Have you been looking for a way to alleviate the frustrations associated with managing your growing fleet? Consider investing in fleet management software. In this guide, we’ll take a deep dive into fleet management system benefits and advantages of fleet management software.
What is Fleet Management Software?
Fleet management software is cloud-based technology that allows you to perform various fleet management-related tasks. With this technology, you can monitor, track, and manage things such as:
- DOT Compliance
- Procurement Costs
- Fuel Consumption
- Vehicle Maintenance Schedules
- Engine and Transmission Performance
- Route Optimization
- Driving Habits (Speed, Braking Patterns, etc.)
Fleet management solutions are typically paired with edge devices such as GPS trackers or electronic logging devices (ELDs). The latter assists with tracking drivers’ hours behind the wheel and other compliance-related data.
How Does Fleet Management Software Work?
Fleet management software gathers data and presents it to users via a centralized interface. From the interface, authorized users can generate reports, review data, schedule maintenance, and perform other regular administrative functions.
These platforms typically include mobile apps so that fleet supervisors and other business leaders can access fleet data on the go. Top software solutions also give users the ability to customize their interfaces so that they can prioritize information that is most important to them.
8 Top Advantages of Fleet Management Software
Fleet management software offers a multitude of benefits when compared to traditional fleet management practices. Fleet management technology can be used for a variety of things including some of these major areas listed below.
1. Managing Your Vehicles in One Place
If your fleet data is currently dispersed across multiple spreadsheets, files, and platforms, then you know how frustrating and time-consuming this approach can be.
Fleet management software frees this pain point by allowing you to monitor all of your vehicles from a single interface. As a result, you will save countless hours while improving information transparency.
2. Improving Driver Safety
When drivers know that their vehicle operation habits are being monitored, they will be more mindful of their unsafe driving habits.
Ultimately, this will help protect your drivers, vehicles, and brand. You can use the tracking capabilities of a fleet management solution to flag hazardous driving, reward safe drivers, identify training needs, and minimize insurance claims.
3. Increasing Fuel Efficiency
Fleet management software is a great tool for boosting fuel efficiency. You can track historic fuel efficiency performance data across your entire fleet. When a vehicle experiences a dip in fuel performance, you can bring it in for maintenance, review driving habits, and explore other potential causes.
4. Reducing Vehicle Downtime
Missed maintenance can lead to more significant vehicle breakdowns. This oversight can compound maintenance costs and cut into drive time and profit margins.
Fortunately, fleet management software allows you to send maintenance reminders to drivers and maintenance staff. This automated notification decreases the chances of missing scheduled maintenance and helps you keep the wheels of your fleet vehicles turning.
5. Lowering Labor Costs
When using manual fleet management practices, you will need to hire multiple staff members just to oversee these processes. This significantly reduces your need for manual processes. In turn, this can reduce your overhead expenses by removing redundancies in your fleet management personnel.
6. Eliminating Human Error
Even the most detail-oriented employees will occasionally make mistakes when documenting fleet management-related entries. Fleet management technology eliminates this productivity barrier by controlling for human error.
When you deploy a fleet management solution, your employees will no longer have to manually input extraneous vehicle data. Instead, a platform will automatically collect this information from edge devices that are installed in your fleet vehicles.
7. Ensuring Insurance Protection
The driver behavior data that fleet management solutions collect can help you stay in good standing with your insurance providers. This information can be used to address bad driver habits that can result in the likelihood that you will need to file a claim. Many commercial driving insurance providers even allow you to access premium discounts with the use of fleet management software paired with ELDs.
8. Gaining Real-Time Visibility
With fleet management software, you can gain real-time visibility into vehicle health, fuel consumption, and asset location. Using this data you can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and better serve your customers. This data will help you become more profitable and move toward your growth goals.
Selecting Your Vehicle Fleet Management Software
When you start your search for a telematic solution to monitor your vehicles, you will quickly realize that there are many fleet management systems on the market. It’s recommended to thoroughly research these to find the one that solves your company’s biggest pain points with an all-in-one solution. In addition to checking out the software developer’s website, you should also explore reviews to get a better understanding of each solution’s strengths and weaknesses.
FAQ
Fleet management software will streamline numerous administrative processes. It can help you gain a better understanding of the status of your fleet assets, decrease management expenses, save money, and boost profitability.
The best fleet management systems have a wealth of tools that are designed to make governing your fleet easy. Top options also boast a user-friendly interface, straightforward pricing, and the ability to integrate with existing software solutions.
As of 2020, the fleet management industry had a global market size of $19.47 billion, according to Allied Market Research.
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