There are a lot of things to consider when purchasing a new truck for your fleet or business. You may have considered common decisions like lease or buy, or day cab or sleeper. Have you thought about how your truck will be connected?

Engine connectivity, also referred to as telematics, is crucial for every new truck in your fleet. It gives you helpful tools for anticipating service needs, maximizing uptime, and ensuring peak performance and efficiency.

In the past, the standard for many fleets was to add engine connectivity and telematics capabilities via an aftermarket subscription or device. However, many manufacturers are now offering connectivity built right into the engine via what the industry calls "first-fit connectivity".

Here are three reasons why you should make sure your next truck or engine purchase has first-fit connectivity:

Immediate access to digital capabilities  

When you purchase an engine with first-fit connectivity, you are ensuring you will have access to register for important digital solutions directly from the point of purchase.

Cummins Inc. offers first-fit connectivity via Acumen®, a smart computing device that is included on many new On-Highway engines, or via an OEM telematics box. These first-fit devices enable immediate access to Connected Solutions®, which provides key features like remote diagnostics, predictive service and over-the-air programming.

Remote diagnostics allow you to keep an eye on faults across your fleet, even ranking them by severity and providing a service recommendation. Cummins also now offers predictive insights, which anticipate when certain components, like NOx sensors, are likely to fail before a fault code is even triggered. This allows you to turn unplanned downtime into scheduled maintenance, keeping your vehicles in service when they are needed most.

No aftermarket costs or subscriptions

Another benefit of first-fit connectivity is that it provides you with key telematics capabilities, without additional aftermarket devices or subscriptions.

Cummins provides Connected Solutions and all the included features, to any eligible engine at no additional cost to the customer. This allows fleets to focus on maximizing uptime, streamlining their service operations, and monitor their entire fleet - all from the moment they purchase a new vehicle.

Ensuring your engine always has the latest technology  

First-fit connectivity devices, like Acumen ensure that your engine is always running the latest genuine technology from the manufacturer.

Acumen enables customers to perform software calibrations for an engine's ECM (electronic control module) completely over the air, meaning there is no need to visit a service location or plug any additional tools into your engine. Over-the-Air Software Updates can be done with less than five minutes of downtime for a vehicle.

Acumen also updates its firmware over the air, meaning it always has the latest security and performance updates, ensuring your engine is never out of date.

To learn more about Acumen and what first-fit connectivity could mean for your next engine purchase, visit the Acumen webpage.