“Whether the economy is down, flat or rising, technology like ours is important,” he says. “If it’s a down or flat economy, like it has been the past few years, you need to know where you can cut. You need to know your utilization to make sure that you can get the most out of what you have if you’re deciding to furlough some stuff or make some stuff idle. Then, as the economy turns back up, you’ve got to understand usage and capacity, so that if you add to your fleet or your assets, are you going to keep up with things as they grow?”

If you’re still in business today, there’s certainly no time left to wait to add a software solution, preferably a platform one, says Koch.

“If you’re late to the party,” he relates, “you’ve got to get on it, because all your competitors are getting it, and I know for instance that some of the construction RFPs coming out are requesting GPS as a mandatory compliance point. If you’re filling out a bid, it may require GPS, and if you don’t have it, your competitor’s going to be way ahead of you.

“It doesn’t matter – down economy, up economy – you’ve got to get this technology into your full fleet.”