Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.
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when employees approach a certain amount of hours on the job each day and/or week, helping to reduce overtime hours and improve payroll accuracy. Landscaping businesses can also use GPS fl eet tracking solutions to resolve customer disputes and hold employees accountable. If a customer complaint comes in about a job that was done, whether it was about the length of time it took to complete a service or a missed appointment, business owners can simply log into the solution and pull up a detailed activity report to determine why there was an issue and who was at fault. If an employee did in fact miss an appointment, business owners have proof to back up their case and hold employees accountable. This also works the other way around if an employee is falsely accused. Because the data is cut and dry, it helps to resolve any issues quickly and easily. As mentioned, competitive pricing in the industry is leading landscaping companies to cut back on costs. On the up side, cutting costs doesn't have to mean hiring for lower wages or compromising quality of service. Fuel is a major operating cost for landscaping businesses, and there are many ways a fl eet tracking solution can help keep these expenses down. Business owners can keep a close eye on fuel-wasting behaviors such as excessive vehicle idling. Additionally, features such as fuel card integration allow landscaping businesses to set limits on fuel-related purchases and provide information regarding fuel card transactions and maintenance purchases — allowing for a better understanding of overall fuel usage. Business owners can also use automated fuel reports to identify vehicles burning more fuel than they should. Theft is another major concern for the industry. In fact, nearly 1,000 pieces of commercial equipment are reported stolen to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) each month. Because landscaping work largely depends on the equipment used, any loss would not only be costly, but damaging to job progress as well. For equipment kept in trucks or left unattended at a job site, alerts can be set up to notify business owners when the equipment leaves an unauthorized area, which frequently indicates that a theft has occurred. Asset trackers can be installed on all types of equipment, and provide a way for landscaping businesses to quickly locate assets if lost or stolen. One premier commercial landscaping company was able to recover $400,000 in stolen vehicles and equipment with a GPS fl eet tracking solution. In fact, the company was able to tell police exactly where the assets were for recovery. Along with theft, driver safety is also a concern among service- related businesses. Landscaping companies can utilize driver safety scorecards to identify aggressive driving behaviors such as speeding, harsh braking, harsh acceleration and sudden cornering. Scorecards also rank drivers based on their performance, so business owners can pinpoint drivers who are in need of coaching and improvement. One leading professional landscaping company was unaware that speeding was an issue within their fl eet. After implementing a fl eet tracking solution, they were able to reduce driver speeding by 92 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1,060 people are injured each day in vehicle crashes that involve distracted driving. In an effort to prevent distracted driving-related accidents, some fleet tracking providers have developed distracted driving solutions. The technology uses a non-pairing Bluetooth Trigger Unit coupled with a mobile application to prevent talking, texting, e-mailing and surfing the web while driving. This can help landscaping companies to improve driver safety and reduce at-fault accident rates. With GPS fl eet tracking technology, landscaping businesses are provided with the tools necessary to stand out in a crowded marketplace while increasing revenue and decreasing costs. Businesses that implement fl eet tracking can save up to 20 percent in both fuel costs and labor costs and achieve ROI in as little as one month. ■ Adrienne Sachs is the marketing communications specialist at NexTraq. The NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution and its applications — Fleet Dispatch, Fleet Metrics and NexTraq Connect — deliver real-time data needed to optimize fl eet operations. For more information on the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution, please visit www.nextraq.com. www.greenmediaonline.com Business Planning Guide December 2014 27 With GPS fl eet tracking technology, landscaping businesses are provided with the tools necessary to stand out in a crowded marketplace while increasing revenue and decreasing costs. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY NEXTRAQ