Modern fleet managers are expected to solve a variety of problems when it comes to keeping their fleets running in tip-top shape. And for many organizations, one of the biggest challenges of fleet maintenance is that the profit margins in this business can be low while budgets remain pretty restrictive.
Thankfully, there are ways you can overcome these challenges and get better performance out of your fleet maintenance program.
What is fleet management software?
Fleet management software is a comprehensive digital solution designed to streamline and optimize the management of an organization’s fleet of vehicles. This software typically includes features such as vehicle tracking, maintenance scheduling, fuel management, and driver management. By centralizing all fleet-related data, fleet management software enables businesses to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. It provides real-time insights into vehicle performance, usage, and maintenance needs, allowing fleet managers to make informed decisions and enhance overall fleet productivity.
Benefits of fleet management software
Fleet management software is a powerful tool designed to optimize the efficiency and productivity of an organization’s vehicle fleet. By centralizing and automating various aspects of fleet management, this software offers a range of benefits that can significantly improve operations, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
Fleet management is integral in addressing these common challenges:
1. Digitization of vehicles
Many of today’s fleet challenges start with vehicle digitization. This is the process of inputting everything that physically happens with your fleet into a computer for digital record-keeping. It might seem obvious, but the days of tracking with paper files are long gone. Today, tracking is about much more than a piece of paper in a folder. It’s about ensuring that you have an accurate digital representation that reflects the actual condition of each vehicle.
This allows for some handy technological applications and greater insight into your fleet. You can keep track of assets digitally, even if you aren’t physically present. Also, it helps you make better, data-driven financial decisions.
The best way to digitize your fleet is by using asset management software. While some organizations attempt to do this using spreadsheets or basic maintenance management software, neither typically has the reporting power or analytical ability necessary to have a modern competitive edge. Using an asset management platform for your fleet maintenance solves many of the challenges you’ll find on this list.
2. Fuel costs
When it comes to challenges, few can be as volatile and hard-hitting as fuel costs. While the price of a gallon may not impact an individual driver, this is a much bigger issue for a fleet manager. Buying gas in large quantities means that slight fluctuations result in big costs. Tackling this challenge is a matter of controlling whatever pieces of the puzzle you can.
One thing is certain when it comes to fuel and maintenance: better maintained vehicles are more efficient with their fuel. And, while you can’t control the whole economy to influence gas prices, you can control how efficiently your vehicles use their fuel.
Ensuring your vehicles are running efficiently requires you to specifically track your miles per gallon (MPG) for each vehicle. It also requires that you track that number over time and watch for discrepancies. In addition, you must keep track of the routine maintenance that will keep your engine healthy. Fleet maintenance software makes it easy to do both of these.
3. Forecasting maintenance costs
One of the key benefits of fleet management software is that it shows you which vehicles are going to cost you money, how much, and when. With a clearer understanding of fleet maintenance costs, you can anticipate its regular maintenance. These include simple things like oil changes or regular tune-ups. The advantage of predictable maintenance is that it fits into your budget and is easily accounted for.
Forecasting maintenance as part of fleet maintenance is only possible through advanced asset tracking. This record-tracking makes it possible to spot trends in your emergency maintenance. When you can spot a trend within your emergency maintenance, it makes that maintenance easier to plan for. With a solid fleet maintenance program like Eptura Asset, you can start noticing the indicators that lead to breakdowns. This leads to cost reductions on two fronts:
- First, you’ll be able to predict when costs are likely to occur, even for many of the emergency costs.
- Second, by predicting when costs might hit, you’ll be able to proactively service fleet vehicles and their related fixed assets before they break down. This translates to more cost-savings in the long run.
4. Scaling the maintenance system with the fleet
When it comes to fleet management, growth is always a factor. But, as any fleet manager knows, fleet maintenance gets harder when you have more vehicles to manage. Keeping one vehicle in working order can be done with a notepad and some elbow grease. Keeping ten in working order requires some help. So, what do you need to maintain a large fleet of vehicles?
The benefit of using fleet maintenance software is that it eliminates paperwork, which is crucial for scaling maintenance with the size of the fleet. In fact, the two go hand in hand. When you’ve got powerful fleet maintenance software, you’re better equipped to organize your fleet so that growth is not just possible, but the logical next step. Eptura Asset is built with exactly this kind of scalability in mind. It grows with you and creates a program where that kind of growth is always within reach.
5. Overly complicated software
For many organizations, the idea of implementing a computerized maintenance system (CMMS) may be terrifying, but it’s actually an exciting opportunity. Instead of adding complications, the right CMMS can simplify tasks and make life easier for fleet managers, ultimately enhancing overall productivity and performance.
While it’s important that you invest time ensuring the fleet maintenance system you plan to invest in is easy to use and can be properly implemented into your daily needs, this is made much simpler when the company providing your software has extensive experience with implementing their software into companies like yours. Eptura Asset has a team of experts experienced in deploying programs for organizations in the transport sector.
6. Boosting accountability into your operations
Accountability is one of the biggest challenges that fleet maintenance managers face today, but it can be easily overcome with comprehensive facility management software. Sometimes, managers need to understand what their drivers are doing. In other cases, they need to have a clearer picture of their overall maintenance process. In each case, they’re looking for two things: better data, and more connectivity to their workforce.
A good fleet maintenance software platform will not only record your data for you but give you access to that data through intuitive dashboards. It also connects with your workforce through mobile connectivity. This helps the entire team keep an accurate record of what’s been done and prepares them for what’s next. And when everybody’s on the same page, this means greater visibility into work logs and technicians and a better understanding of how your maintenance processes are performing.
Scale up your fleet management program
Implementing a strong maintenance management program can be quite an undertaking, especially given the logistical complexities of today’s fleet environment, but the results are well worth it. And fortunately, there are a number of solutions out there that can help you eliminate many of these pain points and get you back to running your business.
If you’re ready to see how a fleet maintenance platform could transform your business, schedule a free demo with us to see how Eptura Asset can take your fleet management program to the next level.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions in his role as a digital content creator at Eptura. He covers trends across industries, including fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on delivering thought leadership with actionable insights. Earlier in his career, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video games, and taught English as a foreign language. He holds a master's degree in journalism.
