Staying productive in the new normal

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a vast number of the world’s population was reported to be living under lockdown restrictions.

In the months since, as case rates decline, more and more businesses are returning to work. For some, this will mean quickly having to ramp up services to meet demand. Others will be tasked with doing more with less.

Whatever the return to work looks like for your business, GPS fleet tracking can help you adjust.

A comprehensive solution in place can help you quickly scale up to serve more customers, keep your vehicles out on the road for longer and make every minute of the working day count.

Improve speed to information

Whether you’re struggling to meet demand, having to streamline operations, or working with limited resources, access to information is key. The faster your staff can access the data needed to do their jobs, the more agile and efficient your organisation.

Fleet management technology offers many features aimed at putting information at your fingertips, as soon as possible. From live map data and near real-time alerts to automatic scheduled reports landing directly in your inbox, a GPS solution allows you to make fast, informed decisions – helping to keep your business moving.

Keep all hands to the pump

Digitising critical processes, such as job completion, can help to speed up site visits and improve efficiency. Using fleet data collected on site arrival/departure time and time spent on site to automate timesheets, billing and payroll also gives your staff more time to focus on the job at hand. 

Finally, improving maintenance scheduling can help to keep your vehicles on the road for longer. Set your service schedule based on time, engine hours, or mileage to provide your authorised repairer with advanced notice for a faster turnaround and less downtime.

Serve more customers

The simplest way to improve productivity and profitability is to serve more customers without increasing staff or equipment levels. GPS fleet management technology can help you achieve this aim.

A comprehensive solution can plan the day’s route considering vital information on road conditions, and customer and vehicle information. As well as potentially helping to reduce mileage, this approach may also allow you to add extra stops into the working day.

Should an additional job arise when your drivers are out on the road, simply locate and reroute the nearest driver in just a few clicks.

Make better plans

Prior planning prevents poor performance. This is never truer than in the world of logistics and fleet management.

A GPS fleet tracking solution allows you to provide your remote workforce with instant access to detailed work orders and job information, right from their mobile devices.

Allowing staff easy access to reference photos, customer notes and job histories can help to speed up and improve service, as well as helping to avoid mistakes.

Reduce waste

Cutting out waste is another great way to increase fleet productivity. Data collected on wasteful behaviours such as speeding, harsh driving, idling and more, can be used to flag areas of inefficiency. You can then use this data to help coach drivers into more efficient driving styles.

Simple, proactive reporting can also help to spot and reduce inefficiencies. The Lost Fuel Report, for example, compares estimated MPG to actual MPG and offers suggested causes of any discrepancies – such as excessive speeding or idling.

Finally, the Fuel Card Report flags anomalies in fuel card and vehicle data, such as overfilling and use of the fuel card without an authorised vehicle present, to help combat fuel fraud.

Encourage competition, improve performance

Encouraging friendly competition across your workforce can be an effective way to improve performance and productivity.

Using vehicle data, you can create a score for each driver, based on a metric of your choosing – speeding, fuel economy, time spent at each stop and more. You can then use this scorecard to rank drivers based on performance.

Those at the top of the rankings can be rewarded, with those at the bottom incentivised to improve.

To see how a GPS fleet management solution can help your business stay productive in the coming months and beyond click here to schedule a 15-minute demo.