Whangarei-based Rubicon Alcohol and Drug/CEP Support Service for Youth has 10 vehicles, with each assigned to a specific staff member. In day-to-day use the vehicles may cover a wide area that can be urban or rural.
The nature of Rubicon’s work means that the organisation adheres to a strong culture of safety — it’s critical to be able to trace people’s movements to ensure staff wellbeing. Customer service is also key, and Rubicon tries to be as responsive as possible to client needs.
Because Rubicon is a charity, every dollar counts, so minimising unnecessary expenditure on vehicles is important.
Rubicon installed EROAD’s products in all 10 vehicles. The organisation’s management did some education work with staff about the hows and the whys of the system, and this was backed up with staff meetings. “It’s just become the norm now,” says Rob Nordstrom, Rubicon’s CEO.
Rob says he’s found the system intuitive and easy to use, and he regularly makes use of the Activity screen and a range of reports. Rob finds, for instance, that the robust data gleaned from EZfuel reports helps him balance the books and lets him plan ahead.
“I know how many kilometres the cars are doing on an average week and what their fuel consumption is. That means I can have a look at budgets, so it allows me to project forward in relation to costs associated with vehicles.”
“It’s always good to have the confidence that I can look at my team’s calendars, know what their appointments are and know that yes, they’re at the address they should be, and yes, they’ve left the address so I know they’re safe.”
Rob Nordstrom
CEO, Rubicon
Rob’s team has recently started using EROAD Leaderboard, which ranks drivers based on events like speeding, harsh braking and sharp acceleration. Rob finds it useful as a way of opening conversations about driver behaviour.
“Because we know if people are getting speed alerts in particular locations, I can talk to the team and let them know they need to be conscious of that.” Those conversations are important for everyone; Rubicon and its clients rely on staff being mobile.
“Employment is conditional upon having a full driver licence, so we can’t risk anyone getting a licence suspension because of demerit points,” he says.
Leaderboard isn’t just about ensuring drivers don’t pick up speeding tickets, though — making drivers aware of how they act on the road is a way of keeping them safe.
Safety is where EROAD’s system benefits Rubicon most.
“I expect staff to do risk assessments about every situation and every person that they’re dealing with,” says Rob. “But we’re working with alcohol- and drug-affected clients, so if you’re going to someone’s home, you can never be 100% sure what you’re going to walk in to.” Which is where GPS comes in. Rob can simply bring up the vehicle activity map on MyEROAD website and see at a glance precisely where Rubicon’s cars are.
“It’s always good to have the confidence that I can look at my team’s calendars, know what their appointments are and know that yes, they’re at the address they should be, and yes, they’ve left the address so I know they’re safe.”
Customer service is also important, and Rob says EROAD is useful there, too. “If someone calls me and says a staff member was supposed to be there and they haven’t arrived, I can look at the Activity screen and say, Yep, they’re about three minutes away. Or if the map shows a staff member to be in an unexpected location I can call and find out what’s going on. I can then tell the client when they can expect someone.”
