BOSTON — Information technology managers should make sure drivers and other employees buy into IT offerings and remember that hardware is cheap relative to software.
A panel of tank truck executives talked about their IT experiences here at the National Tank Truck Carriers annual conference April 28 and said hardware such as smartphones, tablets and laptops should be viewed as a commodity and replaced on a regular basis.
In contrast, the software that runs the machines and analyzes the increasing torrent of data generated by carriers is more likely to stick around longer. Under ideal circumstances, though, software should be updated incrementally and frequently rather than replaced en masse.
“More small updates over time is better than a single big-bang update,” said Cliff Dixon, a Quality Carriers vice president.
With trucking facing a major driver shortage, Dixon also said it is important to provide drivers, especially younger ones, with technology they like. It is an expected part of the job, he said.
“ 'The IT department forced this on me' is something you don’t want to hear,” Dixon said.
