Fleets have a reputation for being a little behind the times when it comes to technology. Hours of Service (HOS) records, maintenance and inspections, and driver records were paper records, recorded and stored manually. Checking in on a driver, their location, and estimating their destination arrival time meant calling the driver. It was nearly impossible to accurately calculate fuel consumption. Advancements such as idle time monitoring and geofencing weren’t even a concept in the minds of many fleet managers. The implementation of the ELD mandate sparked a huge change in the technological direction of fleets across the United States.
The Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate requires electronic monitoring of HOS in order to increase safety and potentially reduce the number of fleet vehicle accidents. This was a common concern, considering that truck drivers spend around 60 hours on the road each week. To electronically monitor and record hours of service, fleets must use an ELD, which connects to a vehicle’s OBD-II port under the dashboard. This technology rose out of the manufacturing lines of the 1970s as a means of creating vehicle reports. The evolution of this technology has led to applications in telematics insurance and used by a variety of industries such as construction, plumbing, utilities, and more.
Today, the solutions for fleets don’t stop at GPS tracking and HOS logging. There are now features such as route optimization, fuel card integration, and geofencing. Fleet managers are more familiar with route planning, optimization, and fuel cards, but geofencing is a lesser-known feature. Despite this, geofencing is rapidly spreading across the industry as more and more fleets are catching onto all the uses and benefits of this technology. Learn all you need to know about geofencing below.
Geofencing is a virtual perimeter set around a physical location. It works in conjunction with software or an app to send alerts to a user. It could use GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, asset trackers, or cellular data to trigger these alerts. Though it depends on how you configure the geofence, entering or leaving the perimeter triggers an alert, push notification, or targeted ad. While advertisers are finding a lot of great use for this technology in location-based ads, geofences are used for dozens of other applications, including:
These aren’t the only applications for geofencing, but you can see that there is a wide range of uses.
Geofencing is often a feature of software or an application. To create one usually only requires drawing a perimeter around a map and a configuration. This configuration is the response you wish the geofence to have. For instance, if you’re interested in protecting equipment from theft, configure the geofence to send alerts when someone enters your perimeter during unauthorized hours. Or, use the technology in coordination with asset trackers and ensure that assets remain inside the perimeter when not authorized for use.
The software needed to create a geofence often uses RFID’s (remote frequency identification devices) or GPS (global positioning system). Configuring to a location with a specific motivation is called setting up an “if this, then that” command.
Geofences are an extraordinary development. They allow businesses to send texts and push notifications for sales when a customer enters their perimeter. It allows you to send commands to your home if you are using IoT (Internet of Things) connected devices. For example, coming within fifty feet of your home could trigger the lights to come on. It allows businesses of all sizes to protect their stored equipment at multiple locations. For fleets, the benefits of geofencing are innumerable. Let’s take a look at the most vital uses of geofencing for fleets below.
There are many reasons to track your fleet vehicles. For one, tracking them in real-time eliminates the need for ETA phone calls, which can often be a distraction for drivers. You can set a perimeter around their destination, rest areas, loading areas, etc. with auto-status alerts to ensure your fleet remains on track. This eliminates some of the burden on fleet managers and drivers as well. Fleet management teams no longer have to micromanage or spend all day making calls. Drivers feel more freedom without the constant check-ins. Some companies are even seeing geofencing as a way to allow employees the space to create their own schedules.
Customers have higher expectations today, and it can be difficult for companies to keep up. Tools like geofencing make it easier by providing delivery notifications to customers. They’ll receive alerts when packages are inbound, and provide them accurate delivery times. It also allows fleet managers to ensure employees are staying on task and meeting delivery objectives.
Downtime is one of the most difficult things to avoid when it comes to repairs on a vehicle or asset. Setting a geofence around a repair shop helps you to see when repairs are completed or when a vehicle moves from the parking lot to the shop. This helps you cut downtime by knowing exactly when you can put that vehicle back in rotation.
Theft is a huge concern for fleets, and geofencing is the main solution. You’ve invested a lot in your assets and vehicles, and a majority of that equipment can remain in storage for long periods of time. Geofencing helps ensure that your assets remain where they should be when they’re not in use. If a vehicle or asset is removed from a perimeter when it shouldn’t be, you’ll receive alerts that will help you respond faster. You’ll also be able to provide more detailed information to police for recovery. And, if that asset also has a tracker, you’re more likely to recover it.
There are a lot of tasks involved in fleet management, each demanding a lot of time from managers. Geofencing helps to eliminate things like phone calls for check-ins, manual ETA notifications for customers, and manual HOS logging. With geofencing, you can use virtual time cards, knowing exactly when your team appears on a job site. You no longer have to record hours or check in on employees. This automatically reduces the amount of time fleet managers spend on mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on growth and optimization instead.
Because companies have a wide range of assets, and there isn’t always a need for those assets on job sites—they often sit in storage for months at a time. Because of this, fleets may purchase excess equipment, not knowing what they have in storage or across job sites. Geofencing allows you to see what assets are where, along with utilization data to help you maximize your productivity.
Quality fleet management and geofencing software features give you the ability to reduce costs, increase visibility and productivity, and improve your fleet. Not only can you monitor assets and locations in real time, you’ll receive alerts for unauthorized usage, deliveries, and anything else you want to configure. You’ll also receive feedback on idling, utilization, safety, and more.
The way to achieve all of this is to integrate the right software into your fleet. Azuga Fleet offers companies GPS fleet tracking for vehicles, dashcams, asset tracking, and geofencing. Our full range of fleet management tools includes features such as route planning and optimization, fuel card integration, and real-time tracking. With our dashboard, you’ll receive easy-to-read reports on all of your assets, with data on idling, usage, location, driver behavior, engine diagnostics, and more. All of this data helps you to optimize your fleet in as many ways as possible. With better optimization, your fleet functions at its best, increasing the satisfaction of your customers and helping your business grow.
Learn more about what fleet and asset tracking with geofencing can do for you with Azuga.
Dispatch software is a lifesaver when it comes to organizing your dispatch process and keeping operations streamlined. It offers a variety of features that make daily procedures so much easier, from fleet tracking to reports that help businesses make decisions. What features does dispatch software offer, and how do these features benefit fleets? We will break this down for you.
It is easy to assign and monitor jobs with dispatch software because it uses fleet tracking. Fleet tracking allows you to assign jobs to crews in the field. If you need a lead technician for a job, it’s simple to attach that lead tech to any job you need. You can even sort jobs based on their status, whether they’re one-time, recurring, or multi-day, or based on urgency.
When workers finish jobs, they can mark the job as complete on their end. This way, you can know when each job concludes and when your technician moves on to their next task.
Back and forth calls between technicians and managers are no longer a problem. With dispatch software, you simply input the job you want your technicians to address. Your technicians access it from their phones and know what to do from there. When they’re done, they can mark it complete and view their next job right away. They can track their time, update their schedules, and input notes all while on the go. Everything you need to know will be on your screen when you need to know it, no need to track the information down.
Dispatch software can improve your business’s customer service reputation in a variety of ways. Firstly, GPS tracking allows for route optimization software, which gets your technicians to their destinations quickly and efficiently. No more late technicians making your customers wait. Furthermore, dispatch software allows you to assign technicians to customers they already know, building an improved relationship with your business. And with all of your customer information in one place, it’s easy to respond to disputes and issues in a timely and personal manner.
All of your client and order information is available in a field service CRM that details everything you need to know about your customers and the jobs you’ve done for them.
Azuga offers state-of-the-art dispatch software that your business is sure to benefit from every single day. These benefits will improve your fleet’s daily operations, boost customer service, and maximize productivity among your workers. These features and more bring your fleet to its maximum potential, allowing you to focus on making important decisions to help the business grow and thrive. Find out everything you can do with dispatch software by trying out a free demo today. You’re certain to be impressed with the improvements.
A multi-drop route planner is a process that plans a route for a driver to make more than two deliveries in multiple locations. It uses vehicle routing software to collect and analyze thousands of data points and determine the best delivery route. This route planning software can plan, re-route, and reschedule without causing any danger to the driver, environment, or business. It considers many factors, such as the number of distribution centers, warehouses, or residential areas a driver has to visit, resource availability, and driver safety.
The route optimization software tracks the vehicle while factoring in when deliveries need to arrive. Of course, a human being should ensure that everything has been planned out properly, but the process should be automatic. Both this person and the system should look at distances, travel time, and fuel consumption.
Once a route is set, the route optimization software compiles data to choose the best vehicle and driver depending on the delivery. It uses data based on the route and the client’s needs. At this point, it also considers the driver’s hours and weather conditions to determine how much time is needed. These systems need to work in real-time to ensure that managers and clients can connect with up-to-date information.
There are various benefits to multi-drop route planning. It maximizes productivity, keeps fuel costs low, promotes driver safety, and helps businesses stay compliant with federal driver hour regulations. Your business will save money by using its drivers effectively and not using as much fuel.
If you’re looking for this software, you don’t need to search any further! Azuga’s route optimization software allows for multiple stops. It provides the best routes based on historical data, traffic conditions, weather conditions, and machine learning that helps it create the best routes for you in real-time. See what you can do with route planning software by trying out a demo today!
If you manage a fleet, you probably already understand the delicate dance that is fleet dispatching. If not, you may not realize just how crucial this process is to the success of any fleet-based business.
Simply put, fleet dispatching is the process by which commercial fleet drivers are sent out into the field to make deliveries, service customers, and handle other business-related tasks. But it involves so much more than simply telling drivers, “you go there.” Good fleet dispatching may also involve considerations for traffic conditions, road hazards, driver skill sets, customer preferences, and onboard equipment. When done correctly, it’s a skillful juggling act that helps a business reach its daily goals. When poorly handled, it can be a disaster for all concerned.
A fleet dispatcher is a person in charge of scheduling and arranging dispatch for a commercial fleet. Small fleets may have a single dispatcher to manage all calls, while larger enterprise fleets may employ an entire team.
A fleet dispatcher must clearly understand schedules and routes, job proficiencies, fuel management, fleet maintenance, and regulations related to hours of service and other fleet compliance issues. A good fleet dispatcher knows the drivers in the fleet well and can anticipate their scheduling needs and which jobs they are most suited to handle. Fleet dispatchers must be masters of communication and have elite organizational skills.
Fleet dispatching is as much an art as a science, and it can be overwhelming at times. The best way to support the fleet dispatchers on your team is to give them tools and technology that make the job easier. Fortunately, Azuga offers the answers to all of your fleet dispatching conundrums.
Our GPS Fleet Tracking software can keep track of all the vehicles in your fleet along with large equipment and other assets. Dispatchers can use this information to see which vehicles are nearby when a job pops up. What’s more, we offer top-notch route optimization tools to help guide drivers around road construction, accidents, and other hazards that might prevent them from getting to their destination on time. We can even help you schedule routine maintenance, promote road safety, and automatically deliver dispatch notifications to drivers in the field.
Learn about all the ways Azuga Fleet can help your commercial fleet stay productive and efficient while simplifying maintenance schedules and creating a culture of safety on the road. Schedule an Azuga demo today!
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