You join the systems up rather than replace them. A layer above your tracking and camera systems takes the data each supplier already provides and matches it to the same vehicles and drivers. You see one picture, while the original systems stay in place for the detail. The alternative is moving everything to one supplier, which usually means new hardware and waiting for contracts to end.
Why fleets end up with a mix
Very few fleets choose to run two tracking systems and two camera systems. It happens when a business buys another that ran different kit, or when a trial is never fully rolled back. Older units stay in older vans, while new vehicles get a new supplier and the rest of the fleet keeps the old one. Each system then has its own login, scores and reports, so nobody sees one picture of a driver.
That matters because the systems can disagree. A driver can sit near the top of the tracking league table and near the bottom for distraction on the cameras. You only find that out by putting the two side by side.
The two ways to fix it
Move everything to one supplier. Most tracking suppliers now sell cameras and many camera suppliers sell tracking, so a fleet buying at the right time can have both from one place. It works best when contracts end together and the budget allows new hardware across the fleet.
Join up what you already run. A separate layer reads from each system and brings the data together. Nothing comes out of the vans, the contracts you've signed keep doing their job and a new supplier can be added later without starting again.
What joining up involves
- Access to each system. Most suppliers offer an API, a documented way for another system to read the data. The larger ones publish theirs; for smaller ones the fleet usually asks the supplier for the details.
- Matching vehicles and drivers. The same van can carry a different name or number in each system, so they're matched once at the start.
- How current it is. Tracking and camera data can arrive close to live, though some feeds update hourly, while insurers' claims data often arrives monthly.
- Who does the work. It's worth asking whether your own IT team has to build anything or whether the provider does it.
Questions worth asking before you choose
- Which of my systems can you already connect to? What happens if one isn't connected yet?
- How long from signing until the joined-up picture is live?
- Can I still go into the original systems for the detail?
Where SHIELD fits
SHIELD sits on top of the tracking, cameras, tacho, licence checks and insurer claims data a fleet already has, with no new hardware. It works with whatever you already run. SHIELD's team does the integration work, so your team's part is giving access to the systems and your insurance documents.
Orkin, which runs about 280 vans, uses three systems for different purposes. SHIELD sits alongside them and gives Nathalie Gager, Group Fleet Manager, the combined picture of almost 300 drivers first, so she goes into each system only for the detail: "the bulk of the data is there for me to see". SHIELD saves Orkin's fleet team 15 hours of admin a week.