As a business owner, one of the most important things you’ll ever do is manage your team efficiently. And if you’re thinking about expanding and need to manage a fleet as well, fleet management software is a must. But all fleet management software systems are not the same. In fact, you might even need to build your own to ensure your overall success.
Define Your Goals
Before you start fleshing out the specifics, you need to define your goals. Do you understand how tech is shaping the future of logistics businesses? What functionality does your business require to run efficiently, and what type of tracking will you want to implement? Knowing where your drivers are in real time is important, however, it can also help you to optimize their routes to save time and money. Once you define your goals and needs, it’ll be easier to integrate other elements later.
Think About Integration
You also need to think how your software will integrate with other types of technology. This should include other types of telematics, such as fuel cards and maintenance databases.
Maximize User Experience
User experience is another important aspect of software design. Just like a website, the user experience of a software system needs to be straightforward and offer easy navigation. Put yourself in the user’s shoes and think about what you would want. If you’re the only one in charge, you still need to create a system that speeds up daily operations and keep tracking and inventory data all in one place.
Fleet Monitoring
A robust GPS fleet tracking system is one that provides real-life data with location updates, driver behavior reports and optimizes your routes. Keep in mind that you don’t have to incorporate everything at one time. It’s almost better to slowly integrate each element on its own, so you can see if it’s necessary.
Maintenance Management
Whether you have only one vehicle or 21, regular maintenance is an integral part of your business plan. You can even use predictive maintenance programs to help estimate when you need to service your fleet. This is particularly important if you have a lot of vehicles on the road.
Fuel Optimization Tools
Paying too much for fuel can negatively affect your ROI. It can also increase your operating costs, which then creates a ripple in your monthly budget overall. Using fuel optimization tools will help you stick to your budget each month and help your drivers perform better overall. You could use insight from idle times to help drivers minimize how long or often they sit idling.
Data Analytics
In today’s digital landscape, it’s impossible not to use data to refine your operating strategy. The type of data you use depends on what you sell, how your future goals and the KPIs you choose to use. You also need to think about scaling as well. Maybe you want to double your annual ROI while minimizing operating costs in the next two years. What data could you use to make this happen? Would you need to hire more employees, or would you choose to take on more responsibility yourself?