Frederick Jace
Using GPS products can help small businesses increase customer service, improve employee productivity, and reduce operating costs. These benefits can lead to a competitive advantage.
The economic benefits of GPS are widely spread and proliferating. Benefit estimates vary significantly by sector, reflecting changing data availability, methods, and reliance on a limited number of studies.
Dispatching the Closest Vehicle
Getting lost on unfamiliar streets can cost a small business valuable time and money. GPS fleet tracking systems allow dispatchers to quickly locate vehicles on a map and send directions directly to the driver without needing back-and-forth phone calls.
In addition, a Garmin GPS device can be used to record route data for future reference. This enables businesses to track performance and improve service levels in terms of delivery times. This can give a competitive edge when dealing with customers, mainly when delivering products that require lengthy transport.
Economic values can help inform decisions about limiting interference, reallocating spectrum, and developing backup or supplemental systems. They also facilitate the analysis of budgets for GPS modernization and planning policies to preserve national leadership in GNSS. While the estimates of benefits reported here are ballpark numbers, more work is expected to refine and extend them in areas needing more information. This work will be critical in making the case for protecting and enhancing GPS, including efforts to prevent interference, promote resiliency and develop alternatives.
Identifying Unauthorized Use of Vehicles
Businesses that use GPS products can view the location of company vehicles from a central computer system. This allows management to identify any unauthorized vehicle or equipment use quickly. It also helps to prevent expensive fuel costs, which can result from speeding, harsh acceleration, or other unauthorized activities by employees in company vehicles.
Fleet owners can also track driving behaviors to reward excellent drivers and encourage others to improve their performance. In addition, GPS tracking allows for accurate mileage reporting to help with tax preparation.
Using GPS technology can save time by eliminating the need to stop and ask for directions or by trying to find a specific address on unfamiliar streets. These efficiencies can result in significant revenue gains. It also allows a business to pre-check routes for potential quirks or the tendency of some GPS devices to send drivers down roads that are not suitable for their vehicles or jobs.
Increasing Job Productivity
Whether employees are on the road or working remotely at a job site without network coverage, GPS devices enable them to do their tasks more efficiently. If a driver consistently chooses routes that take longer than expected or drives in a manner that consumes more fuel, a business can evaluate these factors and act accordingly. In addition, companies can use data from GPS devices to assess whether an employee is honest with expense claims.
Besides route optimization, most modern GPS units have complementary features that streamline other back-office functions. These include dispatching tools, scheduling templates, mobile forms – proof of delivery, barcode scanning, picture and signature capture, formula fields for more accurate billing, and point-of-sales payment gateways.
GNSS benefits were calculated primarily as value to users above their costs (consumer surplus). Benefits to other sectors were considered but are less quantifiable due to the limited number of studies in these areas. The values resulting from this study can be used to inform decisions about actions to protect GPS from disruption, such as preventing interference, spectrum reallocation, developing alternative timing sources, and hardening receivers.
Increasing Customer Service
GPS technology can improve customer service in several ways for companies delivering goods and services to customers. It helps fleet managers cut delivery times by calculating the best routes and avoiding traffic delays. This lowers costs and increases efficiency, enabling businesses to pass on the savings to their customers.
Another way GPS technology can help improve customer service is by providing accurate estimated time of arrival information to customers. The ability to convey this to clients in advance reduces the likelihood of delays and customer dissatisfaction.
Consider the company’s customer service policy when shopping for a medical alert system with GPS. How quickly are their representatives able to respond to customer inquiries? Check consumer reviews for this information. If you notice that a particular company has a pattern of slow response times, it may be best to shop elsewhere.
Increasing Safety
While some people are concerned about workplace GPS tracking, the naysayers are generally employees without prior experience. This shows that technology can quickly improve workers’ safety and productivity. For example, TSheets integration with Handheld GPS devices allows for remote tracking of employees, so managers can monitor and confirm where everyone was during a complaint or incident.
The benefits of GPS and other GNSS are numerous and diverse. They raise productivity; reduce and avoid costs; save time; enable new production processes, products, and markets; enhance health and well-being; increase security; and improve the environment.
To quantify these broad economic benefits, the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing commissioned a study to assign a quantitative value to GPS. The results reported here are the result of that initial effort and a base for future work. More research is needed to refine and extend the estimates, assess international benefits, determine the value of non-fleet vehicle applications, quantify life-of-life and environmental benefits, and examine loss resulting from interference with GPS.
