There are plenty of fleet management systems out there on the market but how many are actually suitable for fleets running heavy-duty trucks? The reality is not many are actually suitable for running heavy-duty trucks, so make sure when you are looking for a truck fleet management system that meets the uniqueness of your trucking fleet.
Nowadays, truck fleet management is now easier – all thanks to technological advancements. We are witnessing improvements in a number of areas that benefit fleet owners controlling and managing heavy-duty trucks. This post will walk you through the five ways truck fleet management software can help you to run a more profitable and productive fleet.
1. Paperless compliance fleet management systems
Most truck drivers struggle to keep up with the paperwork, which is indicated by the DOT or the Department of Transportation. HOS logbooks and DVIRs to improve reporting, reduce admin costs, and maximize uptime. ELD or Electronic Logging Devices paperless logbooks can be set to automatically collect driving data, allowing truck drivers to maximize driving time by recording in single-minute units.
2. BYOD or Bring Your Own Device
The BYOD revolution is significantly lowering IT costs for fleets as drivers can use their own iOS (iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch) or Android device. Benefits include lowered hardware costs, minimized training requirements, zero software licensing costs, and improved user adoption.
GPS vehicle tracking solutions offer a growing range of mobile apps to cover compliance, navigation, driver behavior, vehicle inspections, and work order management. The applications can be installed without any hassle and do not require any hardware to be fitted to the vehicle.
3. Built-in telematics with trucks fleet management systems
Traditional telematics used to be fitted with aftermarket GPS tracking hardware before they could be managed. It meant unwanted downtime, extra administration, and additional costs. Built-in telematics is changing all that by delivering new trucks direct to the buyer with all the necessary hardware installed – you simply need to activate your account online and you have instant truck fleet management.
4. Preventive maintenance to maximize uptime
Advanced telematics is coming with fleet maintenance managers with a wide array of new diagnostic data on the mechanical health and performance of their trucks. Combined with the exclusive OEM data provided from mid-size and heavy truck manufacturers such as Hino, Volvo, and Mack, fleet owners are getting a far more accurate picture of how their work trucks are performing, as well as early indicators of upcoming maintenance.
This advance notice feature helps fleet service centers with some time to order necessary parts, schedule the work and correct any minor issues before they become a problem.
The extra vehicle health data is also helping companies analyze their fleets to help plan for vehicle lifecycles or when developing best practice guidelines.
5. Geofence alerts
A geofence is like a virtual perimeter that surrounds a specific location. Using GPS tracking, allows you to detect when a vehicle, employee or mobile asset enters or exits the area, and has a lot of exciting applications.
Geofences can be used to automatically confirm a delivery, especially when a GPS-tracked truck exits the delivery location the job is electronically tagged as completed.
These were the five ways to do truck fleet management the smarter way. We hope you liked this post and it helped you learn these five best ways to ensure better truck fleet management.