One of Ethan’s bus drivers failed to make a morning stop, prompting a call from a concerned and upset mother. Instead of feeling stressed by the call, the transportation director felt noticeably calmer. That’s because he had a new team member in place and was confident the incident could likely be resolved in minutes, not hours.

In the past, a missed bus stop in Ethan’s district typically meant an hour of research, at minimum. He needed details quickly and some took considerable time to acquire due to travel, driver responsiveness and staff availability. Often, it took Ethan hours to collect the information, evaluate and report on a single incident.

Face the same challenges? Level up, like Ethan did.

Motivated by the need for easier event resolution and assistance with daily operations, he shopped for a streamlined solution to facilitate efficiency. Ultimately, he brought the A-game to his operation: ARMOR Software Suite.

When integrated with high-definition REI cameras and DVRs, the suite delivers a remote, all-in-one fleet management solution designed to boost efficiency, safety and peace of mind. How would ARMOR’s innovative tools simplify your fleet management, like they did for Ethan and his team? Let’s take a look:

Track Vehicles in Real Time

Shortly after the mother’s call, Ethan accessed the Insight tool to find the bus route and capture details. A click on the stop’s location enabled him to view and download video of the alleged missed stop. Minutes later, he had video proof: The student was absent, and his driver did stop. The process would be just as easy for your operation.

Automate Processes & Communication

The Actions tool allows you to set up automated video downloads, automated event notifications, automated diagnostic warnings/updates and other useful reports. This eliminates trips to pull hard drives, speeds up event resolutions and helps reduce costs.

Simplify Video Search

AutoPilot serves as an archive of auto-downloaded and manually requested video clips. Users may filter videos by criteria to save hours of search time. Ethan frequently shares videos with other administrators via password-protected links.

Enable Live Look-In

With ten thousand students on the district’s afternoon buses, Ethan sees all types of events. ARMOR Live allows him to view and hear these events in progress, enabling him to respond quickly. Think how much time and effort it would save your team.

Access Data & Video Remotely

With ARMOR Cloud, district administrators can securely access ARMOR from anywhere, at any time, using internet-connected devices. This allows them to request the video clips they wish to review and eliminates some tasks for Ethan and his team. Even more, the cloud service minimizes server management responsibilities and costs for hardware and IT resources. Security, scalability and software updates are administered for them.

Interested in taking your fleet management to the A level? Want to score info about all of ARMOR’s tools? Contact REI or your sales representative.

_{Requires additional hardware and/or specific cellular service plans. Ask for details.}

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Bring the A-Game to Fleet Management appeared first on School Transportation News.

His cellphone notification pierced Jim’s normally quiet 6 a.m. coffee time at home. The alert pertained to school bus 12, prompting the transportation director to pull up the live feed from REI’s ARMOR Software Suite on his mobile device.* Because of the bus’s cellular-connected DVR, Jim saw bus 12 on its side along a rural gravel road.

He immediately contacted the driver to confirm everyone’s safety, then called 911. Shortly after, Jim reviewed the video clip that had uploaded to ARMOR Cloud from the DVR.* The cause was apparent: Washed-out gravel from a recent downpour caused the bus to slide off the road and overturn.

Within minutes, he sent video clips to school administrators, answered questions from parents and law enforcement, and did it remotely without leaving home. Additionally, the event video stored automatically and securely in the cloud for future reference. This streamlined process would facilitate speedy event resolution for your operation as well.

While Jim accessed ARMOR Cloud for safety reasons in this instance, the platform also provides additional benefits for transportation departments like yours:

Improved Efficiency

REI’s experienced cloud administrators manage your ARMOR server, licensing, updates and scalability. This removes technical overhead and allows your transportation staff to focus on managing the fleet instead of managing IT.

Reduced Costs

ARMOR Cloud eliminates the need for on-site servers and additional IT resources. REI handles the hosting, infrastructure and personnel needed to keep the system running smoothly.

Easy Access

Fleet data and video clips are uploaded automatically from cellular-connected DVRs and stored in a secure cloud environment. Your staff may access the system 24/7/365 from anywhere with an internet connection to review footage, check alerts, monitor vehicle activities and locations in real time, access REI equipment reports and more.

Data Security

All data and video are backed up in regional and national locations to reduce the risk of loss during power outages, storms or other disruptions.

Reduced Stress

Knowing that experienced IT professionals maintain system performance and protect your fleet data gives you and your team greater peace of mind.

Many school districts around the U.S. currently realize the benefits of ARMOR and ARMOR Cloud and appreciate their abilities to simplify operations. Contact REI today to learn how these solutions could transform your team’s approach to fleet management.

_{*Requires additional hardware and/or specific cellular service plans. Ask for details.}

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Simplified Fleet Management? appeared first on School Transportation News.