Here’s why fleet management systems will always be important, in 2021 and beyond

Each day, many businesses launch with the hope of making their name in the highly competitive market. For businesses which depend on fleet performance, it has become essential to invest in technology to increase fleet efficiency, productivity and safety, so as to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Fleet management solutions have become an important tool for businesses looking to strategise and efficiently coordinate their workforce. Not only does implementing a fleet management solution help with monitoring operations and promoting safe driving, it also reduces driving risks and fuel costs. Needless to say, most fleet businesses which are leading in their industries are early adopters of such technologies.

What exactly is a fleet management solution?

The fleet industry is filled with constantly shifting challenges, risks as well as strict regulations. No one can change that, however, with the right tools one can easily reduce issues such as high fuel consumption and driver safety concerns.

Fleet management solutions involve managing commercial vehicles such as cars, trucks, or vans to ensure they are being used efficiently and safely. Depending on your type of business, it can also include asset tracking and management of all kinds of equipment such as heavy cranes, bulldozers, generators and trailers.

Eliminating the daily challenges faced by fleet managers

Businesses across countries worldwide hire fleet managers to manage their commercial vehicles and lower fuel consumption costs. The Philippines in particular, is one such country where the fleet industry is booming.

Fleet managers have many complex tasks to perform each day. With the aid of a fleet management software, they can overcome common fleet challenges, which include:

Maintaining road safety

The most important task of a fleet manager is to ensure the driver’s safety. However, it can be challenging to monitor, especially when fleet managers are many miles away from the moving vehicle.

By encouraging drivers to drive safely and rewarding them for safe driving practices, fleet managers can motivate them to follow good driving practices. With useful tools such as dashcams combined with GPS vehicle tracking solutions, you can easily check whether your drivers are speeding or adhering to road safety regulations.

Ensuring the company has enough drivers and vehicles

To increase the company’s performance and efficiency, fleet managers have to make sure that there are enough drivers and vehicles on schedule to complete transport tasks. While it may seem easy to purchase more vehicles and hire more drivers whenever the need arises, it can be quite challenging and costly to do.

This is where having fleet analytics will help with driver scheduling, route optimisation, fleet planning and fleet maintenance tracking. Fleet analytics will provide you with up-to-date information on your vehicle maintenance lifecycles, driver performance and trip durations, so you can easily plan ahead and make informed decisions on whether or not to expand your fleet. Besides fleet analytics, fleet managers can also conduct mentorship programs, improve workplace conditions, and build positive relationships with drivers to increase good driver retention.

Total cost reduction

Another important responsibility of a fleet manager is to cut down on unnecessary expenses and create more cost-effective fleet operations. Usually, fleet managers are either given a budget or have to create one to account for fuel costs, maintenance costs, operational costs, and many more.

They have to make sure that the costs do not exceed the budget provided, which can be difficult to achieve with fluctuating fuel prices. To overcome such a problem, many fleet managers use fuel tracking technologies to closely monitor vehicle fuel consumption and also to guard against possible fuel theft.

How fleet management solutions help

Managing a fleet can be time-consuming and difficult, especially when the company grows and so does its fleet size. Over the years, many transportation companies worldwide have started to note the necessity of having a dependable fleet management system to support their daily fleet operations.

Some of the major benefits of using fleet management solutions are:

Improved customer service and satisfaction

GPS vehicle tracking solutions help to improve delivery times and reduce the waiting time for customers. With the use of fleet management software, fleet managers can dispatch vehicles faster and be updated on vehicle locations in real-time.

Using GPS tracking will make service more efficient in even the most challenging of times, where remote monitoring is needed to oversee spending and maintain performance. Moreover, higher-quality fleet service will increase customer loyalty, and encourage word-of-mouth recommendations to bring in new customers.

Optimised route planning

Fleet management solutions can help businesses improve planning of vehicle schedules, routes, and pickup or drop-off points. It allows you to get more out of all your assets and save significantly with better forecasting and budgeting.

Increased fuel efficiency

Fleet managers can also analyse driver behavior and keep track of idling activity. Besides this, you can track fuel refilling receipts to monitor fuel usage, as well as gather valuable fleet data about driver habits and track driver performance under different driving conditions. This will help you make more informed decisions and improve fleet operations.

Automated fleet reports

A fleet management system additionally helps businesses improve their performance and efficiency by delivering hourly, daily, or weekly reports based on user-defined requirements. These reports will enable you to understand your fleet in-depth and make quick adjustments based on the analysis.

Fleet management solutions – a business necessity for fleet owners

Achieving peak fleet performance depends on many factors, and goes through many steps and people in the process. What a fleet management software does is to simplify and accelerate this process by making fleet coordination and monitoring several times easier. With an efficient fleet management solution taking over the wheel, you can be sure to make well-informed decisions for the betterment of your company, stay updated on staff performance and well-being, and most importantly, focus on other major responsibilities and company goals.