The use of telematics systems in the construction industry is invaluable – the data provided enables contractors to make savings on fuel consumption, to plan work more efficiently, to schedule preventative maintenance effectively to ensure high availability and a higher residual value. It also helps to monitor environmental performance, increasingly vital for tenders on government projects.

In the UK construction market, telematics data is rising in importance and increasingly drives purchasing decisions for machinery. The biggest issue is for owners of mixed fleets to be able to access all of their machine data on one platform. This is overcome by the use of an API (application programming interface), which allows the applications of different OEMs to communicate with one another.

Every OEM now provides a telematics API so contractors can view data either on their existing OEM-supplied platform (such as Hitachi Global e-Service) or on independent fleet management software.