So says Chevin Fleet Solutions, which believes that some fleets are taking up data options because they sound managerially useful but are actually leaving managers swamped.

Ashley Sowerby, managing director at Chevin, said: “We are aware of fleets who have taken sophisticated telematics packages and turned off the data feed after a fortnight because they were being swamped by data for which they had no purpose.”

He added that this was not limited to telematics but could be seen in many kinds of areas where new technology meant that the amount of data available to fleets was beginning to rise exponentially.

“The flood of data can leave fleet managers confused. We can see it in fleets that take large amounts of maintenance data, for example, and this something that is only going to get more acute with the rise of the connected car.

“It might be impressive for you to glance at your screen and know that the engine of a vehicle 200 miles away is turning over a 1,800 rpm – but does it really help you to manage your fleet more effectively?

Sowerby said that, before committing to take data, fleets needed to ensure that it would help them to meet their strategic aims.

“We work with some fleets where there might be 15 different data feeds and they all have a purpose but others have four and only use two of them. It is all about what works most effectively for your organisation.

“Recently, much of the work that we have undertaken has been aimed at producing software that helps fleets to make sense of big data, for example, creating reports that have a genuine and specific use.”