8 Fleet Productivity Hurdles And How Fleet Management Software Overcomes Them

The problem with any of these hurdles, however, is that they cannot be obviated. Things such as time spent on planning and managing are crucial. How else will the fleet run in the first place? So, what do fleet managers do to help themselves? Simple! Use a fleet management software solution. 

In this article, we will talk about the ten biggest productivity hurdles that come fleet managers’ way and how a fleet management system helps overcome them. 

What Does Productivity Mean to a Fleet Manager 

For fleet-based businesses, the fleet manager’s productivity and ability to use resources perfectly makes or breaks the business. However, the kind of things a fleet manager has to oversee takes up a lot of admin and manual time. This seldom leaves them the time and energy to be able to sit and absorb data to strategize effectivity. 

Here are a few things that productive fleet managers need to do: 

• Strategize resource allocation 

• Conduct seamless dispatches and deliveries 

• Keep drivers trained and informed 

• Maintain vehicles to the best conditions 

• Maintain flawless road operations 

However, here are a few things they end up doing instead:

• Taking manual location updates 

• Managing the behemoth database 

• Attending customer calls 

• Worrying about fuel prices and restrategizing 

• Calculating ETAs through estimated vehicle location 

8 Fleet Management Hurdles to Overcome

In this section, let us talk about the ten hurdles each fleet manager is likely to face in the course of their career. However, don’t worry! We will not leave you with a head full of problems. Instead, we will help you understand how fleet management software systems help overcome those problems! 

1. Admin Task Time Management 

As a fleet manager, you must have too many administrative tasks to look after. While the manual work makes it simple to zone out while working, they take up too much time. Things such as quoting, dispatching, invoicing, and vehicle maintenance can be easily made automatic to save time. 

Paper-based fleet management systems need so much administrative work to be done that your head can go topsy-turvy. Therefore, you should adopt fleet management software systems that will do all the manual work for you. 

Fleet management software solutions will take care of all the low revenue-generating admin tasks. Managing ETAs, keeping vehicle information in check, and generating invoices along with other admin tasks are fleet management software’s forte. 

With software, you can focus on the things that need your attention and help generate better schemes and profits for the company. 

2. Deciphering Fleet Economy With Fluctuating Fuel Rates 

Fuel management is one of the biggest concerns for any fleet manager. This is mostly because fuel economy describes the entire fleet economy. Therefore, when fuel prices fluctuate frequently, you might need to reevaluate your entire fleet budget. 

While fuel prices are not in our hands, there is at least one thing that is, and that is knowing your fleet’s fuel consumption. Sure, we cannot predict how much money is spent on fuel at any given period, but we can surely control the amount of fuel consumed by the fleet. 

With the help of a fleet management software solution, you can see which vehicle consumes how much fuel. You can also see how routes and driving patterns affect fuel consumption. This way, even when prices fluctuate, you can quickly make the calculations and make monetary adjustments accordingly. 

Through fuel consumption reports, you can also help reduce harsh braking and other rash driving patterns prevalent in your fleet. By doing so, you don’t only help in budgeting and saving fuel but also safeguard your vehicles. 

3. Keeping Vehicles Healthy With Timely Maintenance 

Vehicle maintenance is a huge productivity challenge that each fleet manager has to face. After all, if the vehicles are not well maintained, your fleet’s productivity will automatically fall. At the same time, if you do send vehicles for unnecessary maintenance, you’re going to lose productivity and maintenance budget. 

Fleet management software helps you go through the small maintenance checks through sensors. With proper sensor integration, you do not need to check minuscule things such as tire pressure and fuel levels at particular ties. Instead, you can get such information at all times. 

With fleet management software, you can also input the maintenance schedules each vehicle has to follow. This way, the software will send notifications to your mobile application and you will never miss scheduled maintenance again! 

4. Managing a Remote Team 

Naturally, when drivers are on the road, you cannot constantly text and call them to give them specific instructions. Moreover, with everyone functioning remotely, communication itself becomes difficult, costing the organization some productivity. Miscommunication leads to haphazard schedules, routes, and pickup-delivery coordination. 

With the help of potent fleet management software, you can streamline the entire communication channel. How? By sending clear instructions and messages to everyone on the team through the software’s alerts and announcements. 

You can manage manager-driver communication through optimum route mapping and skip calling them for regular updates with the live tracking facilities offered through software. 

5. Asset Utilization Management 

As a fleet manager, you have to take care of several assets down from fuel to vehicles. Moreover, whether these assets just sit and depreciate in your arsenal or get you gains is in your hands. Asset utilization can be especially tricky because to make optimum use of everything you need a perfectly orchestrated route. 

The challenge in asset utilization is to locate and allocate everything perfectly. With fleet management software, you can easily keep track of all the assets you have in your company and view how they are being used. 

Fleet management software allows you to keep all vehicles in use, maintain optimum routes for fuel economy, and allocate the right driver to the right vehicle - all through data-driven reports and analytics. 

6. Maintaining Vehicle Safety 

When on the road, vehicles might have to face a lot of problems and vehicle security becomes a pressing issue. This is more so because if your vehicle gets stolen, robbed, or damaged, your company will lose a lot of productivity. 

Vehicle tracking through fleet management software in itself helps you ensure vehicle security to some extent. This is mostly because you at least know where your vehicles are in real-time. However, this is not the only way fleet management software safeguards your vehicles. 

Through a good fleet management software system, you get to put the vehicle in parking mode so that your driver can rejuvenate without the fear of a parked vehicle getting stolen. Similarly, immobility allows you to stop the vehicle right where it is if you think it might be in danger. Small safety features such as SOS buttons help obviate productivity breaches. 

7. Keeping Yourself From Drowning in Data 

Even with a fleet of ten vehicles, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of data you have to deal with. Imagine what will happen when you grow your business, since the larger the fleet, the larger the database.

You could either succumb to the data overload or let the data flow without consulting it. Either way, your productivity is at loss. You would either burn out with the admin work you will have to do to segregate that data or will lose the opportunity to strategize perfectly. 

When you use fleet management software, however, you get to focus on only the data you only get bite-sized information. Moreover, you can prioritize the information you want to see and ignore. Automated data management is the best way to keep yourself from drawing in data and losing productivity because of it. 

8. Providing Accurate ETAs To Everyone 

One of the quickly pacing trends in the logistics industry is that everyone expects ETAs. If a company doesn't offer ETAs, it is believed to be incompetent and unreliable. After all, everyone wants to know where their stuff is and when they will receive it, right? 

Customers depend on your fleet to be on time to execute their next steps. You need to offer accurate ETAs in real-time. However, in manual tracking, you can only give rough estimates and not accurate ones. Calculating that ETA manually itself is time-consuming. Moreover, untimely deliveries will get you plagued with inquiry calls, costing productivity. 

With an automated fleet management system, all you have to do is check the software to offer accurate ETAs. The software does the tracking and calculation to make things simple for you. 

Is Your Organization High on Fleet Management Software? 

Do you wish your fleet-based business was on steroids? Well, using a potent fleet management software system might offer the steroids you need! 

As you have already learned from this article, using the right fleet management software system helps you overcome all the common hurdles you might face. What’s better is that good software does much more than just solve these specific problems.