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.
