5 Programs & Services Fleet Managers Should Try

Recently updated on August 12th, 2024

Considering how fluid the transportation industry is, fleet managers face many challenges just to keep up. Fast evolving technology and market demands for an efficient, productive, and safe fleet force fleet managers to think outside the box to keep costs low and ensure their vehicles are always in tip-top condition.

In most cases, being a productive fleet manager boils down to the resources, programs, and services you use to simplify your work. The fleet management position may be a thankless job when everything is running smoothly, but it is better than constantly resolving crises.

This post lists seven of the top resources and programs that every fleet manager should be using to make their work easier.

1. Fleet Information Organization Tool by Fleetio

Whether your fleet is made up of a handful or hundreds of vehicles, even simple fleet management tasks can be exhausting. As a fleet manager, you are expected to be on top of every detail about every vehicle at all times. It is critical that you store accurate and up-to-date information about the fleet in a structured and easily accessible manner.

Software for specialized fleet management and information records such as Fleetio’s fleet management software will make your work a lot easier. The right tool should keep files and reports organized — whether you keep them in your computer or on paper in a filing cabinet.

The right fleet information management tool should keep vehicle and staff records serialized and ordered uniformly for easy access. Your tool of choice may use vehicle registration or the last digits of VINs to make it quick to find specific details about a vehicle.

2. Vehicle Tracking Equipment by FleetLogging

One of the core responsibilities of a fleet manager is to maintain the visibility of the fleet at all times. The best way to oversee every vehicle across your fleet is to install GPS tracking or telematics devices on them. These tools track the location of your vehicles or equipment and help you ensure that drivers stay on route and on schedule to remain productive.

FleetLogging is one of the best GPS tracking and telematics systems in the market. It integrates with special fleet management software to make data available on the cloud. This system continuously transmits data from the fleet onto a software dashboard to enable you to view every aspect of the fleet operation at any time, anywhere.

Vehicle tracking equipment is one of the must-have resources for a fleet manager. While they come in different types and capabilities, the best fleet tracking tools should update all relevant vehicle data in real-time. The information the devices capture and update may include vehicle location, odometer reading, and driver behavior. Some tracking tools may also send alerts and notifications when fault codes are triggered or a custom condition such as when a driver exceeds a speed limit.

3. Automated Fleet Logistics Systems by FleetLogistics

The term “automated fleet logistics” refers to the automated features of a fully-featured transport management system. FleetLogistics, for instance, is a suite of tools that enable a fleet manager to minimize manual entry of freight shipment processing and procurement retrieval. These tools also help in the automation of notifications and provision of real-time freight information.

As a forward-looking fleet manager, you should strive to automate as many of your responsibilities as possible. Automating the management and processing of the freight will go a long way to reduce costly errors and ensure that you allocate vehicles for the right deliveries. Automated logistics tools also provide real-time access to freight data and in-depth data analysis and reports on every vehicle’s load.

The most notable benefit of automating fleet logistics is how much time it saves you. Powerful logistics software eliminates the need to enter duplicate data, ultimately boosting the speed and scalability of your department. When you employ it correctly, automation will simplify your work and significantly boost the company’s efficiency and bottom line.

4. Maintenance Scheduling and Tracking by LubeZone

Proper vehicle maintenance is critical to maximizing the performance of your fleet and meeting client expectations. As a fleet manager, you are responsible for ensuring that all vehicles are in excellent shape and not prone to breakdowns on the road. Every fleet manager has a preferred way to set up and track vehicle maintenance schedules, but none beats dedicated scheduling software.

Even if vehicle maintenance is the responsibility of a service department, it is still up to the fleet manager to ensure that they perform maintenance tasks correctly. This involves finding the right company that does thorough preventive and restorative maintenance. Maintenance by LubeZone, for instance, is all-inclusive and covers full-service oil analysis and oil changes, greasing, A/C tune-up, D.O.T. inspections, and tire checks, among others. You can also PM now and pay later with our easy credit terms. Just complete a credit application to start the process.

Your work as a fleet manager will be streamlined when you use maintenance scheduling and tracking software and ensure that a reputable company carries out maintenance. Take the time to find the right tool and choose a superior servicing stop in convenient locations, and you will limit significantly fleet inconveniences and roadside breakdowns.

5. Driver Management Tools by FleetUp

Depending on the size of your fleet, managing people will prove much more challenging than ensuring the engines are running. The most challenging part of many fleet managers’ work is handling the human element: the drivers.

A powerful fleet management tool should include a tool to manage drivers to minimize complaints and inefficiencies and their related costs. The right driver management tool should track drivers and their performance to help you separate the good drivers from problematic ones. Today’s driver management tools such as FleetUp’s Driver Safety Scorecards assign scorecards to drivers by automatically rating risky behaviors such as speeding, route diversions, and delivery delays, among others.

Using a driver management tool will help you minimize lawsuits from bitter drivers when they face disciplinary action. This will preserve the reputation of the company and eliminate unnecessary financial costs and time wasted in courts and arbitrations.

Lower Long-Term Costs for Your Fleet

Managing a fleet today is much easier than it was a decade ago. The many tools and resources brought about by technology have significantly reduced the amount of manual work the fleet manager has to do.

The biggest challenge for a modern-day fleet manager is figuring out which tools you need and which current systems need replacement or upgrading to streamline performance. If you are a fleet manager, visit LubeZone.com to learn more about what quality and reliable fleet maintenance entails and why this may be the most important resource you will come across today.