This could be considered the golden age for fleet management, thanks to the numerous technological advancements that now make the process a lot easier than it used to be. Just as colors were able to catapult the film industry forward, the current advancements in fleet management technology have successfully transformed the fleet management market. Nowadays, through software solutions and electronic equipment, a fleet manager can practically ride along with each of their drivers simultaneously from the comfort of their own office. In this comprehensive list, you’re guaranteed to find the perfect tool to help you better manage your fleet.

Telematics Device

To answer your first question, telematics is a combination between communication systems and informatics. Building upon that, a telematics device is one that allows communication between fleet drivers and their managers, while compiling information about the trip, as well as, the vehicle. If you’re still not clear on what a telematics device is, it’s the screen in your car that shows you how many miles you’ve driven, your location, and your fuel consumption. The only difference is that with fleets, all the devices from the fleet vehicles feed into the manager’s software. Through monitoring a driver’s average speed, acceleration, deceleration, locations, and such, a fleet manager can keep a close eye on their drivers’ habits and interfere should the need arise.

Dash Cams

Dashboard cameras are always a good idea if you want to improve your fleet’s performance and ensure their physical and legal safety. If you’re getting a live feed from each vehicle’s interior/exterior, you’ll always be in the know if an accident or a theft was to happen. Not just that, but if your vehicles are fitted with cameras with GPS tracking options, you’ll have all the data you need in one place to evaluate and process an accurate trip/accident report. Keep in mind that the alternative is cross-referencing footage timecodes with the data from your tracker, which takes a lot of time and effort. Another benefit of dash cams is that they enable a manager to see their drivers in action and promptly react to aggressive, dangerous, and inattentive drivers.

ELD

Electronic logging devices, commonly abbreviated as ELDs, are devices that either connect to the vehicle’s engine or its on-board diagnostics (OBD) system. Their function is to retrieve a large magnitude of data including engine power up and shut down, time spent idling, mileage, engine diagnostics data, and hours of service. With such information at your fingertips, you can monitor engine health and make sure you keep a regular maintenance schedule rather than having one of your vehicles break down mid-delivery. If you’re interested in conserving your resources, by knowing how much time your drivers spend idling, you can take preventative measurements that decrease fuel wastage.

Unified Communication Device

Maintaining and facilitating communication between your drivers and yourself is crucial, there’s no doubt about that. While mobile phones are the most obvious solution, they’re not cost-effective, and on some occasions, they’ve proved to be unreliable. Fortunately, the best thing about communication solutions is their variety. You can have your team operating with two-way radios which is the ultimate solution if a weak network signal is one of your problems. Plus, with two-way radios, you can effectively communicate with your entire fleet all at once. Another solution is installing communication software on an in-vehicle smart device. Then, you can send texts, call, send orders, and have your drivers update their delivery statuses at the tap of a screen.

Vehicle Tracker

Staying on top of a fleet’s locations has developed from a luxury to a need over the years. With a vehicle tracker that provides you with your drivers’ exact locations, all in real-time, you’ll get to know where your people are at all times. Even better, you’ll also be able to optimize routes for them to shorten delivery times depending on daily traffic. Not to mention, when you get a request for a pick-up, you’ll know exactly who to dispatch based on who’s closest to the location of your customer. In addition, if you’re the type of manager who likes to constantly re-evaluate their routes, a tracker will help you keep your route data up-to-date. In other words, you’ll be guaranteeing your fleet the fastest routes.

As you can see, there is a large variety of solutions that can significantly improve how you manage your fleet, and they all work to provide accurate information and enhance communication with your drivers. While all the aforementioned devices are more than effective, your needs and those of your fleet should be what dictates your choice of in-vehicle equipment. In order to make the right choices, you must take time to reflect on the problems you’ve faced in the past. With your business’s needs in mind and a bit of research, you can rest assured that you’ll make the right decision.