Teletrac Navman released findings from its first Telematics Benchmark Report: Global Construction Edition. The survey, which provides a view of telematics trends affecting the global construction market, found managing costs (46 percent), growing revenue (30 percent), and business expansion (26 percent) were top business challenges, as the industry faces increased pressure to meet growing demand for its services. In fact, the global construction market is expected to grow by 85 percent, to $15.5 trillion worldwide by 2030.
The survey also revealed technology disruption, economic optimism, and labor shortage, in addition to several other key trends.
Technology is beginning to disrupt construction, with a majority of companies looking for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce accidents.
- A variety of emerging technologies are top of mind, including fatigue monitoring (27 percent), machine vision technology (19 percent), drones (16 percent), and big data analytics (14 percent). Only 9 percent cited autonomous/self-driving vehicles, despite the hype.
- More than 80 percent of organizations are already using telematics or plan to do so in the next year, citing equipment tracking as the most common use (75 percent), followed by tracking speed (61 percent) and driver hours (53 percent).
- More than half of organizations using telematics have seen reduced fuel costs, some attaining up to a 40 percent reduction. Almost one-third have seen fewer accidents.
Optimism in the construction market remains high as the economic recovery continues to pick up speed on a global scale.
- More than 90 percent of companies plan to invest in their business in 2017 by upgrading fleets (45 percent), finding, retaining, and developing talent (38 percent), and/or integrating new technologies and systems (34 percent).
- Financial considerations, including reducing costs (41 percent) and increasing profits (48 percent), are top goals for 2017.
- More than half of organizations will be increasing the number of equipment/fleet size over the next year as a result of more demand for services (64 percent), replacing older equipment/vehicles (55 percent), and domestic growth (34 percent).
A shortage of skilled labor is impeding growth while payroll remains a top expense for companies.
- Finding, retaining, and developing talent was cited as a top business challenge for nearly a quarter of respondents, and more than half named increasing material and labor costs as a top concern.
- Although payroll (55 percent) is cited as the largest business expense area for organizations, followed by equipment/vehicle maintenance (33 percent), 54 percent plan to hire more drivers/equipment operators and purchase new equipment this year.
- To address the worker shortage, organizations are increasing pay (53 percent), developing educational/training programs (36 percent), offering better benefits (33 percent), and hiring freelance equipment operators (29 percent).
“The construction industry has long faced pressures to do more with less—more output with fewer resources—to meet customer demands, while also ensuring the safety of its workers and profitability of the business,” says Rachel Trindade, global vice president of marketing, Teletrac Navman. “It’s no easy task to balance these competing interests, which is why so many fleets are turning to modern technologies, such as telematics, to find efficiencies.”
The full report can be found at: www.teletracnavman.com/benchmark/construction
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The 2017 Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report is based on a survey of more than 1,200 fleet operations and fleet management professionals from around the world. Of the total survey respondents, 260 indicated that their primary industry was construction, mining, or oil and gas. The results described in survey were compiled from those respondents. ■
For More Information:
Teletrac Navman is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider leveraging location-based technology and services for managing mobile assets. It tracks and manages more than 500,000 vehicles and assets for more than 40,000 companies around the world. The company is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. For more information, visit teletracnavman.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, September 2017
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