For the June issue of School Transportation News focusing on School Bus Contractors, we decided to explore the theme of partnerships that facilitate growth and new efficiencies.
We looked at contractor partners beyond their school district customers, with an eye toward their technology suppliers. We recently sat down with Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder, to find out what technology trends are on the company’s radar this year.
School Transportation News: How do you work with contractors during the annual RFP (Request for Proposals) process?
Antonio Civitella: We work with contractors in a variety of ways. We subscribe to RFP notification systems, and if we see a school district’s RFP seeking GPS, we’ll contact GPS partners and make them aware of the opportunity. Frequently they may subcontract on the bid under Transfinder. Sometimes, it happens in reverse where a GPS partner may be the lead and Transfinder will subcontract under them. There are instances when we simply provide a positive reference for a partner of ours.
STN: How do you assist school districts with meeting their technology needs?
Civitella: Districts are often looking for strong partnerships and a detailed implementation roadmap and timeline. We provide districts with a list of key deadlines and milestones they need to reach, as well as what needs to be done when, in order to be on track for the first day of school, for example.
We work closely with our partners and our staff to determine when training will be conducted, when data needs to be inputted and how many students should be geocoded by a certain date, for instance. We also just launched a new product, Viewfinder, that puts detailed progress reports at the tip of their fingers for display on flat-screens in offices or common areas. Viewfinder gives transportation departments as well as district leaders bar charts, pie charts and other facts and figures so leaders can see how their implementation is progressing and how frequently certain tools, such as training videos, are being utilized.
STN: What trends in requests are you seeing for new software and technology?
Civitella: We are noticing more districts are looking for an all-in-one solution, combining routing, GPS and student tracking. Districts that have one or more component are looking for systems that integrate with one another and communicate with one another. Few companies do everything well. What we’re seeing is districts that want the best providers to integrate with one another. So Transfinder, a leader in bus routing software, is integrating with the best GPS and attendance solutions providers. Transfinder also can work with whatever solutions districts already have on their buses.
The bottom line is districts, like the parents they are serving, are looking for more information, faster and at their fingertips.
Check out our Special Report on Contractors & the RFP Process in the June issue!
