Cash-in-transit, this couldn’t be more risky than it is today, could it? It seems every month there are new reports of the most outrageously cunning and even ingenious new techniques that thieves are using to rob armored vehicles to steal the precious contents that they are carrying. If there was ever any doubt that would allow you to relax and feel that your valuable transport fleet is not under threat, you should think again.
There are constant threats to armored vehicles and so you need to make sure that all aspects of your security and threat management policies are completely up to date and can deal with the increasingly sophisticated attacks that thieves are mounting today, or planning for tomorrow. The fact is that armored valuable transport vehicles are clearly identifiable and easy to spot targets. A successful attack would, of course, lead to an immediate loss for the carrier, but the long term consequences are more far reaching and far more damaging.
Counting the cost for attacks on your vehicles
While the short term impact of a successful attack on your armored vehicles will be damaging, what happens next is far more damaging. Consider the effects of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Japanese cities and what happened. The first impact was spectacular, a large explosion, equivalent to the successful attack on your vehicle, but the fall out, like radiation sickness is far worse:
• Immediate higher insurance premiums
• Reduced customer confidence
• Contracts being cancelled
• A serious risk of driving your company out of business
How can you reassure your clients that you are taking positive action?
Fortunately technology is at hand to help you. While the sophistication of attacks has increased, so the available technology that you can turn to has and is becoming more effective, better still, more affordable. Read on to understand how technology developers and specialist companies that are preparing solutions to really help you. What you should be looking for is a vehicle tracking solution that combines well tested Location Based Services (LBS) and Machine to Machine (M2M) technology in a series of applications combining software and hardware. You need to get informed about how this technology can help you and your business and understand how to implement it.
Getting down to the detail
As explained earlier a combination of LBS or GPS as it is known in Europe, together with M2M hardware and a great app means that tracking your armored vehicles wherever they are has just become a whole lot easier than it was before. M2M technology does not require human intervention, for example in a mobile scenario the driver does not need to call in to tell you where he and his truck are, so you can update your records, the M2M app connected with its modem and the link over the cellular network take care of all of this for you.
The guys who have developed the onboard M2M apps for cash carrying or valuable transports have actually gone far further than you may have imagined and so they can collect a rich array of information such as:
• Theft prevention by advertising that the truck is being tracked
• Fast response should the driver be injured and need attention, he or she needs only to press the panic button on their specially modified mobile phone
• Stolen vehicle tracking to pinpoint where the vehicle has been driven to by the thieves
• Ease efficient truck usage thanks to the User Based Insurance model that insurance companies developed
• Hold drivers accountable for their actions
• Full monitoring 24/7/365 this is a “never sleeps solution”
How do you get hold of the technology and implement it?
The best place to start with is your insurance company, remember they are the ones who will increase your risk payments each time there is an incident, would they pay up? Normally they will be more than delighted to help you find the right technology that they have approved to be fitted into your armored trucks.
Better still, if you are using M2M equipment and software that they have already approved you can ask for a reduction in your insurance premium as your armored trucks are now lower risk.
The insurance company should be able to point you to an approved installer to fit the equipment, the installation can normally be completed within one working day, so your truck will not be off the road for too long. Once it is ready, you are going to receive some very valuable information immediately. Not only can you track your vehicle when something goes wrong, but you also can check the overall driving experience of your drivers.
Do they drive carefully, or do they drive too fast and take unwarranted risks? Do they make unscheduled stops? For a coffee, or a long lunch that is not permitted with the vehicle and its valuable contents left on the side of the road? Once you have installed this M2M technology, all will be revealed and you can deal with the facts, not your hunches!