After being used exclusively for military purposes, global positioning systems (GPS) are now available for civil use. GPS technology has become a part of today’s life so it is not regarded as some kind of a miracle any more, but rather as a useful tool for navigation in unknown places and getting from point A to point B with less pain. GPS units are cool navigational tools for private car owners, but when it concerns the owners of entire fleets of cars and trucks, GPS tracking systems can be of strategic importance and make the difference between success and failure for businesses operating vehicle fleets. Fleet owners cannot underestimate the importance of GPS vehicle tracking systems because when it comes to saving on costs no business owner can stay indifferent.
Now imagine yourself in the boots of a fleet owner. You have to deal with a lot of issues related to employees and vehicles on the daily basis. What makes it even worse is that your employees work remotely and often out of your direct control. The list of issues fleet managers face can include quite a number of items such as:
- remote employees attempting to take advantage of company’s vehicles at company’s expense;
- improper driving behavior which is dangerous for drivers and vehicles as well as wasteful for fuel consumption and harmful to the environment;
- ever-growing prices for fuel;
- constant risk of theft of expensive vehicles and assets;
- finding the shortest routs to where the work is;
- customers demanding as much information as possible regarding their order status.
The reason why the above issues exist and constitute serious fleet efficiency constraints for business profitability is the lack of control over remote fleet operations. This is when GPS fleet management solutions come in handy. The value of GPS technology is in its ability to determine the exact vehicle location at any time. However the GPS tracking systems specially developed for fleet vehicles are capable of transmitting a larger amount of data necessary for more efficient fleet management. When employing cutting-edge GPS vehicle tracking systems, fleet owners can expect receiving the following data:
- the exact location of all fleet vehicles with installed GPS units in real-time;
- speed and speeding events;
- idling time;
- engine working hours;
- stops;
- mileage;
- and more.
So how can this information help solve the fleet management issues? The answer is simple – the problem is much easier to cope with when it can be detected, monitored and analyzed. Let’s delve into why fleet managers should control how vehicles are employed.
Be Quick, Drive Less
Being able to track the exact location of all vehicles in a fleet is important for more cost-effective and efficient business. Whenever there is a new job, fleet managers can dispatch the nearest vehicle to the customer by viewing all their vehicles on the map on a single webpage. Thus the vehicle will arrive faster and consume less fuel.