Roadmap - Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Intelligence news - September 2014

1. Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking . Fleet Intelligence | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Chile |Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova
|Luxembourg | Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Peru |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone
|Slovenia |South Africa |Spain | Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
Roadmap monthly newsletter
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Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Intelligence News
Editorial
n his most recent book, “David and Goliath”, Malcolm Gladwell addresses a very interesting question: that people often have misconceptions about the power of the underdogs (the Davids) and of the front-runners (the Goliaths).
It is common-wisdom that underdogs are expected to have the lower hand in a dispute, battle, race or business. They are expected to lose. On the other side, front- runners have all it needs to win. So why wouldn’t they?
It seems, however, that things are not always what we believe them to be. Take David and Goliath themselves. We were taught that a skinny shepherd boy, David, had to face the mighty Goliath, a giant warrior. What would you say were David’s chances. Nill? Apparently so did Goliath and his army.
That makes a good story with a strong moral, of course: that right is stronger than might. But Gladwell looked a little deeper into this story, and found, to the amazement of many readers, that it was David who had the upper hand, from the very start. In fact, poor Goliath had no chance from the moment the fight started.
Remember how David defeated Goliath? By using a sling. Maybe you think that a sling is a kid’s toy. But in the hands of an experienced shepherd, as David was, it was not a toy. It was a deadly weapon, with the power to crush Goliath’s skull from a safe distance. In fact, a stone thrown by an experienced slinger can be more deadly than an arrow. And David was an experienced slinger.
In other words, Goliath was shot from a distance. Like Indiana Jones did in that famous movie scene. Poor Goliath. He didn’t stand a chance.
Like David, companies have to pick their weapons. David understood that it made no sense fighting Goliath in his terms. That would be a sure death. Instead, he redefined the rules of the game. That is what companies and their managers are asked to do all the time. Find the right tools and the right rules of engagement.
Frotcom allows your company to reduce costs and optimize operations. That’s the sling we offer you. So now you can fight your giants!
Valério Marques, CEO - Frotcom International
A note from the editor – If you would like to have your own say in the next edition of this newsletter, please do not hesitate to get in touch at roadmap@frotcom.com.
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In this issue
New features
Complying with drivers working hours
News and Events
Pin it! Frotcom is now on Pinterest
Frotcom Angola is on track to meet its goal of 30% growth for the year
Case Study
Frocom exceeds Zelsa’s expectations
This and much more…
October 2014

2. Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking . Fleet Intelligence | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Chile | Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova
|Luxembourg |Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Peru |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone
|Slovenia |South Africa |Spain |Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
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New Features
Complying with drivers working hours
Some companies need to control the driving times – and in some regions the corresponding legal limits – of drivers. This is applicable for instance to trucking companies travelling in Europe, where the legislation has very strict rules about driving times.
The purpose of this feature in Frotcom is therefore to allow fleet managers to control the driving times and corresponding legal compliances with limits that can be specified for each company.
With this feature, European truck fleet managers can control directly the legal driving time requirements specified in Regulation (EC) No 561/20061. However, the same principle can be used in other geographical areas and other types of vehicles, as long as the company specifies the appropriate limits to be applied.
Know for how long your drivers are driving and for how much longer they can continue without infringing the legal restrictions.
For further information regarding these or any other aspects of Frotcom, please contact Frotcom.
1 A copy of this regulation can be obtained here.
Find the nearest parking space on your route
Powered by Truck Parking Europe
Due to strict regulations for driving and rest times, and the lack of sufficient parking places on the main traffic corridors, searching for a suitable parking place is a problem – especially if you want to do it within the allowable driving time.
Truck Parking Europe is the largest free European platform for truck parking facilities. This usefull app can be downloaded for free at:
App Store Google Play
The comprehensive parking database simplifies your daily search for parking facilities on the European highways. In addition to official parking space data, the parking app takes into account suitable, good parking places away from the long- distance highways, based on the personal experience of a pan-European community.
The extensive parking place evaluation function offers more added value, helping you with questions such as which parking places you should avoid and which are preferable, and which ones are lit, supervised or next to supervised areas such as factory sites.
Benefit from the options of adding your own parking places to the database, correcting and evaluating existing data, and sharing parking facilities with others.
Source: http://www.truckparkingeurope.com
Did you know?

3. Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking . Fleet Intelligence | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Chile | Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova
|Luxembourg |Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Peru |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone
|Slovenia |South Africa |Spain |Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
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News and Events Pin it! Frotcom is now on Pinterest
You can now pin Frotcom’s images and videos on Pinterest. If you’re unfamiliar with Pinterest here’s a snapshot: think of Pinterest as a large magazine with thousands of images and videos.
Frotcom International will use this excellent visual discovery tool to regularly share Frotcom’s projects and interests with you. When you find something that interests you, you can pin it, like it, or share it with others.
Be sure to check it out and start following Frotcom on Pinterest!
Frotcom Angola is on track to meet its goal of 30% growth for the year
Frotcom’s success in Angola does not go unnoticed and Frotcom Angola is now a regular presence on general and specialized Angolan media, such as Hiper Super, Notícias Angola, Jornal de Angola, Economia & Finanças, among others.
The company foresees 30% growth for this year, as more Angolan businesses are searching for reliable fleet management solutions to maximize productivity and reduce operational costs.
Roadmap congratulates the Frotcom Angola team for their great success!
Percentage contributions in Summarized costs report
In Frotcom, you can see the contribution, in percentage, of each cost type, or cost entity, in the total costs of a vehicle.
Configuration of the report - On the Reports folder, choose the Summarized costs report, from the reports list, and enter the parameters needed to configure the report:
After choosing the time period, the vehicles and the cost types/entities, you can also choose to group the costs by Cost type, selecting the Show data grouped by cost type box. By default the box is unselected, so the costs are presented by Cost type and Entity.
Report output - Depending on your selection, the report can be presented grouped by Cost type/Entity or grouped by Cost type. In both cases you have the value, in percentage, of its contribution to the total cost.
Report grouped by Cost type/Entity:
Report grouped by Cost type:
Tip of the month!

4. Frotcom - Vehicle Tracking . Fleet Intelligence | Tel + 351 214 135 670 | www.frotcom.com
Angola |Belgium |Brazil |Bulgaria |Cameroon |Cape Verde |Chile | Colombia |Cyprus |Croatia |Egypt |Georgia |Greece |Italy |Kenya |Kosova
|Luxembourg |Macedonia |Madagascar |Mauritius |Morocco |Namibia |Peru |Portugal |Reunion Islands |Romania |Rwanda |Seychelles |Sierra Leone
|Slovenia |South Africa |Spain |Tanzania |Uganda |UK |
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Case Study Frotcom exceeds Zelsa’s expectations
Zelsa is a Spanish transportation company operating throughout Europe with more than 50 years of experience in the international transportations field.
Client Challenges
Zelsa was using a basic vehicle tracking system. The system was quite inefficient for their needs, giving no information about fuel consumption, speed, or even routes or places. Data transmission was very limited, and sometimes the company was unable to track the entire fleet, for days.
Mr. Juan Zorrilla, CEO of Zelsa was not confident to find the right GPS vehicle tracking system anymore. A solution that could monitor routes efficiently, without problems transmitting data, registering idling times, fuel consumptions, harsh braking and accelerations, among other specific needs.
Based on an internal referral, Zelsa contacted Frotcom Spain.
Frotcom Spain’s approach
Frotcom Spain organised a free trial test for 2 weeks in one of Zelsa’s trucks. A training session was delivered to Zelsa’s team and after the installation, the company could see the requested data instantly in Frotcom. Due to its ease of use and trustful information, Zelsa decided to implement Frotcom in its 10 trucks and adopted additional capabilities, such as Remote Tachograph Download, CANBus Data Reading, Route Planning and Monitoring and configured relevant reports and alerts in Frotcom’s interface.
Benefits achieved
Frotcom has provided Zelsa with 100% reliability, allowing to effectively control its fleet and fuel consumption while optimizing fleet operations and customer service.
Since Frotcom solution was implemented, Mr. Juan Zorrilla (on the photo beside) has been impressed with the solution’s reliability, “I was far to imagine how many features Frotcom could offer to Zelsa. For me, fleet management systems were all the same, I didn´t trust them much. The last experience with fleet management systems wasn’t good at all, but the truth is… with Frotcom the results have exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend Frotcom to all my partners and transportation agencies”.
Zelsa has significantly improved customers service by configuring Frotcom notifications to customers a few minutes/kilometers before arrival time. The company is noticing a decrease in fuel consumption, now that they can access real-time information about the trucks’ fuel level, fuel variation and engine speed (RPM).
By using the Remote Tachograph Download they can also download tachograph files remotely, from both the tachograph’s mass memory and the drivers’ tachograph cards, without leaving the office and with the advantage of keeping the files in Frotcom’s Data Center.
Roadmap congratulates Frotcom Spain for this successful project!
Next, on Roadmap
News and events, more new Frotcom features and tips will be presented.
This and more, so don’t miss the next issue of Roadmap.