NASHVILLE, TN. To stay ahead of an industry expected to undergo “monumental-level change” over the next decade, Omnitracs LLC is introducing a new “flexible” fleet management system called “Omnitracs One” that Kevin Haugh, the company’s chief product and strategy officer, said “unifies the strongest parts of our technology portfolio and is hardware agnostic.”
Speaking here at the Omnitracs Outlook 2018 user conference, Haugh said that “the forces of change in transportation are putting unrelenting pressure on trucking; there is a monumental shift in expectations for delivery times.”
To help address that “pressure,” Omnitracs One is designed as a “single-source” resource for fleets of all sizes, that eliminates what the company called “single-purpose and disconnected solutions” for both long-haul and last-mile fleets.
Rather, Haugh said Omnitracs One connects first, middle, and last mile operations via whatever hardware system a fleet chooses to use, tailoring the software on those devices to fit their specific operational needs. “Omnitracs One is ‘hardware-agnostic’ because there are different hardware needs based on different trucking segments,” he explained. “There is no one device to rule them all, nor is there one workflow solution to rule them all, either. Because those who can process information faster will win. And data volume is growing 40% a year, compounded annually.”
The company said Omnitracs One will be available this year to its customers, though specific availability and timing will be based on the needs of individual fleets and how they are using their fleet management solutions.
“Technology is worthless unless it helps customers solve specific problems, such as regulatory compliance, improving safety, etc.,” Haugh explained. Because, in terms of what is expected from fleet management systems today, it’s all about “finding ‘needles in the haystack’ in terms of data, which allows fleets to focus on the most critical metrics.”
Omnitracs One will also serve as a platform to help foster what he called “rapidly developing new and innovative capabilities” for future trucking operations as well; for example, providing a platform for what he called “platooning orchestration” down the road – helping manage and execute the platooning of trucks in highway operation, which is designed to help fleets improve on fuel economy.
