As solutions for fleet tracking have developed over the past decade, several terms have risen to the top to describe how to do it:

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) - has become an all-purpose idiomatic term to describe tracking vehicles or any high-dollar asset that is taken into the field, such as ruggedized laptops or other expensive equipment. Successful AVL requires at least five components.

Mobile Resource Management (MRM) - An interchangeable term with AVL, Mobile Resource Management was coined to encompass the fact that not just vehicles are tracked today. This is also sometimes tied to Mobile Workforce Management.

Machine to Machine (M2M) - A term used to describe automated tracking that takes the human out of the equation. For instance, in geo-tracking, a mobile asset communicates wirelessly with a server, that only alerts a person if the tracked machine leaves the designated route or area.

What's In it For Me?
Using a combination of technology, hardware and software, AVL provides visibility never before available to managers who send personnel and assets out into the field.
Only in the past few years has it become possible to control costs and manage personnel through real-time and accurate historical monitoring of:

• Actual routes taken
• Fuel consumption
• Materials consumption such as sand, de-icing chemicals, etc.
• Personnel activity in the field

With true end-to-end visibility, managers can cut costs and provide compliance with confidence.

• Route, schedule and streamline operations to save money in consumption and personnel costs
• Mitigate risk and lower insurance costs by knowing immediately when problems occur 

Who Uses This?
Fleet management is for companies or organizations of any size who put assets and personnel in the field.

• Many government entities have instituted AVL to show accountability and ensure public safety.
• Energy and Utility companies are using MRM to make sure their personnel and assets are safe and to control costs and ensure compliance
• Companies of all sizes who provide delivery or other field service are able to provide route efficiency and cut personnel costs