Whether it’s the pest control service keeping the bugs at bay or the plumber keeping your water flowing, service fleets do an enormous amount running around to keep their customers happy. But to get the most out of every workday, these fleets need to not only schedule their service calls in an effective and cost-minded manner, but they must ensure that their employees are working productively as well.

Unlike many businesses that had to shut their doors and send their employees off to home offices, vocational fleets had to keep their staff behind the wheel and making the same stops each and every day. For example, according to data from Verizon Connect, pest control services saw only about a 1% drop in service calls after the pandemic first hit. And with families spending more time at home in the past year, plumbers, heat and cooling technicians, and electricians are getting more and more calls for service.  

Many of these fleets are already highly efficient, relying on fleet management solutions, including telematics, to monitor driver behavior, vehicle health, and asset location. But as companies become reliant on their fleet operations to contribute directly to the bottom line, they need a way to manage both their vehicles and their field employees to maximum effect.

Connectivity Creates Efficient, Effective Workday   

Fleet management solutions, such as telematics, allow fleets to optimize workforce management by providing visibility on each individual field employee and giving fleets insight into the productivity and performance of each one. This connectivity also helps gather necessary data on the realities of the current operations, providing a deeper understanding of the areas where operations can be improved.

By fine-turning its telematics solution to a focus on workforce optimization, fleets have a number of possible bottom-line benefits, including:

1. Cost-efficient customer service. Customers can receive superior customer service, but in a way that isn’t cost prohibitive. Data can be used to benchmark how long a delivery or service call should take, helping to set schedules, routes, and other operational functions.
2. Accurate, reliable navigation. Being able to get to a location quickly and efficiently can help drivers increase productivity. Commercial navigation functionality with fleet management solutions provides customized routes, turn-by-turn directions, and last-mile guidance.
3. Flexible scheduling and planning. As the past year has proven, flexibility is paramount in meeting customer needs. The unforeseen can happen at any time, and a robust telematics solution can help fleet, delivery, or service managers meet unexpected demands or emergencies.
4. Better visibility in the field. Fleet technology helps managers see vehicles and drivers in the field, but it also provides field employees with the tools they need to work and communicate more efficiently while driving or on a job. They can view detailed work orders, collect signatures, and provide near real-time updates to the back office.
5. Dispatching based on specific needs. With a data-driven telematics solution, fleets can reallocate to meet specific surges or reapportion assets where and when they’re needed most.
6. Optimized routes and fuel costs. Route optimization tools will help dispatchers develop schedules that increase the number of jobs and appointments a field employee can accomplish, while decreasing the amount of fuel used. Cutting fuel costs is an ongoing challenge for many fleet managers, and route optimization is among the most significant ways that fuel use can be slashed.
7. Less paper, more work. Workforce management tools can take the burden of paperwork out of the hands of your field employees. Forms can be filled in automatically with reports and invoices generated electronically and submitted directly to back-office and administrative personnel. This frees the field employee to focus on their primary job.
8. Near real-time communications. Communication is the lifeblood of any field organization, and fleet management solutions will enable dispatch and other office personnel to stay in touch with field employees and vice versa.

Optimizing Your Digital Tools

For your staff to be productive, they need the right tools. By working with a partner committed to your company’s success and your field employees’ productivity and safety, you are taking the critical first step to meet the growing demand for an optimized workforce.

Verizon Connect Workforce provides the tools enterprise-size fleets need to optimize their field operations. The complete job and mobile worker management solution automates manual processes, giving workers easy-to-use mobile apps to help them do their jobs in the field efficiently, productively and safely.

Among the benefits of Verizon Connect Workforce:

• Improved resource allocation with dispatching and planning tools.
• Optimized routing for better productivity
• Connectivity with mobile workers
• Tools designed to improve worker communication with back-office staff
• Digital proof-of-service collection in the field
• Cut down on manual processes with automatic notifications and alerts
• Provide enhanced communication with customers

For fleet managers and stakeholders, Verizon Connect Workforce can help determine if current vehicle and staff levels are correct, plan for future growth with capacity planning, and test what-if scenarios to enhance operational decisions.

To learn more about Verizon Connect Workforce for enterprise fleets and if it’s the right workforce optimization to benefit your company’s bottom line, click here.

 

 

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Source: https://www.automotive-fleet.com