Improved telematics reports help Balfour Beatty manage risk

By Elizabeth Howlett

10 April 2019

Balfour Beatty has upgraded its telematics reporting procedure, enabling targeted change and driving an “empowered approach” to risk management.

In 2017 Eric Renfrew (pictured), fleet services director, tasked his team with a challenge: present telematics data in a focused and digestible way.

At the March Fleet200 Executive Club meeting, Renfrew explained the company amassed huge amounts of information from its fleet of approximately 3,500 cars. 2,000 LCVs and 600 HGVs.

Read more Fleet200 roundtable debates and speaker presentations from our quarterly meetings

He said: “We were awash with information but nobody knew what to do with it. My challenge for the team was to find a way to present it so I can look at it and understand what I need to do, and where to focus my attention.

“If you install telematics into your vehicles and do nothing with the data, you may as well go into the car park and burn £10 notes.

“Trust me, as a Scotsman that isn’t in my psyche, but if you don’t do anything with the data, then why bother?”

Renfrew said that the ability to clearly see who fell into a green, amber and red category and being able to act upon that data was not rocket science, but it can be a lengthy process.

“It takes a very long time to align all the different tools on offer to bring that data together and draw information out. The key here is that this process is about helping people understand what they need to do.”

When the process began two years ago, the company ran seven reports once a month for its managing directors. Under Renfrew’s guidance, the overwhelming reports have since been filtered into focused and digestible documents.

“After a discussion with senior management, we now run 42 monthly reports, and 17 reports are sent out every week,” said Renfrew.

“This was done to give people responsibility and accountability, and empower them to do something with the data.”

This empowerment has seen recognition and reward of the best performing drivers and depots, alongside a number of improvements and reductions, such as: