The GPS Mania team, like almost everyone else in the world, has suffered countless disruptions in daily life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this reason, we would like to share with you our point of view regarding the importance of having a technology that, although it cannot prevent infections directly, can truly prevent it, very indirectly, and with added value, as we will discuss below.
COVID19 and challenges in logistics and basic services
Thanks to all the media, we have most probably become very aware of the enormous importance of the so-called essential workers and the irreplaceable role they play in our society.
These are, in addition to emergency medical services, firefighters, civil protection and other state agencies, cashiers, and clerks in shops, supermarkets and pharmacies, delivery vehicle drivers and their assistants, workers in national and international supply and logistics chains, among many others.
We do not need in this article to repeat all the recommendations from the World Health Organization (but you can always check them here) for the prevention of contagion against COVID-19, but we do want to emphasize that if we take into account the sanitary relevance of not making unnecessary trips (in some countries it is even prohibited), and following the recommendations to avoid social contact and stay home, the scenario in front of this pandemic seems really discouraging.
With all this, the supply chains of pharmaceuticals, food, and basic services have been faced with a scenario of demand for quantity of service never seen before, and with all the risk to their health that working in these conditions means. These servers simply cannot do remote work.
GPS geolocation as a prevention tool towards COVID19
However, GPS technology proposes some unexpected solutions to protect both drivers and other workers on board the vehicle and the general population. Is that this technology, if it is well used and we take advantage of it, allows us through the respective platforms:
- To know in real-time where the vehicle is, the working time of its workers
- Make an analysis of vehicle usage for immediate optimization
- Optimize delivery routes
- Optimize the time and use of the workers in charge to minimize the risk
- Optimize the technical maintenance services that these vehicles/machineries require
Proactive and reactive solutions
All this situation is pushing to GPS service providers, integrators, and manufacturers to provide solutions that are not only reactive but are mainly proactive.
Let’s see some trouble examples:
- Is it that delivery of groceries scheduled for tomorrow cannot be made because there is scheduled maintenance on some paper (probably in some notebook somewhere) but not on the management platform?
- Is the driver required to return again to the same district to make another delivery to the same street/block only because of a lack of proper route planning?
- Could the emergency medicine not be delivered on time to an elderly couple because it is not known where the assigned vehicle is?
Obviously, a GPS device with its respective peripheral accessories and tracking platform/ fleet management will help avoid unpleasantly and frankly, risky situations like these.
What awaits us in the near post-pandemic future?
Undoubtedly, there is going to be a boom in the use of GPS technology with fleet management and route optimization. No one will want to be left behind. The optimization in the use of resources is always good, and as is shown in this world situation, it can even save lives.
This pandemic is giving us lessons that we may not have learned before when the scenario was more favorable to us. But it is clear that the GPS technologies are here to stay and from now on only their massive implementation remains.
We hope that with these ideas, we can contribute to creating awareness on how technology can help, and be ready for the next unexpected event.
And now a few questions to our readers:
- Do you have any experience or anecdote to tell us related to your fleet or GPS devices in this pandemic?
- What hardware do you use, and with what accessories?
- What monitoring and optimization platform do you use?
Please, leave us a comment below, and share this article if you find it interesting and useful.
The GPS Mania team awaits your comments and wishes you health and prosperity.