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Running a small or medium-sized business (SMB) that relies on multiple vehicles and mobile assets is no easy feat. Between rising fuel and maintenance costs, customer expectations concerning deliveries, and juggling compliance with safety regulations, there’s a ton to keep up with.
So, if you find yourself stretched thin, you’re not alone.
Manually tracking vehicles, routes, and driver performance is undeniably complicated. That’s why we’re going to cover what proper fleet management entails for SMBs, how they can implement new programs to cut costs, improve productivity, and ensure compliance across their mobile operations and delivery fleets.
What is Fleet Management?
Fleet management refers to the overarching supervision and optimisation of a company’s transportation assets – whether that’s a handful of service vans or a fleet of trucks. It involves monitoring and managing the vehicles themselves, routing and scheduling, driver performance, regulatory compliance, and their associated costs.
An effective fleet management program should proactively maintain vehicles, eliminate inefficiencies, promote safety, and minimise expenses. It should also maximise asset utilization and increase customer service performance.
If your business relies on vehicles and drivers to get work done, fleet management is essential for controlling one of your largest variable costs.
Key components of fleet management include:
- Vehicle acquisition, maintenance, repair, and replacement
- Driver hiring, scheduling, training, and performance monitoring
- Route planning and optimisation
- Regulatory compliance (licensing, inspections, hours of service, etc.)
- Fuel management and cost control
- Safety policies, risk management protocols
- Asset tracking and performance reporting
Many SMBs have traditionally taken more manual, reactive approaches to fleet management. But there are a range of more modern solutions available: utilising GPS technologies, telematics data, cloud software, etc. which enable a more strategic, data-driven approach to optimising fleet performance.
Key Fleet Management Tips for SMBs
Many larger enterprises have their own dedicated fleet management departments. But if you’re a small to medium-sized business, you can benefit immensely from implementing effective strategies to control costs and improve your transportation operations.
Here are some key tips to focus on:
1. Automate Processes & Leverage Technology
Traditional paper-based methods for tracking vehicles, routes, fuel usage, and maintenance are both time-consuming and error-prone. SMBs should try to automate as many of their fleet processes as possible by utilising software solutions and mobile apps.
Fleet management software solutions for SMBs integrate GPS data, telematics, and compliance rules to automatically handle a range of functions, including:
- Vehicle inspection and preventative maintenance scheduling
- Route planning and driver scheduling/dispatch
- Fuel consumption and mileage tracking
- Electronic driver vehicle inspection reporting
- Real-time location monitoring and status updates
If you can automate these components, your business can reduce your administrative burden while improving accuracy, communication, and visibility across your operations.
2. Invest in Vehicle Tracking Tools
Vehicle tracking offers a myriad of benefits for fleet management. For one, it offers real-time tacking, allowing fleet managers to track their vehicle’s whereabouts. This allows them to plan safe and efficient routes that reduce the wear and tear of your fleet.
Additionally, efficient vehicle tracking maximises resource usage. Fleet managers can identify vehicles that underutilised and reallocate them so they’re consistently active in operations.
3. Optimise Routes and Scheduling
One of the more significant opportunities for boosting efficiency and customer service is through strategic route planning and execution. Older practices like manually routing based on office whiteboards or having your drivers arbitrarily order their own stops lead to excessive backtracking and wasted fuel/labour costs.
Modern fleet management software applies algorithms and machine learning to automatically plan optimal routes based on live traffic data, vehicle attributes, delivery windows, and resource constraints. Such intelligent routing ensures drivers complete their daily plans while traveling the fewest miles possible.
Aside from route optimisation, mobile workforce management tools allow SMBs to seamlessly schedule and dispatch jobs based on individual worker skill sets, availability, and locations for improved productivity.
4. Focus on Driver Safety and Regulatory Compliance
Effective fleet management is not just concerned with reducing costs. It’s also crucial for promoting safety and ensuring your operations follow all applicable regulations. Risks of violations, accidents, or unsafe practices can quickly reduce your profits through fines, legal issues, and reputation damage.
SMBs can make safety a more integrated part of their fleet policies and culture by:
- Implementing vehicle inspections and maintenance programs
- Monitoring driver behaviour
- Requiring compliance documentation
- Providing ongoing training
If your business takes a proactive stance on operational safety, you can reduce risks and protect your investment from the substantial costs of accidents and violations. A simple insurance premium hike alone could wipe out your savings from poor fleet management.
How TransVirtual Supports SMB Fleet Management
If you want to implement an effective fleet management program for your SMB, you’ll need to find the right tools and technology partners.
By partnering with TransVirtual, you’ll gain access to best-in-class fleet management solutions without the heavy investment in tech, training, and support typically requires by enterprise-level platforms. Our cloud-based software is rapidly deployable and simple to use from day one.
Ready to revolutionise your small- to medium-sized business fleet operations? Reach out to the TransVirtual team to learn more about our proven SMB fleet management solutions or schedule a free consultation today!
