What would you do if you had extra time during the workday? Taking care of the day-to-day tasks are critical to a fleet operation and we know that they often eat up a good portion of the day. But it’s the new ideas and new policies that help keep a fleet competitive and productive with their peers. You need time to make them happen.
The fact is, there’s only so much time in the workday and you’re probably already overloaded with responsibilities. With a large workload, it can sometimes like going beyond isn’t possible.
But there is a way to make it possible. Here are a few ways that implementing a high-end fleet management software system can help save you a ton of time and allow you to get more done with less.
1. Save time on communication.
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An overwhelmed equipment manager
This is HUGE. If you don’t have some type of email automation, or at least an easy way to notify your staff about upcoming fleet maintenance schedules, warranties about to expire, registrations, or expiring certifications, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to make your life easier. Fleet management software like Collective Data’s will improve productivity, and simplify processes so other issues that have been neglected can be taken care of.
Think about how long it takes to write up an email or make a phone call to let an employee know about an upcoming PM service. It probably doesn’t take too long, but add up all those little minutes you spent drafting up the emails and sending them over the course of a month. If you had a way to automatically email the appropriate parties when something is due, you could possibly free up anywhere from a couple hours to days by automating communication. So what would you do with that extra time?
Perhaps you didn’t have the time to look into vendor pricing in much detail over the years but it’s “been on the list”. With the extra time, you could analyze and compare services or parts in more detail between your vendors. Maybe one vendor is costing you more than another would for the same service. If you could save the company a few thousand bucks it’s always a good thing…and not bad for the resume either.
How about working a little less overtime? I’m sure most wouldn’t argue with that.
2. Save time searching for vehicle and equipment historical records.
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A technician searches for recent repair notes.
How do you and your staff currently look up repair history on equipment? Spreadsheets? Stacks of work orders in a filing cabinet or 3-ring binders?
Fleet management software gives you instant access to everything from repair history to depreciation data for all of your equipment. And when a fleet size starts getting into the hundreds and thousands, it’s hard to imagine how one could manage well without it. Digging through files or updating a massive spreadsheet is just too time consuming and not productive.
The large portion of the time saved with software is in what can be done with this historical data once it’s in the system. No longer scrambling for data or guessing, you’ll be able find information fast and at a level not imagined with paper or spreadsheet methods. Here are a couple examples:
- Quickly compare a troublesome vehicle’s repair history to other similar types. From there, you could investigate if it’s due to faulty parts, driving behavior, missed preventative maintenance, or other causes.
- Effortlessly view total costs by equipment over the course of any period, easily grouped by vehicle type, department, location, etc.
- Group and sort information in virtually any way. A few clicks turns a simple equipment costs report into an expense summary by department, sorted by the expected retire date of the vehicles.
3. Configure the software to get things done even quicker.
If you’ve already implemented fleet management software, you’ve probably run across different ways you wish the software would work. Maybe you want to add more functionality so you can do even more. You can save a lot of time if you can adapt the system to work how you do.
A fleet management system like Collective Data’s is flexible and configurable. A few examples of how it can help in different situations:
- Hide or remove certain fields from a screen depending on the user or user group to avoid extra data entry.
- Spec out an exact report you need for upper management with a Collective Data staff member. Have them build it for you. Run the new report as needed. Done!
- Set up your “favorite” reports so you don’t have to sift through the expansive collection of fleet reports for quick access.
Conclusion
These are just a few ways that fleet managers and administrators can save time and make their job easier through a good fleet software system. What tasks do you wish you could automate or make easier? Chances are, a productivity improving system like Collective Data’s can help you out.