Fleet management software benefits for the entire public works organization

Municipal governments are highly invested in their public works fleets. Because of their massive size, high cost and necessary function in public service, these fleets are under intense scrutiny.

Public works must prove to civic leaders and citizens that they are meeting the public’s needs while working under tight budgets, making the most of their scant resources and enabling fleets to operate efficiently.

Government fleet management software can aid the entire public works organization in this mission, making it easy to track vehicles, streamline operations, share key information with the public, improve driver training and support the lifespan of your vehicles with predictive maintenance. Here are how the benefits of investing in fleet technology extend beyond fleet management to touch human resources, finance and the public.

Benefits to HR

While aiming for fleet efficiency is important to many public works departments and is a cornerstone of fleet technology, employee and public safety is paramount. Human resources departments are invested in prioritizing driver safety. 

Transforming driver safety with real-time driver coaching and scorecards

Fleet management software supports driver safety and public safety with visibility into driver behavior and data that informs more effective driver training. Research shows that for feedback to impact behavior, it must be individualized, customized and delivered in a timely manner.¹ With fleet technology, supervisors can deliver driver coaching quickly and glean data about individual driver behavior.

• Help correct unsafe driver behaviors such as aggressive driving, harsh braking and quick starts with audible, in-cab alerts. This near-real time driver coaching increases the effectiveness of your training and mitigates the potential for accidents and costly fines.
• Help drivers stay within the speed limits by monitoring driver speeds fleetwide or individually and set thresholds for limits based on road type or known hazardous areas.
• Motivate drivers to improve their safety record with individualized driver safety profiles and trends data that highlights common risky driving behaviors.
• Set up early warning systems to prevent accidents and receive alerts if a breakdown occurs.

Benefits to Finance

While citizens rely on public works to conduct their daily lives, they also expect the department to do so while spending a limited budget as efficiently as possible. Staying within or even under budget is essential for any public works department, so vehicle wrecks, breakdowns and bloated fuel consumption mark big blows to your budget.

Mitigate incidents, harsh driving behavior, vehicle downtime and fuel consumption to save money

By staying ahead of the maintenance curve and monitoring for safe driving, government fleet management officials can stay on track financially and discover cost savings that provide a real ROI for their fleet management software. Planning for downtime, finding more efficient routes and improving vehicle utilization will all help bring down fleet costs.

• Help curtail driver behaviors that put extra wear and tear on vehicles like harsh braking, quick starts and speeding. This can also help avoid accidents and costly fines.
• Monitor vehicle maintenance and plan for downtown using predictive maintenance software. Fleet managers can receive alerts when maintenance is due, keep impeccable maintenance records and glean insight into vehicle diagnostics.
• Spot inefficient routes and unnecessary stops to improve scheduling efficiency. Get up-to-the-minute weather and GIS data for better planning.
• Help decrease fuel consumption by reducing factors that affect usage and costs, such as idling and speeding.
• Gain fuller vehicle utilization with dashboards that show vehicle status and availability and track utility over time so you can identify underused vehicles. 
• Counter false reports of damage by public works vehicles through fact-based vehicle activity reporting and video telematics.

Discover 7 ways government fleets can use GPS fleet tracking to prioritize and achieve their goals.

Benefits to the public

Public works conducts some of the most visible activities within a municipal government. People notice when road work changes their routes, snow plows are late in clearing their streets or public utilities are broken. With the public eye always on them, government fleet management officials must find ways to boost efficiency and prove their value to the public.

Use data to improve efficiency, accountability and address carbon footprint

Fleet technology can not only help fleets operate efficiently, it can also help create shareable data that opens up visibility into fleet operations to the public

• Improve response times with greater vehicle visibility. Know where vehicles are at all times and send the closest vehicle. Gain more accurate ETAs, proof of presence and see the status of hour-by-hour operations.
• Create maps the public can access with real-time visibility into where vehicles are and have been, like snow plows. Thus, increasing departmental transparency and decreasing the volume of phone calls public works must handle.
• Help improve your fleet’s credibility with the public by monitoring aggressive or dangerous vehicle operations. 
• Deploy utilization data to the public to demonstrate responsible use of public dollars.
• Monitoring vehicle usage data such as idling, speeding, fuel consumption and unauthorized use allows fleets to reduce their carbon footprint.

Government fleets already utilizing fleet technology are reporting the benefits. They say productivity is the top benefit: 55% of all fleets report achieving it over the past year.² 

Fleet management software also helps reduce costs: Government fleets experienced a 7% cost reduction in fuel, 10% reduction in accidents and average savings in labor costs of 7%.²

The benefits of a telematics solution to the public works organization, civic leaders and citizens are apparent. See how a telematics solution from Verizon Connect can help support your public fleet. 

¹ Feedback as a Strategy to Change Behavior: The Devil Is in the Details, National Library of Medicine

² 2024 Fleet Technology Trends Report