Telematics
Smart Vehicle Telematics Can Significantly Improve Your Fuel Efficiency
Some of the best new fleet management technologies come from the field of vehicle telematics. It’s now possible to monitor almost every aspect of a vehicle’s performance while on the road, in real-time. This additional level of oversight can improve numerous aspects of fleet management, but it’s especially useful for reducing fuel costs.
With fuel continuing to become more expensive, it’s more important than ever to focus on fuel efficiency if you want your fleet to be cost-effective. Vehicle telematics makes this easier to accomplish and offers several different ways to improve efficiency.
Four Ways Vehicle Telematics Systems Create A Highly Fuel-Efficient Fleet
1 – Proactive maintenance keeps vehicles running at peak performance
Today’s fleet management systems can track every individual component, including its maintenance history and expected lifespan. This allows you to proactively replace components – such as spark plugs or tires – before they lose effectiveness, maintaining peak efficiency for the vehicle.
2 – Monitor emissions and DEF levels
If a vehicle suddenly diverges from expected emissions levels, that usually indicates a problem in the engine or the fuel system. It might simply be low Diesel Exhaust Fuel levels or a deeper problem. Either way, you’ll be alerted whenever there seems to be an issue with the vehicle’s emissions. Fixing it will improve fuel efficiency, and also avoid any regulatory problems.
3 – Monitor driver performance
Vehicle telematics monitors your drivers, as well as the vehicles. You’ll get a lot of real-time data on your drivers’ on-road behavior, such as how often they speed, or how aggressively they accelerate. In turn, this opens up opportunities to coach them on smarter driving strategies that minimize fuel waste. You could even use this data to directly incentivize fuel-smart driving.
In addition, you can use routing software to further improve routes and reduce fuel waste. For example: avoiding left turns across traffic is a highly efficient strategy that most courier companies utilize. Going around a block to avoid a left turn actually uses less fuel than idling at stoplights.
4 – Prevent fuel theft
Sadly, as fuel prices have gone up, instances of fuel being stolen from vehicles have gone up as well. Telematic systems monitor fuel levels, as well as expected fuel use in a vehicle. If the fuel level decreases too quickly, you’ll be notified and can investigate the problem.
VLC creates the software and tools your fleet needs for maximum efficiency. With over 50 years of experience, we bring a wealth of knowledge to the industry. Click here to learn more about our products!
Fleet Management
What Distinguishes the Best Fleet Management Solution Software Packages?
Today, maintaining a working fleet without a good fleet management solution is nearly impossible. Most fleet managers already have software for overseeing their operations – but is it the best software for your needs?
Fleet management software is getting better every year, adding more necessary features and benefits. Today’s fleet management solutions are robust, multi-faceted, and integrated into other critical systems.
They go beyond merely tracking vehicles and maintenance, to giving you deep insights into how vehicle management ties into the business operations as a whole.
If you’re using fleet management software that’s several years old, there are plenty of reasons to consider upgrading to a new solution.
Four Big Benefits to A New Fleet Management Solution
1 – Maintenance and part replacement warnings
Fleet management software can track each component on a vehicle, including its maintenance history and expected lifespan. These can be tied to warnings that pop up when a part is due for maintenance or replacement. This critical information allows you to perform better preventative maintenance, stopping accidents or breakdowns before they happen.
2 – Keeping drivers safer
There are several ways better software improves driver safety. Beyond preventing unnecessary breakdowns on the road, they can also track driver performance directly. You can see which of your drivers are following the rules of the road, and which need coaching on better driving techniques.
3 – Reduce fuel usage
Keeping fuel costs low is critical right now, as the costs of transportation continue to go up. You’ll be able to monitor fuel use in every vehicle independently, with warnings if a particular vehicle’s MPG suddenly drops.
You’ll be able to review driver behavior (such as needlessly aggressive acceleration and braking) as well as utilize preventative maintenance to replace items such as tires which can contribute to poor fuel efficiency.
4 – Robust reporting
Thanks to the huge amount of data that current fleet management software packages track, you get excellent reporting abilities. Virtually any aspect of your fleet can be analyzed and reported on, including crossover reports showing how fleet performance is impacting the business as a whole. This gives fleet managers a true wealth of information for improving the value of the fleet.
Fleet Management Solutions
Vehicle Licensing Consultants (VLC) specializes in improving fleets and fleet management systems. From regulatory compliance to reducing your fuel use, our tools and expertise help your fleet run better. Click here to learn more about us.
Fleet Dispatch
How to Find the Best Fleet Dispatch Software for Your Needs
If you’re looking for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency in your fleet, the right fleet dispatch software can make all the difference!
Modern fleet software goes far beyond simply monitoring where your fleet is on the road. Fleet tracking and maintenance software can now put every piece of data you need in one place, accessible from any Internet-capable device. It can handle a huge array of tasks, including assigning drivers, managing schedules, optimizing routes, tracking costs, monitoring speed & time via GPS, and much more. In many cases, it can even be integrated into your other software solutions, such as your customer database or Enterprise Resource Planning system.
Either way, the right fleet dispatch software brings numerous benefits.
Why Invest in Fleet Dispatch Software
More than anything else, the reason to invest in fleet dispatch software is because of the immediate real cost savings. At a basic level, software can solve tricky computational challenges, such as optimizing routes and transport assignments. It can also monitor fuel costs, and alert you when drivers are behaving in ways that waste fuel.
There’s no limit to how complicated a situation can be. Today’s fleet management software solutions can handle complex multi-stop routes, balance driver availability, or even take into consideration factors such as individual drivers’ skill levels. In turn, this doesn’t simply lead to improved efficiency, it can help keep your drivers safe while they’re on the road!
Meanwhile, you’ll have robust and granular data-based insights into every aspect of your operation. You can compare key metrics, or dig deep into performance statistics to discover why, for example, one truck seems to be performing better than others.
Perhaps best of all, this leads to a better customer experience. There are many, many options in transportation today. Maintaining great CX is critical for companies who want to grow and maintain their customer base. Beyond improving your own operational efficiency, you can also provide services such as real-time monitoring and updates, so your customers can track their orders enroute.
However, to see all those benefits, you need the right fleet dispatch software. Here are some of the most important features to look for:
Six Critical Features in Any Fleet Management Software Package
1 – Multi-stage route planning
Any cell phone can do basic GPS mapping calculations these days. Professional software must do more to be worth the investment. It should be able to handle multi-stage routes and driver assignments, along with factors such as vehicle capacity and delivery windows. Ideally, it should be able to optimize multiple shipments across multiple jobs, allowing you to optimize at the macro level as well as micro.
2 – Realtime tracking and ETAs
Being able to track vehicles in progress is bare-minimum functionality. To make the most of real-time tracking, this information should also be made available to customers, so they have accurate ETAs on their shipments. This prevents failed deliveries, while also ensuring your customers have all the information, they need to make their own business decisions. This is what keeps customers loyal, year after year!
3 – Robust metrics tracking and reporting
Which aspects of delivery are most important for your business needs? Maybe it’s fuel consumption, or legal compliance, or minimizing job completion time. No matter the situation, you need fleet management software that can work around your needs and provide reporting that enables you to meet your own goals. “It reports what it reports” just isn’t good enough these days.
4 – Robust multi-system integration
The days of individual applications handling individual tasks are going away – and good riddance. You shouldn’t have to log into a half-dozen different applications to get your job done. The best fleet dispatch software solutions can integrate directly into your ERP, CRM, and more, pulling in data and allowing for even more complicated reporting on a wide variety of data. You should have all the data you need in one place!
5 – Unlimited scalability
A software investment shouldn’t only solve your problems today. It should solve them for years to come, and that means scalability. Whether you have one vehicle, or one thousand, a great fleet management software package can grow alongside your operation.
6 – Ease of use
Finally, any modern software package must be easy for workers to use. Training is a drag and takes workers away from the jobs they’re supposed to be doing. Good fleet dispatch software is designed to be almost instantly usable, with minimal retraining, while still offering the power and depth to compete in today’s highly competitive transportation market.
Fleet Dispatch Software from VLC
If you need better fleet dispatch and management software, Vehicle Licensing Consultants (VLC) has what you need. VLC specializes in making it easy for fleet operators to manage their business while reducing costs. Click here to learn more about our fleet dispatch software solutions.
