Fleet operations within any organisation are often considered one of the highest cost centres for the business.
However, if you're running a business using commercial vehicles, your fleet is often the lifeblood of your operation and therefore it’s important to acknowledge that fleets have a hugely positive impact on the success of your organisation.
Better communication and data visibility between fleet and other departments can not only enhance business productivity but also help to alleviate inter-departmental frustrations in relation to delays in communication and lack of information sharing.
Fleet - not just a cost centre
At times, fleet operations can be seen as detached and working independently from the rest of the business, almost in its own silo. This can be seen as somewhat problematic, since fleet, as a business division, impacts several aspects across business operations.
By establishing better communication channels between fleet and other departments within the organisation, you can improve overall performance as well as build trust by offering complete information transparency.
Some of the most effective fleet management solutions comprise software that can easily integrate with your organisation’s existing business solutions, allowing you to optimise communication and share data across the organisation.
Data transparency makes the fleet information more accessible to people beyond the department, like finance team administrators and the safety coordinators, even though the cost of feet is firstly looked at as one of the most critical factors that make a huge impact. Still, the fleet affects the business differently, so you should not ignore it.
Data transparency
Any fleet operation collects a range of information which is valuable to many other departments within the business.
Wherever data is shared, productivity increases and as productivity is a key metric businesses look to increase regularly and fleet can have a big influence on this.
For maximum data transparency and better operational efficiency, you need to make the most of connecting fleet and business solutions and this can be achieved through implementing a fleet management software system which can be accessed by other departments.
Here are some ways in which fleet data can help increase productivity across the business:
1. Communication
First and foremost communication between departments is the most important part of a productive business. However, with large organisations across multiple departments, locations and time zones effective communication can be more complex.
With the integration of a digital fleet management system, departments can easily communicate with each other in real-time as well as being able to access data from any location at any time of day.
And as its fleet is what keeps the business moving, data such as vehicle locations, maintenance updates and workflows, the ability to deliver streamlined communications with complete data visibility from a centralised system is integral to the successful service of any organisation.
Without knowing where your vehicles are or their status, impacts the day-to-day running of business operations, costing your organisation time and money.
2. Going paperless
Going paperless minimises the cost and simplifies processes for fleet managers as well as across the entire business. Manual data entry is often very time-consuming and can lead to manual errors. Not to mention locating a paper trail and having to find storage to house all the paperwork (which can be a further unnecessary expense).
Through digitising forms and reports, these can be easily stored and accessed saving time without the need for chasing for misplaced documents, making everyone’s job much easier.
3. Process automation
Automating processes, including scheduling job allocations, route planning, vehicle inspections, maintenance planning and optimising expenses by reducing the investment in manual and repetitive processes.
Reports can be generated, stored and viewed as well as easily accessible historical data relating to specific vehicle events and incidents which in turn can help avoid manual errors and reduce delivery turnaround time.
4. Finance
Every time a vehicle is off the road costs the business money. Every time a driver performs a bad driving technique such as engine idling or harsh acceleration costs the business money. And so, the list goes on…..
Without easily accessible reports and data detailing various fleet processes, it’s more difficult to keep a track of costs affecting these incidents and the ability to follow up on these to help resolve them.
However, using a transparent system which allows business divisions to integrate with fleet management software will streamline processes and provide a range of data that can be used to make more informed decisions surrounding cost factors affecting the business.
How integrating Prolius Fleet management software can help?
A fleet management software system holds so much valuable data, not only for fleets, but also for organisations as a whole.
Integrating the rest of the business with access to a fleet management system will streamline the flow of data as well as significantly improve communication.
The Prolius Fleet management system provides real-time information from a single platform which can be accessed at any time at the touch of a button. Dashboards and reports can be customised and generated using specific metrics allowing valuable information to be captured and used to help drive productivity and efficiency.
To find out how Prolius Fleet can integrate with your business, please get in touch for more information and schedule a demo.