Fleet Management Software Features You Might Be Missing Out On

Let us learn where and how you can use some features unfamiliar to you through this article.

You Might Not Know About These Features

Traditionally, fleet management systems were designed to keep track of vehicle locations only. But we are moving to an age of automation and slowly new features have been integrated with this system for seamless optimisation of fleets. Some features you should add to your fleet optimisation process are:

SOS Button

Driver and vehicle safety is one of managers' highest priorities. The process of ensuring security is aided by integrating an SOS button into the system. This button can be used by drivers to alert managers of any emergencies like accidents, breakdowns, or other kinds of safety breaching.

Managers are then responsible for sending help to drivers. This help can be in the form of vehicle towing vans or repair technicians. Thus, this process removes the need for any other communication method between managers and drivers. It also prioritises situations that might require immediate actions. This can be important for serious situations.

Parking Mode

Vehicles are most vulnerable while they are parked without the presence of their drivers. This is why it is important for managers to keep surveillance over their vehicles when they are parked. Fleet management systems come handy in such cases. It detects movement of vehicles when parking mode has been activated. Managers receive alerts of such cases. 

Parking mode of vehicles can also be scheduled to ensure that drivers do not misuse company’s resources for leisure purposes. Thus, if a vehicle is not stationary when parked, then managers can investigate the reason behind such alerts.

Lock/Unlock

In case a vehicle theft takes place, managers have the option to lock the vehicle. This means that the vehicle will not be able to move any further. This saves fleets owners from loss as investing in new vehicles is additional expenditure. Once the vehicle has been locked, its location managers can track its location and it can be retrieved.

Battery Disconnection Alarm

The market of reselling stolen vehicle parts is an ever growing illegal business. Fleet vehicles can often fall prey to such pilferage acts as well. One of the parts often stolen are vehicle batteries. This is because it is very easy to disconnect them from the vehicles without needing to break into it.

Fleet management system has alarms that go off as soon as the battery is disconnected from the vehicle. It also alerts managers about the same. Thus, businesses are saved from extra expenditure.

Geofence

We usually talk about geofence as a feature that allows managers to ensure that their drivers visit a certain area during their trip. For example, when a waste collection truck goes out on its designated trip, all bins in the way can be marked as a separate geofence to ensure that drivers do not accidentally miss any on the way.

But not many fleets use geofence to mark areas restricted for drivers. Using this method, managers get alerts when a vehicle beaches any boundary of a restricted area. Thus, the safety of their fleet can be maintained better.

Let us look at an example to understand this better. In an agricultural field, managers can geofence all the areas that are prone to have their cattle. Any vehicle entering such areas can cause harm to their animals or scare them. Thus, whenever a vehicle enters these geofences, managers will be able to stop them immediately, saving their cattle from any accidents.

Announcement 

Communicating with each and every driver/transporter when a software related notification has to be delivered can be difficult. This is a task wasting manager's time as contacting each driver separately will require time and resources. This is why the fleet management system has the feature of announcements. It allows you to circulate your message around with a single click.

All managers have to do is select their massage type, whether it is textual or in the form of media. Then they choose who all will receive the message and finally it can be published after selecting visibility time for the message. 

State Fuel Price

Managers and drivers of a fleet have access to live fuel prices of various states in the software itself. When managers are creating routes for their fleet, they can refer to these prices to plan their fuel refilling in a way that reduces cost.

For example, if a driver has to travel through two states A and B for transporting goods, then their fuel price can be compared. Suppose State A has lower rice, then managers can instruct the driver to buy fuel from that state instead of state B for better profit.

Invoices 

Several fleets get paid/ pay drivers according to the distance their vehicles cover during transportation. For this to get executed accurately, managers have to track distances their vehicles cover during each trip and then manually create invoices for the same.

But the fleet management system simplifies this process. When a vehicle is on road, odometers are used to accurately calculate distance to a vehicle and an invoice is generated in the software. This calculation is made on the basis of the price managers set for every kilometer of vehicle cover.

Conclusion

Running profitable fleets is tough. But with correct use of fleet management systems, it is easy for you to have a positive influence on your business. This is why managers have the responsibility to utilise all the features that the system has to offer.