Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/716013
40 commercial carrier journal | august 2016 technology Lightening the load New services, technology options help ease compliance burden BY AARON HUFF D uring a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis meeting, it might seem unusual for fleet execu- tives to list compliance as a strength for their companies. They may not consider it to be a weakness or a threat, either. No one is likely to consider how they manage fuel taxes, hours of service, driver qualification files and other compliance processes to be a competitive advantage. Instead of focusing company resources on compliance management, many for- hire and private fleets outsource some, if not all, of their routine processes. As the transportation industry contin- ues to go electronic, third-party out- sourcing providers see increased demand from fleets for services and technology to manage more complex information. Training management Management of training programs and records may not have specific requirements from federal and state agencies. However, the consequences of mismanagement are similar in terms of the risk. Training records, especially at larger fleets, might come from different sources and locations, adding incon- sistency to the process. J.J. Keller & Associates recently added training management to its Managed Services portfolio. The service combines human expertise and technology for management of train- ing data from all sources, including handwritten records, spreadsheets and learning management systems. By using the online Client Infor- mation Center, fleet managers have visibility to the status of their train- ing programs. To prioritize resources, fleets can use the interactive online features to view exceptions, identify trends and see training topics sched- uled for completion by location, job function and individual employees. From the same portal, fleet manag- ers can monitor the status of other compliance processes they may out- source to Keller's Managed Services, such as driver qualification files and hours-of-service data, says Jacqui Jurmu, J.J. Keller's senior product line manager of Managed Services. Cloud compliance Outsourcing is not an all-or-nothing decision. For-hire and private fleets may want to keep some compliance processes in-house but use third-party expertise and technologies to increase efficiency in other areas. The decision for what functions to keep in-house or outsource can be fluid. In the event of an acquisition, a company's new ownership might decide to outsource compliance for the newly acquired entity. ITS Compliance, a provider of compli- ance and risk management services, is developing a more flexible offering for fleets, says John Vosters, chief sales officer. Fleets that outsource compliance to ITS use the company's online ITS Com- ply platform to view exceptions and run reports on their data. The platform gives a dashboard summary view of compli- ance status for a select audit period, such as weekly or monthly. The company is working on a Software-as-a-Service version of ITS Comply for fleets that want to use the technology to manage their own com- pliance processes. A fleet that uses the platform for driver qualification files would supply their own labor for data entry and processing. With the SaaS version of ITS Comply, fleets can use the platform but have the flexibility to select specific managed ser- vices from ITS, says Rob Getz, president and chief executive officer. Fleets can have data from electronic logging devices fed automatically to ITS Comply for real-time violation reporting. "We deal with so many dif- ferent ELD technologies, we don't care which one you use," Vosters says. The platform also can provide higher-level views of safety and risk management by capturing and model- ing driver performance data such as hard braking and speeding events from telematics systems, he says. With the current options for compliance management services and technologies, compliance might be listed as an opportunity during the next SWOT meeting. in focus: COMPLIANCE OUTSOURCING By using J.J. Keller's online Client Information Center, fleet managers have visibility to the status of their training programs.