The responsibilities of a fleet manager are ample. In between ensuring that quality drivers are hired into the fleet and establishing efficient driver schedules to maximize profits, fleet managers also need to monitor drivers to ensure they adhere to schedules, find ways to cut costs and maximize profits, develop strategies to boost fuel effectiveness, and plan regular vehicle maintenance to ensure operational efficiency and minimize downtime. They also need to ensure that vehicles comply with road laws and regulations, track driver behaviour, evaluate data to enhance business efficiency and lastly use GPS systems to track vehicles in case of theft. Therefore, with so many complex tasks to accomplish, fleet managers are bound to be victims of the most common fleet management mistakes.
Here are five of the most common fleet management mistakes and how best fleet managers can prevent them using telematics.
1. Abandoning Driver Training
Your drivers are your fleet’s most valuable assets. And no matter how experienced they are, there is a need for continuous driver training, which is vital to any fleet. Thus, investing in driver training is a good investment for the well-being of your drivers and vehicles as well as the financial soundness of your company.
Using Geotab’s fleet management system is a useful way to discourage fleet managers from making this mistake. With the ability to generate data, it will allow you to see when drivers are accelerating too quickly, braking too hard, or idling too long. Furthermore, the role of MyGeotab’s Exception Rules can then be used by fleet managers to create safety policies. Fleet managers can select various exceptions, such as speed, to guide vehicles and drivers. This will help lead to fewer accidents, lower fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs and higher productivity.
2. Lack of a Fleet Risk Management Strategy
The best fleets have a risk management strategy in place. This sets out clear rules to help keep your vehicles and drivers safe. Whether your fleet is new or old, this is one of the first things fleet businesses need to have. Without it, there is no structure around how vehicles should be treated. Fleet managers can also quickly see their fleet operations fall into chaos as drivers don’t have any guidelines. Using the Geotab open platform system can help you create a clear and logical risk management strategy that matches the goals of your fleet.
Read more on how to develop a risk management strategy using telematics.
3. Lack of Communication
Good communication is the key to getting your drivers to adopt your risk management strategy and other rules. Therefore, advanced communication technology is needed to direct communication between management and the fleet. Geotab’s Go Talk device is a prime instance of such technology. It enables verbal feedback to be provided to the driver in real-time whenever a driver breaks a rule set by the fleet manager. While some rules come with pre-set alerts, managers can also create their own, leading in highly tailor-made messages being spoken to the driver.
Read more on Geotab’s GO Talk Device.
4. Not Setting and Following Vehicle Maintenance Schedules
It’s very simple for fleet managers to rationalize in the hustle and bustle of managing a fleet that a vehicle might just wait a little longer for its service. And while it can start as a once-off, these cases can quickly become a routine as fleet managers struggle under tight schedules, deadlines, and the demand to maintain increasing productivity. This is one of the most common fleet management mistakes that are sometimes succumbed by even the most seasoned fleet managers. Unfortunately, the reality is making this mistake once can have repercussions and in the long run cost you more money.
Geotab’s advanced telematics solution can help fleet managers remember and avoid the mistake of letting their maintenance plan slip. This can be accomplished by setting a MyGeotab rule to warn you whenever the light of the engine is on. And when it does, you can quickly run an Exceptions report and see which part of your vehicle turned on the light. Fleet managers can also set up a maintenance reminder in MyGeotab to remind of them of the next service appointment, either by odometer reading or by date.
5. Acquiring the Wrong Telematics Tool
Telematics can put large amounts of data at the fingertips. But if fleet managers do not have the right software and hardware, they can easily misinterpret the data and fail to deliver against key objectives. So, like any professional, fleet managers also require the right tools to help them create custom solutions to address their own unique fleet management problems.
The telematics system of Geotab Africa is the solution to each company’s unique challenges. With the ability to create tailored solutions that are right for your business to thrive, Geotab offers advanced reporting flexibility by allowing fleet managers to tailor them to their exact needs.
Read more on how to automate reports on MyGeotab.
Author: The Geotab Africa Team
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