Dan's Papers - July 25, 2008

"You can't manage what you can't see," said Adam Ross, Regional Sales Director for New York of Vehicle Tracking Solutions (VTS). Founded in 2002 by John Cunningham, VTS specializes in solutions. By installing an about-the-size-of-a-deck-of-cards automatic vehicle location hardware device, management can track latitude, longitude, heading, speed and engine idle status using one of 24 Department of Defense satellites.

Known throughout the area as the "GPS guys of Long Island," the company has some impressive statistics that range from "Hawaii to the Hamptons." Their trackers can be found in 32 states and in over 11,000 active vehicles. With over 750 clients, the average business has 15-20 vehicles, but VTS has clients that track over 500 vehicles and others who just monitor one. A very common but inaccurate assessment would be that this is just another Big Brother tool that pries its nosy self into our lives while we carry on under massive, all-knowing satellites. But Cunningham, who is president of the company and who has been working in wireless technologies for 15 years (selling pagers, cell phones, etc.), asked, "Can you imagine driving without a cell phone?" I said, "No. Not at all." He continued, "VTS helps run a better business and just like a cell phone, it's a tool, but more importantly, a tool that will put money back into the company." In a sense, this technology offers business owners the opportunity to know just what's happening, at any time of the day and from any computer in the world, with their assets. Not to mention the fact that it can also be used as a theft recovery system - and some insurance companies are starting to offer a discount for commercial vehicles with installed GPS tracking systems.

Here on the East End, traffic is, well, daunting. Especially so in the summer and for those of us who know and understand what the "trade parade" over the Shinnecock Canal is (the long line of white vans with ladders tied to the roof or landscaping trucks that infiltrate Montauk Highway and curvy back roads one hoe at a time). It's no surprise that so many Hamptons businesses use VTS to offer a better level of service for clients. Sometimes the excuse of "being stuck in traffic" is not good enough. There's a job that needs to be done and when time is lost, so is money. With VTS, however, Cunningham explained, "rerouting is available, as well as real-time traffic reports." With clients in Riverhead, Southampton, Westhampton Beach, East Hampton, Amagansett, Quogue, Water Mill and Hampton Bays, VTS services the companies we all use and know. Whether it's the pool guys, the fence man, the heating and fuel company, your security company or one that I was even surprised by, the Hampton Luxury Liner, it's all tracked.

Knowing that it's an incentive for business owners, what do the employees think? There's always going to be one or two rotten apples in the group that grumble, resist change and view it as a personal punishment, but another way to approach the situation would be to see the opportunity to compliment the employee who is doing the "right" thing. This could be just that chance you were waiting for to show your boss just how high your job performance level is.

But who's monitoring these workers? Does this create an additional job and will business owners have to create another salaried job? No. The built-in technology from VTS automatically sends a daily e-mail of the report. Cunningham explained, "You tell the system what you want to look for and it will find it." It also has the ability to eliminate one job task, and that means for some companies the diligent task of the payroll. No more having to sign in or log the hours - with the tracking systems you know exactly when work started and when work ended for employees.

The three systems that VTS offers are FleetMinder, VTS WebView and VTS Mobile. FleetMinder is a desktop mapping and historical reporting application that leverages the power of Microsoft MapPoint. The software-based tracking program allows managers to monitor moving vehicles in real-time. VTS WebView also allows clients to monitor their vehicles in real-time and view all on-demand reports from any computer with an Internet connection. VTS Mobile gives clients who are traveling or have no access to a computer the ability to actively check vehicle status from their web-enabled cell phones.

With gas becoming more and more of an expense and the economy slow and sappy, it's crucial for business owners to cut back on all expenditures, and this is why many companies in the Hamptons use VTS. Cunningham added, "As fuel costs continue to represent a higher proportion of operating expenses for fleet companies, the investment in a GPS system provides a faster return on investment. Many of our customers see savings in fuel costs, insurance rates and overtime pay in as little as 30 days."

Whether you're still convinced that it's a Big Brother barricade or some employee punishing system, there's nothing like seeing the blinking green dot of a worker truck on a computer screen headed via ferry to Shelter Island. "I like to think our computer system makes your computer screen a window to the world," said Cunningham.