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As the construction industry continues to modernize its business operation, telematics technology is now being widely adopted and more commonly used in the aerial rental market. With the industry learning more and more about how to utilize this technology in their business operations, today’s telematics can offer significant competitive advantages to rental companies, including cost savings on parts and labor and reduce costs on maintenance and service charges, all of which result in increased rental return on invested capital (rROIC).

Thinking about telematics from a high-level perspective, it is easy to highlight the benefits of implementing this technology. But, it seems that many rental professionals are still confused as to how it can benefit their businesses on a day-to-day basis. This is completely understandable — access to too much data without knowing how to harness it can be extremely overwhelming.

From the telematics provider’s perspective, one of the greatest benefits of that Genie can offer rental customers through its telematics technology — the Genie^® Lift Connect™ solution — is that the data gained from the equipment becomes extremely valuable when it is transformed into actionable information.

How Is Telematics Data Being Used?
Equipment fitted with the Genie Lift Connect telematics solution provides large amounts of rich data for both Genie and our customers. For Genie, this data enables us to better understand how machines are being used in the field, providing us insight into how components are holding up over time and which components sustain more wear and tear. All this information helps us develop durable, reliable equipment in the future that provides our customers with the best value.

For our rental customers, they may be less interested in the machine’s components and more interested in the machine’s general health and operating condition, including battery life, fuel levels, operating hours, current location as well as if their rental units are achieving maximum utilization. Telematics enables rental companies to dive deeper into machine reporting data to get a more complete picture of the fleet’s health, its operating status in the field and when maintenance is required.

Simply understood, Data gained through telematics can be used…

For rental companies to:

• Enhance fleet and inventory management
  • Remotely troubleshoot and diagnose machine issues to minimize downtime and costly service visits
  • Stock parts and offer preventive maintenance service packages

  And, for manufacturers to:

• Drive the right specifications for the machine design to optimize the equipment
• Develop products that last longer, do more in the field

Is the Data Secure?
On the Genie Lift Connect telematics solution, we have built-in security measures through our telematics provider, ZTR, to make sure the flow of data from the machine to the equipment owner is securely delivered to the right players in the right form.

Partnering with ZTR, we have information sharing and security down to the data point level, supported by strict governance rules that are understood by all parties.

Who Owns the Data?
A burning question about telematics for many in the industry is: “Who owns the data and who has the right to use it?”

The answer is: The equipment owner owns the data.

But both Genie and ZTR believe the real question should be: “Can we create a community of users who are willing to share the data?”

The answer is: Telematics data provides benefits for all. It can no longer be about getting the data from the equipment and keeping it isolated. There is real value in sharing*. Today’s technology is heading this way. For example, openness is already built into tech companies, and in our opinion, being open in an open source type world is heading in the right direction.

We believe that failure to take part in the data sharing economy will prove to be a disadvantage for us, as well as for our customers — we can’t do things in isolation and expect the industry to succeed.

For additional insight into this topic, please read the interview with ZTR’s CEO Sam Hassan “Telematics and the Data Sharing Economy” published in the September/October issue of Access International.

*Terex adheres to strict rules, outlined in our Privacy Policy, to protect our customers and their data. For more information about the Terex Privacy Policy, which includes the Genie Lift Connect telematics solution, please visit: www.terex.com/en/privacy-policy.