Innovative Fleet Management Ideas to Improve Productivity & Reduce Costs

Recent digital advancements in fleet management have created connected, efficient, and safer vehicles through automation and new technologies aimed to streamline operations. These new solutions bring many advantages, including enhanced safety measures, financial savings, and improved compliance.

However, as fleets add more vehicles and laws evolve, the data grows, necessitating the implementation of innovative fleet management ideas to meet customer demands in a cost-friendly way.

Why is Innovation Important? 

Fleet managers with cross-departmental duties cannot always participate in every relevant activity. As a result, analyzing data and identifying novel strategies for boosting efficiency and addressing multiple demands becomes essential for personnel handling a wide array of daily tasks. 

Four Innovative Fleet Management Ideas 

The following are four strategies managers might consider for enhancing fleet performance:​

1. Automate Feedback for Drivers

Implementing a scoring approach that applies across multiple dimensions allows management to evaluate good or poor driving ability effectively. When used correctly, taking an automated approach improves performance across the board by rewarding good driving, targeting drivers who need review, and exposing hidden behavior trends.

A strong AI approach  might introduce mechanisms for:

• Overall score, with component behavior scores aggregated based on risk, used to coach drivers
• Assigning 1:1 coaching based on patterns of undesirable behavior and a lack of self-correction after receiving automated feedback
• Identifying true speeding that needs to be addressed with reduced false-positives
• Determining irregular fuel transactions or use
  
  

2. Optimize Fleet Delivery Routes and Schedules

Fleets specializing in product or service deliveries must be highly efficient to meet customer demands. Fleet management software may help monitor vehicles en route and in real-time, promoting efficiency.

Appropriately planned routes (Fleet Optimization) and timely deliveries are a must for boosting customer satisfaction, making it critical to provide precise arrival times and narrow appointment windows. Leveraging fleet management software to analyze vehicle and driver data can help management determine delivery times, keep customers updated, and identify more optimal routes (if any).

By managing drivers’ jobs and schedules in real-time, routing adjustments can be made to shorten delivery times. 

3. Track Service/Appointment Verifications & Exceptions Automatically

Having the ability to make and verify service and appointments streamlines daily operations, reducing or eliminating the need for manual follow-up procedures to accomplish the same task. These verifications can be applied for multiple services (delivery, transfer, collection, etc.) to prevent delays or missed connections and ensure customer satisfaction.

These automations include features such as:

• ETA Calculations: Automatic calculation of driver ETA, accommodating for traffic, road closures, weather, and other driving conditions that might affect driver time of arrival.
• Customer Updates: Automated messages informing customers of any changes in delivery-related information are sent without the need for manual effort. 
• Visit Verification: Confirmations for services and appointments are automatically sent to the customer, allowing for quick and easy 2-party verification.
• Progress Reports: Delivery information is automatically compiled and made available to management with automated notifications only when attention is required

4. Reduce False-Positive Indications of Undesirable Driving Behavior

Reviewing suspected undesirable driving events manually wastes valuable time and energy. Using automated strategies to examine and review undesirable driving behavior (for example, speeding violations) across your entire population of drivers saves time by providing essential information and filtering out inaccurate data automatically, allowing for quick and final decisions.

Reducing false-positives streamlines daily operations and cuts down on one of the largest wastes of time in the industry. This leaves you and your team available to more specialized work deserving of attention, thus improving the overall efficiency and performance of your fleet. 

Let Tourmo Help You Implement Your New Strategies

Over time, identifying and implementing time and money-saving ideas become significant to fleets operating in competitive marketplaces. Monitoring devices alone will no longer suffice. Companies should consider implementing innovative strategies via state-of-the-art solutions to make their fleet more productive and profitable.