If your company is in the transportation business and you have a fleet of vehicles which services your customers, there’s no question that your business would benefit from having good fleet management services, which can be derived from a logistics and fleet management system. You might think that fleet management is only needed by the huge logistics and transportation companies, but any business which operates many vehicles would obtain significant benefits by having them managed more efficiently.
When you can deliver products to customers in the most efficient manner, that reflects well on your company, and it will improve customer loyalty so that your customers will tend to retain their business relationship with you longer. Fleet management is necessary so that the quality of your company’s service can be at its best, and so you can develop company efficiencies which make that service even better. Below are described some of the reasons that having good fleet management services would be highly advantageous to your transportation company.
Dispatching
Your dispatching can be improved tremendously when you have a fleet management system in place because it will be capable of telling you exactly where every vehicle in the fleet is located. It will also be able to tell you how much time is remaining on any given job so that you can then plan for additional jobs that need to be handled.
When your dispatching is more precise, you’ll be able to take on additional jobs, and that means more money for your company. Because you are managing your fleet much more effectively, you should notice that your profit margin increases significantly, since you would then be able to take on more jobs.
Reporting
Good fleet management services will be able to deliver timely reports, either on the hour, daily, or weekly, depending on how quickly you need critical information. By examining and analyzing your reports more frequently, you will be able to identify many of the specific patterns of your fleet and make any adjustments that would be beneficial to managing those vehicles. By automating your regular reports, you’ll also eliminate the hassle of having to initiate them manually, and you will achieve greater office efficiency by doing so.
Fuel Efficiency
There are several ways you will be able to improve fuel efficiency when you make good use of your fleet management system. Because you will be able to analyze your drivers’ behaviors and the idle times of all vehicles, you can maximize fuel efficiency by taking advantage of that information and allowing for it.
In some cases, your fleet management system will allow you to track fuel receipts, and this will give you additional information about the vehicle itself and the manner in which drivers fuel up. It will also keep you apprised of driving conditions and how fuel is consumed during each of these different kinds of driving conditions.
When you have more information at your fingertips about how and when your vehicles are being refueled, you can make better decisions about those processes, and save money by optimizing your refueling strategy. Rather than making your decisions based on driving theory or any kind of conjecture, you will have hard facts at your fingertips which you can act on, and improve your refueling strategies.
Fleet Safety
One of the biggest advantages of having a capable fleet management system is that it will allow you to improve on safety for your entire fleet. The software in your fleet management services system will help you to analyze all the habits, behaviors, and driving patterns that your vehicle operators engage in.
Having this information will help you to make better decisions about how those habits can be improved, and how to eliminate or at least reduce dangerous driving behaviors. The better informed you are about what happens on the road, the more control you will have over unsafe habits so that you can begin to reduce or eliminate safety hazards among your drivers.
Insurance Benefits
Another significant advantage of having a fleet management system in your daily operations is that you may enjoy some significant benefits related to insurance. Some insurance companies are willing to offer discounts and other significant incentives to businesses that make use of fleet management systems.
The reason it benefits the insurance company is that they are expecting your transportation company will have better safety practices on the roadways, and fewer numbers of accidents. This, of course, reduces their liability and makes it cost-effective for them to provide you with such financial incentives and discounts.
Whenever you install a new fleet management system, it will definitely be worth your while to consult with your insurance company, to see if they offer such discounts. This will be a double-benefit to your company since you would have improved safety, and those improved safety practices and behaviors would be attractive to your insurance company, so they’re willing to reward you for it.
Customer Service
Your customers will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of your fleet management services, because they will enjoy improved delivery times, and they won’t be kept waiting as often, or for as long a time period. You will be able to provide more efficient service to all of your clients, no matter what kind of operation you currently have.
By providing your customers with this kind of high-level customer satisfaction, you’ll improve customer loyalty, and enjoy improved relationships with your customers over the long term. Any company whose business revolves around transportation of goods will derive many significant benefits from having a capable fleet management system.
It may be important to you to run a safer operation, or it may be that fuel efficiency is your primary goal, or it may be you’re simply trying to improve customer satisfaction. Regardless of what your overall objectives are, all these advantages will be available to you will when you install and maintain a good fleet management system.
