Concord, MA, February 24, 2011 – TomTom, the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions, and Beacon Software, a comprehensive towing management solutions supplier, have partnered to help towing fleet operators improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase control of drivers and equipment. The integration of TomTom WORKsmart™ fleet management solutions and Beacon Software towing applications enables live driver location updates and more accurate arrival time estimates.
“TomTom and Beacon Software are solving the perennial problem for towing companies of matching customers to the closest drivers and getting those trucks routed quickly and efficiently to the right locations,” said Michael Geffroy, vice president of sales, North America, TomTom Business Solutions.
WORKsmart™ is TomTom’s ready to use fleet management solution and an innovative way for improving the management of all types of commercial fleets. It offers customers a choice of industry leading solutions combined with a high quality professional service. Beacon Software enables towing companies to view and dispatch all jobs and trucks on a map in real-time with color-coded icons that show the status and required truck for each call.
“The combination of TomTom and Beacon Software takes the guesswork out of arrival times for towing companies,” said Todd Althouse, president, Beacon Software.
By leveraging WORKsmart, Beacon Software solutions directly dispatch calls to the TomTom device in an operator’s truck and automatically calculate the most efficient routes based on historical traffic patterns and real-time traffic information. Operators receive turn-by-turn directions to customer locations, while the device automatically provides continuous arrival time and job completion updates to their dispatch control center.
Henry’s Wrecker Service in Washington, DC integrated TomTom fleet management system and Beacon mapping software to reduce costs and increase productivity. “Our dispatchers are just like air traffic controllers now,” said Fred Scheler, president and CEO, Henry’s Wrecker Service. “With two 46-inch flat-screen TVs in dispatch, we can very easily see the location of customers and drivers, so our dispatchers can assign the closest truck and give the customer an accurate estimate for arrival. By travelling fewer miles to each call, we have saved $40,000 per month in fuel costs and our drivers can get to more calls every day.”
About TomTom N.V.
Founded in 1991, TomTom (AEX:TOM2) is the world’s leading supplier of location and navigation products and services focused on providing all drivers with the world’s best navigation experience. Headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom has 3,500 employees and sells its products in over 40 countries.
Our products include portable navigation devices, in-dash infotainment systems, fleet management solutions, maps and real-time services, including the award-winning TomTom HD Traffic.For the world’s most up-to-date route planner, including live traffic information please visit www.routes.tomtom.com.
For further information, please visit www.tomtom.com.
TomTom Business Solutions is a leading provider of fleet management solutions and recognised as the fastest growing Telematics Service Provider (TSP) for commercial fleets in Europe. TomTom Business Solutions is fully dedicated to commercial vehicle fleets and has been operating under the TomTom WORK brand for the past 5 years. TomTom Business Solutions’ WORKsmart fleet management solutions integrate navigation, dispatch and tracking through a combination of industry-leading hardware, software and maps.
About Beacon Software
Beacon Software was founded in 2001 to supply the most comprehensive towing management solutions available. Since releasing its premier tow management solution DispatchAnywhere™ in 2003, Beacon Software now services over 16,000 towers in 30 countries with a multitude of products – including the industry’s leading vehicle towing instruction website www.towspec.com. Beacon pioneered paperless digital dispatching with TowMagic™ (www.towmagic.com), has routed nearly 4 million motor club calls and now dispatches over 3 million total calls per year. Beacon’s products have helped thousands of service providers save money by becoming more efficient.