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AI is Neutral Technology: What May Be Harmful in Social Media Can Help Healthcare – ReadWrite

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2 years ago

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AI is Neutral Technology: What May Be Harmful in Social Media Can Help Healthcare - ReadWrite


Netflix’s new “The Social Dilemma” documentary has been eye-opening for millions of viewers (see in: hundustantimes, dotcom), sparking conversation — and concern — about how the algorithms used by social media platforms manipulate human behavior.

Here is: “AI is Neutral Technology: What May be Harmful in Social Media Can Help Healthcare — By Dr. Darren Schulte, MD is Chief Executive Officer at Apixio.

By leveraging artificial intelligence that has become shockingly good at analyzing, predicting, and influencing user behavior. The film asserts that the resulting unintended consequences have created real-life dystopian implications: excessive screen time that causes real-world relationships to suffer, addictive behavior, alarming societal divisiveness, and even higher rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide.

These consequences as users look to social media for validation. Big tech corporations profit enormously by harvesting and analyzing their user data and manipulating their behavior to benefit advertisers.

While the film appears to give machine learning algorithms a bad rap, these algorithms aren’t inherently evil. It all depends upon what the algorithms are trained to do.

In fact, the use of AI algorithms in healthcare has tremendous potential to transform health care by improving individual patient outcomes and overall population health, enabling more personalized medicine, reducing waste and costs, and accelerating the discovery of new treatment and preventative measures.

The same type of algorithms showcased in the Social Dilemma can be trained to analyze data generated by patients, care providers, and devices (like wearables). 

The algorithms can even use surveillance of body functions (like lab tests and vital signs) to provide deeper and more accurate insight into individual health, health-related habits, and behaviors over time.

By combining that individual data with anonymous, aggregated population data, we can discover better treatments, refine clinical guidelines, and discover new therapies to improve overall population health.

  • Improve response to emergent diseases like COVID-19. One of the problems we’ve had with effectively treating COVID-19 patients is that there’s been a lot of experimentation and trial-and-error. However, even the data on the results of those therapies has been slow to propagate across the global medical community.

Hospitals and physicians only have data on the patients that they are treating themselves. With no cohesive system for sharing patient data. Providers in America, for example, have not been able to benefit quickly enough from the knowledge and experience of providers in Asia and Europe — where the virus spread first.

By leveraging AI to mine aggregated medical records from millions of individuals, we could see what treatments have been most effective for specific patient cohorts.

Even further, we could analyze the characteristics of those already infected to see which attributes make one more likely to develop the most severe symptoms. By identifying vulnerable populations faster, we can then take targeted steps to prevent infection and implement the most effective treatments.

As we have seen, the analysis and exchange of this data manually, takes far too long, contributing to the propagation and death toll. With AI, we can surface this knowledge much faster and potentially reduce the impact of the next novel disease.

  • Provide better patient surveillance. Identifying how – and how fast – COVID-19 spreads has also been a significant challenge. Scientists traditionally use a metric called R0 (pronounced “R naught”), a measure of the average number of people infected by one infectious individual.

Using R0 to predict COVID-19’s spread has been problematic for several reasons, including the fact that different groups use different models and data, and asymptomatic individuals can spread the disease without knowing that they are infected.

AI can help resolve this issue to improve patient surveillance by analyzing both medical records of patients who tested positive alongside contact tracing data that indicates the potential for infection. By combining this data and analyzing it at scale, medical authorities can use this insight to determine where to implement aggressive testing programs and more restrictive shelter-in-place measures to slow the spread of disease.

  • Improve the quality of care. Health care providers want to deliver the best quality of care to their patients. But one of the challenges they face is measuring quality and patient outcomes with empirical evidence. With patient data scattered across different sources like electronic health records (EHRs), lab results, imaging studies, it is difficult to aggregate and analyze.

By implementing systems that consolidate this data and allow providers to use AI to mine it for insights, physician practices and hospitals can identify trends among patients and implement quality improvement programs.

For example, if they see that individuals with certain characteristics fail to follow-up on important health concerns, providers can intervene with appointment reminders, transportation resources, provide telehealth options, or other interventions to keep patients engaged in their own care.

On the flip side, insurers are also concerned about care quality and ensuring patients get the best possible outcome at the lowest possible cost.

AI can help insurers track and measure patient outcomes as they move through the care system—from a primary care provider to a specialist to a hospital for surgery and into a rehab facility, for example—and identify providers or treatment protocols that may not be delivering optimal results. Insurers can then work with providers to implement new approaches to improve success rates and overall patient outcomes.

  • Identify and mitigate concerning trends. During a typical patient encounter, doctors only have access to the medical information for the patient in front of them. Consulting their patient history provides a limited view of factors that might indicate declining health. With data scattered across different systems, doctors do not always have all the data they need at hand.

AI can help surface broader indicators that a patient’s health may be declining over time.

By analyzing aggregate data across a large population, AI can show that patients with certain vital signs or trends in their data might be headed toward developing certain conditions, like diabetes or heart disease.

Physicians can use this information as a predictor of potential trouble and begin implementing preventative action. Some solutions can alert physicians to these insights as notifications within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) during the patient encounter. This allows physicians to take swift action to prevent disease progression.

  • Enable personalized medicine. The health care industry has been moving toward personalized medicine for years, aiming to transform the “one-size-fits-all” approach to care into a customized plan for each individual. But this is practically impossible without access to aggregated data and insights that only AI can provide.

Consider the AI social media companies use to create and leverage personas to prompt engagement and drive advertising dollars. If we were to apply the same technique to build health care personas for each person, we could then provide this information to providers (with the patient’s permission).

Providers could then use tools like notifications, nudges, cues, or other communication (just like social media) to elicit positive behavior for better health.

For example, providers could target at-risk patients with prescription reminders, diet recommendations, or other resources relevant to their specific health situation.

  • Reduce diagnostic and treatment errors. Even the best providers can overlook important details and make mistakes, especially with the pressure they are under to squeeze more patients into a typical day.

Just as algorithms can help social platforms surface insights about their audience to woo advertisers, physicians can use algorithms to surface insights to diagnose and treat conditions accurately. For example, AI can highlight confounding conditions or risk factors for patients, allowing doctors to consider the individual’s entire health profile when making decisions.

AI can also aid in surfacing potential drug interactions that could put patients at risk. All of this can substantially lower the risk of errors that cause patients harm, not to mention reduce the risk of malpractice accusations.

The same way algorithms can identify Facebook users who might be interested in a new lawnmower and serve up an appropriate ad; they can help providers identify high-risk patients before they develop costly care needs. By culling through data to identify risk factors, AI allows providers to implement preventative and early intervention strategies.

For example, an algorithm might spot a specific obesity indicator that correlates with the risk for Type II diabetes or identify patients with high blood pressure that are at greater risk of heart attack, stroke, or kidney disease.

These insights can be delivered at the point of care, even during a patient encounter. If a patient displays a specific set of symptoms, as the data is entered into the EHR, the physician is alerted to the risk and can review trends in disease progression or confounding conditions to plot the best course of action.

  • Identify optimal treatment pathways through data-based referrals. Traditionally, when a patient needed to see a specialist, for surgery or physical therapy, for example, physicians typically referred to providers with whom they have existing relationships.

Unfortunately for patients, this does not always mean they get the best care for their unique situation. Does the provider have experience working with patients with co-morbidities? Do they specialize in complex surgeries or more typical procedures?

AI allows providers to refer to the best provider for each patient’s unique needs based on hard evidence of success and proven outcomes, rather than simply based on existing ties.

For example, if a patient with diabetes needs a knee replacement, AI can help primary care providers to identify orthopedic specialists and rehabilitation providers with proven, demonstrably better results in handling patients with this co-existing condition.

  • Reduce spending waste. About 30% of healthcare spending is considered “waste,” totaling up to $935 billion. Nearly $80 billion alone can be attributed to overtreatment or low-value care.

In other words, providers order more tests, services, and procedures that aren’t necessarily the best option—or even necessary at all—mostly in an effort to protect themselves against being accused of not doing enough and to meet insurer’s requirements (e.g., ordering x-rays before an MRI when an injury is clearly soft tissue related or sending patients for multiple repeat mammograms before conducting an ultrasound to evaluate a suspicious lump).

By mining data using algorithms, providers and insurers can focus on using the tests and procedures that demonstrate high value or necessary for specific instances. For example, is it necessary for patients on certain medications to get blood tests every 90 days? Do wellness visits add value to patients?

By looking at what is most effective across the larger population, AI can help point physicians in the right direction earlier, reducing unnecessary diagnostics and placing the patient on the path to better health more quickly.

AI thereby can reduce wasteful spending by identifying diagnostics that are most effective and economical, potentially saving patients and payers millions every year on ineffective tests and treatments.

  • Accelerate drug and treatment discovery. The current pathway to new drugs, vaccines, and treatments is long and arduous. On average, it takes at least ten years for new drugs to go from discovery to marketplace, with trials alone taking as long as seven years on average. For new vaccines, the average time to market is up to 12 years (which puts hope for a COVID-19 vaccine by year’s end into perspective).

One of the reasons the process is so slow is the lack of advanced data and analytics capabilities in the process.

The use of AI to analyze patient and drug performance data could substantially accelerate the time to market for new drugs and vaccines, which could save lives.

Just as the lack of data analytics meant doctors struggled to devise effective COVID-19 protocols, the inability to rapidly analyze trial data and evaluate new use cases for existing drugs prevents patients from getting the treatment they need.

Algorithms can accelerate this analysis and get much-needed medicines into the hands of patients faster.

All this time can add up to a significant cost and take away from time spent in direct, face-to-face time with patients.

AI can help reduce this burden and lower operational costs by automating manual processes like prior authorizations, reducing retrospective chart reviews by surfacing the right data to the right people earlier. The right data, quickly obtainable, will help physicians make better, faster decisions.

These efficiencies enabled by AI, on the administrative side, ultimately lower the cost of health care services for both patients and payers and frees up more resources to improve direct patient care.

The negative use of social media comes when the data influences human behavior bringing negative consequences.

For the most part, technology is neutral. But in the wrong hands with the wrong motives or objectives, the use of algorithms can raise serious ethical questions.

The same algorithms that cause us to feel more anxious, isolated, or depressed when leveraged by social media can also be used to help us heal, stay healthy, and achieve optimal well-being.

The questions are all about the algorithm’s objective and training, testing, and user feedback data that are used by the algorithm.  The reality is that managing both individual and public health in the 21st century requires access to data and insights.

Without data-driven insights, we are just guessing what will work in healthcare and what doesn’t.

Leveraging algorithms to analyze health care data empowers physicians to devise a truly personalized care plan for each individual. The physician can improve the quality of care overall and lower health care costs by tapping into collective insight and knowledge gleaned from millions of patient records.

Image Credit: karolina grabowska; pexels

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How Emerging Technology Is Helping Teams Save on Development Costs

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2 hours ago

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03/30/2023

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Free Your Money: Strategies for Keeping Your Money In The Best Place Possible - ReadWrite


Software developer pay spans a notoriously wide range, but few would argue that U.S.-based development costs are “cheap.”

According to a U.S. News & World Report analysis, the median U.S. software developer earned $120,730 in 2021. Experienced devs can easily command $200,000 per year in cash compensation alone, with incentive pay and company benefits adding significantly to that total.

You most likely know this already. You also most likely know that complex software development projects take months and involve multiple developers and engineers. “Cost spiral” doesn’t begin to describe the situation.

You don’t need to be reminded how important it is to cut DevOps costs wherever possible. Your bosses and shareholders (perhaps one and the same) remind you enough.

Fortunately, emerging technologies and tools are making it easier than ever to reduce software development expenses without compromising output, efficiency, or quality. It’s no exaggeration to say that these new capabilities are revolutionizing software development and helping DevOps teams save money across the board.

Let’s take a closer look at four types of emerging capabilities: next-generation project management tools, cloud computing services, task automation tools, and ephemeral development environments. Each offers potentially game-changing opportunities for teams looking to work faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

Using next-generation project management tools to drive software development efficiency and collaboration

Signs of bad project management include missed deadlines, poor quality control, and infighting within teams that need to collaborate closely. These and other direct results of poor project management are harmful to the broader organization (and to the careers of those responsible for them).

Yet poor project management has a direct financial cost as well. This goes back to what we’ve already discussed: the high cost of labor in a product development environment and, specifically, the very high cost of labor in a software development context. Every day that passes without an anticipated deliverable is a day that brings unanticipated costs. And while every project budget has some built-in wiggle room, said costs eventually become unacceptable.

The good news is that software development teams can turn to an already-existing library of scalable, easy-to-use project management tools that easily map to DevOps use cases. Your team may already use some basic project management tools to manage workflows and keep track of deliverables, timeframes, and responsibilities. Still, if you haven’t surveyed the landscape and assessed individual tools’ capabilities relative to your team’s needs, you’re likely not maximizing their potential.

Look for project management tools with the following capabilities:

  • Use cases specifically designed for your specific development framework. For example, Jira’s project management tool is specifically tailored to Agile development teams.
  • Relevant integrations with third-party apps, from general-purpose tools like Google Docs (where your spreadsheets likely live already) to DevOps, cloud storage, and even CRM software.
  • Sophisticated calendar views that enable visual-oriented team members to “see” their project responsibilities at a glance.
  • Powerful developer APIs that allow you to customize the project management interface to your needs and produce efficiency-oriented outputs.

Ideally, your team relies on one core project management tool to manage everything it’s working on together, with individual developers free to use additional tools to manage their personal workflows.

That may require you to cut out a less optimal tool (or several) and disrupt legacy use cases, but it’s better to rip off the Band-Aid now before a bona fide productivity crisis hits. Further down the road, untangling competing and deeply entrenched workflows will surely prove more costly and more disruptive.

Leveraging cloud computing services for projects with multiple stakeholders

Like project management software, cloud computing services no longer count as revolutionary. If your team is small, it might use GSuite for cloud-based storage and collaboration. If it’s larger, it might use Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (whose incomprehensible value only underscores the critical importance of cloud computing).

And so you’re already aware that cloud computing services make development more efficient by enhancing collaboration, reducing duplication of effort, and sharply cutting reliance on onsite database hosting, file storage, and data processing.

Your team can and should use cloud computing services in additional ways that even more directly improve DevOps efficiency and cost control:

  • Containerization: Containerization enables software deployment on any computing infrastructure. Bundling app code and file libraries in a self-contained, platform-agnostic unit eliminate the need to match platform-specific software packages (i.e., Windows-compatible) with the correct machines. Containerized deployment is more portable, more scalable, and more resilient — and it’s only possible in the cloud.
  • Microservices (vs. monolithic architecture): Microservices break up the development architecture into many small, agile units that communicate via API. Rather than an inflexible “monolith” that needs to be reworked as it scales, microservices can be scaled internally (or new ones created) as needs arise. Like containerization, it’s a much more flexible, agile, and ultimately low-cost way to manage complex DevOps workflows.

Automating repetitive tasks throughout the development lifecycle

Task and workflow automation tools are improving at an incredible clip, and the advantages of next-generation automation are particularly impressive for DevOps teams. As just one example, telecom giant Ericsson drove significant cost savings by automating key aspects of their software development pipeline and transitioning to a continuous deployment model, according to a study published in Empirical Software Engineering.

Transitioning to continuous deployment is a time- and cost-intensive process that may not be practical for smaller teams, at least not in the near term. But your team can leverage task automation in many other ways.

Testing automation deserves special mention here. Automated testing and QA solutions like Robot Framework and Zephyr (respectively) reduce the need for repetitive, labor-intensive poking and prodding by human devs whose efforts are better spent elsewhere. By finding bugs and quality issues earlier in the development workflow, they also reduce the need for costly and time-consuming fixes further along in the process.

Increasingly, code generation itself is automated, thanks to tools like Eclipse. These generative tools will only improve as processing power increases and training sets expand. Consequently, this sets the stage for a near-future scenario where devs will need to manually write far less code. That, in turn, will allow DevOps teams to stretch dev resources further. Additionally, it will free up person-hours for more creative or problem-focused work.

Utilizing ephemeral environments to improve development speed and quality

Finally, software development teams can achieve efficiency and cost improvements at virtually any scale by utilizing ephemeral environments. These are temporary staging environments that can be created at will, generally for a single-purpose feature test or bug fix, and then eliminated when no longer needed to keep costs low.

Ephemeral environments offer clear advantages for development teams. They reduce pull request backlogs, a notorious sticking point (and cost driver) for larger teams. They’re isolated, which reduces the risk of bug-inducing branch conflicts. They’re fully automated, which frees up engineers to deal with more important matters. And because they enable more targeted, granular testing, they speed up the development process overall. They also reduce the risk of an unacceptable issue breaching the main code branch. Repairs on the main code branch are much more time-consuming and costly.

The result is a faster, more efficient workflow that scales with your team in response to demand. For example, Uffizzi’s on-demand ephemeral environment tool helped Spotify add 20% more features to every release of its popular Backstage developer portal platform. Backstage grew rapidly after initial open-sourcing in 2020 and now averages some 400 active pull requests per month. The transition to ephemeral environments slashed average pull request completion times across the platform.

Ephemeral environments can also help smaller development teams achieve the same economies of scale as larger teams. For example, moving to a continuous deployment model might seem out of reach for small teams under the old “bottlenecked” shared environment framework. Start by streamlining this process and freeing up department resources for longer-term strategic work. Ephemeral environments (and other process automation tools) make such shifts possible.

It’s no accident that Uffizzi’s out-of-the-box ephemeral environment solution supercharges the continuous integration/delivery process.

Opportunities abound now, with more to come

Change is already here for software teams accustomed to the old way of doing things. These four emerging or expanding technologies and tools —

  • Next-generation project management software
  • Expansive and flexible cloud computing services
  • Increasingly intelligent and capable task automation tools
  • Scalable, on-demand ephemeral environments for better testing and QA

— are making life easier and development faster for DevOps departments around the world. Their capabilities and use cases will only expand as time goes on.

These four technologies aren’t the only emerging opportunities for software developers and the companies that employ them, however. Around-the-bend and over-the-horizon capabilities could change the tech industry in even more fundamental ways:

  • AI-driven platforms for developers, like TensorFlow, that promise to dramatically speed up development timeframes and allow teams to do much more with much less
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capabilities that break down silos between DevOps teams and the rest of an organization and create trusted, reliable code frameworks that ultimately reduce developer and maintainer workloads
  • Low- and no-code application development, which — while possibly overhyped in the short term — could further break down barriers and enable faster, more collaborative action
  • Augmented reality tools and apps, whose potential impact remains speculative but which will likely play an increasingly important role in software and product development over the next decade

Final Thoughts

In the coming years, odds are you’ll integrate all four of these capabilities into your DevOps workflows by then. You’ll most likely take advantage of other emerging technologies and tools in the near future too. These may even include some we don’t yet know about. As the pace of innovation accelerates, staying one step ahead of the competition — and doing right by your firm’s stakeholders, financially and otherwise — means watching closely for new tech that can speed up your development timelines and reduce overall DevOps costs.

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Eco-Friendly Fleet Maintenance Trends and Strategies

Published

14 hours ago

on

03/29/2023

By

Deanna Ritchie


As the world becomes increasingly aware of the impact of climate change, many businesses are seeking ways to mitigate their carbon footprint and embrace more sustainable practices. In the transportation industry, fleet maintenance is a key area where businesses can make significant strides in reducing their environmental impact.

The Big Issues With Today’s Fleet Maintenance

There are several environmental issues associated with today’s fleet maintenance practices. Here are some of the biggest:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Fleet vehicles are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. The emissions from fuel combustion and the use of heavy-duty vehicles can have negative impacts on air quality, water quality, and human health.

Hazardous Waste Disposal

Many fleet maintenance activities generate hazardous waste, such as used oil, solvents, and other chemicals. If not disposed of properly, these can contaminate soil and water, posing a risk to human health and the environment.

Resource Consumption

Fleet maintenance requires significant resources, including energy, water, and raw materials. The extraction and processing of these resources can have negative impacts on the environment, including habitat destruction, deforestation, and water pollution.

Noise Pollution

Fleet maintenance activities can be noisy, especially in urban areas. This can have negative impacts on wildlife and human health, contributing to stress and hearing damage.

Land Use and Habitat Destruction

The construction and maintenance of fleet facilities, such as maintenance yards and parking lots, can require significant amounts of land. This can lead to habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity.

Overall, fleet maintenance has significant environmental impacts, and addressing these issues will require a comprehensive approach that includes the adoption of sustainable practices, the use of alternative fuels and technologies, and the implementation of environmentally responsible waste management practices.

7 Eco-Friendly Fleet Maintenance Tips

Aligning a company’s fleet maintenance approach with larger green initiatives and eco-friendly mission statements has never been more practical. Here are several helpful tips and strategies to get you started:

1. Switch to Alternative Fuels

One of the most effective ways to make fleet maintenance more eco-friendly is to switch to alternative fuels. Traditional gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles produce a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Alternative fuels, like electricity, biofuels, and even hydrogen, produce fewer emissions and can help reduce a company’s carbon footprint.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular as a sustainable transportation option. EVs produce zero emissions and are typically much cheaper to maintain than traditional vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are also an option, producing only water as a byproduct. Biofuels, which are made from renewable sources like corn and soybeans, can also be used in some vehicles.

2. Use Sustainable Products and Materials

In addition to alternative fuels, businesses can also make fleet maintenance more eco-friendly by using sustainable products and materials. Here are some examples:

Biodegradable cleaning products: Traditional cleaning products can contain chemicals that can be harmful to the environment. Biodegradable cleaning products are a more sustainable alternative as they are made from natural, non-toxic ingredients that break down quickly and safely.

Recycled materials: Using recycled materials, such as oil and tires, can help reduce waste and conserve natural resources. Recycled oil can be re-refined and used again, while recycled tires can be turned into rubberized asphalt, which can be used to pave roads.

Eco-friendly lubricants and fluids: Using eco-friendly lubricants and fluids, such as biodegradable hydraulic fluids and biodegradable grease, can help reduce pollution and protect the environment.

Sustainable packaging: When purchasing products and materials for your fleet maintenance, look for sustainable packaging options, such as products that are shipped in recyclable or biodegradable packaging.

By using sustainable products and materials in fleet maintenance, you can help reduce your environmental footprint and promote sustainability.

3. Conduct Regular Preventive Maintenance

Fleet maintenance software can be a powerful tool for managing preventive maintenance as part of a green fleet management strategy. Here are some steps to help you use fleet maintenance software to perform preventative maintenance:

Set up a preventative maintenance schedule: The first step is to set up a maintenance schedule in your fleet maintenance software. This schedule should include regular maintenance tasks such as oil changes, tire rotations, and other routine maintenance tasks that will help keep your vehicles running efficiently and reduce emissions.

Track vehicle usage: Your fleet maintenance software should be able to track vehicle usage, including mileage, hours of operation, and other relevant data. This information can help you schedule maintenance tasks based on actual use rather than just time intervals, which can help reduce unnecessary maintenance and waste.

Use eco-friendly parts and materials: When performing preventive maintenance, make sure to use eco-friendly parts and materials whenever possible. This can include using recycled oil, eco-friendly tires, and other environmentally friendly products.

Monitor fuel consumption: Your fleet maintenance software should also be able to track fuel consumption for each vehicle in your fleet. By monitoring fuel consumption, you can identify inefficiencies and make adjustments to improve fuel economy, which can help reduce emissions.

Analyze data and adjust your strategy: Finally, use the data collected by your fleet maintenance software to analyze your fleet’s performance and adjust your strategy as needed. For example, if certain vehicles are consistently underperforming or require more frequent maintenance, consider replacing them with more fuel-efficient models.

The good news is that implementing fleet management software into your company’s strategy isn’t nearly as challenging or intensive as you might think. Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning, the upfront setup is much faster and more efficient than you may realize. This allows you to get up and running quickly.

4. Implement More Efficient Routing

Efficient routing is another strategy for making fleet maintenance more sustainable. By optimizing routes, businesses can reduce the amount of fuel their vehicles consume and the emissions they produce. This not only helps the environment but can also save the company money on fuel costs.

GPS and fleet management software can help companies optimize their routes and reduce fuel consumption. These tools can provide real-time data on traffic patterns, road closures, and weather conditions, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about their routes.

5. Promote Better Driver Education

Another important aspect of eco-friendly fleet maintenance is promoting driver education. Drivers who are trained in eco-friendly driving techniques can help reduce fuel consumption and emissions. This includes techniques such as reducing idling time, avoiding sudden accelerations and braking, and maintaining a steady speed.

In addition to driver education, businesses can also encourage their drivers to adopt sustainable habits, such as carpooling and using public transportation when possible. This not only reduces the company’s carbon footprint but can also save employees money on commuting costs.

6. Use Telematics Technology

Telematics technology refers to the use of wireless communication systems and GPS technology to transmit data from vehicles to a remote location. This technology allows businesses to track and monitor the performance of their fleet vehicles, including fuel consumption, emissions, speed, and location.

By collecting this data, telematics technology can help businesses optimize their fleet operations to make them more energy-efficient and green. Here are some of the ways that telematics technology can be used to improve fleet sustainability:

Route Optimization: Telematics systems can provide real-time traffic updates, road closures, and weather conditions to help businesses optimize their vehicle routes. By choosing the most efficient route, fleet managers can reduce fuel consumption and emissions while ensuring on-time deliveries.

Fuel Efficiency Monitoring: Telematics technology can track fuel consumption in real-time, giving fleet managers insights into how their vehicles are performing. By identifying patterns of inefficient driving or idling, businesses can take steps to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Maintenance Alerts: Telematics technology can also alert businesses when a vehicle is due for maintenance or repairs. By staying on top of maintenance, businesses can ensure that their vehicles are running at peak efficiency.

Driver Behavior Monitoring: Telematics technology can monitor driver behavior, including acceleration, braking, and speed. By identifying patterns of inefficient driving, businesses can provide coaching and training to drivers to help them improve their driving habits.

7. Reduce Vehicle Weight

Reducing the weight of fleet vehicles can also make maintenance more eco-friendly. The heavier a vehicle is, the more fuel it requires to move, which means it will produce more emissions. By reducing the weight of their vehicles, companies can reduce the amount of fuel they consume and the emissions they produce.

This can be achieved by removing unnecessary equipment and cargo from the vehicles, as well as using lightweight materials for vehicle maintenance. For example, aluminum wheels and carbon fiber parts can be used to reduce the weight of the vehicle.

Turn Your Fleet Green

Implementing eco-friendly fleet maintenance practices not only benefits the environment. It can also help businesses save money in the long run. By reducing fuel consumption and emissions, companies can lower their operating costs and improve their reputation as a sustainable business.

Use the tips highlighted above to reorient the way your business approaches fleet maintenance in 2023 and beyond.

Image Credit: by Lê Minh; Pexels; Thanks!

Deanna Ritchie

Managing Editor at ReadWrite

Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.

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5 Essential Benefits of Choosing an Efficient ERP System

Published

20 hours ago

on

03/29/2023

By

Kiara Miller


The corporate world is changing at a fast pace, and advanced technologies such as ERP system is at the epicenter of the ongoing digital revolution. Businesses are more dependent on technological tools and enterprise software than ever before. In fact, these tools and software are enabling businesses to drive greater success by enhancing business processes. Are you ensuring that you have the right software and tools to help your business advance swiftly?

There is a plethora of software and solutions to choose from, and each of them comes with its own merits. But what is making a real difference is the integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that can streamline processes across various verticals in an enterprise.

The use of ERP systems defines a new trend altogether in the modern workplace.

Gone are the days when only multinational companies subscribed to ERP solutions for managing processes at the entire enterprise level. Nowadays even small businesses are bridging ERP systems onboard to facilitate business advancement. To validate, as per statistics, the global market size for ERP software is expected to reach USD 96.7 billion by 2024. Finances Online further explains that more than 52 percent of organizations are highly satisfied with the decision of integrating ERP systems.

Probing further, vertical ERP, small business ERP, generalist ERP, and Open Source ERP is among the most common types of ERP software that businesses are integrating. Moreover, it is also notable that most organizations are showing a keen interest in Cloud-Based SasS ERP systems, given the edge they have over traditional ERP.

All in all, the integration of ERP systems has become one of the most sought-after change management activities in the corporate world. The question is, what are the advantages of ERP software that businesses are subscribing to ERP solutions? Let us find out in this blog.

Key benefits of ERP Systems for businesses

1. Massive optimization of productivity

The ultimate objective of every enterprise is to drive the highest productivity across every vertical. However, when your employees work on recurring and repetitive tasks, not only their individual productivity takes a hit, but the efficiency of the entire organization takes a setback. This explains why businesses increasingly spend on automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks like invoicing. Even marketing automation is one of the thriving corporate trends.

All in all, the greater the automation in an enterprise the higher will be the productivity. Having said that, this is where we must look at one of the greatest benefits of integrating ERP systems. To substantiate, ERP systems come with incredible and reliable automation capabilities that can help your organization achieve its business objectives at a greater pace.

Moreover, with AI integrations as per the latest developments, the automation capabilities of ERP systems are much higher than ever before. To substantiate, as per Netsuite, employers are now happily investing in advanced ERP solutions that come with intelligent AI or machine learning capabilities.

Needless to say, artificial intelligence is the way forward for enterprises, and the blend of ERP and AI is worth embracing. This combination will certainly give your business an unparalleled competitive advantage.

2. Real-time analytics

Having timely access to analytics that can help you constantly enhance processes is nothing short of having a competitive advantage. In fact, everything in the modern enterprise world revolves around analytics. From analytics on customer engagement to analytics on inventory management gaps, you need analytics at almost every step.

This is where ERP comes up with another great feature that you should definitely not ignore. An efficient ERP system can generate real-time quantitative analytics that can lead to better planning, execution, and monitoring. Besides, the best part is that with an ERP, you can create data analytics capabilities in your businesses without even having to hire a dedicated team for data analytics.

Moreover, real-time analytics will also ensure that there is a smoother workflow management and will also aid in effective collaboration between teams. Especially if your project teams work remotely, it is essential that there is real-time sharing of data analytics for project success. ERP does not only automate data generation but also data reporting in a presentable and lucid form. However, in the ultimate sense, the positive impact of ERP is subject to the efficiency of your change management process.

3. Greater cost-efficiency in operations

Irrespective of whether you are a budding startup or an established business, operational costs will always be a top concern for you. The correlation is quite simple, the lower the operational costs the higher will be the profitability. Now, the question is, can ERP help you in bringing down operational costs? Well, the answer is a big yes and it is time you acknowledge that.

To validate, as per Datix, ERP solutions can help organizations reduce operational costs by 23 percent. This clearly indicates that you can save a major chunk of operational costs by investing in the best-in-class ERP solution. The sooner you bring ERP onboard, the greater the savings.

4. Magnification of data security

It is a well-known fact that the contemporary corporate world has a massive dependence on big data. Every business process in the modern corporate world has data engineering and analytics at the forefront of things. Data security has become a top concern, especially when cyber-attacks and data breaches are more advanced than ever before.

One of the most compelling reasons why your business needs ERP is the set of advanced data security features. When an ERP is integrated into business processes, you can set controls for accessibility to confidential data. To explain, you can control who can access sensitive information and who cannot.

Otherwise, in the absence of an ERP system, you will have to spend fortunes on cyber security and data security solutions. ERP gives you multidimensional benefits of optimized business processes along with credible data security measures.

5. Enhanced flexibility

Does your organization have a traditional on-site working style or a hybrid working style? Are you planning to move your employees to permanent work from home? ERP gives you great flexibility irrespective of your organization’s working style. Simply put, ERP can be easily integrated even in remote working cultures or hybrid cultures and will also help you to avoid employee burnout (seodiggerz dotcom “help employees avoid burnout). You can implement an ERP system with great ease and put it to work from the word go.

Besides, ERP systems also offer great flexibility in terms of future scalability. If your business is expanding and you want to add more users in the future, ERP systems offer the room to do so. Room to expand has to be the most important feature you should be looking for when you choose an ERP system. Not every ERP system may come with an effective scope of future scalability. Still, you will find a lot of ERP systems that do offer scalability features and you must choose from them.

Conclusion

ERP systems are changing the way businesses approach their operations and key objectives. Besides, ERP is much more than a planning resource and offers immense value in terms of optimizing business processes.

Integrating ERP for your business can be a real game changer.  The sooner you subscribe to it, the more advantageous it will prove to be for your business. Make sure you choose an ERP software that is best suited for your enterprise.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Erik Mclean; Pexels; Thank you!

Kiara Miller

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” Wayne Dyer’s thoughts are well suited to Kiara Miller.
Miller has been working as a content marketing professional at “The Speakingnerd.” Her passion for writing is also visible in the innovative joys of material she provides to her readers.

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