If you have a fleet that makes service calls or deliveries, you really need to know where they are and what they are doing at any moment. The current data collection options make such goals fairly simple to achieve, with GPS, Internet of Things devices, and a central hub to organize the information.
The problem is that too many startups don’t utilize this technology over worries that it’s too expensive or complicated to integrate. When customers expect to know as much as you do, investing in fleet visibility makes an effective investment. Here’s how.
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Impact of Poor Fleet Visibility on Customer Experience
Think about what happens when you lack fleet visibility, even for a local business that operates only within the nearby communities. When a customer asks for an update about timing, you can only make an educated guess. If your driver is taking an unusually long time to get to a destination, you’ll have no idea what caused the delay. You can’t tell if your fleet drivers are using efficient means to move from one place to another. You can’t get critical data about the performance and condition of fleet vehicles, leading to a higher rate of equipment failures and missed appointments.
Advantages of Increasing Fleet Visibility
Assess the Fleet Environment
Fleet startup owners need to know what is going on with each vehicle – its location, time to destination, and optimal route for safety and fuel efficiency. Through GPS tracking and real-time data processing, you can get updated information about traffic and other conditions. For cold chain logistics companies, ensuring that the equipment continues to perform through transit and delivery is a critical component of the safety and viability of the cargo.
Enable Faster Response
Say your driver hits unexpected traffic, or you get a new task that requires redirecting a driver. If you have the right system, you’ll be able to pivot with ease. Response times are a key element of customer experience, particularly because they expect to have the delivery or service within the designated time. Greater fleet visibility means that you know where the vehicle is and can customize the route to get the driver there more quickly. If your driver faces problems along the way, you have the information you need to change course or direct another driver to provide the service.
Ensure Fleet Safety
Fleet safety isn’t just a matter of business or human relations. Your customer experience also depends on the safety of the drivers. You may have laws you must follow for fleet driver speeds and other behaviors. Visibility allows you to monitor driver behaviors and identify problems before they turn into an accident or a late delivery. When you know how your drivers are performing, you can tailor training to help them provide better service when they arrive at a customer’s location.
Make Operational Improvements
Improved fleet visibility can contribute to operational improvements throughout the organization. When you create an optimal route for your driver to follow, they spend less time in traffic and may use less fuel to get there. These benefits allow the fleet to complete more services or deliveries in the same amount of time, which can streamline your fleet or lower the minimum threshold of active vehicles you need. It can even cut your operating costs, which helps everyone’s bottom lines.
Provide Accurate ETAs
Real-time data is a boon for customer service, especially if your CS rep is spending too much fielding calls about drivers’ locations. With real-time fleet visibility, you know the location of every vehicle and the estimated time to destination. Automated texts to alert customers of a pending delivery reduces the time you spend answering questions, leaving you free to provide more frequent and better service.
Fleet visibility can improve your startup as well as your customer experience. By leveraging real-time data processing, GPS, and sensors, you increase driver safety and help your customers get faster service.
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