Certarus uses data as their competitive advantage to drive $100M+ in financial impact
With Samsara, Certarus delivers a best-in-class customer experience while continuously driving innovation to maximize efficiency.
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Meet Certarus
Inefficient manual processes delayed revenue collection and caused errors.
Certarus is the leader in low carbon energy solutions in Canada and the United States. Their mobile gas distribution services deliver compressed natural gas, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen at affordable prices to remote locations. By offering cleaner alternatives to diesel and propane, Certarus enables their customers to improve their environmental performance and achieve their ESG goals.
Already a customer for Equipment Monitoring and AI Dash Cams, Certarus turned to Samsara to solve several back office challenges. Previously, a team of 9 people was responsible for manually generating the company’s 800 monthly invoices. Not only was this tedious, but it meant money was tied up in the invoicing process and caused Certarus to average 86 days to receive payment.
Certarus also practices predictive dispatching with the goal of “just in time” delivery (right before the customer runs out of fuel) to maximize asset utilization. But prior to Samsara, this process was manually managed in a spreadsheet that was time consuming and prone to errors. Moreover, their team followed a similar protocol for vehicle maintenance. When completing paper-based DVIRs, drivers sometimes missed vehicle defects and were responsible for physically taking the reports to the maintenance team, which put the company at risk for DOT fines and compromised vehicle safety.
Additionally, the Certarus team recognized an opportunity to provide a service that would give them a significant competitive edge. By providing visibility into their energy supply chain, Certarus could prove chain of custody and allow customers to maximize tax credits for using renewable natural gas.
A single platform to centralize data and optimize every aspect of company operations.
Since partnering with Samsara in 2019, Certarus has experienced many benefits from the Connected Operations Cloud, notably reducing their service downtime by 97% with Equipment Monitoring and overhauling their safety program using Video-Based Safety to build an incentivization program. “We needed foundational pillars we can rely on, and that's Samsara,” said Chi Fang, Director of Technology & Business Process. “We needed the best software for our core processes and functionality.”
After experiencing a successful initial rollout of Samsara solutions, Fang knew they could take their business to the next level with the data available in the Connected Operations Cloud. “Samsara is our central source of truth for operations data,” Fang said. “It's still the humans making the decisions, augmented by technology.” Now, Certarus has integrated Samsara into nearly all aspects of their business, enabling them to optimize efficiency and provide a best-in-class experience for their customers.
Automating processes to unlock $30 million in annual revenue.
With Samsara, Certarus is able to automate many of their business-critical processes, resulting in significant increases in profitability and time savings. Today, Certarus uses Samsara to auto-generate 95% of their invoices, saving their team more than 8,500 hours annually so they can focus on higher-value work. This streamlined process also brought in payments 23% faster, unlocking $30 million worth of revenue annually that was previously tied up in the invoicing process.
In addition to faster revenue recognition, Certarus has been able to improve their just-in-time dispatching. By integrating Samsara Vehicle Telematics data with their TMS, Certarus now has accurate, automated predictive dispatching that has allowed them to eliminate excess fuel and provide customers with to-the-minute ETAs.
Certarus has also been able to improve their vehicle maintenance. Instead of manually passing off DVIRs to the maintenance team, work orders are now automatically triggered in their maintenance software when drivers log defects in digital DVIRs using the Driver App, as well as when vehicles reach utilization thresholds instead of time-based thresholds. Now, Certarus has a more intelligent approach to preventative maintenance, saving $500,000 in maintenance costs in just one year by integrating Samsara with their existing software.
Perhaps Certarus’ most innovative use of Samsara data is the chain of custody solution they have developed. Using Samsara devices throughout their supply chain—Equipment Monitoring at origination and destination sites, as well as Vehicle and Asset Gateways in their vehicles—Certarus is able to provide detailed, time-stamped reports for their customers’ compliance needs. “We have a truly unique technology product that we’re offering customers,” said Fang. “It’s a selling point and differentiator for us—our competitors don't have the end-to-end visibility that we do.” Beyond helping customers maximize their tax credits, Certarus is also using their chain of custody product to win new contracts, resulting in $100 million in new contracted revenue to date.
“We're in the business of delivering renewable natural gas,” said Fang. “And through Samsara, we’re finding ways to leverage this technology for our customers’ benefit while bolstering our competitive advantage.”
