Today, every business aims to own a fleet of vehicles for different services, mainly moving goods to customer addresses, warehouses, factories, and other needs. The larger the operations, the bigger the challenge of managing these fleets due to costs, coordination, and communication issues. However, technology makes everything easier by automating fleet management using critical techs such as fleet trackers. This eliminates the burden of manual and traditional fleet management practices.
Due to their capabilities, businesses committed to growth and development must have fleet tracking systems. They help track fleet movement, schedule operations, speed delivery, and other logistics operations. However, there are more direct, indirect, and impactful reasons why your business should install these systems. Here are some benefits of fleet tracking.
1. Remote Monitoring Capabilities
Whenever you install fleet tracking systems in the trucks, you can monitor every driver in real-time. Some of these trackers have additional features, such as a dash cam which is essential for providing live feeds about the driver. Geofencing and real-time location capabilities also enable you always to know the driver’s location. If they deviate from the set route, the geofencing alerts warn about other activities, and you can contact the drivers.
You can monitor the drivers from your phone, tablet or laptop. The systems provide apps and live feed websites for real-time monitoring. When installing the trackers, remember to activate all notification and alert features to alert you of activities, such as when drivers switch off or on their engines or engage in other activities.
Therefore, they make the management of fleet drivers easier, reducing the overreliance on human labor, constant communication and other advanced communication equipment. As drivers go about their activities, the tracker also monitors them and collects their data which you can analyze while they drive to their destination.
2. Cost Reduction Benefits
Every business operation should be committed to cost reduction through different strategies. One of the main areas to focus on is logistics to ensure all supply chain costs are kept lower. This is possible by relying on fleet tracking systems with various features and capabilities committed to costs reduction.
First, the systems are usually optimized to collect different types of data such as distance covered, routes used, time taken, driver’s behaviors, traffic and weather conditions etc. This data is then stored on the cloud platform, which offers data analytics tools for companies to analyze data. Coupled with big data analytics, and machine learning, these analysis tools are significant for various results used for decision-making.
The results are critical for route optimization, which enables the company to schedule its logistics operations to the shortest route to the destination. This enables the team to save on fuel costs and ensures the goods arrive on time, preventing supply chain issues and costs due to delays. The tools can also be used for driver incentives to ensure they drive carefully and abide by the supply chain and logistics timelines, thereby preventing delays.
3. Improved Safety
For every company dependent on logistics services, safety is a priority for various reasons. First, it is significant for the goods to arrive at the destination without any damage. It’s also critical for the driver’s safety, reduced or no traffic accidents etc. With all the safety measures in place, the company will likely avoid costs related to legal suits such as accidents, traffic violations and the need for vehicle repairs.
A tracking system guarantees safety through real-time and live monitoring of drivers’ behaviors. The systems will alert you if the driver is over speeding, over braking and engaged in other activities that violate traffic rules. When you receive an alert, you can contact the driver and remind them of the safety standards.
Businesses can also rely on driver behavior alerts, and data collected is critical for training drivers to update their traffic skills and safety driving along major traffics. For advanced trackers, activate the weather and traffic update features to warn and remind drivers about speed limits and the weather ahead to avoid conditions such as fog.
Also, enable the live cameras used in dash cams to monitor the driver in real time. The feeds will inform you when the driver is distracted from their driving, feeling dizzy, or driving recklessly. With all these safety features, the business can keep insurance, regulatory, and traffic expenses low. Further, the information from the trackers can also be used to enforce other policies, such as drug testing and driving conduct.
4. Impact on Vehicle Lifespan
An asset is only valuable when it returns all the purchase costs and serves the business longer till it reaches its full lifespan/potential and can no longer give more. One of the goals of tracking systems is to help companies increase the lifespan of their fleet by ensuring scheduled maintenance, safety, and other benefits.
The safety features and capabilities of the tracking systems enable you to reduce wear and tear caused by overspeeding or over-braking. It also allows the fleet to avoid accidents which can lead to write-offs before the vehicle delivers its benefits to the company.
As it collects data about mileage, braking, and speeding, the system can remind you whenever a component in the truck needs replacement or repair. Based on the miles covered, it can remind you when the scheduled maintenance approaches so you do not forget the maintenance date.
From the analytics, you can also monitor and notice when the vehicle is operating optimally vs. when it is not. This will trigger a diagnostic to identify the problem source and fix it before it worsens, spread to other areas, or lead to an accident.
5. Data Analytics and Data-based Decision-making
When selecting a fleet management and tracking system, focus on the data analytics capabilities. Data is the engine and the oil that drives every decision-making for companies. Therefore, every business must invest in data collection strategies and more efficient analysis to make meaning out of it. Data is essential for company profitability, growth strategies, and success, hence the tracking system’s need.
They offer data storage capabilities and collection systems which enable you to collect all the relevant statistical data for logistics operations. Depending on your needs, you can store and analyze the data for short or long-term decision-making. Besides, you can also connect them with other company systems, such as those related to warehousing and supply chain operations.
The collected and analyzed data can serve as input for other systems for production scheduling, raw material acquisition, stocking, and other business operations. That is why companies are advised to anchor all their supply chain-related systems on the cloud to allow data sharing, which is critical for employee collaboration. Employees can also rely on the data for innovation and creativity activities to streamline the process and upgrade and create newer systems.
Conclusion
Any company committed to logistics, supply chain efficiency, and effectiveness should invest in the best fleet tracking systems. The systems are ideal for safety standards, compliance, cost reduction, lean supply chain management, and increasing asset lifespan. Therefore, when selecting fleet trackers, focus on critical features that support these benefits.
