Managing a fleet can be a challenge. That’s why ensuring you have the best fleet management software is so important. At Smartrak, we understand Fleet Managers and the assets they look after. We’ve worked with many organisations to implement both telematics and pool booking solutions and we want to share that experience with you. We’ve put together a comprehensive list of what the best fleet management software should include, regardless of your fleet size and needs.
Managing a fleet often involves frequent, recurring tasks. These range from maintenance and vehicle registration, through to safety inspections such as checking tire wear and pressure and checking vehicle consumables. The frustrating thing is many of these tasks occur irregularly across a fleet—happening once a vehicle has driven a set number of kilometres or reached a specified date. This poses a challenge for fleet managers.
One option for keeping on top of everything is to track it all in a spreadsheet. However, depending on the size of your fleet, this might become a manual, time-consuming exercise.
On the other hand, the best fleet management software solutions will automate the tracking of these tasks. For example, automated alerts can be setup to remind you when a vehicle needs a service. These can be triggered by tracking each vehicle’s odometer, either manually or via an integrated telematics solution.
More regular tasks, such as registration reminders, and safety checks can be set up at regular intervals. By using fleet management software to automate these essential tasks, you can proactively manage when something needs actioning, freeing you to focus on more important tasks.
Telematics isn’t just tracking the location of your staff and assets. It's about understanding fleet utilisation on a day-to-day basis. To do that you need comprehensive data. The only way to acquire that data is through software that incorporates a comprehensive telematics solution. One that extends to servicing, mobility, vehicle access, user management and reporting.
Telematics provides a level of fleet visibility that helps Fleet Managers make educated decisions about future changes to fleet composition. It can also provide an additional safety for drivers when they are working in remote locations with crash detection features and driver behaviour management.
One of the most important tasks that Fleet Managers undertake is balancing the number of assets and the travel needs of staff. The ability to look at vehicle utilisation is an invaluable data point for decision making. It removes guess work from the equation. Instead of making assumptions about vehicle utilisation, Fleet Managers can instead start asking (and answering) more important questions:
“If our fleet never reaches peak , can we provide the same service with fewer vehicles?”
or alternatively...
“If our fleet is frequently at peak utilisation, should we increase the size of our fleet to ensure everyone has access to a vehicle when they need one?”
The best fleet management solutions provide the data that answers these questions and more.
Another advantage of integrating telematics and fleet management software is the management of driver safety. Vehicles in your fleet are an extension of your workplace, so it’s vital to ensure your fleet is safe.
Improved safety is achievable through several different means, including geofences, satellite coverage, and high-impact and roll over detection.
If your staff work in areas that are known blackspot areas or are considered high-risk workers, you can take advantage of geofences. Geofences are pre-defined or user-defined boundaries in a mapping solution. The best fleet management software will provide the ability to create custom geofences based on the specific needs of a user.
For example, if a vehicle enters or exits an area that has a geofence—say a mobile phone blackspot—an alert can be sent to a manager or support team. That way, if users don’t check in after a specified period of time, the alarm can be raised, and authorities notified.
Alternatively, if your staff frequently travel in remote locations, you may wish to explore the option of satellite coverage combined with high-impact detection over satellite. These features ensure that if the worst were to happen and someone in your organisation had an accident, you can be alerted.
Vehicles are an essential component of a fleet; without them, employees will certainly struggle to get where they need to go. But it’s worth remembering that they’re only a single piece of a larger fleet puzzle. The best fleet management software recognises that there are other equally important aspects to your fleet that need to be managed as well, such as the health and safety of those who use the vehicles and expanded fleet assets such as trailers, and micromobility options such as electric bicycles and scooters.
By sitting in the driver’s seat, staff members accept responsibility for the vehicle, their passengers, and other road users (not to mention themselves). How they behave while driving has a direct impact on the organisation. Poor driver behaviour can lead to traffic infringements, accidents, and injuries, damage to fleet assets, and negative brand imagery.
The best fleet management software incorporates the ability to monitor and manage driver behaviour. Examples include tracking over-speeding, so that managers can identify staff who travel at speeds above the posted speed limit. With driver behaviour tracking in place, organisations to be proactive about driver education. Organisations can train staff on safe driver practices, improving upon or negative behaviours, rather than having to deal with accidents caused by excessive speeding or erratic driving.
Another example is vehicle authorisations . The best fleet management software gives Fleet Managers the ability to restrict staff access to vehicles based on specific criteria. These can include whether staff have an appropriate license for the vehicle, whether the vehicle is needed for specialist purposes, or if staff need vehicle access after-hours or on weekends. These restrictions give Fleet Managers the knowledge that vehicle access is being proactively managed.
For some organisations, staff will be using fleet vehicles to work in remote locations. Utility companies may require staff to monitor and fix remote infrastructure; Government departments need Authorised Officers to visit remote stakeholders; Healthcare workers often need to conduct after-hours visits to patients; Councils require staff to interact with stakeholders throughout their community.
In each of these scenarios, there is the potential for staff to be working alone. If they find themselves in trouble, they need an integrated solution to alert their managers.
The best fleet management software offers a lone worker safety solution that provides integration with existing mapping features to ensure visibility and ease of management. If you’re already using telematics to track your fleet, why not take it a step further and extend the solution that integrates the tracking of both your vehicles, to include your lone workers?
Fleets aren’t static—they change and adapt to the needs of an organisation. It is likely that over time, organisations will grow or undergo structural change. As a result, your fleet will need to adapt to changing demand. Fleet management software must be flexible enough to respond to these changes—it must be scalable.
Scalability in fleet management software is important because implementing a fleet management software solution is not an insignificant undertaking. The last thing you want to discover is that the fleet management software you’ve chosen can’t handle changes in your fleet size or your organisational structure. If that happens, you’ll find yourself heading back to the drawing board to find another option. And that takes time, energy, and money.
If, instead, you choose a fleet management software with the ability to scale and grow with your organisation, you won’t have to worry about migrating to a new platform every few years.
Choosing the right fleet management software may seem like a challenging proposition. But it doesn’t have to be. At Smartrak, we’ve worked with a wide variety of organisations to deliver integrated fleet management, telematics, and health and safety solutions.
We truly believe that the best fleet management software is so much more than just about vehicles. That’s why we take a holistic approach to fleet management. We offer fleet management software that:
We’re ready to help you take your fleet management to the next level. Get in touch with to let us show you how.
