The focus of fleet management software will continue to shift in 2017 to facilitate organisations’ intelligent utilisation of a wider variety of both internal and externally-generated data, believes Chevin Fleet Solutions.
Ken Goldberg, General Manager for Asia Pacific at Chevin, explains, “For the typical fleet, a large volume of information is always available on vehicles, equipment, staff and other types of assets. Being able to handle, analyse and interpret data is a key factor in effective fleet management.
“Moreover, the amount of data being generated throughout operations is continuing to increase: The continual development of mobile and automotive technologies – such as telematics, autonomous vehicles and connected cars – means fleets are now sitting on a larger amount of information than ever before.”
With fleet operations under continuing pressure to keep costs down and reduce workloads and reduce deadlines to a minimum, Ken says many organisations are increasingly recognising the potential of leveraging existing or potentially-available, disparate data more ‘smartly’ to help streamline processes, improve efficiency and reduce expenditure.
The key to efficiently utilising ‘big data’ to support positive operational changes, according to Chevin, is determining what data is most useful and then bringing it together for reporting and analysis.
“We’re increasingly seeing fleet managers becoming more interested in whether their existing or potentially-available, disparate data could be easily aggregated and consolidated across the organisation. Furthermore, if this is possible then to what end could this data be used? Simply asking the question, ‘how could we enhance our fleet operations by bringing existing internal or external information together using fleet management software?’ can be a powerful enabler,” observes Ashley Sowerby, Chevin Managing Director.
Meanwhile, with an increasing variety of data being generated externally by telematics systems, fuel cards, maintenance service providers, parts suppliers and fleet management companies as well as tax, title and registration and driver management solutions, Ashley believes ease of integration will also prove to be a key trend of 2017.
“With so much information potentially available – often coupled with stringent deadlines, administration or cost constraints – the process of integrating information from third-party applications and service providers into fleet management software should never be difficult or time-consuming,” explains Ashley.
Chevin’s enterprise fleet management software, FleetWave, is capable of being integrated with an unlimited number external systems or data providers and the company will continue to expand these facilities in more efficient and scalable ways.
Additional in the company’s predictions for 2017 is an increased use of mobile devices to help with management of operations and maintenance within fleets – as smart phones and tablets, according to Chevin, can be effectively used as employee management tools if they are intelligently linked to a fleet management system.
Mobile devices can be used to help manage almost any kind of operational activity, from providing load, pick-up and delivery details and route information to drivers, or collecting inspection, maintenance or audit information from drivers, workshops, job sites and more.
Ashley concludes “A fundamental capability of our software is to provide a robust solution that functions as a centralised repository of fleet-related data. With FleetWave’s continuous development in the coming year and beyond, our objective is to continue to help our clients harness a wide range of data and allow them to more effectively manage their fleets through information rather than instinct.”
