5 Fleet Management Software Features Every Company Needs!

Why is fleet management software so popular?

Fleet management software (FMS) is considered a lifeline for many businesses operating fleets. FMS provides managers with greater visibility into all fleet activity, allowing them to easily manage their vehicles and drivers, and collect all vehicle data that can be used to improve the fleet.

The collected data is presented through a fleet management platform—a premier fleet management tool that provides instant access to all critical fleet information. With a single click, users can view fleet costs, fuel usage, a complete list of vehicle inventory, vehicle utilisation ratings, driver driving behaviour, and more.

• Documentation about the vehicle purchased or leased

• Vehicle specifications and current condition

• Maintenance schedule

• Parts and service history

• Insurance, licenses, and tax documents

• Fuel transactions

• Vehicle and operational costs

However, some fleet management systems can't keep up with customers' business needs. Some legacy fleet systems can't collect as much data from the fleet or aren't updated to run as fast or offer as many solutions as modern FMSs.

The basics of the legacy fleet system

Legacy fleet systems are typically original fleet management systems that have been around since the early days of fleet management. These systems lack the latest features or technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) or telematics, but they still assist in fleet management to some extent.

While these systems have served their purpose, they come with limitations and challenges that can interfere with how managers efficiently monitor their fleets.

Limited scalability:

Legacy fleet systems often struggle to keep up with business growth. They lack the flexibility to handle increasing fleet size, the amount of data, and new features or applications that may need to be integrated.

Lack of real-time data

Legacy fleet systems often cannot analyse data as quickly as modern FMS, which means they may not be able to provide real-time data to managers, making it somewhat difficult to monitor and manage the fleet because we have to wait for updates on fleet operations or make decisions based on outdated information.

Security vulnerabilities:

Most businesses want to keep sensitive information as secure as possible. Legacy fleet systems tend to have security vulnerabilities. They cannot protect against cyberattacks, hacking, or data breaches.

High maintenance costs:

Because their hardware and systems are older than modern technology, legacy FMS users may need to invest extra time maintaining their fleet systems. Over time, hardware upgrades and additional software are often required, leading to high costs.

5 FMS features every business needs

If our goal is to run an effective and productive fleet that can be easily monitored and tracked, then using an FMS and its amazing features is what the business needs.

Fleet management software offers features that can provide valuable fleet insights. These five features can transform the way we manage our fleets.

1. Vehicle Tracking

With the help of GPS technology, cellular networks, and tracking units, fleet management software can collect real-time vehicle location information, along with odometer readings and vehicle speed, allowing managers to have more visibility into the whereabouts and activities of their fleet and equipment.

How can knowing vehicle location help business?

With advanced vehicle tracking, managers can plan their delivery routes more efficiently and use route optimisation practices to shorten travel times and save fuel, ultimately reducing fleet and fuel costs.

Alerts and geofences can be created to further monitor vehicle routes. Geofences can be created around specific areas to ensure vehicles only operate within those areas or to provide alerts whenever a vehicle enters a dangerous zone. Each time a vehicle enters a geofence, the user will be notified of its location.

Real-time vehicle tracking is a distinct advantage. It allows managers to see not only where their vehicles are located but also how they are being driven. This is crucial for making informed decisions about driver behaviour, responding quickly to situations like breakdowns, and ensuring vehicles stay on schedule.

If you're in the shipping industry, constantly transporting goods, products, or gadgets, you likely know the power of an accurate ETA. Providing customers with an ETA on the location of their shipped or ordered items is a surefire way to maintain customer satisfaction. With vehicle tracking, businesses can provide this information and manage customer expectations.

Planning to expand your business? Cartrack's vehicle tracking technology ensures smooth growth by helping businesses track the location of every new vehicle added to their fleet. Our tracking units also provide information to facilitate vehicle allocation and resource distribution.

2. Maintenance

Any intelligent fleet management software should be able to read the entire fleet, track usage and mileage, and notify when vehicles need to be checked, whether through a routine inspection or a full vehicle service.

Fleet management software tracks maintenance schedules and notifies businesses when critical tasks like oil changes or inspections are due. This proactive approach prevents breakdowns and costly repairs, ensuring reliable fleet operation.

Cartrack's proactive maintenance feature can schedule fleet maintenance by generating reminders for essential services based on mileage or manufacturer recommendations. This feature ensures vehicles remain in top condition, reduces downtime, and extends their lifespan, all of which contribute to company growth.

3. Driver Management

This FMS feature focuses on drivers and ensures their safety, both on-site and on-road. It does this by observing driver behaviour and monitoring factors such as speed, sudden braking or turning, idling time, fuel consumption, and wear and tear.

Managers can then use this information to identify areas for improvement in driver training, encourage safer driving, and implement driver safety protocols.

Cartrack can help with reports, alerts, and driver scorecards. These risk reports and driver scorecards monitor driver behaviour and detect risky actions such as excessive speeding or sudden braking. This valuable insight into fleet performance and driver behaviour can enable informed decisions for optimised operations as the company grows, as well as help effectively coach drivers to promote safer driving habits and reduce the risk of accidents, saving the business thousands in costs.

4. Fuel Management

Fuel management is one of the biggest responsibilities for fleet managers (and one of the most expensive). A fuel management system (FMS) provides fuel tracking and analysis tools to help businesses monitor fuel consumption, identify inefficiencies, and implement strategies to reduce fuel costs.

Regardless of fleet size, Cartrack helps track fuel consumption through fuel level monitoring. It can detect fuel theft and also allows fleet managers to track fuel costs through MiFleet, Cartrack's cost management system, which provides a comprehensive record of all fleet transactions, including fuel.

The MiFleet system not only shows how much fuel is spent but also helps validate transactions by showing where the transaction occurred, the vehicle's location at the time of the transaction, the number of liters poured, and the vehicle's tank capacity. For a growing company with a growing number of fuel transactions, a tool like this is invaluable.

5. Data Reporting and Analysis

Through FMS telematics, data is automatically captured from vehicles, including fuel consumption, engine performance, and driver behaviour. For further insight, this data can be broken down into customisable reports for easy analysis, identifying areas for improvement and making informed decisions about fleet operations. As businesses grow, it can sometimes become difficult to keep track of and understand incoming data. Cartrack's fleet platform offers over 40 reports that can aggregate all this information into easy-to-understand reports for your convenience.

After seeing more of what a smart FMS system like Cartrack can do and how you can use these five amazing features to improve your fleet operations, the question is, “Do you want to stick with your legacy fleet system or do you want to move to a system with more capabilities?”

Why businesses use fleet management software

Fleet management software is one of the most popular software in the fleet industry.

Many businesses are attracted to modern fleet technology because of the efficiencies it offers, its operational scale (it can take in information regardless of the size of the business), its ability to adapt and grow with the business, and its ability to help businesses move from manual to automated fleet management.

From a small bakery down the street with 2 vehicles transporting their pastries to the local supermarket to a global vehicle tracking company like Cartrack with its large fleet, fleet management systems are widely used to track vehicles, monitor drivers, develop operations, improve safety measures, and so on.

Benefits that fleet management software can provide to businesses 

If the words 'fleet efficiency' or 'simplified operations' aren't enough to persuade you to upgrade your system from a legacy fleet system to a state-of-the-art fleet management software to experience the five essential features of an FMS, then perhaps these benefits will encourage you to take the first step in investing in a smart fleet management system that can propel your business into the future.

Increased fleet visibility

No more sitting and waiting for manual updates on where vehicles are or how long deliveries will take. FMS provides high levels of real-time fleet visibility. Users can see more than just the current location; they can also see vehicle engine status, trip duration, and vehicle utilisation. With full visibility, we can improve deliveries and respond faster to any issues.

Reducing risk and increasing safety

Safety is paramount, especially for your drivers. FMS promotes safer driving practices with features like driver behaviour monitoring, alerts for risky driving habits, and reports that can be used to train and improve driving habits and reduce fleet accidents.

Easy fleet data access

Say goodbye to piles of paperwork or systems that delay fleet information updates. With FMS, users can access a centralised platform where all critical information can be easily accessed. This level of convenience simplifies data management and frees up time to focus on other aspects of fleet management.

Reduce fuel and fleet costs

Quickly identify areas for financial improvement, monitor them, and find solutions to reduce costs. If there is excessive fuel consumption, for example, changing routes to shorter, more efficient ones, increasing idle time, and eliminating fuel leaks or theft can achieve the desired results. This can contribute to reducing overall fleet management costs.

How can Cartrack prepare businesses for the future?

Need a business that can help you track your fleet, manage drivers, and grow your operations with these five or more features? Cartrack is the answer.

When people think about the future of their business, they often think bigger, better, and more efficient. Planning to grow a business requires years of dedication, a strong commitment to improving operations, and smart tools that can handle a growing business.

Cartrack fleet solutions are designed to handle growing businesses, even drive them.

Cartrack offers industry-leading products that offer fleet solutions tailored to any business and industry. If you plan to grow your business over the years, Cartrack can accommodate positive changes and grow with you.

Click this link to find out more about Cartrack!