For business owners who are not into digitisation and automation, GPS tracking and telematics may seem like the same thing. Yet, telematics is more than just vehicle tracking, and the era of seeing a moving dot on a map is over.

The global vehicle telematics market continues to grow. Meanwhile, there are challenges: a vehicle is stolen every 75 minutes in Malaysia and fuel theft often goes undetected. It becomes clear that there is a significant need for technology in these areas.

How are telematics and GPS tracking different? What does this mean to companies looking to improve their fleet operations in this business climate?

Telematics solutions can turn your fleet from a collection of separate vehicles into an organised system working towards common goals. How does it compare with GPS vehicle monitoring?

GPS tracking determines the location of a vehicle using satellite-based navigation. Its functionality is limited to location and tracking of the vehicle's speed. For example, you can see where your company's trucks are on the map.

Telematics incorporates GPS tracking, but has a wider scope. This technology is able to gather, store and present data from vehicles with the help of telecommunications devices. This data can then be analysed and worked with, which becomes a key point for a business - relying on real-time numbers that represent the company's work.

For example, you will be able to generate a monthly report that shows the fuel consumption of the whole fleet and compare that with the fuel dispensing data. If you see any difference, you can examine the data on each truck to identify the one from which the fuel was stolen and take appropriate measures.

Being part of the Internet of Things (IoT), telematics gathers data on every aspect of the fleet for business owners to analyse and use to make informed decisions and develop better management practices.

Now, what are the advantages of telematics over a dot-on-the-map tracking in practice?

GPS vehicle monitoring provides the location and movement of a vehicle on a map, whereas telematics allows the tracking of more than 50 parameters for each vehicle in your fleet.

With these values are both historical and in real time, owners react immediately if needed or utilise the accumulated data and statistics to make operational decisions.

For instance, telematics solutions provide great opportunities for timely fleet maintenance. Effective vehicle maintenance leads to preventing roadside violations, minimising vehicle downtime and increasing driver awareness.

The extent of improvement to a company's fleet operations thanks to telematics is limited only by the business owner's understanding of the pain points that need to be fixed. Eco-driving control, schedule compliance by drivers, effective route building, ensuring cold chain and carrying dangerous goods under the correct conditions, and government and corporate compliance are just some of the issues that need to be addressed.

By using GPS vehicle monitoring, you can see if your asset is in the right place. But is it enough to ensure it won't land in the wrong hands? It is easy to remove and destroy a GPS tracker, or just block the signal, and a stolen vehicle will never appear on your radar screen again.

Telematics systems prevent theft on different levels - for fuel, goods and vehicles - across various tech frameworks, both for vehicle tracking and recovery.

In Malaysia, companies suffer from vehicle theft and hijacking. Preventing truck theft with telematics offers an ecosystem comprising driver IDs, alarm buzzers and tracking of route deviations and unauthorised stops, with all the data from these points being recorded in one place.

Typically, a platform can be configured to send notifications if some parameters are changing in a harmful way - for example, when a vehicle is leaving a certain zone without permission, or if there is an attempt by an unauthorised person to open a smart lock that is protecting goods.

Drivers are often attacked, too. If this happens, a telematics solution informs the fleet owners so they can respond immediately by sending a notification with the driver's location and other information straight away when the panic button is pressed.

If the crime has already happened, telematics providers offer vehicle tracking and recovery systems. You can detect jamming, block the engine remotely and immediately receive information necessary for a recovery or to stop the breach.

Safe driving control reduces the number of road accidents. If they happen and they are not caused by your driver, you get reliable evidence for police and your insurance provider, with the exact data on driving parameters, video and pictures.

There is no need to explain to business owners that expenses, revenue and profit depend on factors that are more complicated than competitors' prices, market conditions and the service quality you provide customers. Here, telematics serves you well by unveiling weak spots and providing the necessary data to tackle these weak spots even if they are hidden due to processes, human factors or lack of evidence.

GPS tracking alone won't do much here. However, if we extend our view to the wider world of telematics, you can reduce costs in multiple ways:

Detailed reports and analytics help owners find and correct weak points in tens of internal verticals and avoid unnecessary expenses now and in the future.

The power of a telematics solution depends on GPS tracking equipment, connectivity, service provider skills and other factors. One of the key aspects is software.

Here is why service provider skills are mentioned: their job is to choose the right solution for your business requirements, from a track-and-trace system to a multifunctional one.

This is where Wialon is one of the leaders in the market. This ultimate platform for GPS tracking and IoT can be employed no matter the size and type of assets a business needs to control.

"At Wialon, we adapt to the current environment. Our product has long become something more than just GPS tracking. We link our product development strategy with the idea that each business area has its own specifics," says Aliaksandr Kuushynau, head of Wialon at Gurtam.

"In some areas, Wialon just out of the box would be enough, and somewhere there may be a room for integration with apps or third-party solutions. A whopping 3.5 million connected vehicles proves we're offering versatility."

Before investing in a fleet management platform and incorporating it into one's corporate environment, a business owner would naturally ask if it is effective and covers not only the implementation costs but also brings additional profit. The industry's participants offer some clues.

The fleet management system (FMS) market is emerging in Malaysia. It is expected to reach US$10 million by 2025.

Car theft syndicates in Malaysia evade laws and continue to sell stolen cars. Car rental and other businesses suffer huge losses due to the imperfections of legislation and easy disabling of GPS trackers by hijackers. That's why professional telematics systems can serve as a lifeline for businesses of all sizes in the region.

Malaysia has one of the cheapest petrol prices in the Asia-Pacific region. Despite this, thieves continue to steal fuel from vehicles or petrol stations while fleet owners bear losses. Telematics keeps fuel management under control.

For market players of virtually any industry with assets that need to be protected it is not only recommended, but crucial to measure vehicle performance, track driver behaviour, get actionable insights to improve driving safety and reduce insurance costs for your clients, among others. All this can be achieved with telematics, and hundreds of successful use cases have already proved it.