet software is generating reports nobody reads
The fleet management software market is large, growing, and — for most of its users — significantly underutilised.
Berg Insight, a technology research firm specialising in fleet management, estimated in its 2024 report that the global fleet telematics market serves approximately 70 million connected vehicles. The same report noted that operator surveys consistently identified “data not being used effectively” as the primary barrier to realising value from telematics investment.
Geotab, in its 2024 fleet benchmarking report, documented that the average fleet using its platform actively monitors 3–4 of the 12–18 data categories their subscription provides. The most commonly monitored: location and trip history. The least commonly monitored: fuel consumption analytics, driver behaviour scoring, predictive maintenance indicators, and cost-per-kilometre reporting.
The cost of underutilisation
- A 2022 study by the Aberdeen Group found that organisations that actively used driver behaviour data achieved 14% lower fuel costs and 19% lower accident rates than organisations with the same telematics installed but not using the behaviour data.
- MiX Telematics documents that clients who move from passive GPS tracking to active driver behaviour management achieve an average of 10–15% fuel cost reduction and 25–35% reduction in accident-related costs within 12 months.
- Frost & Sullivan analysis found that telematics systems deliver an average ROI of 3.5x over 3 years for operators who fully utilise available functionality — compared to 1.2x ROI for operators using only basic tracking features.
The difference between those two ROI figures is not the technology. It is the decision about what to do with the data the technology generates.
A telematics subscription that costs $40 per vehicle per month and is used for location tracking alone costs $480 per vehicle per year for a service worth considerably more — if someone were reading the reports.
Sources
Berg Insight Fleet Management Report (2024); Geotab Fleet Benchmarking Report (2024); Aberdeen Group telematics utilisation study (2022); MiX Telematics published customer outcome data; Frost & Sullivan fleet technology ROI analysis.