Fleet management systems can facilitate nearly every aspect of day-to-day operations and offer numerous benefits beyond the traditional way of doing things. Fleet management is a full-time job. Not only do managers juggle multiple responsibilities – from inventory to driver safety – they’re also challenged to remain competitive. Luckily, technology has evolved to the point where fleet managers have more options.
In this article, we’ll explore these advantages in detail and explain why fleet management systems are a must for any organization looking to gain a competitive edge.
Understanding Fleet Management Systems
Sometimes referred to as fleet management software, these digital solutions are designed to provide fleet managers with an easy-to-use platform for managing every aspect of their operations – from scheduling, dispatching, and routing to tracking, monitoring, and more.
The Benefits of Implementing a Fleet Management System
Not all fleet managers are eager to jump on board with fleet management software. Some see it as an unnecessary expense or a poor allocation of resources; after all, why go through the trouble of implementing something new when the same old system still ‘works’?
Fleet management software offers a lot of advantages that the traditional approach simply can’t match. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the five most crucial benefits of fleet management software.
1. Greater Visibility Into Fleet Operations and Status
The multi-tasked, risk-prone nature of fleet operations means that companies need full visibility of their vehicles and operators at all times. To this end, fleet management systems make tracking scalable and easy.
The combination of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and On-board Diagnostics (OBD) in enabled vehicles allows managers to track every aspect of their operations in real-time, from the exact location of each vehicle on the road to engine diagnostics and fuel consumption. This level of insight ensures managers can always keep tabs on their fleet, giving them the ability to act quickly in the event of any disruptions or changes.
2. Enhanced Driver Safety
Drivers are a company’s most precious asset, and warrant as much protection as possible. Fleet management software provides that extra layer of safety; it helps managers monitor driver behaviour and ensures everyone is following protocol.
In cases where risky driving behaviour is detected, a fleet manager is immediately alerted. This can be extremely valuable in terms of mitigating risk and preventing accidents.
Fleet management software also helps managers optimize routes to avoid high-traffic areas or bad weather, as well as track driver hours to ensure they aren’t going over their hours of service (HOS).
Altogether, this software acts as an extra set of ‘eyes and ears’ for managers, ensuring their drivers are always safe and on task.
3. Improved Vehicle Efficiency
Another major advantage of fleet management software is its power to improve vehicle efficiency. By tracking every aspect of a vehicles’ performance, managers can identify opportunities for improving fleet efficiency.
Additionally, managers can use the real-time information provided by the system to plan better routes and optimize fuel consumption. This can help keep operational costs down and maximize vehicle downtime, resulting in fewer repairs and less wasted time.
4. Better Maintenance Programs
Proper maintenance is essential to keeping a fleet running. But the traditional approach can be challenging for managers to keep on top of things; relying on manual checks and checklists can lead to forgotten tasks, missed deadlines, and unreliable results.
Fleet management software simplifies the process by providing detailed overviews of each vehicle’s condition and alerting managers when maintenance is due. Vehicle usage patterns can also lead to developing preventative maintenance schedules.
5. Reduced Overall Costs
From more productive and efficient operations to saving fuel and preventing accidents, fleet management software helps businesses save a lot of money in the short and long-run.
Fleet management software has become an essential tool for businesses to efficiently manage their fleets. By providing detailed insights and offering a host of safety and efficiency benefits, it can save companies a lot of time and money while helping them keep their vehicles in top condition.
It’s no wonder that more and more fleet managers are investing in these systems to get the most out of their operations. Contact your GoFleet consultant today for your free demonstration, and find out which solution is right for you.
Over the last few years, there has been a massive shift in purchasing patterns and retail consumption. From small families to large corporations, consumers are increasingly opting for online transactions over traditional brick-and-mortar destination shopping.
Due to this shift, many fleets have had to increase productivity to avoid service disruptions. Manual fleet monitoring has become something of an archaic process, and companies that lack the foresight to automate may find themselves falling behind.
In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of digital fleet management, and how it can help your fleet improve operational efficiency, whether you’re behind a desk or behind the wheel.
What is Fleet Management?
When we talk about “fleets”, we’re specifically discussing vehicles used for the purposes of work, including commercial delivery vehicles, construction machinery, and even non-powered assets such as shipping containers.
Fleet management incorporates the budgeting, safety, acquisition and maintenance of a group of vehicles. Fleet management helps the operator oversee all the activities of its vehicles to ensure that drivers are safe and following compliance regulations, while completing work on time.
A fleet management system can help managers increase visibility into their operations while automating and streamlining work processes to ensure safety, compliance and efficiency.
1. Vehicle Maintenance
Maintenance is the cornerstone of any effective fleet. Not only is it essential to keeping vehicles in good working order, but proper maintenance can prevent accidents and improve operational efficiency.
Fleet management systems, such as ZenduMaintenance, can keep your vehicles’ maintenance schedules on record, provide custom reporting, maintenance cost accounting and much more.
Fleet management allows you to run your vehicle maintenance operation more effectively while staying ahead of potential mechanical issues so your vehicles stay on the road where they belong.
2. Lower Fuel Waste
Fuel costs are always top of mind for fleet managers, especially considering the exponential rise in price over the past few years. Averages have been bouncing around the four to five dollar mark for months, with June seeing a record high of $5.01 per gallon.
A fleet management system can track a vehicle’s fuel economy, and identify areas of improvement, such as a reduction in idling, rapid acceleration or excessive cargo weight.
Improving driving habits, optimizing routes and managing payload can all lead to significant reduction in fuel consumption.
3. Increased Safety
Even a single accident can lead to costly repairs, vehicle downtime, and potential liability. According to the FMCSA, there were over 5,000 fatal crashes involving large trucks in the United States in 2019 alone – 13.65 fatal large truck crashes per million people and an average of 1.12 fatalities per incident.
Fleet management can help reduce these numbers by increasing situational awareness for both fleet managers and drivers.
For example, tracking provides real-time vehicle location, while diagnostics can monitor things like speed, acceleration, and braking. This data can be used to identify risky driving behaviour and take corrective action before an accident occurs.
Some fleet management solutions offer features such as driver coaching and scorecards, which give drivers feedback on their performance and help them identify areas for improvement.
These tools can make a big difference in reducing the human and financial implications of accidents.
4. Improved Customer Service
Fleet management can help companies deliver better customer service by providing them with the data they need to make informed decisions.
For instance, fleet management software can identify where a delivery is and an estimated time of arrival. In addition, many many fleet management solutions offer features such as geofencing and route optimization, which can be used to plan more efficient routes and avoid delays.
All of these benefits lead to shorter wait times for customers and improved customer satisfaction.
5. Fewer Errors
From stock management and driver scheduling to route planning, the fleet management process can be complicated. Managers are tasked with making numerous decisions on a daily basis, and even the slightest mistake can have major consequences. A fleet management system can help reduce errors by automating many of these tasks.
For instance, electronic logging devices (ELDs) can be used to automatically track a driver’s hours of service (HOS). This data can then be used to generate accurate reports and schedules, which helps ensure that drivers are not overworked and that they have the required number of breaks.
Some systems even allow managers to set up alerts that notify them when a driver is nearing their HOS limit. This gives managers the opportunity to take corrective action before an accident or violation occurs.
Fleet management offers a wide range of benefits for businesses, and it’s easy to see why they’re becoming so popular. If you’re not already considering automating some of your work processes, now is the time to get on board. Can you really afford not to?
Fleet vehicles are critical assets and represent a massive investment to your organization. For these reasons, it’s essential to make sure they’re taken care of in the short and long-term with proper fleet maintenance to keep operations running smoothly.
In this article, we’ll discuss some easy tips to stay on top of fleet maintenance and keep your vehicles on the road where they belong.
Prioritize Preventative Fleet Maintenance
Preventative fleet maintenance is key to the proper care of any vehicle. By staying on top of it, you can ensure that your fleet always has regular support and avoids future problems.
The easiest way to ensure preventative maintenance is to create a set schedule that is respected by your entire fleet maintenance team.
By keeping all of your vehicles’ maintenance timelines on record, it becomes much easier to oversee and gauge operational needs, repair costs and vehicle health over the long term.
One of the most common approaches is digitizing maintenance reports through fleet management software, such as ZenduMaintenance.
This digital solution allows you to run your entire fleet maintenance operation more effectively and efficiently, with tools such as:
Work order management
Preventative maintenance scheduling
Inventory and parts management
Purchasing
Custom reporting
Maintenance cost accounting
These tools make it possible to document and monitor preventative maintenance in a centralized calendar, making the process of ensuring vehicle health easier and more accessible.
Know Your Fleet
Understanding the vehicles you manage can offer major insight into their specific needs, making the process of fleet maintenance much easier.
One of the easiest ways to access these insights is to take the time to go through your owner’s manuals. While they may seem tedious, they’re the key to fully understanding and properly caring for every make, model and machine you operate.
Owner’s manuals contain lots of valuable information you can incorporate into your fleet maintenance strategy, including the recommended fluids, parts and schedules for each system you operate.
A combination of fleet management software and managed services can provide a complete 360-degree view of your fleet, including vehicle health. Managed services connect you with industry-leading consultants to help you analyze your fleet’s performance and help you optimize operations.
With the right platform in place, you can access vehicle data, manuals and more in one convenient place, making it simpler than ever to get the information you need without having to hunt it down. Such intuitive guidance and support makes getting to know your fleet a breeze.
Operate Your Fleet Responsibly
The way vehicles are driven and handled on a regular basis plays a large role in how long they ultimately last on the road.
From giving engines enough time to warm up before a trip to handling starts and stops smoothly, there are a number of ways drivers can help extend the life of your vehicles.
Teaching these best practices to your team and monitoring their implementation should be a key area of focus – not only will it help you keep an eye on how vehicles are being driven, but it can also be a valuable coaching opportunity for your staff.
Operational effectiveness and efficiency should always go hand-in-hand, and by placing an emphasis on both, you can help your team members understand how their behaviour impacts the health of your fleet.
Check Your Tires
Tires are not only responsible for keeping things moving, they’re also the first line of defence against the impact of potholes, curbs and other obstacles. Left unchecked, problematic tires can contribute to a number of problems such as alignment issues and decreased fuel economy.
For these reasons, it’s crucial to check them regularly for wear, damage and proper inflation – not only for their own longevity but for the lifespan of your vehicles.
Regular tire maintenance can help prevent and mitigate many of the issues that can arise from neglect and keep your vehicles on the road longer.
Keep Things Clean
Dirt, grime and buildup on vehicles isn’t just unsightly – it can also contribute to their overall decline.
When operators fail to keep their trucks clean on a consistent basis, they open the door for long-term wear and tear. This is especially true when it comes to the undercarriage, where grime can quickly lead to corrosion if left unchecked.
Washing vehicles should be considered part of your regular fleet maintenance. When done correctly and on schedule, it can actually save you money by preventing bigger issues from arising down the road.
Regardless of your business’ size, the health of your fleet should always be top priority. By taking the time to implement these basic tips, you can help keep your vehicles on the road and operating at full capacity for a long time.
Effective fleet management provides organizations with real-time visibility into their logistic operations and increases efficiency through vehicle routing and accurate reporting. Fleet management software paired with vehicle telematics can help support your day-to-day transportation needs while providing an overview of your business. Below is a beginner’s guide to fleet management.
What Is Fleet Management?
Fleet management has gained popularity over the past few years based on its reputation for guaranteeing efficient performance, optimum fleet maintenance and helping organizations run smoothly.
Fleet management refers to all actions allowing a fleet to run on time, efficiently, and within a given budget.
Similarly, it can be defined as the process by which fleet managers monitor the fleet’s activities by applying asset management, vehicle dispatch, and routing to make informed decisions.
Benefits of Fleet Management
You can maximize the efficiency of your fleet using fleet management software or by hiring reliable fleet managers.
Here are the major benefits of fleet management, and how they can improve your bottom line.
Ability to Manage Fleets Remotely
With all the various components that require coordination and organization, managing a fleet of any size can be difficult.
Luckily, fleet management software allows you to track all components remotely, thus simplifying coordination. Features such as vehicle tracking, and vehicle routing allow you to monitor the current location of your vehicles and find the easiest route.
Increase in Vehicle Lifespan
The GPS feature on vehicles allows easy monitoring of performance and identifies possible vehicle damage. It is easier to detect potential maintenance issues when you have access to logistics such as mileage and tire wear.
Being well informed allows you to carry out and perform timely maintenance, thus improving the lifespan of your vehicle.
Improved Safety
Fleet management software allows managers to trace the location of a vehicle and keep up with the driver’s behaviour. Most fleet management software has a video recording feature to help monitor driving behaviour while on the road.
This prevents dangerous behaviours such as drowsy or distracted driving, thus improving the vehicle’s safety and consignment.
Reduced Costs
Fleet management software comes with built-in tools such as GPS tracking to help with vehicle routing, which can help you determine the shortest route when making deliveries and eliminate costly lead times.
Fleet management software also provides accurate reports on your vehicles’ performance and total costs incurred during deliveries. These features all play an important role in cost reduction.
Central Data Management
It is a lot easier to organize and coordinate your fleet when all your data is centrally located. Fleet management software provides valuable data sets on demand, from a central (often cloud-based) location.
Improved Customer Service
Customers look forward to working with businesses whose feedback reflects accurate, reliable deliveries.
With fleet management software, you improve customer satisfaction by ensuring all the information you share with them is up to date. Additionally, the software will aid in tracking the current location of consignments.
Preventing Fraud
As a fleet manager, you have trust in your drivers. However, driver fraud does happen and requires even the most well-intentioned managers to stay vigilant.
Drivers who use their fuel card for reasons other than fueling company vehicles or falsely claiming card misplacement are both well-documented examples of driver fraud. Other examples include drivers using their own credentials to allow non-approved drivers to operate company vehicles.
An AI-powered fleet management system prevents fraud and helps promote transparency among your drivers.
Maintain Communication
Fleet management software equips your fleet with a built-in communication tool that allows you to make contact with your drivers directly.
As a result, drivers can communicate in real-time while on the road, without compromising safety or missing deliveries.
Vehicle Routing
Planning the day’s business in advance helps everything work seamlessly. A fleet management system can help you effectively assign vehicles, routes and drivers.
6 Tips For Effective Fleet Management
What are some of the fleet management steps can you incorporate into your operations, and where should you begin? Below, we offer some suggestions for managing your fleet more effectively.
1. Set Your Goals
If you want to be successful at managing your fleet, establish your business goals and monitor your progress from time to time.
Your goals should be specific, well defined and adequately aligned to the success of your business. Have a common objective to keep your team united and avoid the need for micromanagement.
2. Track Everything
Data is crucial in helping make sound business decisions. Having all necessary data on how your vehicles and drivers perform on a daily basis is essential.
Maintain a track record of how much fuel your vehicles consume, driver performance, and when deliveries are made. Keeping detailed records helps predict future outcomes and keeps your operations predictable.
3. Choose the Right Fleet Vehicles
Before purchasing or leasing any fleet vehicles, it is essential to assess your business needs. The vehicles you acquire should meet the size and scope of your operations, both in current and future states.
Purchasing too many vehicles up front could mean that several of them remain unused. Acquire too few, and your drivers – and trucks – could burn out.
4. Think About your Drivers
The credentials of your drivers ensure the safety of your fleet and consignment.
Having certified drivers with the right skillsets translates to better business performance, significantly reducing unnecessary costs and repairs.
5. Spend Wisely
As a fleet manager, you should consider all costs incurred through vehicles and equipment that are purchased, leased, or rented.
Spending your capital effectively depends on your knowledge base of strategies that help you meet return-on-investment goals. You should also consider available resources, flexible strategies, and any maintenance costs that change your business’s operational needs.
6. Invest in Fleet Management Software
Investing in technology-based systems such as fleet management software will help you utilize fleet intelligence, improve operational efficiency and properly manage your business.
Fleet management software continually improves the efficiency and productivity of your business by lowering costs and enhancing both customer and employee satisfaction, eventually leading to revenue growth and profitability.
What is Fleet Management Software?
Your fleet likely runs on data. Fleet management software acts as the “brain” behind your operations. The right fleet management solution will continually play a vital role in ensuring that fleet management activities are well coordinated and properly executed.
In addition, fleet management software records vehicle operations in real-time, allowing you to stay on top of maintenance and avoid potential breakdowns.
How Fleet Management Software Can Improve Fleet Safety
Fleet management is a data-driven process. It requires the involvement of multiple moving parts to function effectively.
It can help improve safety in several ways:
Real-time audio and visual feedback.
24/7 access to safety-related analytics, which can prevent accidents.
Driver performance applications keep your drivers safe and accountable.
Accurately records footage before, during, and after a reported incident. Footage can help prevent future accidents, assign liability and potentially exonerate your drivers.
A successful fleet management program tracks, analyzes, and optimizes your fleet. For more information, contact a GoFleet representative, and see how our fleet management solutions can benefit your business.
The new year brings with it new business opportunities and, in the case of fleet management, new digital solutions to better automate your workflow.
Your team’s goal should always be ensuring that your enterprise has the best solutions provider for meeting your fleet’s individual needs. That’s why there are some key aspects to bear in mind before renegotiating your business contract.
When assessing your business needs (and how your existing provider has measured up over the past year), you will want to ask yourself several questions, including: How safe were my drivers because of our software? How many of our vehicles remained secure? Were compliance or servicing issues addressed ahead of time? Did route optimization software really work for us? Was delivery route optimization successful?
On a more nuanced scale, the following factors provide a framework for assessing the services and expertise of your fleet solutions provider.
Connected trucks telematics
Technological & Industry Expertise
In the fleet industry, time is money (literally). Whether you operate in construction or the emergency industry, you need a solutions provider that can tailor technology to fit your industry needs.
With the emergence of recent ELD mandates and the constant evolution of digital technology, it’s wise for all fleet-related industries to stay ahead of the curve.
Make sure that you choose your provider wisely, taking into consideration both technological know-how and effective, scalable optimization for your specific industry’s needs.
Scalability
All fleets have had to adapt to major changes over the past few years; the pandemic, a global backlog in supply chain, regulatory compliance changes and the ongoing shortage of trained drivers have all contributed to a seismic shift in how fleets operate.
Across industries, fleets need the flexibility to either scale down or grow their operations on command. Make sure your fleet solutions provider has the bandwidth and digital tools to help your enterprise grow responsibly.
Support Capabilities
The best part of having the right fleet management software is the 24/7 support. With resources available on a continuous basis, your drivers are never alone. No matter how near or far from home, fleet tracking software can help your team stay safe, automatically recording videos of accidents, anywhere on Earth.
Fleet command centre support has never been better, offering a growing toolbox of telematics that include live real-time asset tracking, vehicle temperature tracking, driver safety coaching, and so much more.
Innovative Culture
A good fleet management solutions provider should be both wise and nimble, not only in adapting to emerging software capabilities, but to stay steps ahead of industry needs. In the telematics industry, the motto is ‘measure or perish.’
An innovative telematics provider will be able to fine tune your specific fleet needs and pair them with the best of emerging technology—in tracking devices, software interfaces and command centre platforms. Don’t make the mistake of trusting your fleet’s integrity to a provider that’s unable to out-innovate both the competition and global challenges.
Going Pro: GoFleet Systems Solutions
At GoFleet, our digital designers and telematics experts provide all the above, giving your enterprise a stable framework for optimal command centre control. We’ve established key partnerships with OEM manufacturers such as Ford, GM, Volvo, Mercedes, and John Deere, among others. Our collaborative partnership with data security leader, Geotab, has allowed our GoFleet experts to:
Install and operate 2 million+ telematics devices
Log in 100 million+ miles driven by fleets, every day
Process more than 40 billion data points from fleets to their command centres, daily.
That’s what drives growing industries to us, to handle their digital fleet management needs.
GoFleet’s mission is to offer the best-quality services and products available on the market, matched by the highest industry standards for telematic support.
Whether it’s route optimization software, vehicle safety reports, delivery route optimization, dispatch monitoring and much more, with GoFleet, you have the pros working for you.
Want proof? Read here about the problem areas of daily fleet operation management, or this whitepaper regarding the innovations, enhanced sensors and emerging AI technology now helping industries strive for sustainability. Our subject matter experts research industry-leading subjects to help keep your operations agile and efficient.
Some other key factors that made GoFleet an industry leader in asset management software:
Privacy
No business could survive if their private data was easily accessible. In a digital world where unsavoury characters prey on insecure data transmission lines, one can never be too cautious.
From fleet command centres to the drivers themselves, GoFleet’s industry-leading security measures allow peace of mind and security of data.
Within our Geotab datacenter security system, there’s even a Privacy Mode tool that stops live monitoring of vehicles during defined time periods. With GoFleet’s third-party identification measures, firewalls and data breach security precautions are virtually a non-issue.
Safety
While dash cams can’t necessarily prevent accidents, there is ample evidence to suggest that dash cam technology can help change the behaviours that cause accidents, such as distracted driving, harsh braking or fatigue.
Face-recognition dash cams, improved GPS navigational systems, finely-tuned vehicle sensors and AI have all moved the goalposts of possibility for global asset tracking technology, keeping your drivers and your business safe.
Driver safety and retention should be high on the list of any fleet’s priorities. GoFleet recommends ‘a culture of safety‘ be instituted in all fleet organizations, providing clear guidance and transparency in assuring the safety of their assets, as well as the privacy and well-being of their fleet drivers and operators.
Fleet safety today extends to being able to transmit engine diagnostic data, pain-point measures, remote vehicle management, engine starter inhibit technology and vehicular maintenance servicing alerts, all of which equate to a real safety commitment.
Cloud system with data protection
Data Storage & Bandwidth
Today, Cloud-based technology allows even heavy digital data to be safely transferred and stored, without weighing down any one server. Our global solutions include 24/7 tracking over cellular networks, GPS coordinates, satellite transmissions and more, for both EV and fuel-based models.
Using our proprietary APIs for easier app-to-app interfacing, GoFleet feeds your fleet operations system with the data you need, when you need it. We even provide an IoT gateway to push your data through, from sensors and into the Cloud, for instant access.
Migration & Ecosystem Needs
Most Canadian and many U.S.-based fleets face considerable snowfall each year. Tractors and heavy farm equipment can likewise face a host of additional weather-related challenges.
Our global data tracking solutions offer fleets remote entry, ride-sharing access, OEM management, automated ELD logs, incident alerts, even On/Off tracking for when vehicles are stationary. Our integrated asset management system allows industries to go global, responsibly.
Energy Consumption Monitoring
Fleets that want to stay healthy and wise take full advantage of the route optimization technology available today, for improving both dispatch and delivery decisions. Our route optimization software and APIs allow for better, wiser route calculations, as well as better diagnostics.
Fuel Cards are another wise way to monitor and track consumption. Meanwhile, as more fleets began moving toward EVs, GoFleet’s electric vehicle management support has become increasingly robust. Our fleet command centre technology allows for real-time fuel and EV energy usage across your entire fleet family. We also provide Charge Assurance alerts and routine EV Charging Beta readings for EVs.
All of this translates into lower fuel and energy costs, and far wiser fleet resource management.
Did you know that it was possible to retain good drivers and improve morale and driver safety through smart digital data engineering? GoFleet’s Mobile Driver solutions integrate your fleet’s operating system to simplify data retrieval, while boosting driver safety and performance.
Current digitized reporting technology includes Driver Video Reviews, Digital Time Cards, Delivery Form Creation, Driver Messaging and Training, Indoor Tracking, OEM & Car Sharing, Fuel & Maintenance Management, ROI Calculators, Asset Monitoring, Cold Chain tracking sensors, E-learning, Team Performance scoring and Rewards Program management.
Our nimble fleet mobile apps—including Mobile Dispatch, ZenScores, ZenduForms and ZenduMessenger, to name a few—have successfully automated data tools for capturing fleet telematics across all industries. What this means for fleets:
Streamlining the Work Order Management Process by electronically filling out safety and vehicle inspection reports across fleet operations.
Complying with ELD mandates by automatically logging-in work hours directly into electronic logbooks, providing actionable data for fleet reports.
Receiving automated diagnostic data and vehicle inspection reports, allowing for improved scheduling of vehicles for routine maintenance needs, as well as alerts to safety concerns.
They say forewarned is fore-armed. With GoFleet’s seamless integration of the best in digital device telematic technology available today, your fleet will always stay ahead of any curve.
GoFleet & Go Home
Make sure your operations team properly assesses both your fleet capacity and constraints, long before you sign on the dotted line. Nothing costs a fleet more than inadequate support, creating efficiency backlogs and security breaches that were easily avoidable.
To find out where future fleet technology is heading, and how to surf ahead, just ask. GoFleet offers free demos and customized efficiency assessments that help teams navigate emerging technologies. This lets fleet operations teams, and their drivers, finish work earlier and wiser.
