Article provided by Netstar
In light of the recent drastic and far-reaching changes we’re experiencing in 2020, it comes as no surprise that SMEs are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn. Taking this into account, Netstar wants to offer you some best practice tips to keep in mind for your SME fleet management needs.
1. Understand your business needs
As an SME owner deciding on a fleet management system, it’s always a good idea to first get a firm understanding of the priorities of your business, and your own client service needs.
Take some time to analyse what your requirements are around areas such as driver communication, safety and behaviour, as well as asset, time, risk, and fuel management.
Then compare your needs to your available budget; which will give you a clear understanding of where to start, as well as provide the opportunity to plan for sustainable future scaling.
2. Switch from manual to automated
Once you have a clear grasp of your business needs and how you can meet them, your next objective should be transitioning from manual to automated processes.
Manual ways of working can often lead to errors, which could be costly to rectify. By implementing automated processes like Netstar’s Automated Dispatch Scheduling and Route Optimisation System, Automated Reports and Violation Reports (amongst others), you will receive timely information based on facts, which ultimately will help you with responsive decision-making.
In short, automated services will improve productivity by freeing up your time to focus on more important or more urgent aspects of your business.
3. Predictive maintenance
As an SME owner you will know that the breakdown of just one of your vehicles could have a huge impact on profitability and revenue, which could have a ripple effect throughout the business.
That’s why our third best practice is to focus on predictive maintenance services. These services will allow you to foresee events that could potentially do damage to your fleet vehicles before the events actually take place.
This means you will be able to avoid unnecessary downtime due to unforeseen (and often, unbudgeted) breakdowns. Through predictive maintenance, you can enjoy benefits such as operating safer fleets, enjoying maintained and even increased productivity, extending asset lifespan, and reducing maintenance costs, to name just a few.
4. Data analysis and action plans
Now that you have better cognisance of automated fleet management and predictive maintenance, the fourth best practice is understanding the data your vehicle is transmitting in actionable terms.
In the world of big data, just having access to data is meaningless unless it can be analysed to give you actionable and sustainable insights that will ultimately grow your business.
Through services like our Vehicle Telematics you can collect information such as Map Views for Depot, Supplier, and Customer Base, Vehicle to Location Radius Search, Points of Interest and GEO Zones, Driver Behaviour, Fuel Management, and so much more.
These services are all designed to provide you with information that gives you control over your business and helps ensure the safety of your fleet and employees.
5. Speed of implementation and scalability
Finally, it’s time to optimise the one resource we can never have enough of: Time.
Time is of the essence when running any business, and its effective use is the foundation for growth.
What that means in terms of fleet management is that the implementation or integration of any fleet management technology should not disrupt or delay everyday production, service, or fleet capabilities. To that end, Netstar has developed wireless solutions designed specifically to optimise installations, making them less intrusive, and easier to scale up.
We’re always here to help
If you have any questions about setting up an optimal fleet solution for your business, feel free to contact Netstar for a result that will not just fit your budget, but ensure that you can stay agile in what is thus far a very turbulent 2020.
Click here to contact Netstar