Fleet Management 101: A Complete Guide for Field Service Providers

The stakes of fleet management have become higher in today’s efficiency-focused operations. 

Fleet management involves scheduling and controlling vehicles to streamline field operations. It involves all actions that enable a fleet to run on time and with the least costs. 

The key elements of efficient fleet management include

• Scheduling of vehicle movements to reduce wait time and backtracking.
• Efficient routing to guide vehicles through the best routes to their destination.
• Live tracking vehicle movement to intervene in accidents, breakdowns, or other incidents.
• Real-time reporting and analytics to enable informed data-based decisions. 
• Timely fleet maintenance to pre-empt breakdown and ensure hassle-free operations.

The Benefits of Fleet Management

Efficient fleet management ensures optimal and delay-free service delivery performance. 

The benefits of efficient fleet management extend to:

• Cost savings. Efficient Scheduling and routing save fuel, reducing overheads. The savings on fuel add up and deliver savings.
• Time savings. Dynamic fleet management means lesser wait times and accelerated time to market. Customer satisfaction shoots up.
• Productivity boost. Reducing travel time enables technicians to cover more customers per shift. Productivity and efficiency get a big boost.
• Real-time decision-making. Live visibility into operations makes coordination easy for service providers. Centralized data management offers ready information to customer support agents and internal auditors. 
• Instant communication. Structured, real-time communication between drivers reduces information lag or ambiguities. 

Read more: How To Utilize Your FSM Software To Gain Maximum Field Service Management Efficiency!

How to Make Fleet Management Effective 

The success of fleet management is not a given. Follow these steps to make fleet management effective,

1. Have clear-cut goals

Effective fleet management requires clear focus, which in turn requires clear goals. Have clarity on business goals and establish baselines on how fleet management could help attain such goals. For instance, the corporate vision may be to dispatch a technician to resolve a complaint within six hours. Realizing such a vision requires maintaining an appropriate fleet size and a shift roster that enable drivers on call at any time. 

2. Take data-driven decisions 

Data is the new lifeblood of business. Digitizing fleet management offers ready data on vehicles and driver performance. 

Subjecting such data to real-time analytics helps.

Evaluate fuel consumption and driver performance. Comparisons with established benchmarks make explicit deviances, enabling instant remedial action. For instance, real-time data analytics prevent driver fraud, such as the misappropriation of fuel cards.

Purchase or lease vehicles that can cope with the size and scope of operations. Maintaining more vehicles than necessary leads to asset underutilization and unnecessary maintenance spending. On the other hand, having few vehicles leads to vehicle overuse and burns out drivers easily.

3. Pay attention to driver credentials.

The fleet’s and consignment’s safety and performance depend almost wholly on the drivers. Employ certified drivers with the right skill sets to ensure top-notch performance. Investing in drivers reduces repairs and damages down the lane.

4. Deploy fleet management software

Technology-based systems such as fleet management software make fleet operations intelligent. Field management software enables a methodological process for Scheduling and managing the fleet. State-of-the-art fleet management software allows the business to streamline operations. 

Read more: Why Is Optimizing Service Management The Top Priority Today?

Top Features of a Good Fleet Management Software 

A sound fleet management system comes with the following features.

• Scheduling. When a new ticket opens, the scheduler assigns the nearest available. The software matches driver expertise, location, and other relevant factors. The scheduler could, for instance, assign the job to a vehicle already near the new work site. 

• Dispatching. Time is money in field service. Field management software integrates with maps and live traffic data. Such insights help to plot the fastest and most optimal route to the following work site. 

• Live tracking and reporting. GPS and tracking tools embedded in fleet management software help supervisors track the fleet in real-time. Round-the-clock access to safety-related analytics enables prompt follow-up actions to prevent accidents. For instance, the software emits real-time alerts to detect overspeeding. 

• End-to-end visibility. Most software co-opts video recording. Footages before, during, and after a reported incident help in insurance claims. Telemetric further strengthens insurance claims.

• Prompt and methodological communications. Built-in communication tools enable direct and structured two-way communication.

• Dynamic reporting. Field service software offers several ready-made forms and the option to upload digital records. Electronic forms, accessed on any device from anywhere, lend dynamics to reports. Service teams may use digital forms to collect data, including images and videos, and append them to reports. 

• Easy access to information. Quick and easy access to customer information improves productivity. The field agent can refer to job history, contact information, and other customer-related attributes to do the job better. 

Opt for an established name such as ReachOut to get all these benefits from a single software. ReachOut field management suite integrates fleet-related activities with broader field service management.

ReachOut Suite has helped several field management and logistics companies optimize and streamline their fleet operations. 

A robust ticketing system logs incoming customer requests and planned jobs as tickets. The scheduler assigns the right vehicle and the right driver for the task. A drag-and-drop scheduling feature lets the manager better overview daily or weekly schedules and plans.

The work order module simplifies job scheduling and dispatch. Advanced features enable assigning duties to team members, allowing greater control. 

Automated pre-approval features make it easy to schedule follow-up visits for maintenance activities.

Digital forms promote paperless operations. Users may upload custom, stylized forms, complete with branding elements. They may also use ready-made forms from the forms marketplace. 

Active fleet monitoring and driver assistance technologies enforce safety and manage risks. ReachOut’s scalable stack makes it effortless for the fleet operator to manage many customer requests.

ReachOut’s inbuilt CRM module makes storing and managing vast volumes of customer data easy. Centralizing customer information makes it easier to fetch the required information. Efficiency improves, and productivity boosts. 

The companion mobile app enables drivers and field agents to gather live information. They may connect with the office in real-time to exchange information and updates. The app uses the smart phones GPS to emit live location. 

Getting fleet management right lets the enterprise streamline field operations and become competitive. A market leader software such as ReachOut makes the task more easy and effortless.

Connect with our experts now to learn more about ReachOut Suite and it’s effectiveness for Fleet Management!