– By Jim McKinlay, General Manager APAC, Verizon Connect –
With a new financial year fast approaching, now is the time for business owners to reassess their yearly budget and work out ways to reduce spending and maximise profit. This is especially important for any business operating a fleet of vehicles – just a few small tweaks around fuel usage and driver behaviour could make a significant difference to the business’ bottom line. Business owners can’t physically shadow employees around the clock, so fortunately there’s vehicle tracking technology available to help ensure your workers are completing the job with time and cost efficiency in mind.
Reduce fuel-wasting driver behaviour
The cost of fuel is a significant expense for any business operating a fleet of vehicles. Reducing fuel-wasting driver behaviour is one way to help keep fuel costs down. Managing driver behaviour to promote safer and more efficient use of each vehicle can be challenging for fleet managers. Excessive idling can waste a significant amount of fuel and diminishes a driver’s productivity. Equipping fleet managers and drivers with the tools they need to be more efficient is key to overcoming fuel budget blowouts. With a Verizon Connect vehicle tracking solution, managers can gain greater fleet visibility through data. With near real-time insights, fleet managers can help prevent unauthorised vehicle use as it occurs, cut-down vehicle idling, and avoid bad driving practices that might reduce a fleet’s productivity.
Focus on route optimisation
Don’t waste dollars and time on unnecessary kilometres. Taking the most efficient route to the job can save time and money and help to reduce the carbon footprint of your business. Whether you’re managing a fleet of heavy vehicles or a small number of light commercial vehicles, route optimisation is the simplest way to achieve this. Verizon Connect’s vehicle tracking technology allows you to monitor and track the location of your drivers in near real-time. This will assist you in tracking the location of drivers and dispatching the closest one to the next job, as well as the option to review and suggest more efficient routes to reduce unnecessary time travel between job sites.
JLM Civil Works business owner, Shammi Mohan noted that before deploying Verizon Connect’s technology, his business had no visibility into driver location and were concerned about the efficiency of their fleet. “I got GPS tracking to make sure we were saving on time, by knowing where my trucks and cars. Now we have seen a reduction on our fuel bills”.
Minimise unauthorised vehicle use
It’s easy enough for an employee to run a few quick errands, or pick the kids up from school in the company car, saving their own fuel. This can quickly increase costs for your business from using fuel to adding unnecessary kilometres and wear and tear to the vehicle. Vehicle tracking technology provides near real-time insights to help fleet managers track if drivers are making unnecessary stops or detours that are off route from the job site. If a driver is in an accident while driving a company vehicle outside of work hours, fleet management software can help identify which driver was using the vehicle and who should incur the excess costs, keeping the fault away from company funds.
The live map feature was another benefit experienced by JLM Civil. “One driver said he was at a stop for 20 minutes, but after looking at the live map, we were able to determine that he was there for one hour and 20 minutes,” said Mohan.
Provide well-maintained vehicles
Expenses associated with fleet maintenance are unavoidable, however costs are better controlled with well-maintained vehicles. Verizon Connect’s vehicle tracking system uses data on time, engine use or mileage, to provide scheduling alerts. This helps you stay on top of preventative maintenance and reduce the risk of vehicle faults. On top of having a safe environment for drivers, the company is less likely to lose a day of productivity from multiple vehicles being off the road for routine servicing.
The end of the financial year is the perfect time for business owners to review fleet costs and reassess expenses for FY19. A sharpened focus on efficiency and productivity will not only help improve your bottom line, it’ll have knock on effects which canbenefit the wellbeing of your drivers.
