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Bruce Larcombe, an agronomist for 22 broadacre growers in the Dookie area of Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, faces extreme peaks and troughs in his workload throughout the season. All the farms he services grow winter crops, leading to similar planting and harvesting dates and resulting in seasonal peaks in demand for farm inputs, labour, and other services. Bruce's workload is particularly heavy during the 16-week period from crop emergence to harvest, during which he has to check over 450 paddocks and make numerous recommendations for his clients.

In his work as an agronomist, Ruaan Du Plessis realised that higher crop monitoring requirements combined with larger orchard sizes and an increased need for information by growers necessitated a new approach to data accessibility and transparency. Recent free trade agreements such as the one between Australia and China (ChAFTA) have changed the focus for fruit growers from traditional channels like canneries and other domestic buyers to fresh fruit exports. Stringent bio-security compliance laws for export to Asia mean that growers need to have their orchards monitored for a number of quarantine pests by a person approved by the Department of Agriculture. As exports become more important, the monitoring program is becoming bigger and more rigid; which is why we require the best recording and reporting tool available for our agronomy activities.

The Maitland family, who manage a diversified farming and food business in Australia, were using a legacy farm management software that was not user-friendly and thus not used effectively within the business. The food production and export focus of the business required accurate records to be kept so that critical information can easily be shared with relevant authorities, exporters, and final consumers. However, the existing software was not able to meet these needs, and the team was not able to enter data at all times.

Running Lake Farms, a family-owned farm in Pocahontas, AR, was facing challenges in forecasting its profitability at the beginning of each season. The farm's profitability was dependent on various factors such as the cost of inputs, yield, and market prices. The farm was also struggling with identifying unprofitable fields and understanding the reasons behind their lack of profitability. The farm needed a solution that could help them analyze their data and make informed decisions.

Anson Family Farms, a large farming operation spread across 20,000 acres in 8 counties in Indiana and Illinois, was facing challenges in managing and utilizing the vast amount of data collected by their John Deere equipment. The data, which included information on planting, spraying, harvesting, etc., was primarily used for crop insurance reporting. However, the farm was unable to use this data to optimize operations due to technological limitations. The data was initially stored on a desktop machine, then moved to a server, but both methods were slow and cumbersome. The farm also struggled with real-time data access, which made it difficult to identify and correct errors in a timely manner.

Clete Inc., a diversified farming and cattle operation, was facing challenges in managing their input inventories. The process of planning for the inputs needed each growing season was manual and time-consuming. The team had to sit together to decide the acreage for each crop and then manually estimate the required inputs. They relied heavily on local suppliers for their inputs and valued the customer service and timely delivery. However, unexpected changes in plans or field activity often led to discrepancies and required constant communication and updates. The company was using Excel for inventory management, which was not efficient and prone to errors.

Walnut Grove Farms, a sixth-generation farm in Kentucky, was facing challenges in managing their grain marketing strategy. They were heavily reliant on forward contracting, which was only viable when the price was right. However, recent market conditions had seen prices fall below break-even for most farms. The farm also had to be strategic about their storage capacity, as they could not store everything they produced. They needed a way to better manage their risk and take advantage of market opportunities.

Bunge’s soybean processing operation in Council Bluffs, IA is the largest such plant in the United States, processing 60 million bushels of soybeans per year into high-protein soybean meal, soy hull pellets, and crude soybean oil. Handling such a huge volume of incoming raw material and outgoing finished product is a daunting task. The plant receives and processes soybeans and produces finished products, loading approximately 70,000 trucks and 17,000 railcars annually. The challenge was to manage the massive volume of incoming raw material and outgoing finished product efficiently.

The fertile plains in the north central part of Montana, just east of the Rockies and south of the Canadian border, is often called the Hi-Line. It refers to the main line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, originally the Great Northern Railway, the northernmost line of the 19th century transcontinental railroads. The Hi-Line’s major purpose was to carry wheat from Montana back east to the big flour mills around Minneapolis, MN or farther west for export from the Pacific Northwest. That is still its major purpose today and the main reason Gavilon Grain, LLC chose to build a brand new rail terminal elevator on a loop track at Chester, MT. This area of the Hi-Line doesn’t always get the most rainfall, so the yields aren’t always the best. But the quality of the wheat here is very good, and Gavilon wanted this type of grain for export at their joint venture terminal in Kalama, WA.

Slayden Constructors, a part of the greater MWH portfolio, faced several challenges with their fleet of over 340 vehicles. The company had previously had a vehicle stolen, leading to a need for improved asset monitoring. They also had safety concerns, with four accidents that were all the drivers’ fault. The introduction of telematics to track their fleet revealed that a significant number of their drivers were repeatedly driving above 100 mph, putting themselves and other road users in danger. Additionally, the company had issues with drivers idling their vehicles, leading to unnecessary fuel consumption and wear and tear on the vehicles.

Diamond Engineering Company, a construction company with over 90 years of experience, was facing several challenges. They had difficulty verifying timecards and the actual time spent on site. This was a significant issue as it affected the accuracy of their payroll and could potentially lead to disputes with employees. Additionally, the company was struggling to develop a conscious, safety-oriented driving culture in a region prone to speeding. This was a serious concern as it could lead to accidents, endangering the lives of their employees and damaging their vehicles. Lastly, they were looking to implement a fleet tracking solution without alienating their employees. They needed a solution that would be accepted by their employees and would not be seen as an invasion of their privacy.

Before turning to Azuga, California UMI had a big issue with driver safety and Distracted Driving. In 2012, they experienced 19 at-fault accidents, 16 of which were fender benders caused by distracted driving. Patty Middleton, Safety Coordinator for California UMI, saw this growing trend and wanted a GPS solution that could not only streamline day-to-day fleet operations and cut fuel costs, but also drastically reduce accident rates and eliminate driver phone-usage on the road. After only finding +$30 GPS solutions with limited capabilities, and no answer for her company’s distracted driving problem, Patty found Azuga’s cost effective OBD-based GPS solution to be the perfect fit for her Light-Duty fleet.

Earthtech Landscape, a fast-growing landscape company in the Bay Area, wanted to improve its operational efficiency and customer service. The company wanted to know the exact location of every rolling asset at all times, along with on-site crew verification. They also wanted to reduce the risk of road breakdowns and the resulting schedule disruptions, eliminate unnecessary crew overtime, monitor driver behavior such as speeding and hard braking to improve safety and reduce fuel-wasting habits, and monitor “proof-of-service” in real time.

Courtice Auto Wreckers Ltd., a moving service company in Oshawa, Canada, faced several challenges. The company needed to identify and meet performance standards to ensure optimal service delivery. They also wanted to maximize fleet truck utilization to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Additionally, the company aimed to reduce unsafe driving behavior in the area’s heavy traffic, which posed risks to drivers and could potentially lead to accidents or damage to vehicles.

JW Flooring, a full-service flooring company, was facing several challenges with their existing fleet tracking software. The high cost of the software meant that only half of their fleet of 50 vehicles was being tracked, making it difficult to verify stops and monitor customer service. The company was also struggling with decreasing unsafe driving behaviors among many aggressive fleet drivers. Furthermore, they were having difficulty using the competing fleet tracking software and getting the support they needed to get a return on investment.

Mayesh Wholesale Florist, a family-owned business operating out of 16 branches in 8 states, was facing several challenges with its fleet of 65 vehicles. The company was struggling with managing the immediate mechanical needs of fleet vehicles as well as maintaining an efficient preventative maintenance routine. Another challenge was reducing unsafe speeding behavior typical of the go-as-fast-as-you-can mentality of drivers in the delivery industry. Lastly, the company needed to deploy an easy-to-use fleet tracking system without the installation of inconvenient, costly hardwiring.

GalaxyOne, a regional service provider for Dish Networks, faced a significant challenge in developing a safe driving culture among its employees. The company, which services 600–700 homes per day, has a fleet of 245 vehicles and an on-the-road crew of over 200 employees. The challenge was to motivate these individuals to engage in safety-mindedness and reduce vehicle accidents. The wide and ever-changing range of destinations each day added to the complexity of the situation.

Fox Systems, Inc., a full-service electrical contracting firm, was facing several challenges. The company was committed to safety but needed a way to reinforce this commitment among its drivers. They also wanted to eliminate unnecessary trips and maximize on-the-clock time for their employees. Additionally, they were looking to reduce aggressive driving behavior in company vehicles. These challenges were affecting the company's productivity and safety record.

THINKLimo, a regional leader in providing professional transportation services in Wisconsin, faced several challenges. The company needed to ensure efficient, smooth, and on-time transportation, which was essential to its professional client base. Maintaining a high standard of customer experience was crucial in their high-profile, wide-ranging transportation service. Moreover, they were in search of a fleet tracking solution with exceptional customer service to help them maintain their quality standards.

APG Electric, a full-service electrical contracting and engineering firm based in Florida, was facing several challenges. The company was struggling with decreasing aggressive driving as Florida's roadways became more congested. They were also in need of a fleet tracking solution that provided real-time driver feedback. Additionally, maintaining control over project billing was proving to be a challenge.

Uber Mexico faces typical challenges like a large and growing customer base in a country with resistant legislation and a violence prone taxi industry. Other problems facing Uber, Mexico include high operational costs, congested cities, complexity of operation with hidden costs and relative lower levels of population with smartphone connectivity. Uber Mexico has unique challenges facing its operation in Mexico market, where driver accountability has started challenging their business model. Uber Mexico has started looking for a GPS tracking solution to increase driver accountability and encourage responsible behaviour without seeming to be over bearing and “Big Brotherish”. They wanted a Fleet GPS tracking solution their drivers would love to engage with, which can facilitate tracking drivers efficiently, reduce liability and decrease costs.

Sietsema Farms was in search of a modern fleet telematics solution that could seamlessly integrate with their existing software and hardware. The farm was also facing challenges in reducing incidents of hard braking and speeding among its fleet drivers. Additionally, they were dealing with issues of time card abuse, which was affecting their operational efficiency and productivity.

Chris Parisis, President of CG Appliance Express, noticed that his sales department spent quite a lot of time tracking down drivers by calling them and asking for their current location and ETA to their next customer. This was unproductive phone tag for both sales people and drivers. Chris was also very interested in avoiding down time on his vehicles by planning vehicle maintenance schedules based on accrued mileage and proactively responding to engine alerts. Chris was very familiar with the traditional, installed ‘Black Box’ GPS systems available on the market. However, they didn’t provide the accurate data that he needed to make informed business and vehicle maintenance decisions. As an example, they provided speeding alerts but they didn’t tell him how much above the speed limit the drivers went, for how long they were above the limit, and other critical driver behavior information on hard braking and sudden acceleration. These details were important for Chris to get a solid discount from his insurance provider. In addition, since traditional systems depended entirely on GPS to get speed information and did some fancy math to calculate idling times, Chris couldn’t count on that data for accurately determining idling time. With the EPA stepping up on idling regulations, Chris wanted to make sure he had a very accurate idle time measurement solution.

Kitsap Garage Door, a company serving Kitsap County in the State of Washington and surrounding areas for over 35 years, was facing challenges with their traditional GPS system. The system required expensive GPS hardware, hard-to-schedule installation, and high recurring monthly costs. Moreover, the system was not accurate when it came to vehicle location, idling times, and actual fuel used. The company was in need of a system that was affordable, easy to install, easy to use, and provided information beyond what a GPS-only system could offer. They wanted to provide accurate ETAs to customers and improve field employee productivity.

Hurley and David, Inc. was already using a GPS Tracking system, but it was proving to be too expensive and inconvenient. Every time a truck was added or removed from the fleet, the GPS system had to be installed or de-installed, which was a costly and time-consuming process. The minimum cost for this process was at least $300, not including lost productivity and customer service time. Furthermore, the existing system relied entirely on GPS for speed information and used complex calculations to determine idling times, which resulted in inaccurate data. With increasing EPA regulations on idling, the company needed accurate idle time data to properly coach their drivers.

PhotoFax was already using a phone-based GPS application to locate investigators and verify proof of services. However, there were several challenges with the phone-based GPS solutions, including: complete reliance on the driver to turn the phone on and launch the GPS application, too easy for the GPS application to be deleted off the phone and finally, phone batteries draining too fast when GPS tracking was on. Even when the ‘stars were aligned,’ the phone GPS application calculated mileage using ‘as the crow flies’ techniques between two GPS points which led to inaccurate mileage readings. John Todaro, in charge of Operations and HR at PhotoFax, was looking for a solution that could provide accurate information for both GPS location and mileage. Mileage needed to be accurate to within 0.5% for handling gas reimbursement on company-driven trucks. He was also looking for a way to easily port the GPS unit to different vehicles as needed. In addition, John wanted to move forward with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy so that employees could bring their own smartphones to work which would in turn bring down the corporate telecommunication cost significantly ($50,000+ a year).

Prior to implementing AMP, the North Dakota Insurance Department (NDID) was experiencing rapid growth in Total Insurable Value (TIV), operating with a small team, using a valuation tool with limitations, and aware of inaccuracies in insurable values. The development of the Oil & Gas industry in North Dakota had a big impact on the State Fire and Tornado Fund, leading to the expansion of courthouses and the construction of new schools. This growth was a key driver in the build out of a lot of new infrastructure.

Before investing in AssetWorks’ hardware and software solutions, Transystems used two other companies for in-cab mobile computing and fleet management, but large parts of these solutions did not work. These systems relied heavily on driver involvement to function, so they were susceptible to errors. “The margin of error and accuracy wasn’t as good as it could be, and we wanted to be able to automate our processes,” said Brennan. Transystems wanted to work with a company that shares the same value system.

American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest power companies in the United States, wanted to improve worker safety and reaction time to dangerous incidents, shorten the duration of customer outages, and reduce gas usage for their 4600-vehicle service fleet. To do this, they needed a mobile workforce management system that could display real-time vehicle location information, differentiate vehicle types on dispatchers’ maps, provide in-vehicle directional prompts, and generate vehicle data reports to help better distribute crews based on job demands.

The company, a mid-stream fluid hauling company in western Canada, was facing challenges with its field ticketing process. The company's operations were 100% paper-based, relying on contracted drivers to manually complete paperwork accurately and on time. However, this led to constant challenges as manual data entry errors, lost tickets, and regular delays in paper submissions to office personnel led to thousands of dollars in postponed or lost revenues at the end of every month. In addition, the company needed a solution to track the location of any given trailer in the field, as each became an expensive risk to consider once filled with petroleum products and other fluids for hauling.