Top 8 Challenges Enterprise Fleet Managers Face

Large enterprise companies that cover a vast area, own thousands of vehicles, and are responsible for a huge number of drivers across several states or even different countries, have a range of unique challenges when it comes to fleet management.

Eight challenges faced by enterprise fleet managers include:

1. Avoiding information overload
2. Integrating fleet data into existing software systems
3. Making sure all assets are fully utilized
4. Fixing small problems fast
5. Managing a geographically-dispersed team
6. Finding specific fleet information quickly
7. Software systems that are scalable and able to handle rapid growth
8. Controlling unauthorized use of company assets

1. Avoiding information overload

Problem: A fleet of thousands generates a huge amount of data for fleet managers to review. The larger the fleet, the more information that's generated. Consider that GPS devices are generally set to update their position every two minutes. That's 30 updates every hour. 720 every day. If you have a fleet of 50,000 vehicles (the size of some of the fleets using fleet management software), then that's around 36 million packets of information being sent in to fleet managers for their review every day.

Solution: Fleet management software provides tools to cope by filtering all the information that's not important to you, and only showing you the data that matters. One example of this is the InSight real-time alert functionality, which gives managers valuable insights into specific areas of interest. This helps them stay in control at all times without the need to spend all day going cross-eyed over detailed reports.

Alerts can be set up and customized to monitor specific business rules and, if breached, managers can receive an instant email (which could be sent to a mobile device), all in real-time. Of course monitoring thousands of vehicles could result in a lot of alerts, so fleet management software provides a KPI dashboard that allows you to easily monitor how the fleet is performing overall, with specific areas of concern color-coded for easy identification.

Fleet management solutions process the information for you, making it useful and usable and helping you avoid paralysis by analysis.

2. Integrating fleet data into existing software systems

Problem: Enterprise fleets work in large corporations that run a lot of disparate information systems, all of which need to function harmoniously and efficiently. Software systems that don't integrate result in reduced productivity as data has to be entered multiple times or manually transferred between applications.

Solution: Working with enterprise fleets to make sure their fleet management solution is the perfect fit; the company has the internal development resources as well as a comprehensive partner network to make it happen.

Integration with other software systems is handled through APIs. This allows a developer to quickly and easily let existing systems communicate with fleet management software.

APIs can be used to integrate driver performance for employee grading, allowing paperless timesheets and notifications, or integrate with SAP systems.

3. Making sure all fleet assets are fully utilized

Problem: The bigger a company, the more assets that need to be managed and utilized. This increases the chance of assets 'disappearing' or not being used to their full potential, both of which represent a significant loss of investment and cost to the company.

Solution: After installing a fleet management software, some companies have 'rediscovered' vehicles that had been sitting idle in the yard or forgotten about, but that are obviously still costing the company insurance, registration and depreciation expenses. GPS tracking makes sure that all vehicles are accounted for and being utilized efficiently. Fleets often find GPS fleet tracking provides them with the accurate information they need to make profitable decisions on purchasing additional vehicles, what sort of vehicles to buy, or deciding if they can dispose of existing vehicles.

This is an excellent way to uncover potential cost savings that can be rolled out across the company to drastically improve bottom line results.

4. Fixing small problems fast

Problem: Small problems in a large enterprise can often go unnoticed by fleet managers for an extended period of time; sometimes these problems are only discovered after a major crisis or incident that can have serious ramifications for the company, not to mention the losses caused by revenue leaks.

Solution: Large fleet management can be as detailed as you need it to be with t real-time alerts. These alerts can trigger an email as soon as a specific business rule is broken, allowing fleet managers to address the issue there and then.

Enterprise fleet managers using InSight alerts have their finger on the pulse of the fleet, and can make sure that small problems don't grow and become major headaches.

5. Managing a geographically-dispersed team

Problem: Large commercial fleet management not only involves MRM, but also the management of assets across a wide geographical area. Fleets that operate across state lines, or even internationally, face difficulties communicating with remote drivers; locating vehicles in a given area may require endless zooming and scrolling across a map.

Solution: When your fleet is spread out over a large geographic area you need to be able to zoom in and out of your fleet map quickly and efficiently. Fleet management software is equipped with advanced mapping and spatial clustering to allow managers the ability to go from having a wide-angle view of their entire fleet to drilling down to a specific vehicle anywhere the fleet is operating within the GPS network. Spatial clustering creates more meaningful maps, grouping thousands of assets intelligently and providing a clean and organized view of your fleet.

Fleet management software enjoys the quickest web-based maps in the industry, vital for industries that use fleet management products in situations where every second counts, such as emergency dispatch. Its patent-pending clustering makes it easier for dispatch operators to drill down to the right vehicle fast.

Localized information can not only be accessed in a hurry, the data is freshly baked, giving managers a real-time view of where their vehicles are at any given moment.

Our fleet management solution also offers international language and time zone support to help large fleets that not only span the world clock, but that also employ fleet managers who need information displayed in languages such as Portuguese, Arabic or Spanish.

6. Finding specific fleet information quickly

Problem: Since fleet managers for large enterprise businesses are responsible for a huge number of assets, being able to locate a specific vehicle can be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack of data, resulting in wasted time and needless frustration.

Solution: Large fleets need to be able to track assets using means other than map location. The fleet management dashboard offers a powerful search option that is ready to pinpoint a specific asset in only a few moments.

Vehicles, drivers and teams can all be tagged with meaningful labels for rapid reporting regardless of what information is required. This means large fleets can be broken up into more manageable groups and quickly accessed using the search tool.

7. Software systems that are scalable

Problem: Enterprise fleet managers work in companies that are large, handling thousands of assets, and that often experience rapid growth, particularly when they acquire new businesses.

Solution: Scalable is a word that large enterprise fleets hear a lot. Scalable simply means an application (such as business software) is able to grow and cope with an organization as it grows. Our fleet management software works with some of the largest fleets in North America, some managing in excess of 60,000 assets on a single account, and have staff dedicated to ensuring systems used by these fleets are fast, secure and scalable.

The scalability built into our fleet management software extends to its reporting options, with the ability to take advantage of cloud computing to generate massive reports. Unlike other fleet management applications that are often restricted in the amount of data they can generate, our fleet management software allows large enterprise users to report on huge amounts of data across their fleet.

8. Controlling unauthorized use of company assets

Problem: Fleet managers are unable to monitor all assets effectively. Misuse of company assets, such as using vehicles outside of work hours or outside of designated areas, along with dangerous driving, can result in additional cost to the company as well as potential litigation risks.

Solution: Fleet management software can be configured to monitor all company assets around the clock. Information such as vehicle speed, location and usage, as well as driving behavior (like hard acceleration, swerving and severe braking) can be reported on with alerts sent directly to a manager's mobile device. Many built-in OEM solutions offer rich engine data to improve preventive maintenance and overall vehicle health.

In addition, this information can be collected and displayed in reports or an on-screen dashboard highlighting undesirable fleet activity across the entire fleet, allowing top-level managers to track overall fleet performance against pre-defined KPIs. The data can be broken down by teams or divisions to identify unwanted trends, and can assist managers with deciding how problems can be addressed.

Enterprise fleets run better when they have a fleet management solution

We not only has the infrastructure to support the unique and challenging requirements of larger enterprise fleets, but supports them every step of the way. Since our Fleet is a SaaS application, clients can enjoy the benefits and security of an ongoing relationship.

With us, large fleets get what they need now without fearing they'll be left out in the cold in the years to come.