How do transportation companies increase their profits with the cloud?

The applicability of cloud computing has been showing excellent results in several areas, including sectors that are not the first that come to mind when thinking about the benefits offered by the cloud . The transport is an example.

With market competition, investment in technology has become essential not only to differentiate itself but also to obtain gains in the management capacity of a successful business.

However, investing in IT can be a big challenge. Technology managers need good arguments to, for example, justify the migration of an existing infrastructure to the cloud. Think about it in a sector like transport, where the main focus is on the movement of products or people and with high maintenance costs.

So how exactly can cloud computing benefit the transportation industry?

The vision of cloud computing

Talking about cloud computing still means overcoming some barriers, especially when the concept of technology is outdated, associated with spending on hardware and software and the use of an internal network to exchange emails.

Some companies have a vague understanding of their data storage and communication infrastructures. For many managers, the cloud concept is associated with having an intranet and, in some cases, taking advantage of a set of servers for backup and redundancy. However, they use traditional computing strategies, not cloud computing.

The first companies in the transportation industry to understand the concept of cloud computing and its strategic benefits are already showing excellent results and showing rapid growth.

The number of passengers and freight transport has grown strongly in recent years, and although cloud computing does not make sense for all transport applications, its greatest attribute is to bring several resources together in a useful instrument panel that goes beyond investments and cost reduction.

How do transportation companies increase their profits with the cloud?

By connecting the direct transportation industry with the cloud, companies can bring together a large dataset and transform it into more accurate and dynamic information. At the same time, they become more efficient in operational management, reducing problems such as delays and increasing vehicle safety.

Through the cloud, information is available in virtually real time, allowing managers to make quick adjustments for better service. Let's take a look at the advantages of connecting the transportation industry to the cloud.

• The fleet located in the cloud

For many years, the transportation industry has been exchanging information, such as passenger counts and vehicle diagnostics, over a local area network. IT departments are traditionally set up with on-premises staff, network infrastructure, and data centers.

The use of cloud services to store fleet data has the greatest effect and the real benefit is having data collected directly from the fleet using devices connected to the management systems.

You can use GPS devices, passenger counters, fare collectors and other devices to capture key data and send it to the cloud. Traditionally, these devices are connected to a wired internet connection, where data is downloaded to a locally connected PC and transmitted at pre-set intervals, overnight or once a week.

Often the data is never used or analyzed inefficiently once a month or even once a year to make changes to the service.

• Simplifying the use of fleet data and converting it into useful information

Data collected by transport companies can be used more efficiently. Currently, agencies collect various measures ranging from travel time to expenses such as fuel consumption and fare payments. Then various departments and employees manage each of these measurements and create reports for managers to compare and contrast data.

When all data is uploaded to the cloud, managers can access information anytime, anywhere through a secure portal. They analyze the data they need, which allows them to generate authoritative reports and convert that information into strategic decisions.

The operational efficiencies gained by cloud computing eliminate the time spent generating monthly or annual reports, enabling quick decisions and immediately increasing management efficiency.

Sky.One already has Sky.One cases in migration to cloud computing in the transport sector. Get in touch with our consultants and learn how we achieve efficiency with the use of cloud computing .