What is Fleet Management
If your company has a fleet of vehicles that are used for business purposes, chances are, you require a fleet management system. Fleet management encapsulates the overall management and maintenance of your company’s fleet. With a fleet management system, companies can easily perform processes such as monitor their vehicles while they are on the road, manage their driver, monitor their driving behaviour, and optimize fleet variables, such as the routes taken and fuel consumed.
Benefits of Fleet Management
As businesses recover from a volatile year, reducing costs and increasing efficiency are the priority. If your business depends on its vehicles then a system to manage your fleet is crucial. These systems are no longer reserved for logistic companies, as they provide the following benefits that can be advantageous to several businesses.Â
Data collection
A fleet management system provides benefits such as collecting accurate information for reporting and developing key performance indicators. If your business has several vehicles on the road at any point in time, it is a challenge to manage all of these vehicles. With a system monitoring your vehicles, companies can simply monitor the routes taken through the system, allowing companies to accurately collate data.
Reduce fuel and maintenance expenses
The ability to reduce and manage fuel costs is another benefit. As a company, do you understand your employees’ driving patterns? It is difficult, and sometimes impractical, to monitor every aspect of their driving behaviour. However, with a solutions managing a companies fleet, companies can monitor their employees’ driving behaviour and routes with sensors and a fleet management system. This will reduce unnecessary speeding and inefficient routes taken by drivers, saving the company money in the process.
Maintenance is another crucial aspect of fleet management. Poor maintenance is both expensive and puts the driver at risk. Monitoring and storing data on the maintenance processes, such as the maintenance history and proper maintenance routines, can help ensure your company conducts maintenance on their vehicles at regular intervals. This results in a safe vehicle that will serve your company for many years.
How to select a fleet management system
With an understanding of what a fleet management system does and the benefits it provides to businesses, you may wonder how to select the most suitable one for your company. Here are some key considerations to make when selecting a system.
Accessibility
Your fleet is always on the move, therefore accessibility should not be a problem. It is advisable to ensure that your fleet management system is accessible on mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Ensuring that the system is operable on these systems without having to compromise the functionality will ensure a smoother implementation among employees and drivers
Scalability
Whether your company’s fleet consists of 10 vehicles or 1000, the ability to scale up, or down with the fleet management system your company chooses is crucial. It is advisable to review the system you plan on choosing to ensure that it scales up with your company. Reviewing the pricing plan as well allows a company to determine the costs associated with scaling up the business, and whether this is the right fleet management solution for your company.
Integration
The needs of a company constantly evolve and change. Having the option to integrate various solutions provides flexibility to attend to a company’s needs. For example, with CloudApper Fleets, your company can manage the details surrounding your vehicle and driver through the cloud-based application. However, by integrating Fleets with Wialon, your company can now install sensors into the vehicles for more in-depth information collection, from accurate odometer readings to GPS tracking and fuel sensor installations that allow the company to collect fuel level readings. Having the ability to integrate with other complementary solutions will increase the benefits of your chosen fleet management system in the long term.
Automation
One of the main benefits of implementing any software solution is the ability to automate processes. Functions like these make the lives of the employees using the software easier and increase efficiency. Ensuring that your chosen system provides the ability to automate functions, such as maintenance schedule, would be a great benefit.
Reporting Dashboard
A reporting dashboard is an overlooked but equally important feature. If you are choosing a system to manage your fleet, the chances are that it will be used within your company for a long period. Selecting a system with an easy-to-use and read interface is vital. The ability to modify the reporting modules so that information is accessible at a glance helps and should not be underrated.
Conclusion
With an understanding of what benefits a fleet management system can provide, and insight into what features and functions your company should look for when selecting a system, isn’t it time you looked into a fleet management solution for your company?
