Ongoing fleet industry change is presenting unprecedented challenges for fleet decision-makers and that brings both complexity and opportunities.
Fleet decisions makers need a helicopter view of what is going on in their fleet to make informed decisions. Having good systems and processes in place that effectively collect and analyse data is essential for fleets to have a 20:20 fleet view. The ever-pressing need for companies to effectively manage costs, ensure operational legislative compliance and deliver a competitive edge is a big driver for companies to embrace technology.
After people, fleet is typically the second biggest expenditure item for most companies, so it makes absolute sense that robust data analysis is critical to make informed strategic decisions.
Therefore, absolute visibility of data is essential when making such ‘big’ decisions, as it is in respect of compliance – whether relating to vehicles or drivers. For example, policing pre-journey vehicle defect checks is particularly important for commercial vehicles.
Ensuring that both a driver and vehicle risk management audit trail is easily accessible is a pre-requisite of fleet management best practice. In the case of drivers for example, fleets need to understand factors that include licence validation including ongoing checks, motoring-related fines and crashes and, in the case of vehicles, a comprehensive service, maintenance and repair record including pre-use vehicle checks.
Martin Evans, managing director of Jaama, said: “Decision makers don’t need to guess anymore with the raft of technology available – apps for example – with ‘real-time’ data feeds into fleet management systems such as Key2 which is immediately accessible.
“Good systems are also great at robustly managing compliance and storing driver and vehicle audit trails to ensure that fleets have a tight control of their duty of care obligations.
“Investment in fleet software can drive efficiency improvements and ensure that processes meet risk management audit requirements. The technology also eases the burden of repetitive fleet administration tasks on employees.”