The industrial revolution has brought a new business mindset. It has changed everything from work ethics to operating methods. Nowadays, companies think of new ways to enhance their productivity. The fleet business also evolved with time. However, it missed an ultimate solution to its needs until fleet management systems came along. These management solutions solved a lot of daily problems for businesses.
The concept of innovative telematics platforms was based on vehicle management. Their functionality was devised by considering the daily operations of a fleet. Nowadays, monitoring systems perform most of the managerial tasks and that too with better efficiency. They not only save time but also improves a business’s productivity.
In this blog, we will discuss different aspects of fleet management software in detail.
What is Fleet Management?
The process to manage and utilize all the assets within a fleet effectively from acquisition to disposal is known as Fleet Management. It is a vast term that covers a lot of aspects from monitoring and maintenance to telematics. Managers employ various techniques to perform daily operations. Therefore, there is no fixed mechanism for managing a fleet.
What is the purpose of fleet management?
Any business that uses vehicles in its daily operations requires a management mechanism. Its purpose is to handle the complete lifecycle of commercial vehicles on a daily basis. It includes enhancing productivity, reducing associated risks, and ensuring compliance. Although modern vehicle tracking systems perform a lot of functions, some of the prominent ones are given below:
Vehicle Acquisition:
The vehicle acquisition is not a simple task. It involves several factors like determining vehicle suitability, negotiating with manufacturers, vehicle legislation like WLTP and RDE2. While selecting vehicles, you may also have to consider fuel efficiency, taxation, and insurance expense. In addition to that, the budget is another integral aspect to look into before buying a vehicle. All these things demand an efficient management mechanism to get the job done effectively.
Fuel Management:
Preventing unnecessary expenses is the most significant objective of a fleet manager. Fuel costs make up a majority of operational expenditure, and keeping them low is a huge challenge. Many factors, like market rates and the country’s foreign policy, influence the fueling expense. Handling such aspects through management is impossible. However, the daily fueling expense is something that is controllable through effective planning and monitoring. Effective fleet management helps managers to ensure fuel efficiency. It is done by strictly monitoring the usage daily. The reporting is a crucial factor that keeps the drivers careful during their routine trips.
Maintenance:
Any vehicle that is not maintained correctly tends to wear and tear quickly. In the case of a large fleet, maintenance job becomes doubly difficult. Without required maintenance, a company faces not only operational problems but also bears a financial burden. With the help of a foolproof maintenance mechanism, . The timely vehicle checks are essential to identify any technical faults preventing significant defects.
Safety:
The advancements in automobile technology have also increased the need for driver’s safety. Accidents are a big setback for companies. They cost them both financial and resource availability issues. Preventing them is a big challenge as there is no fixed solution to this problem. However, an efficient vehicle tracking system can minimize the probability of crash and theft through various measures.
The latest vehicle tracking systems employ cameras and sensors to keep an eye on the driver’s performance. Due to such constant accountability, the drivers remain fully vigilant during driving. In addition to that, with efficient fleet management, emergencies like accidents can be handled better. Insurance can cover repair expenses, and claims can be made much efficiently.
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Managing Compliance Requirements:
Compliance management is a big part of handling fleet operations. From daily inspection and driver checks to MOT’s insurance and reporting, many things need consideration. Documenting all such information can help in catering to any claims or investigation in a much better way. The vehicle legislation laws keep on changing with time. It is essential to have a mechanism that keeps you updated about them to ensure hassle-free operations.
Cost-effectiveness:
If you talk about any business, reducing cost and expanding revenue is the ultimate goal. The managers keep on analyzing various aspects of their fleet to identify areas of improvement. They try to cut down unnecessary expenses without hurting the daily operations. The improved operational efficiency results in more productivity, which means greater return on investment (ROI). Reducing fuel costs, maintaining vehicles’ efficiency, and analyzing performance all provide financial benefits.
Managing Information:
When a large number of vehicles are traveling daily, they generate a lot of data. Some of this data is useful for the business, while most of it is not. Managing this massive amount of data becomes a worry for the managers. They have to filter the useful data from the unnecessary ones. It takes a lot of time and effort. Fleet management software offers an excellent solution to this problem with well-organized data management.
The latest management solutions sort through data in no time. They also generate reports based on the required information in real-time. It can help managers to devise successful business strategies. By saving data in an organized form, its correct analysis can be done.
Performance Assessment:
Assessing the performance of the staff is a fundamental principle for success. Mostly, drivers are considered as staff in fleet-related businesses. A significant purpose of managing the fleet is to monitor the progress of the workforce. From their attendance and working hours to driving performance, a good manager keeps an eye on everything. With strict monitoring, the employees tend to be more efficient, boosting the outcomes of the business.
In today’s business world, everything happens at a brisk pace. Time holds the key in daily working, and it is pivotal in success. While dealing with hectic routines on a daily basis, fleet managers tend to lose track of time. They can also get tired, resulting in lesser productivity. To avoid these things, best white label GPS tracking software provide an organized mechanism to perform tasks timely.
Technology performs tasks much quicker than humans. With the help of a management solution, there is natural automation in the routine. The managers can do every job in less time with a lot of conveniences. As the latest systems are pretty foolproof, there are no loopholes that can result in time wastage.
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What is fleet management software?
In this day and age, everything has become digital, and so is fleet management. Nowadays, managers use vehicle tracking solutions to monitor their fleet. Before going into any further details, we need to first establish what they are.
Fleet management software is software that facilitates the different aspects of fleet operations. It processes, stores, accumulates, monitors, and exports information daily. The latest vehicle tracking and monitoring software are elaborate systems that cover every aspect of fleet operations.
How does it work?
Modern vehicle tracking solutions work based on data integration. They use GPS tracking devices to trace the real-time location of the vehicles. In addition to that, many sensors are also used to fetch and transfer data. When the car moves or changes its status, the device records the data and transfers it to the central system. This way, real-time updates of the vehicle are provided.
The latest software combines GPS technology and Big Data Analytics to trace, store, and analyze data. They are getting more intelligent gradually. With the introduction of AI (Artificial Intelligence), now have the ability to predict. Due to this reason, many companies rely on a vehicle tracking system for strategy making.
A complete vehicle tracking system covers a lot of areas to facilitate companies in their daily operations. From live GPS tracking and vehicle maintenance to finance and telematics, the right solution caters to everything.
Essential Features of a Fleet Management System:
Although the live vehicle tracking solutions come with a lot of features but the most important ones are as follows:
Asset Management:
Asset management is one of the most critical features of fleet management solutions. They allow the managers to handle their assets in a better way. By assets, we mean everything owned by the company, including vehicles, fuel, engine oil, etc.
The latest systems use sensors to gauge the usage of every asset. Some sensors provide a real-time reading of fuel consumption. Monitoring of the engine oil’s quantity is done regularly, and in case of renewal, the maintenance alerts are activated.
Efficient monitoring and accountability ensure that drivers drive carefully. The notification alerts can be set for various maintenance requirements as a reminder. Whenever there is a need for service, managers are informed timely. Therefore, there is lesser wear and tear in the vehicle preserving the fleet in good condition.
Fuel Management:
Excessive fuel consumption is a concern of every manager as it proves to be costly. With the help of tracking software, monitoring of fuel levels happens in real-time. The excessive usage of fuel while driving and leaks are detected through sensors. Every move of the driver, like harsh braking, speeding is monitored. With route optimization, the designated paths are followed during trips lowering fuel consumption.