CASE STUDY ArgoTrak and the Position Logic GPS Tracking Software: Striking Success in the Oil and Gas Industry When James Wheeler founded ArgoTrak seven years ago he sought out GPS tracking software that would power his new business in the marine vertical. With the power and flexibility of the Position Logic platform behind him, however, Wheeler is now able to drill into a relatively untapped GPS tracking market, the oil and gas industry, and go where few other GPS tracking companies are able to follow. JAMES WHEELER Founder, Argotrak Seven years ago, James Wheeler decided to form his own GPS tracking company, ArgoTrak, to meet the need for tracking services and to take advantage of the rapid growth potential that he saw in the marine vertical. After creating a checklist of must-haves and comparing several GPS tracking service providers in terms of both the companies and the products they offered, he chose Position Logic and its GPS tracking software as the best choice to power his new business. www.positionlogic.com 866-676-2372 sales@positionlogic.com
ArgoTrak was so successful that Wheeler ultimately found himself contemplating into what other verticals he might expand his business. With the oil and gas industry spending more than $3 trillion (USD) per year on capital expenditures, and more than $600 billion (USD) in 2012 alone just for exploration and research, it s highly sensitive to the need to minimize any risks that might threaten its investments in the field and it seemed to Wheeler like an area that would be in need of GPS tracking services. Having identified the need in the oil and gas industry, Wheeler s next step was reevaluating the Position Logic GPS tracking software to see whether it would be suited to the vertical which he again did by creating a checklist of essentials that would let ArgoTrak bring the same reliability and value to oil and gas companies as it currently was to its clients in the marine industry. Their uptime was phenomenal, And it continues to be so to this day. The first criteria on his checklist was reliability because no matter how powerful a platform is, if it s not up and running then it s not doing its job. Wheeler was able to immediately check that item off, given the high reliability of the Position Logic platform. Their uptime was phenomenal, says Wheeler. And it continues to be so to this day. In the seven years that I have been operating ArgoTrak on the Position Logic platform, there have only been five occasions where data wasn t sent for more than an hour. That s crazy dependability. OpenLayer technology makes the Position Logic platform customizable specifically to the oil & gas industry. Second on his must-have checklist was the power and flexibility of the GPS tracking software, which Wheeler knew from experience was the flip side of the reliability coin: A platform that had great uptime but that was weak in features would not let him provide the level of service to potential oil and gas customers that he was aiming for. And again Position Logic met the mark, with a device library integrating tracking devices from hundreds of manufacturers, utilization of OpenLayers technology to allow for nearly endless mapping customizations, and geofencing capabilities that were best-in-class.
All of those features had made them state-of-the art seven years ago, and that was impressive, says Wheeler. What impresses me now on a daily basis is that Position Logic continues to remain state-of-the art in an industry that s as rapidly evolving as GPS tracking. The device integrations with the platform keep on growing, and on the rare occasion when I ve needed to track a device on their platform that wasn t already integrated, they ve added it. I knew as I looked at the oil and gas industry that those rocksolid features would be important as we grew ArgoTrak into that vertical. What impresses me now on a daily basis is that Position Logic continues to remain state-of-the art in an industry that s as rapidly evolving as GPS tracking. Having taken note of the reliability and flexibility of the Position Logic GPS tracking software and platform, Wheeler next turned his thoughts to a topic that he still considers to be possibly the most important: The people behind the product. Customizable Over 398 configurable modules. Device Agnostic Over 400 devices integrated. 99.9% Uptime Rely on us for around-the-clock uptime. Global Coverage Businesses across 110 countries trust the Position Logic platform to track and manage their assets.
In the end, you re partnering with people, not technology, says Wheeler. I knew I would need to work closely with Position Logic in order for ArgoTrak to really be able to move into the oil and gas vertical. The people at Position Logic had consistently blown me away with how great they were -- not just in terms of knowledge and expertise, which was amazing in itself, but also in sheer willingness to help me set up and grow my business. They had a genuine interest in seeing ArgoTrak succeed and I was certain that that would include helping me grow into the energy sector. Position Logic provides the knowledge, expertise and ongoing support you need when growing a business. With the Position Logic GPS tracking software and the people standing behind it meeting everything Wheeler thought he needed to service oil and gas industry clients, he pushed ahead with ArgoTrack s growth into the vertical. But Wheeler was soon confronted with a situation he hadn t quite anticipated: Because field workers are oftentimes operating in areas that are so remote that device connectivity can be an issue, real-time location tracking simply wasn t as important to oil and gas companies as other needed functionality. Fortunately, Position Logic had a solution to hand: OpenAPI.
Because of the connectivity problems inherent to the locations in which oil and gas companies frequently operate, says Wheeler, the ability to record data and then download or process it later, on-demand and when a connection is available, is important to them. So unlike most other verticals, it was the OpenAPI feature that really sealed the deal for potential oil and gas clients. Oil and gas workers often operate in remote locations where tracking is critical. Position Logic s OpenAPI provides the ability to process data on a given demand schedule, a prized feature to verticals like oil and energy. With Position Logic, I have all of that available to meet just about any client need that s ever come up... OpenAPI exposes literally dozens of web services to my clients in the oil and gas industry, and they can make use of these web services at any time that makes sense to them as a business, continues Wheeler. The ability to do bulk data uploads and downloads, and then to parse that data in meaningful ways through the OpenAPI web services, has a much higher utility to them than features that a fleet dispatcher, for example, would find useful. With Position Logic, I have all of that available to meet just about any client need that s ever come up and as connectivity gets better over time, owing to the Position Logic platform we are still positioned to offer the absolute best real-time tracking services to the oil and gas industry as they become able to make better use of it. These rich features and the reliability of the Position Logic platform were a winning combination and because of it, today ArgoTrak is reaping the benefits of being able to go where few other GPS tracking companies have gone.
The Position Logic software provides a powerful platform, and it makes for powerful selling... The platform is really so amazing and so feature-rich that many times, when I go to do a sales presentation and a potential customer requires a certain feature, I can show it to them in real-time right on the demo platform. The Position Logic software provides a powerful platform, and it makes for powerful selling when I often find I win a potential customer s business just on the strength of that platform. Today ArgoTrak continues its strong growth and expansion, and Wheeler is decidedly optimistic about the company s prospects and very clear about the role he feels Position Logic has played in ArgoTrak s success in the oil and gas industry. Position Logic likes to say to their clients that you re in business for yourself, but never by yourself. And seven years in, they re still backing up those words with actions every single day. Position Logic has been a true partner to me, and I don t think ArgoTrak would be where it is today had I made a different choice. Want to find out how Position Logic can help your business? Contact one of our GPS tracking experts today. www.positionlogic.com 866-676-2372 239-465-0587 (Int l) sales@positionlogic.com