Small businesses are still relying on dated reporting structures to manage fleets

We continue to meet a number of smaller fleet operators, and occasionally larger ones, that are still heavily reliant on managing their fleets through traditional spreadsheet and paper-based reporting methods. Whilst this method may have proved efficient in previous years, technological advances mean that operating in such a way could be leaving these fleets at risk.

Spreadsheets and similar reporting methods can only provide a fleet manager with a basic overview of their fleet and having a full grasp of an operation can prove tricky. Data needs to manually inputted which is not only an administrative heavy task in itself but costly in terms of time, resources and the potential for data entry errors. Safe to say, using such methods as a primary management tool is a dated, high risk process with numerous limitations.

Even the most basic of fleet management software solutions such as FleetWave Core allows access to relevant data that can be utilized to support much more informed business decisions. Automated processes increase accuracy of the data within a system and real-time fleet reporting helps track compliance and legal requirements for auditing purposes.

Fleet management software easily integrates with other applications such as GPS and telematics, fuel cards and accounting procedures to automate processes to remove most of the associated administrative tasks. This provides a much more holistic approach towards fleet management, allowing access to all business information within one central system.

“Fleets running hundreds or more vehicles using spreadsheets or paper-based methods are going to struggle to deliver the levels of data and reporting structures often needed to effectively manage areas such as cost control and compliance,” said David Gladding, Global Director of Sales and Marketing at Chevin Fleet Solutions.

“Using such methods is a high-risk strategy that can prove slow, costly and hard to audit. Even the most basic software allows access to much more data and when supported by a mobile app, means real-time, paperless data capture for recording things such as driver walk round checks.”

 

Source: https://www.chevinfleet.com/us/fleet-management-software/

I´m a Fleet Management expert, and the manager of Advanced Fleet Management Consulting, that provides Fleet Management Consultancy Services.