Businesses are becoming global, and the need for products and services manufactured in one place is spreading throughout the globe. This puts the need for transportation at a level of paramount importance. Sometimes, the need for transportation is not just confined to the cargo movement but even applies to the movement of people from one place to another.
It might not be practically possible to handle all the needs for transportation manually. The requirements include but are not limited to organizing drivers, vehicles, ensuring regular maintenance and cost efficiency, and above everything, recordkeeping of all journies and device contingency plans.
It is for this precise reason that fleet management software is required. Fleet management tools avoid miscommunications with drivers and effectively coordinates your work vehicles.
How Does Fleet Management Software Work?
A fleet management tool is a combination of GPS trackers and a software system that processes the data and assimilates it into useful information.
A fleet management system can control all kinds of motor vehicles, including but not limited to trucks, vans, cars, and even airplanes and ships. This software can publish information on vehicle tracking, fuel management, vehicle maintenance, and driver management.
If your company handles large volumes of vehicles, it is mandatory for you to have a fleet management solution. It helps improve your efficiency and reduces your cost. Fleet management solutions can also help establish compliance with the regulatory requirements of the government. Some fleet management solutions can go the extra mile to establish safety. This can be done by remote control facilities like speed limiting.
A robust fleet management solution brings in data from a lot of systems including but not limited to GPS and mobile signals. Some advanced fleet management systems use additional satellite information to pinpoint the accurate location of your vehicle.
The Numbers That Speak
With the growing market for transportation, the fleet management market is also growing proportionally. A report by Zion Market Research has stated that the market accounted for $11.9 billion in 2017. It is expected to reach $ 43.5 billion globally by 2024. It is expected that the American and European markets will dominate the global volume. However, it cannot be forgotten that the Asia Pacific region is slowly getting up. The rapid adoption and internet penetration in countries like China and India are expected to boost the growth in this region.
Benefits of Fleet Management
Fleet management is much more than what the term implies. Fleet management tools help in increasing the safety and productivity of the driver. You can organize and schedule regular safety and training programs to ensure that the drivers are up to date on the practices of safety. The fleet management software can also incorporate a speak to call technology which will help you directly get in touch with the drivers in case of any emergency. This will ensure that there is no clutter on the network.
Measuring Driver Efficiency
Anything involving transportation is found to have a parallel fuel expense. It is calculated that about 35% of the total expenditure of the fleet companies is fuel. Ensuring fuel efficiency is one of the biggest keys to profit in transportation. The driver’s performance can be tracked using the fleet management software. This data can help you train drivers on how to preserve fuel. Using large chunks of data, you can determine the miles per gallon, which can help you make calculated decisions for your budget.
Cost Efficiency
We have seen that fuel is one of the biggest expenses in transportation and fleet management. However, the expenses do not stop there. There are a lot of auxiliary expenses, including but not limited to insurance, spare parts, labor expenses, and training. This does not include regular maintenance charges.
To achieve top-class efficiency in this regard and to optimize your cost, managing your fleet data is essential. Useful fleet data can be presented by the fleet management tool. The fleet management tool can also remind you periodically on the regular maintenance tests that you will need to perform on your vehicle.
It might also be a good idea to invest in training your employees constantly. It will keep them glued to your company, and it will save you a lot of time and money involved in recruiting new workers.
Essential Features of a Fleet Management System
Any fleet management system needs to have a few features that help in its proper functionality. Although there might be a lot of additional features that can augment the utility of the tool, the ones are given below can be considered basic:
GPS – finding the location of a vehicle is one of the most basic features of any fleet management system. This small bit of data gives loads of information about the vehicle location, the mileage, the route the stops, and the speed. A holistic view of the GPS data can help in reducing fuel and labor costs, and in improving the overall vehicle maintenance.
Fleet Logbook – this can help maintain a good record of the vehicles and their conditions. This would mean that any possible deterioration to the condition of a vehicle affecting its functioning can be rectified at the earliest. This translates into a vehicle functioning for an extended period of time, saving a lot of money.
Dispatch and scheduling – in a world of fast-moving business, a request for a pick-up drop can appear at any point in time. It is for this purpose that a good fleet management system needs to have a facility to schedule a job and dispatch a vehicle in a few clicks. This might also come in handy in times of a breakdown. The schedules of other vehicles can be checked, and a backup vehicle can be dispatched immediately.
Conclusion
A good fleet management system goes a long way in improving the efficiency of your transportation. However, building a complete fleet management system from scratch might not be a wise investment of both your time and money.
You can take the assistance of companies that have exhibited their expertise in building fleet management software, so you can customize them and make them suitable for your requirements!
