SageQuest seals Virgin deal

Fleetmatics has secured its first big contract win for SageQuest after Virgin Media fitted the telematics and tracking solution to its entire fleet.

The media company says reduced fuel use, enhanced driver safety, improved customer service and a continued commitment to reducing environmental impact were behind its decision to install the fleet management product in its 2,600-strong fleet.

“We have been able to replace assumptions with facts,” said Maurice Daw, Virgin Media’s executive director, access.

“SageQuest gives us an unbiased, real-time view of what is going on in the field with instant access to data, scaled so that any number of users can access the system without slowing or crashing.”

It’s a significant conquest for SageQuest, which only launched in the UK in October 2012, and the company’s UK managing director Peter Bingham told Fleet News that more wins are in the pipeline. “We are speaking to a lot of big clients,” he said.

Virgin Media is no stranger to the benefits telematics can bring when it comes to improving environmental performance having used the technology for several years.

However, it says the SageQuest system, delivered through a standard web browser, helps it respond more quickly and highlight opportunities for fuel saving, then action them immediately.

The system has many fuel-saving features, such as the engine idling alert that can be pre-set to notify a controller when engine idling parameters are breached.

The controller can then contact the driver to find out if a problem exists.

This is a vital feature which supports Virgin Media’s approach to sustainability, considering that experts suggest one hour of idling is the equivalent of 25 miles of driving.

Another feature of SageQuest’s ‘real-time’ system is the way it monitors how a driver handles the vehicle and alerts management to examples of hard accelerating, cornering, braking and speeding.

The product for Virgin Media is integrated with Garmin navigation devices and also incorporates Google’s Street View to help prevent drivers from becoming lost.

Due to these features, Virgin Media said it is able to schedule appointments more accurately and within tighter time windows. Its view is that providing the best customer experience possible starts with arriving promptly.

Daw told Fleet News that he and his Virgin Media team conducted a thorough due diligence procedure, encompassing everything from functionality to pricing, and they found SageQuest represented the latest in fleet management systems with an exceptional uptime and its own datacentre for robustness.

A dashboard bespoke to Virgin Media’s KPIs means their personnel can see immediately the greatest opportunity for operational improvement.

Daw reports drivers’ acceptance of the system has been good. He said: “We found that after we have conducted training on the system they cannot wait to get going and really like the built-in sat-nav functionality.

“We believe that selecting the right tools that will increase the safety of our technicians, reduce their drive times, improve our subscribers’ experience and support our environmental initiatives will have a big payoff for all of us.

“Although it is too early for a detailed report on the benefits that the system is delivering, Virgin Media is confident it will see wide-ranging improvements through use of system.”