Managing a fleet has become challenging these days. Customers have higher standards than ever before. Meanwhile, a significant strain on the supply chain makes meeting their expectations harder for fleets across all industries. Maintenance of vehicles, keeping employees, and promoting a safe environment are all challenges that fleet managers face these days.
While such problems have become more prominent, there is also a solution that makes these issues easier to manage: fleet management software. Fleet management software helps fleets tackle their routing, dispatch, maintenance, fuel expenditure, compliance, driver safety, and so much more. Let’s discuss the top five fleet management software features you need for your business.
No. 1: Fleet Tracking
Fleet tracking is one of the most valuable features of any fleet management software. This tool gives you the ability to see where your fleet is in real-time on a map using your fleet management dashboard. With fleet tracking, you can ensure that your drivers are on track and doing their jobs. You can also ensure that your drivers are safe throughout the day by catching unexpected behavior as soon as possible. Fleet tracking overall improves the efficiency of any fleet operations.
No. 2: Telematics
With telematics, you can track all kinds of vehicle data. Most importantly, you can track driver behavior like hard braking, rapid acceleration, speeding, and swerving. Your software alerts drivers and fleet managers when these behaviors occur, allowing you to coach in real-time. With telematics, it’s much easier to prevent accidents before they happen.
Telematics also lends itself to programs like Azuga Rewards, which uses telematics to gather data on drivers’ safety and create driver scores. Then, it determines who the safest drivers on the fleet are and awards them gift cards to their favorite locations.
No. 3: Asset Tracking
Asset tracking is a feature that falls under the umbrella of fleet tracking, but it has various advantages. Putting asset trackers on your assets tells you where those assets are in real-time, preventing theft. Whenever something is on the move when it shouldn’t be, you can alert the authorities immediately to its location, significantly increasing the likelihood of retrieval.
Asset tracking isn’t only good for preventing theft, however. If you have many items in your warehouse, it’s easy to lose track of what you have. When you know what you have on hand, you are less likely to purchase identical products and waste money on items that the fleet doesn’t need. You’ll never duplicate inventory; even better, you’ll know what assets are getting used, so if one is lying dormant, you can replace it with something you really need more.
No. 4: Maintenance Alerts
Keeping up with vehicle maintenance can be one of your most significant challenges when you have a lot of vehicles. If you’re working with pen and paper, it may be nearly impossible. However, proper vehicle maintenance is critical for the efficient operation of your fleet, so you must make it a priority. Luckily, fleet management software can help with maintenance alerts. Maintenance alerts use telematics to track your vehicles’ maintenance needs and let you know when your vehicles have any health issues that need addressing, helping you tackle them right away.
No. 5: Route Optimization
Route optimization is one of the best assets for fleet tracking if you’re looking to make your fleet more efficient. It uses algorithms and machine learning to find the best route for your drivers, including all their daily stops, while avoiding issues that may cause them delays. It helps you save money on fuel and gets your drivers where they need to be faster. It’s easy to use and quick to implement if fleet tracking is already enabled.
Get the Best in Fleet Management Software
To get the most out of fleet management software, you need the best in the business. The team at Azuga are experts in the fleet industry. They work with fleets, both big and small, to achieve their goals. Schedule a demo with us today to get a taste of what we can do.