Imagine for a moment a jigsaw puzzle.  A jigsaw that you have to make, and quickly.  If you fail, or if you take too long, it will cost your company a lot of money.  There is much riding on your success.  Don’t worry though, you can get your friends who are brilliant at doing jigsaws to help you.

Easy?  Maybe.

Now consider the jigsaw itself.  The pieces are randomly scattered.  Some are face up, some aren’t.

You don’t know what the finished picture looks like.  Nor do you know how many pieces there are, how big it is supposed to be, or whether there are any pieces missing.

Still feeling confident ?  Perhaps less so.

Some pieces are duplicates and some appear to fit together but then don’t – and confuse you.  Other pieces aren’t real.  You are told they are there, but they aren’t really.  Several are even shape-shifters and change before your eyes.

It is quite hard now.

You must also wear special blinkers that allow you only to see one piece at a time.

Very hard now…  Maybe impossible?

Your instinct is telling you that it is going to take you and your friends a lot of time to finish the jigsaw. 

Time that quite frankly, you and your friends could be making better use of because there are other, easier jigsaws to solve.  You still have to solve this one though.  There is no getting away from that.

This puzzle is the solution to a problem you are working on.

The problem may be devices not working properly, too much data, too little data, a feature not doing as you expect it to …and so on.   In other words, any operational problem you are likely to come across.  It could be all sorts of things in a complex telematics eco-system.

The special one-piece-at-a-time blinkers are your view into another part of the telematics ecosystem that you do not have access to, and therefore do not understand.  Maybe it is provided by another company.  Possibly even in a different time zone, in a different language.  Perhaps people at that company don’t want to help you solve your jigsaw.  They are too busy solving their own big data jigsaws.  Maybe some people want to help too much.  They are well-meaning and their hearts are in the right place, but for whatever reason the information they are giving you is not consistent.  You get even more confused.

Anybody working in telematics solves jigsaw puzzles every day.  Some of them are hard, some of them are easy.  All of them cost money.

Keeping the jigsaw pieces together, on the table, face-up, not moving, not changing, without wearing those pesky blinkers is the key to solving big data puzzles quickly with the minimum of fuss and the minimum of wasted operational money.  That can only happen where the telematics eco-system is fully integrated.

Redtail is proud to have built and completely understand its own telematics eco-system, down to every single component and to the very last line of code.  Everybody is under one roof and works together to solve those jigsaws very quickly and efficiently.   Our customers know and recognise this as the true value of a Total Service Provider.  We are here to help you in solving the big data puzzles you encounter!

Essex Search and Rescue (ESAR) have been using Redtail Telematics vehicle tracking devices and accompanying app to help save lives…

Arthur finds life difficult these days.  Normal things no longer make sense.  There is a fog in his head that he can’t shake off.  It makes everything hard to understand.  The fog is frightening.  He doesn’t know what it is, or why it is there.  It never used to be like this.  Or did it?  He can’t remember.

Occasionally the fog clears and he remembers again.  Like he used to. 

He is happy and less fearful.  For a few seconds at least, he understands.   All too soon though, the mists swirl back in and he forgets.   Again.  The fog seems thicker now.  Things are even more confusing.

People he used to know well, are now only vaguely familiar.   He knows he should know them, but he can’t quite recall who they are.  You are one of them.  You remember Arthur as a strong, popular and happy man.  Now he is old, weak, vulnerable and, for the last three hours, missing.

Daylight is fading.  It is raining outside.   You wonder if he is getting cold.  Or thirsty, or hungry.   Where is he?  You know Arthur is afraid of the dark.  He never used to be.   Anxiety creeps in.  You feel deep down that something is wrong, very wrong.

Eventually, you phone the Police and report him as missing.  Are you already too late you wonder?

The Police patiently take down the details and try to reassure you that all will be well.

They decide that Arthur is at risk.  He needs to be found.  And quickly.

The Police assign as many resources as they can to look for him.  They call out a specialist volunteer Search and Rescue (SAR) team, who they know will respond immediately at any time of day or night.  The SAR team know how you feel.  They have felt the same as you in their own lives.  They gladly volunteer their time to look for Arthur and to help you.

The SAR team are on their way.

Some members get to the designated rendezvous point before their Incident Control vehicle arrives.  Time is of the essence.   Maybe Arthur is nearby and lying injured somewhere?  The SAR team want to organise rapid sweep of the local area, before the main search begins.

Redtail Telematics is proud to support Essex Search & Rescue (ESAR), one of the 2019 recipients of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service by providing vehicle tracking devices and an accompanying Mobile App.

Tony Allen, CTO Redtail Telematics and volunteer Search Technician.