How To Leverage Data For Fleet Management

Modern technology has made it possible to collect data at every point of the customer journey for all businesses, irrespective of their industry. Nowadays, enterprises from across various sectors realize the importance of data collection, data management and data analytics. This is mainly due to the many benefits that it offers like assisting in streamlining operations, mitigating risks, ensuring robust security and personalizing customer experiences.

In this blog, we discuss the importance of fleet management data and how fleet managers can make the most of it to streamline operations, improve the supply chain and enhance profits for their business.

To begin with, let’s understand what is fleet management and its importance in brief –
Fleet management essentially refers to all the processes involved in overseeing a fleet of vehicles, in order to minimize risks and maximize efficiency. Employed intelligently, it streamlines all essential operations like transport acquisition, compliance, fuel management, CO2 emission reduction, staff safety, customer support, etc.

The fleet management process involves overseeing fleet performance and fleet maintenance to ensure smooth operations and maximum efficiency. The importance of fleet management can be understood by the fact that with a proficient fleet management system in place:

• Your vehicle will spend more time on the road
• Operating costs will decrease
• Repair and maintenance costs will be minimized
• The overall lifecycle of the vehicle will increase
• The business will become more fuel efficient
• And the overall customer experience will be enhanced substantially.

Most companies these days make use of a fleet management system that provides them with accurate and up-to-date information about various aspects of their business, thereby contributing significantly to their business growth in the long run.

To read a short guide on fleet management, click here.  

Next, let us understand the importance of fleet management data –
One of the most significant factors of fleet management that have the ability to take your business to the next level is fleet management data. Let’s understand how –

• Since fleet operations involve vehicle maintenance, vehicle life strategy, and other processes, it generally turns out to be a major expense for the business. This not only makes the fleet management process exhausting but also a costly affair. Unless you have been able to identify, understand and analyze the data, your bottom line might struggle to function in a smooth manner. By providing all the information like traffic, weather, driver’s behavior, and other essential details in real-time, fleet management data help you make well-informed decisions for your business.

• Next, data-driven decision-making helps in identifying and fixing small issues at the right time, which can otherwise easily lead to massive destruction or damage. For instance, not monitoring the mileage, overlooking vehicle repairs or overall vehicle health can result in a mechanical failure and lead to accidents. Furthermore, complete visibility of the data can also help in improving the safety of the driver, passengers, and others. According to research, GPS fleet management helps lower accident costs by 16-30%

• The conventional way to replace old vehicles is by solely checking the mileage and taking a decision which no longer seems valid as there are several other factors that affect the vehicle’s health and determine its life cycle. Fleet management data can help you devise a strong vehicle lifecycle strategy as it will help in understanding whether or not the model has covered all those factors which can put it on the list of aging vehicles. This will help you determine the most profitable time to replace the old vehicles before there are any maintenance issues with them.

• Last but not least, by boosting your business’s productivity and safety and limiting liability, fleet management data helps in reducing the overall cost. Furthermore, it will help you cycle out old vehicles and replace them with new ones. This will help your business gain a competitive edge over others. Since it offers clear insights into how you stand against your competitors, you will be able to better invest your money and other resources towards effective fleet management and business improvement.

How to leverage data for fleet management?
While data holds incredible potential to unlock new possibilities, it will only be able to offer value when fleet managers know how to use it. Hence, now that we have covered the importance of fleet management data for your business, let’s understand how to utilize fleet management data to reap maximum benefits –

• Track Driver’s Behavior:
  It is important to keep track of the driver’s behavior on the road as this can impact various aspects like the driver’s safety, the vehicle’s condition, and operating costs. Conventionally, this is done by offering training to the driver along with performing background checks. But using the data from the telematics system can provide you with an up-to-date record of the driver’s behavior, speed, seatbelt usage, cornering issues, and more. As a result, with the telematic data, you have a clear picture of the driver’s behavior. This helps you provide feedback to the driver so that they can function properly or fix any issues that they are facing.

• Container Tracking:
  To reduce inefficiency and maximize profitability, fleet managers must keep track of the containers. Which container spent more than the expected time with the customer? How long was each container sitting at the depot in the previous month? You can use this data and keep track of the containers depending on various metrics like industry, objective, vertical and more to boost efficiency and gain a profound understanding of the in-depth cost.

• Shipment Monitoring:
  Shipment quality can deteriorate over time due to numerous factors like environmental causes, worker shortages, and delayed turnaround times, thereby severely impacting the quality of the shipment. This is why it is important to quickly identify the cause and fix the problem to avoid any wastage. Real-time updates about factors can help prevent wastage during transportation and boost efficiency. Fleet management data can also help alert the drivers about the closest location where they can store the shipment.

• Fuel Cost Management:
  Fuel accounts for one of the biggest and most unavoidable expenses for businesses in this industry. With real-time fleet management data in hand, fleet managers will be able to identify the route that lowers the fuel consumption as well as the cost. Data can also help uncover which vehicles are consuming more fuel compared to the others which will help the fleet managers make timely repairs or replacements. In addition to that, data will also help the fleet manager with route optimization, predictive maintenance, and correcting driver’s behavior, thus lowering the expenses to a large extent.

• Lease Management:
  Thereafter, it is just as important to keep track of the lease arrangement. With fleet management data providing real-time, up-to-date, historical information on the vehicle’s usage, a fleet manager will be able to predict how many miles a vehicle can run during the remainder of its lease. This will be especially helpful in cases when the vehicle is expected to exceed its distance allowance. In this case, the data will give the fleet manager power to negotiate the terms and avoid paying penalties. Alternatively, if the vehicle is allowed to run a certain distance but is expected to cover less than that, the fleet manager can increase the workload, ensuring that the business gains maximum value out of the investment.

• Predictive Maintenance:
  Maintenance plays a crucial role in fleet management and fleet managers can utilize data to improve the processes involved in maintenance. A fleet management system will record information related to different maintenance factors like engine vibration, temperature, and more. Recording this information will help the fleet managers as they can notify the driver when the vehicle needs repair or replacement. Aside from eliminating unnecessary servicing of the vehicle, predictive maintenance helps in identifying the problems before they become dangerous and costly. This data-centric repair approach will not only minimize the cost associated with repair and maintenance but also ensure vehicle safety.

• Enhanced Customer Service:
  With real-time data in hand, fleet managers will naturally be able to identify the pain points of the customers, resolve them and be able to better serve their customers. As a result, by reducing the cost and wait time for the clients and boosting business efficiency, fleet management data will enable businesses to build a loyal customer base and contribute to their overall growth and success substantially.

In conclusion, the advantages and benefits that you can achieve by leveraging fleet management data are well worth the effort. Therefore, in order to stay ahead of the curve and engender business growth, be sure to understand the importance of fleet management data.


About RENTALL

RENTALL is the broadest, most adaptable, and continuously evolving rental platform on the market. No matter your company size, location, or business goals, RENTALL delivers improved operations, smart reports, increased bookings, and happy customers, all through an easy-to-use interface. Explore our solutions here, or connect with us at +1 888 628 6827 or info@rentallsoftware.com for a consultation.