Geotab processes more than 40 billion data points a day from the some 800,000 connected vehicles it represents worldwide. The next frontier for the company is improving the way data is analyzed, Geotab Chief Executive Officer Neil Cawse said at the Geotab Extend virtual conference held March 23-24.

All of the telematics data a single fleet generates can lead to “information overload,” Cawse said – a problem with telematics generally. Analyzing the data better on Geotab’s end means they can push the data into features in their products that help customers improve their operations.

“We’re starting to realize that telematics is just one cog in the systems that run an organization," Cawse said. “We have to realize that and push the data that come from telematics into their customer’s other systems.” They would do so automatically, whether that data push be to the operations system, maintenance system or safety system.

The vast amount of data collected allows fleets to access benchmarks developed that let them compare their particular vehicles to similar vehicles to see where their vehicles line up operationally.

“Benchmarking is important, but it’s the first step,” said Mike Branch, Geotab vice president of data and analytics. In the future, the company will start telling their customers what to focus on within their operations, he said.

“It’s one thing to tell you where you compare to other fleets, it’s another thing to learn where you need to focus,” Branch said.

Expansion Plans

Founded in 2000, the company now has 40,000 customers worldwide. Geotab’s customer base runs the gamut of trucking operations and breaks out into thirds in terms of vehicle classes, Colin Sutherland, executive vice president of sales and market said. A third of their customers operate light-duty vehicles, a third operate medium-duty vehicles and another third run Class 7 and 8 trucks.

Sutherland noted that the opportunities in the market to expand is “huge” for Geotab. He noted that there are six million commercial vehicles in the U.S. alone, and that the company looks at a global market where there are 28 million additional commercial vehicles.  Sutherland said the company is developing its regulatory technology for Australia and Europe and is set to expand into Canada this year with electronic logging.

“The U.S. market is fully subscribed with electronic logging already,” Sutherland said. “Customers come to us to get access to more data, and they get access to more integrations.”

Sutherland said the company also is looking forward to expanding into Europe, Japan and Latin America.

The Geotab Extend virtual conference featured not only Geotab products but also products and services from third party telematics-related technology partners via the company’s Marketplace. General sessions included a presentation by Cawse  on how to avoid IT mistakes that could be costly to your business.