What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

Global fleet operators certainly seem to agree with our judges’ favourable assessment of Geotab, given the rate of adoption for its telematics services. The company counts itself as the number one global telematics provider for three years running, with more than 3.8 million connected vehicles. It has now picked up our Telematics Award for the second year in a row.

The MyGeotab platform is designed to provide operators of all sizes with a powerful, customisable and expandable foundation for managing their fleets. The platform is available through a device-agnostic web interface in 10 different languages, together with mobile apps for iOS and Android.

At its core, the system gives essential telematics insights into subjects such as vehicle usage, locations, energy efficiency, and driver safety. For example, fleet operators can analyse driver behaviours with real-time, in-vehicle feedback. Customers can set up rules to mitigate unwanted driver behaviours such as speeding, idling or not wearing a seat belt. Beyond alert generation within the MyGeotab platform, this can extend to the vehicle itself with audible alerts or spoken words within the cabin providing immediate feedback to the driver to take corrective action.

Geotab says it recognises that fleet operation goes beyond the vehicle, which is why earlier this year it launched Data Connector, providing a one-click integration with a business’s preferred business intelligence tool. This allows vehicle data from Geotab to be integrated with customer fleet data from other sources such as maintenance or accounting systems, giving the operator enhanced data analysis and automated reporting capabilities. Geotab says this feature is available to all customers but is especially suited to those with limited data management capabilities who would otherwise have to find ways of extracting this insight on their own.

Also integrated into MyGeotab is the Geotab Marketplace: a network of third-party services vetted by Geotab, ranging from dash cams and asset tracking, to maintenance and fuel management. 

Geotab also offers the Green Fleet Dashboard, a tool designed to maximise productivity and to keep track of fuel usage or battery energy consumption for EVs. It provides continuous monitoring of a fleet’s average fuel energy usage, cost,and resulting emissions, helping operators to save costs and increase efficiency across their entire fleet.

MyGeotab features a suite dedicated to helping operators electrify, with the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment analysing real-world data on existing fleet usage. From this, fleet managers can look to switch vehicles to electric based on range requirements, using WLTP ratings and commercial aspirations based on total cost of ownership.