Don't miss the significance: telematics information is so practical and consistent that Case and Komatsu are using it to drive down the cost of preventive maintenance enough to offer it as a free service for three years or 3,000 hours of operation.

Of course the service is not without cost, but telematics is making preventive maintenance cheap enough that they can offer it for free. And they are certainly confident that doing so will improve their customers' experience with their machines enough to earn repeat business.

Here's the rub: you need to admit that you want to improve your equipment costs. Couple that with a willingness to challenge the sanctity of your own machine-operating data, and you can completely remake your bids.