By Bahar Ferguson
In October, the American Transportation Research Institute released its “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry” report. Of the top 10 issues, many had an aspect where technology impacted the problem or played a role in a positive result:
• Industry Concern No. 4: Truck Parking. Truck parking issues have proved to be a topic highlighting increased dangers, costs and frustrations for drivers. This frustration increases with drivers forced to drive beyond their hours-of-service rules to find adequate parking or who may end up parking in unsafe areas. An area to look toward in the future is the growth of technological advancements to develop real-time solutions regarding parking availability. Various states have banded together to create such programs that will eventually provide drivers real-time availability. Should this prove to provide greater efficiency and safety, other states may seek to either become part of the existing network or create their own program to assist the truck parking issues.
• Industry Concern No. 5: Driver Retention. Safety and work-life balance have been shown to be some of the issues affecting driver retention rates. Both of these issues can be assisted through various technology improvements or implementations.
Drivers are often required to work long hours away from family. Creating proper guidelines on personal use on mobile devices can help both protect your company and its information, but allow drivers to maintain a closer connection with their families through video calls, gaming, etc., as well as retain some of their favorite down time activities from home, such as Netflix and other activities. It is important to create appropriate rules for what networks or devices are allowed for personal activities and rules to protect the hardware and virtually accessible information on mobile devices.
Driver efficiency and driver safety are two other areas that can impact driver retention. Reducing the amount of required time for various administrative tasks through proper technology availability can assist drivers in maximizing their down time. Ensuring drivers have a secure, functioning device to be able to perform such tasks during idle time can return the driver to their family or their personal time more quickly after the scheduled route. Driver safety is a significant concern where technology can assist. Cabs with hands-free communication to assist in required call- making can help reduce the chances for distraction while driving.
• Industry Concern No. 8: Driver Distraction. Relying on state laws to impose regulations on phone usage while driving is not sufficient. Companies should create policies governing technology usage while in the cab as well as penalties if such polices are violated. Additionally, with the ever-increasing number of onboard technologies, it is important to ensure the balance is maintained between technological safety and operational efficiency.
With the growing addition of technology in the trucking and transportation industry, the risk of security breaches also increases creating a need for constant training and proactive implementation of your IT infrastructure. Along with regular training and updates on the latest IT hacks and scams, it is important to implement various policies to ensure everyone is aware of expectations regarding technology. The following is a non-exhaustive list of polices that may be useful to implement in your organization to help prevent troubles:
1. Acceptable-use policy (AUP), also known as a fair use policy, is an integral component of a company’s monitoring procedure. An AUP is designed by the owner of a network or website governing how the platform should and should not be used, explaining various monitoring strategies used to enforce such behaviors and the consequences for policy violations. It is here that a company can define what behaviors are unacceptable, such as excessive use of resources or time-wasting activities, distribution of confidential information, distribution of indecent or offensive data, and other security measures surrounding virus transmission or dissemination.
2. Internet access policy involves the use or restricted use of various websites by an employee. Internet usage should be reviewed as the Internet connects to various assets such as the company server. Further, an Internet access policy can be designed to support the AUP by blocking various sites that are not central to the nature of the employees' position to aid in reducing various time-wasting activities.
3. Email and communications policy shapes the parameters of what is acceptable regarding email and other communications. This policy covers everything from professionalism to protecting the confidentiality of client and company information through such transmissions. This policy should establish any email template requirements, required response times to received communications, personal email usage and texting guidelines. An email and communications policy serves as a great opportunity to remind employees that despite the ease of email, communicating from a company email may be viewed by the receiver as an expression of intention or fact by the company and caution must be used to ensure the correct message is relayed.
4. Network security policy seeks to protect critical company assets by establishing security controls governing use of these assets. Although there may be a variety of classes in an organization requiring different levels of access to the network, the guidelines in a network security policy are generally applied consistently across an organization. A network security policy should address the level of access allowed, what devices may connect to the network remotely, how authentication will occur, maximum user idle time before network termination and the potential penalties for policy violation.
5. Remote access policy governs the usage of the company network when the employee is accessing the network from a remote location. It is important to establish a remote access policy that integrates with the network security policy to govern the transmission of data over untrusted networks. A remote access policy should outline the rules for both remote users to ensure document and network security and outline the maintenance of the network to provide for a safer transmission of information. This upkeep should include a policy for continual, proactive review to ensure adequate protection — such as firewalls and security patches — are installed and current.
6. Encryption policy seeks to protect a company’s digital assets (data, files, personal information, company resources) from theft or breach between communicating devices over the Internet. Many believe a strong encryption policy is a must-have for all mobile devices. It is important to clearly define the devices covered and keep the policy up to date. This policy should cover all email and attachments, files, external devices, mobile devices and recovery and backup in case of an emergency.
7. Bring your own device (BYOD) policy covers the requirements governing employees’ personal devices being used for on-the-job purposes. BYOD is often viewed as beneficial to employees as it allows for greater device and platform familiarity than may exist with company-issued devices. However, companies must strive to ensure such devices are accessing sensitive company information in ways to avoid unauthorized dissemination of information or the introduction of vulnerabilities entering the network. It is imperative that companies use the BYOD policy to establish password protection measures, automatic lockout requirements, anti-virus and encryption requirements, synchronization prohibitions and rights held by the company to review the device to ensure compliance.
Bahar Ferguson is president of Wasatch I.T., a Utah provider of outsourced IT services for small and medium-sized businesses.