Transforming fleet management with fleet software

Fleet data today can provide a broad picture of how a fleet is performing, with trends, indicators and problem areas all in one place. It saves time and can take some of the stress out of a fleet manager's day-to-day role, particularly when it comes to safety, sustainability and compliance.

In the case of LeasePlan's software, fleet operators can see various aspects of their fleets in different levels of detail, such as overall status, cost centre data or analysis of specific drivers.

Fleet software can help fleet managers reduce costs by spotting problems earlier, which means down-time can be reduced through proactive servicing. The software can even make recommendations based on the data it has access to, such as seeing who drives well and who doesn't.

There are advantages for drivers as well, especially with compliance. With all the actionable insight in one place, it's easy to support their wellbeing by providing everything they need to drive safely. This can also help with costs, as it can reduce accidents and make drivers more efficient.

Fleet companies have invested heavily to improve their software, but another technology has helped make these developments possible - connected, portable devices, such as smartphones and driver PDAs. Chris Black, Commercial Director at LeasePlan UK, believes these devices and the apps they run are a great way to enhance a fleet's operations, particularly as many people don't need encouraging to use their phones.

Another LeasePlan service - Risk Aware is even more focused on driver safety. It highlights people with the highest risk levels and recommends ways to help reduce these in the future. The benefits of this approach are clear - for one client, this service has cut incident rates from 33% to 25% by increasing awareness of individual driver risk and recommending ways to target it. In addition, total losses have halved and vehicle off road time has reduced by 15%.

The real value of apps is when it comes to measurement, as they can accurately log metrics and send the data back to a central database, where it can be used to monitor faults or predict trends. UpTime Live is an example of a LeasePlan offering that works in this way.

It's clear there are significant advantages in making the most of fleet software right now, but one extra benefit is perhaps less obvious. Services are only going to get more intelligent, which means companies who already have everything in place - and are experienced in using the software - could see the greatest benefits. For instance, it's likely that AI will become integrated into systems. This could significantly enhance functionality, as fleet management software still relies heavily on people at the moment. At some point, it may be able to deliver a seamless concierge service, something that LeasePlan is already starting to provide with UpTime Live.

To discover how fleet software can help your business to increase efficiency, provide information quicker and more accurately and reduce costs - get in touch with a member of our expert team. We're always happy to hear from you.