Any company or individual that owns vehicles such as sedans, trucks, buses, and motorcycles, to name a few, face the challenge of maintaining a deteriorating asset. Given that vehicles depreciate in value, a fleet management system has the ability to prolong the useful lifespan of your fleet. It provides fleet operators and individuals valuable data regarding one’s fleet utilisation and operational efficiency which can translate into real world monetary and manpower savings when applied correctly.
Some common challenges fleet operators face:
- Visibility – Lack of information on fleet location and utilisation status leads to operational challenges where planning and scheduling can be negatively affected.
- Safety & Compliance – Poor driving behaviour and maintenance of assets leads to challenges such as the possible endangerment of lives due to reckless driving and equipment failure.
- Operational Costs – Rising fuel, maintenance and manpower costs leads to poor business viability and can hinder the ability of a business to scale if left unsupervised.
An increasing amount of fleet operators are turning to technology for solutions to address the above challenges. This is a result of the fast paced nature of technology proliferation where data is currency. Modern businesses today rely heavily on the rich data they can derive from smart platforms and devices to aid their decision making process. Adopters of solutions are able to recognize the full benefits of having data at their fingertips to streamline operations with the goal of saving costs while increasing productivity.
In the context of motorised vehicles, a fleet management system becomes indispensable for businesses. Here we explore the key features of a fleet management system and how they can have a positive impact on businesses.
Gain Visibility
Real Time Location Tracking
Retrieve live data on the exact location of your business fleet, their speed, mileage and view historical records of your fleet’s travelled routes at a low and affordable cost. With this information, fleet owners can execute efficient planning such as optimising vehicle routes and ensuring on time deliveries.
Alerts and notifications
Customise alerts and notifications when a driver exceeds the speed limit, engages in harsh braking and when vehicles enter and exit geo zones. All these notifications and alerts can be viewed via the following platforms: web, mobile app and emails.
Improve Safety
Driver Behaviour Monitoring
Access your driver’s behaviour by customising reports in relation to speeding, harsh cornering, engine idling, harsh braking and other violations. Ensure that your fleet drivers are safe and responsible on the road. Rank drivers according to driver behaviour and reward them accordingly.
Panic Button and Immobilisation
In the event of an emergency, drivers can utilise features such as activating the panic button to alert HQ for support. Furthermore, the immobilisation feature can remotely disable a vehicle which prevents the unauthorised use of the vehicle. This protects your fleet and drivers from both security breaches and dangerous situations.
Lower Operational Cost
Predictive Maintenance
Detecting temperature changes, sudden acceleration, wear and tear, engine issues and generating exportable sensor data reports so that fleet owners can expedite decisions more effectively. This results in greater cost savings as it reduces vehicle downtime and service disruptions.
Fuel Monitoring
Generate fuel consumption reports and view details such as the average consumption of fuel, data in relation to engine idling and harsh braking which translates to fuel wastage. This allows businesses to tackle fuel inefficiency and pilferage issues to save costs. Businesses can encourage more responsible driver behaviour and most importantly, reduce unnecessary spending on fuel.
Invest in a Fleet Management System and bring your business to greater heights today. Rock Africa’s iSPOT® FMS promises to find be the right solution that can address your basic and complex needs with an end to end solution.
