When companies consider GPS Tracking, there is an initial investment in hardware.  In today's difficult economy, the investment decision is hard to make.   Potential customers ask tougher questions and consider more factors when making their decisions.  When consideration is based solely on mapping, GPS Tracking, to some, might look like a nice to have.   What often gets overlooked is the power and depth of information available in the data received from the units.  The maps are clearly valuable by themselves, but the real value, the real return on investment, comes from the detail within the data.  Here's five reasons the data within the system will give you the return on investment necessary to make the decision to buy.

#1  Geofences.   Geofences are the ability to define regions and areas where vehicles can and cannot go.  Visually, these are often displayed on a map as a circle, square or region.   Software operating in the backend system can monitor present location and determine if a unit is in one of these areas or has left the area.   Coupling the information with email or SMS information enables a realtime reporting system that can notify when borders are crossed.

#2  Stop Reports.   Monitoring systems can determine when a unit is moving or not.   Often excessive stops can indicate that a vehicle or truck is where its not supposed to be.  Or, that a vehicle is not being used as often as thought and that it could be available for additional assignment or work. 

#3  PTO Reports.   PTO, an industry abbreviation for Power Takeoff, monitoring can be used to determine where and when work is occurring.   This additional input is captured by the device and forwarded to servers.  Monitoring of these states and usage are important in some industries for reporting and auditing.  For example, mobile paper shredding companies can use the information to show that the shredder was operated at the customer's site.  Indicating that the contracted shredding did occur at the time and place recorded.

#4 Idle Reports.   Reports indicating when a truck is idle are also invaluable.  With state governments regularly passing legislation about limiting truck idling in an around schools, businesses and hospitals.  Systems that monitor when the ignition is on and motion not occurring become extremely important. 

#5 Speed Reports.  Few would argue that the old axiom about the only sure thing are death and taxes can be updated to include insurance.  A uncontrolled, growing item on any balance sheet is insurance.   An active response, in addition to driver training programs, is driver monitoring programs.  A good GPS tracking solution can be programmed to generated speed reports, emails or sms messages when a vehicle's speed is over a predefined limit.

While the gee whiz factor of vehicle tracking is definately the ability to see a vehicle's location throughout the day on a map, in reality, the real return on investment is in the reports and alert that come with the system.  When a company learns how to maximize their use of the software system, the initial investment is paid back numerous times.