Integration challenges continue to dog telematics implementation, according to research we did recently. More than three of four equipment managers said that less than 10 percent of their fleet has telematics capabilities. These are machines with black boxes that are able to provide data; the percentage does not tell us how many managers don’t use the data their machines are capable of providing.

Telematics hardware is standard on construction equipment from some of the major equipment manufacturers, so homogeneous fleets have a low barrier to entry for using the data in machine management. The same can be said for those fleets that contract with a third-party telematics supplier to install data gatherers on its mixed fleet. In both cases, data easily flows into a central system.

The two leading obstacles, according to respondents to our survey, were machines that are not enabled (48 percent) and the inability to justify the expense of enabling machines (41 percent). This is the nut that equipment managers must crack.

Until a fleet can fully integrate the majority of its machine data, or at least integrate the machines that drive the majority of the organization’s costs and revenue, telematic hardware adds little to management intelligence.

Don’t you agree?