Maintaining data privacy for personal-use fleet vehicles
When fleet vehicles are mixed-use (business and personal), data privacy is a concern for companies and employees alike. For fleet vehicles also used during off-hours for personal trips, you need a flexible tracking solution. GpsGate gives you all of the tracking data you need during hours of operation - and an automated way to stop tracking when the workday ends.
Sometimes a personal vehicle is used for company operations or a company-owned vehicle is cleared for personal use. Fleet vehicles aren't always 100% dedicated to company operations. This makes fleet tracking and fleet management more complex. Fleet managers want comprehensive driving data for the workday. They also want to respect employee privacy during off-hours personal travel.
Mixed-use fleets
Fleet vehicles are sometimes used for a mix of business and personal. At some companies, employees regularly use their personal vehicles for business. At other companies, company-owned vehicles may be authorized for personal use outside of work hours.
Mixed-use fleet vehicles are typically passenger vehicles that are suitable for both business and personal use. Common situations are salesmen visiting customers, technicians servicing on-site, managers traveling to worksites and offices, and chauffeur vehicles like taxis and limousines.
Companies need to track these vehicles during the workday for safety, efficiency, or operations concerns. However, after the workday is done, the company might promise total privacy to employees. This means that any vehicle travel in the off-hours should not be tracked.
Tracking business and personal-use vehicles
GpsGate lets you switch between collecting tracking data and ignoring tracking data. This maintains the fleet data integrity while honoring employees' data privacy rights.
There are a few common scheduling scenarios that you can handle with GpsGate:
- Ad hoc or infrequent switches: If a fleet vehicle's business vs. personal trips are ad hoc, they are not on a predictable or regular schedule. The stopping or starting of tracking is not a common occurrence.
- Automated switching with high customization: Sometimes vehicles have a typical working schedule but you need flexibility. For instance, different vehicles may have different working schedules, or the vehicles that are authorized for personal use may change.
- Automated switching with fixed schedules: Sometimes working hours are fixed across an organization and very predictable. The rules and hours don't change, so you can set a static schedule.
With GpsGate, you can handle switching between business and off-hours in multiple ways to best meet customer needs. Learn how to pause tracking for the different scenarios here.
Maintaining good fleet data AND data privacy
Fleet managers need full fleet data during working hours to efficiently run operations. The data that's important to each company may differ, but without a fleet tracking system in place, managers have no information. Fleet tracking lets them run the business, create schedules, and ensure safe driving. Data privacy is more important than ever. Managers must balance the need for fleet data visibility with employee privacy.
By pausing tracking during non-business hours, companies can meet data visibility and privacy needs. Authorized employees can make personal trips during non-work hours and be assured of privacy. Fleet managers can ensure that all business-related travel is tracked.
Have another complex tracking requirement for a customer's fleet? Contact us to get the expertise of our sales engineers and support staff.
