As a fleet manager, you know that fleet management software can streamline operations, improve driver performance, and fuel management, as well as provide critical insight into fleet operations, among many other capabilities. Research shows that these systems will grow from 16.5 million units in 2020 to 31.4 million units by 2025.
While technology is helpful, you are still likely to need to allow time to review the data, collecting insights to tell your complete fleet story. Let’s use the example that one of your vehicles is involved in an accident. Whether you’re notified directly from the vehicle or receive a call from the driver, you need to investigate the incident, arrange for pickup or service, and get another vehicle to the affected driver, which can take more time than you budgeted for.
There’s an easier way: an automation platform that creates workflows and triggers actions automatically.
Creating Automated Workflows
A fleet automation platform uses information from existing fleet management systems combined with business rules to automatically create workflows that initiate responses to critical fleet events. The system oversees every notification coming from your fleet and immediately issues job orders for tasks that you have automated.
Let’s revisit the vehicle accident scenario. A fleet automation platform uses the data from your systems to identify the vehicle’s condition, prioritizes the event, and dispatches a crew from your closest location to pick up the driver or send a replacement vehicle.
Maximizing Fleet Efficiency
Whether your fleet is large or small, it’s easy to see how automated workflows optimize scheduling and improves response time. Fleet automation not only improves vehicle utilization rates but also keeps your vehicles on the road longer as minor problems are resolved before they become significant issues. Utilizing a fleet automation platform also lowers maintenance costs and alleviates the long-term costs associated with neglected or unsafe vehicles. You will also experience increased staff productivity once manual and laborious tasks are automated, allowing you and your team to work on high-impact projects. At the same time, the solution takes care of the rest.
Leveraging The Power of Keyless Technology
Keyless technology opens the door to optimizing your fleet. Combining digital keys with automation provides several benefits, including:
- Faster access – When you don’t have to worry about managing physical keys, your day gets a lot faster. With the ability to assign access to a vehicle remotely, your team doesn’t have to wait for a physical key to pick up a vehicle. If a driver needs a replacement vehicle, the system can automatically update the driver’s permissions, granting them immediate vehicle access without waiting for a physical key.
- Improved safety – If a vehicle starts without the approved driver’s digital key, the platform triggers a workflow that immobilizes the vehicle and alerts the driver, you, and even the authorities.
- Optimized business practices – With automation, tasks like collecting payments are made easier. Companies using digital payments report a 71% improvement in collections. When you combine digital access with automation, you gain the ability to monetize vehicle access and improve payment, billing, and reporting processes.
Making Smart Decisions
Another advantage of using a fleet automation platform is that it consistently provides data in real-time, eliminating the risk of human error. You can depend on accurate information for an overall view of your fleet’s operations and create strategic and long-term plans in line with your overall business goals.
The Next Step in Fleet Management
Creating automatic actions to fleet-related events is a necessary evolution as you manage insights from your existing IT solutions. Using a fleet automation platform to create workflows that trigger automated actions improves your response time to daily events, removing manual effort.
Utilizing the right fleet automation solution allows you to maximize the investment made in your current systems, so you can operate faster and with greater efficiency while adding value without additional resources. Learn how Ridecell’s fleet automation platform can help you integrate your existing insights and drive your fleet’s digital transformation.
Author: Stacey Papp, Director, Content Marketing, Ridecell