When Should You Hire Fleet Management Consulting Experts?
Many businesses depend on reliable transportation for delivering their products or services to customers. Late deliveries, unsafe practices, and broken equipment can be costly to businesses in terms of dollars, reputation, or both. If this resonates with you, it might be time to explore the benefits of hiring a fleet management expert.
The Many Facets of Fleet Management Experts
Why should you consider hiring fleet management experts? Your company’s fleet manager wears many hats, and if you are reading this blog, this is probably not news to you! Also, the field of fleet management is always expanding, and an expert in fleet management can help your fleet manager keep up with the latest guidelines, regulations, and technology. The number of moving parts under a fleet manager’s purview make it worthwhile to occasionally get input from a consulting fleet management expert such as Mercury Associates.
Fleet managers’ responsibilities include acquiring the vehicles or equipment needed to meet the current and future needs of their organizations. Fleet managers are also responsible for tracking and analyzing vehicle usage—where, how, and by whom their vehicles are being used—and making improvements that will save time and money and improve safety and efficiency. Increasingly, part of the fleet manager’s job includes adopting ways to decrease carbon emissions, such as incorporating electric vehicles into their fleets. Finally, and crucially, whether they oversee a dozen cars or a thousand vans, trucks, and semis, it is the fleet manager’s job to keep down the cost of operating their vehicles and equipment.
How Technology Helps Fleet Managers
Ever-improving technology in fleet management software and vehicle telematics (the systems that enable vehicles to send or receive information) has helped make managing fleets faster, easier, and more efficient.
Fleet management software, available on computer- or cloud-based platforms, offers the ability to conduct management tasks from your computer or smart devices. These products can help you monitor and analyze every aspect of your fleet to improve performance and keep an eye on costs.
Telematics play a critical part in fleet management. Telematic tools, which allow communication between vehicles and managers, are often compatible with fleet management software platforms and deliver a number of benefits, such as allowing you to provide in-car coaching for drivers and receive vehicle diagnostics. Telematics also allow you to automate Hours of Service (HOR) and Driver Inspection Vehicle Reporting (DIVR).
Together, telemetrics and high-quality software have the ability to gather and process vehicle data, provide a wide variety of analytics, generate reports, and help you track and improve your fleet’s performance.
Where do Fleet Management Consultants Fit In?
While technology is an important cornerstone of fleet management, it cannot replace the benefits of proven professional advice and tailored systems delivered by experts in the field.
Generally, any business with more than 15 vehicles can benefit from professional fleet consulting. Vehicle fleet management consultants are specialists who spend all of their time analyzing, developing, and implementing fleet management programs for individual businesses and organizations. These experts leverage data, technology, and experience to help you adopt best practices, thus saving money and minimizing vehicle and equipment downtime.
Understandably, businesses spend most of their time and resources on functions that generate income, including sales, customer service, and marketing. Fleet management is often not a high priority. Consultants in fleet management can take over tasks that are easily overlooked or put on the back burner.
Who Could Benefit from Fleet Management Consulting?
A wide range of businesses and organizations utilize fleet management consulting companies, from construction and landscape companies to the security, insurance, HVAC, oil and gas, foodservice, and healthcare industries, as well as municipalities, universities, and government agencies.
While you can outsource all of your fleet management functions, you can also, of course, contract fleet management consulting services “a la carte.” Vehicle acquisition and remarketing, fuel management, policy creation, asset optimization, fleet risk consulting, vehicle maintenance, safety programs, tolls and compliance services, and collision response are some of the areas in which consultants can assist.
Fleet management experts’ services can deliver efficiencies and savings while helping to keep your company’s assets on the road, improve customer satisfaction, and increase productivity. Whether you are looking for a simple assessment or complete fleet management, professional consultants can provide customized services.
Contact Mercury Associates to talk about tailored solutions for your fleet.
