Regardless if you’re a company specializing in delivery services or a company that just has delivery services, the use of fleet management is the right way to go. This would help you supervise your drivers, keep track of your deliveries, save money on gas and always pick the most optimal routes. However, not a lot of businesses use fleet management properly. Instead, they prefer to go for the old-school approach where they just send their vehicles on runs via improvised tools. Here are five things you should know about fleet management that should convince you of its necessity for your enterprise.
1. Fleet management improves the safety of traffic
The first thing you need to understand about fleet management is that it increases the safety of traffic, in general. How? Well, by alerting fleet managers of the reckless behavior of individual drivers. Second, by picking the safest (least crowded) routes. Third, it also boosts the overall safety of traffic indirectly by allowing you to choose routes that preserve your vehicle, thus ensuring that there are fewer accidents due to mechanical malfunctions.
2. It optimizes routes and reduces overhead
The main reason why the majority of people are interested in fleet management is that it can help improve their logistical structure. How? Well, if they’re in the delivery and transportation industry, it can help them plan return deliveries, which is the simplest way to maximize profit. If they’re in the retail industry and the delivery system is merely a part of their infrastructure, they get more insight and reduce the overhead. Optimal routes provide for the optimal delivery time and the absolute best fuel efficiency.
3. Fleet management is simpler than it ever was before
Never before was fleet management simpler than it is today. First of all, you can find a myriad of decent fleet management tools online. Next, you can find a seasoned fleet manager and hire them as a remote worker. With all the specialized tools available, there’s really no need for them to be present on-spot. If you have an in-house fleet manager who is also responsible for the maintenance of the vehicles, they can even make orders for spare parts online. You could really get a great price-to-value ratio on quality 4WD tyres, which are in constant demand for a company that spends so much time on the road.
4. It’s pivotal for the prevention of employee theft
Employee theft is a serious problem for the majority of companies. You see, it’s not just the risk of a missing item. A lot of drivers steal gas or even use company time (and resources) in order to make their own runs. This is something that can become a serious problem if it turns out to be a systemic occurrence. Now, if these things are unsupervised (like they would be without a proper fleet management system), a lot of your drivers would become tempted to do something like this. Fortunately, you have the concept of fleet management to prevent this worst-case scenario.
5. It can be quite useful for your customer service
By monitoring all your vehicles on a regular basis, you’re placing your enterprise in a scenario where you know the exact whereabouts of every single item in your inventory. Why is this so important? Well, let’s say that a worried customer calls to inform you that the item that they’ve ordered hasn’t arrived yet. If you have a proper fleet monitoring system, you can easily check why the item hasn’t arrived yet. Then, you can offer an explanation and even provide them with the (recalibrated) ETA on the item.
One of the most important things you need to keep in mind about fleet management is the fact that there’s no such thing as a fleet too small. Sure, these tools aren’t necessarily inexpensive but they sometimes offer various versions (based on the size of your fleet or the number of devices). In other words, it’s scalable and something that you can make fit your budget.
