MetTel's New Fleet Management Offering Packages IoT As A Complete Solution For Channel Partners

Communications solution provider MetTel revealed its Fleet Management Solutions on Wednesday, a set of technologies that together, offer a complete IoT solution for transportation and asset tracking.

Solution providers have struggled with piecing together IoT solutions for their end customers, a cumbersome process that often includes working with several vendors to connect and manage disparate sensors and technologies. MetTel is offering an integrated IoT-powered mobile workforce package that its partners can tap for transportation use cases, according to Ryan Crandell, director of MetTel Fleet Management.

New York City-based MetTel is no stranger to the IoT space. "Phase One" of MetTel's IoT strategy was to achieve ubiquitous, global connectivity, which the company achieved through its single SIM product, announced in June. Now, MetTel is focused on building its IoT solutions for specific industries, with the first being its Fleet Management offering, said Max Silber, vice president of mobility and IoT at MetTel.

[Related: IoT Channel Chronicles: MetTel Connects The IoT Dots With New Single SIM Chip]

Fleet Management Solutions, an additional product line within MetTel's Mobility and IoT business unit, combines telematics, mobile devices, mobile network connectivity and mobile worker and management applications. The solution integrates telematics information into workflow apps, and lets users add new mobile devices easily.

"[Fleet Management] is something that every company is challenged with, especially with the new regulations that are about to come down from the U.S. Department of Transportation around compliance with e-logs," Silber explained.

The solution creates a lot of opportunities for MetTel's partners because it gives them another product they can offer customers while collecting lucrative, residual revenue, he said.

"It gives them something else to talk about beyond the core communications needs of their would," Silber added.

For customers, Fleet Management will help companies and municipal governments track their vehicles and mobile workers. Along with increased visibility of mobile assets via real-time GPS, MetTel's Fleet management will give customers valuable data analytics and reporting information to help these companies make more well-informed business decisions, and potentially save money, Crandell said.

The solution isn't a one-size-fits-all platform, either, Crandell said. Partners can work with MetTel to build a custom product for customers depending on their unique needs and the needs of their mobile employees.

"We definitely give customers the ability to choose from multiple platforms," he said. "A business might need vehicle tracking, time and attendance tracking for technicians, and an app for workers to log information that can all be pushed to the system of record. [The solution] is about connecting data back to one hub for customers."

MetTel's partners can tap Fleet Management for a variety of industries, including shipping and logistics, medical equipment, remote health care, and construction, the company said. The solution can also easily be scaled as a customer's fleet grows.

Fleet Management will be available through MetTel’s channel partner community, a fast-growing community that today includes north of 1,000 agent partners, Silber said.

Silber said that MetTel would continue to package IoT solutions for channel partners in different industries.

"Instead of partners asking [customers] for the phone bill so they can save them nickels and dimes on the telco costs, we are creating a solution that can take them a lot further by connecting everything on the field today," Crandell said.