The Logical Choice: Why Teletrac Partnered with Samsung

Cars, trucks, buses, and vans… fleets of vehicles transport cargo or passengers from A to B. It is logistics:  a simple game, right?

Food and Beverage, Construction, Cable and Telecommunications, Chemical, Energy and Mining, Food, Government, HVAC, Mobile Workforce, Passenger Transport, Tree/Lawn/Garden, Towing, Trucking, Utilities and Waste Management… All of these industries depend on logistics, but it’s not as simple as A to B. Logistics is an immense, complex industry that helps power the macro-economy.

Utilization of IT in the Logistics Industry

With the evolution of IT, fleet management software and services have emerged to make logistics more efficient. One leading example is Teletrac, which uses a dashboard-mounted device to allow drivers to communicate with dispatch, get directions, and produce reports on driving hours and vehicle conditions.

Currently, nearly 20,000 customers use Teletrac software to manage close to 250,000 vehicles in 87 countries, including trucks, vans, and buses.

The Flexibility of Android

The beginning of Teletrac’s success story dates back several years. Teletrac began offering a proprietary 5-inch tablet device so that drivers/users could better manage their routes and trucks. However, the original Drive software was developed on a closed operating system platform. Teletrac realized that this made it difficult to upgrade and expand. So they decided to switch to the Android platform.

“Android has become the de facto standard when it comes to apps development – it provides greater development flexibility and speed,” says Sid Nair, director of product management at Teletrac.

Now, the next step was to find the best tablet — one that met a high standard for performance, affordability, reliability, and support.

The Solution: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab

Nair said that he meticulously evaluated four different Android tablet vendors, but it was Samsung that met his high bar for both functional and business needs:

* a fast processor for quicker response times,

* excellent audio to overcome road noise

* a bright display for in-cab reading day and night

* flexibility and portability for customer preferences – the tablet had to be able to be removed from the dashboard enclosure and used by drivers when they stop for meals or overnight rests.

Samsung Galaxy Tab was also significantly easier and more affordable to install. For example, the Teletrac system includes a Vehicle Location Unit (VLU), which is a small device installed in the truck and pings location and diagnostic information back to the Teletrac Cloud Services and Fleet Director Software. Unlike the previous tablet that had to be hard-wired to the VLU, the Samsung Galaxy Tab wirelessly connects to the VLU over Bluetooth, saving installation time and money.

Teletrac Quick Profile

Moreover, the open architecture of the Android operating system makes it easier for Teletrac to expand the Drive app and enables customers to develop their own apps on the same platform.

The Results

Teletrac has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers deploying the Teletrac Drive app with the Samsung Galaxy tablet. Users report that it is much faster than the previous tablet. It takes them less time to download logs, access reports and receive updates on delivery routes. The larger, higher-resolution display screens render maps more clearly – even in the daytime. Messaging alerts and driving instructions are easier to hear over the road noise.

The partnership between Samsung and Teletrac exemplifies how Samsung Galaxy Tab can give companies in the logistics industry the ability to provide more value to their customers. Nair says Teletrac plans to take advantage of the Galaxy Tab and Android development platform for a number of enhancements like a photo application to capture images from accident scenes or delivery e-signatures. In the future, Teletrac will also enable custom programs developed by their customers while ensuring a level of device management to prevent the use of non-approved applications.

*All functionality features, specifications, and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.