How Fleet Management Companies Benefit from Reporting Dashboards

The trucking industry is one of the most competitive and profitable businesses. It is an ever-growing industry. There is so much to do in this that if you have the right strategies and technologies by your side, you can easily earn fortunes out of it. An integral part of the trucking industry is its fleet management. Vehicles are the backbone of the logistics industry. And fleet management means managing them in every way possible.

Decades before, the responsibility to manage the fleet and its vehicles solely relied on the fleet managers. They used to struggle to handle several duties single-handedly and ensure operational efficiency. But not anymore. Technological advancement has changed everything. Nowadays, fleet owners can adopt a solution from fleet management companies to assist their managers in streamlining fleet activities.

In this article, we will talk about how the fleet management company has changed the way the trucking industry works. And also, what is the need for investing in such solutions?

What Is Fleet Management?

Fleet Management is an essential function undertaken by any organization dealing with commercial vehicles. Fleet management refers to managing all aspects of a fleet of vehicles, including its procurement, supervision, and maintenance, as well as improving transport efficiency.

What Is a Fleet Management Solution?

Fleet management solution companies offer various hardware and software solutions to help trucking companies to manage their fleets. Can a business owner help in several ways:

1. Help to manage fuel consumption and expenses
2. Increase fleet safety
3. Optimize the use of resources
4. Maintain operational efficiency
5. Help you to comply with the prevailing rules and regulations
6. Vehicle maintenance
7. And many more.

Any company that requires two or more vehicles to function appropriately will benefit from using fleet management software companies. Fleet Management companies ease the pressure of handling many components from the fleet manager's shoulders. They help business owners and fleet managers to collect data regarding vehicle acquisition, maintenance, and control costs of operation.

“Flexible product with great training and support. The product has been very useful for quickly creating dashboards and data views. Support and training has always been available to us and quick to respond. - George R, Information Technology Specialist at Sonepar USA

What Are the Functions of Fleet Management Companies?

Fleet management companies can help to streamline various aspects of any industry using their GPS Fleet Tracking devices on your fleet of vehicles. It includes functions ranging from vehicle tracking, recording HoS (hours of service), driver retention, etc.

Driver Safety

One of the most important duties of a fleet manager is to maintain driver safety in their fleet. It helps them to reduce accident possibilities, protect their business reputation, and avoid costly litigations. The drivers operate remotely; therefore, it becomes hard for any fleet manager to stay in contact with them and monitor their activity. But losing contact with them is a risky situation. There are possibilities of reckless driving behavior, accidents, vehicle idling, and even unauthorized use.

Several technologies like dash cams, speed and location tracking, and GPS trackers can help fleet managers and owners to monitor driver activity. It can help fleet managers to stay virtually connected with the drivers and ensure no one is engaged in aggressive driving behavior, vehicle idling, or sending immediate help in an emergency. The fleet management solutions can also provide detailed data regarding each driver's safety habits and ensure that they adhere to road safety rules. Additionally, companies can leverage the hours of service data to plan their drivers' workloads and maintain a healthy relationship between the drivers and businesses.

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Vehicle Tracking

Fleet Management Software is GPS-enabled which helps businesses track their trucks' progress throughout the route. Vehicle tracking also allows them to see if the drivers are taking the correct way and if the trucks are in optimum condition. Vehicle tracking data helps fleet managers improve efficiency and know their drivers' effectiveness better. With GPS technology, fleet managers can optimize the routes taken by their fleet to minimize the distance and time taken by each fleet to reach their destination. Fleet Management software also allows them to see whether their drivers are sticking to safe routes, thus increasing the transparency of their operations.

Cost Management

Fleet Management software can significantly reduce the wastage of resources and eliminate miscellaneous costs. Fleet Management companies track vehicle movement, idle engine time, and driver overtime hours and provide the most efficient routes to eliminate the risk of these costs compounding large amounts. These cost management processes may seem over-the-top, but affect your YoY ROI on vehicle acquisition and driver maintenance.

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KPI Reports in a Fleet Management Dashboard

A fleet management system comes up with a lot of day-to-day data and statistics which you can easily check by logging to your fleet management dashboard. There are multiple KPI reports and data sets which can help you make better decisions as a fleet manager. Some of them are:

Account Info and Vehicle Details

This section will give you entire data about your list of vehicles which you are managing in your fleet, along with the IMEI and the device type used in the respective vehicles. This will also help you keep a track of all the vehicles which are moving in real-time along with data like direction, fuel, mileage, speed and location.

This will also help you keep a track of all the vehicles which are moving in real-time along with data like direction, fuel, mileage, speed and location.

Integrated Dashcam Data

Most of the fleet management service providers include dashcam integration and you can see real-time dash cam data along with historical data which gets recorded on the vehicle dash cam. This helps in the case of accidents and insurance claims.

Fuel Management System Reports

This report will give you an idea of how much fuel is being used in each trip and that will help you estimate the future requirement of fuel, they also have the feature of finding the cheapest fuel near-by. You can give it a try as well.

Travel Log Reports

One of the most important part of fleet management KPI's is the travel log report which can help you easily pull travel reports which includes every data related to your vehicle trips in the last 60 days. You can easily set up the time-line and you will get the data in your dashboard.

Mileage Reports

Mileage reports can also be analyzed to improve the overall fleet efficiency and that can only be done by accurate and efficient mileage reports from your fleet management dashboard.

Why Do You Need Fleet Management Software?

Fleet management was done on paper in the early days, with fleet managers maintaining large registers and personally collecting data. Well, with the advent of the Internet Of Things and comprehensive software integration, one can manage their fleet with the help of the app on their phone.

Fleet Management Software is an application that contains a comprehensive set of features associated with fleet management. Fleet Management software helps you centralize all the information related to your fleet, including vehicle acquisition and maintenance. These applications help minimize your tasks by collecting, storing, and analyzing all the data for you.

How Do Fleet Management Companies And Software Benefit The Trucking Industry?

Fleet Management companies have revolutionized the trucking industry by centralizing all management activities and making the process more efficient. By reducing operation costs, fleet management companies help improve the growth rate of the trucking industry while having great returns.

With the help of vehicle tracking information, organizations will always be aware of the position of their trucks and whether they are on time. It also helps to track vehicle activity and real-time speeds and ensure the driver sticks to the prescribed route. Fleet Management companies also ensure that the trucks follow state and national road guidelines, thus saving the companies from fines and legal complications.

In the trucking industry, vehicle maintenance is a crucial component to maintaining a high level of efficiency, and fleet management software collects data about mileage and days after service, which helps keep the trucks in good shape. A bad truck is deteriorating for logistics as it may lead to accidents and transit delays. Fleet management software often collects data regarding the use of individual trucks and if there are any required replacements or repairs.

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Summary

In the 21st century, globalization has become an integral part of our lives, and the transit of goods has become a multi-billion dollar industry. The trucking industry has also made leaps with technology integration due to the advent of fleet management companies and fleet management software.Fleet management companies have become a critical component of global logistics and made the trucking industry much more efficient. Due to their comprehensive tracking data collection and safety protocols, trucking has become safer for drivers and their vehicles.

With software integration, drivers can have better and more transparent communication with their companies, thus leading to healthy relationships between the drivers and companies. Fleet management companies have played a key role in transforming the trucking industry and making it suitable for modern applications.