How Can Fleet Management Software Help You Budget Your Fleets

A business’ expenditure capacity is the backbone of its operations. It dictates both their qualitative and quantitative decisions. It is predicted that in the coming years, managing a fleet will be way more expensive than today.

Thus, companies involved in the fleet industry also have to adhere to strict budgeting to keep making profits. This is why the number of businesses investing in fleet management systems is increasing rapidly.

Through this blog, we will see how a good vehicle tracking system can control and help you form a budget for your fleet. The software also allows owners to save money and make fleets more profitable. Let us look at the reasons why budgeting should be a priority for your fleet.

Why Budget Your Fleet?

Budgeting fleets sounds tough, right? It surely is. So why restrict your fleet in ways that might alter operations? 

The answer is very simple; without a proper expenditure limit, a fleet will never be able to judge wasteful costs from the necessary ones. Losses are inevitable without this knowledge.

Budgeting also helps give your fleet direction. During the deciding stage itself, managers and owners are able to ensure that their money is invested only in the resources necessary. This helps distinguish necessary expenditures from budget guzzlers. With this knowledge, fleets can decide on what industry they want to target for providing their service.

Let us look at a detailed description of what fleet businesses should do to create a practical budget structure that is neither restrictive nor compromises operational quality.

What Steps Should You Follow For Budget Development?

The budgeting process involves several steps that owners and managers have to execute collectively. These steps include:

• Set a Goal: The first step in forming a budget is to decide in what direction your fleet is headed. If your business’ short-term focus is improving service quality to build clientele, the budget should target getting better quality resources. But if this goal is focussing on profits, then the budget should target fleet optimisation to reduce expenditure.

• Understand Fleet Operations: Now that you know where you see your fleet in the future, it’s time to see how your fleet is doing in the present. Collecting data is important to segregate how much expenditure is spent on vehicles and what portion goes to drivers.

• Study Pre-existing Data: It is important for managers to study the previous patterns of their fleet. This will help them see the aspects of their fleet that require changes to perform better and what parts are performing well.

• Analyse Market Trends: What is the use of optimisation if you end up with an old-fashioned fleet? This is why it is important for managers to understand how the industry is transforming. Only then will your fleet be able to compete. Thus, some of the budget should be allocated to integrating new technology into the fleet.

• Implement Changes: The final step is of course to act on information collected now. For example, it has been discovered that one of the major contributors to fleet expenses is fuel costs. Managers will then have to train their drivers so that they can implement fuel-saving practices on the roads.

How Fleet Management Software Fulfils Budgeting Goals?

A fleet management software is the best investment a business can make. Not only does it help you optimise your fleet, but its features also aid you with functional cost cutting. Some of the features that clients use in this process are:

Records and Reports

In the previous section, we saw how fleet budgeting is impossible without studying ongoing fleet expenditures. This is why a fleet management solution helps managers by collecting information on their operations. The system not just saves these reports, but also has fleet history for every task performed by a fleet.

Through this simplified and organised information, managers can understand the business’s operational patterns and unveil things that seem to be lacking. For example, after observing a vehicle making weekly trips through the same route, it is deduced that this route tends to have a lot of traffic. Thus, this wastes drivers’ time and reduces productivity, requiring managers to devise new routes for this trip. Managers have the power to optimise their fleets through data analysis.

Dynamic Solutions

Fleet management software offers several features to its users for holistic fleet optimisation. These solutions not only help fleet managers keep their drivers under surveillance, but also keep them safe on roads. They are further divided into different features, each serving a unique purpose:

• • Route Planning: Vehicles cannot run on undecided paths all the time as this carelessness can cause loss to businesses. Instead, route planning solution allows managers to create trips for all assignments drivers need to complete. Therefore, any chances of time and fuel wastage through deviation are eliminated.

• • Driver Behaviour Monitoring: Drivers are the fleet’s backbone and it is important for fleets to ensure that they adopt ethical driving practices. This is why this solution ensures drivers practise ethical driving methods. It reduces accidents of fleet vehicles by 42%. Thus, not only maintaining fleet safety but also reducing pressure on vehicle engines.

• • Fuel Monitoring: This solution helps fleets conserve fuel by managing their tank filling and vehicle average. It also helps managers eliminate any fuel pilferage that might cause the fleet to lose money. Fleets can save almost 14% of their fuel costs with the proper use of vehicle tracking software

• • Video Telematics: Video Telematics not only helps fleets reduce distracted driving instances, but also prevents them from outward threats. This reduces road accidents the cars might get into, thus reducing vehicle damage and breakdowns. Using this technology also means that in case of accidents, businesses can claim insurance money easily.

• • Asset Tracking: Fleets in charge of consignment need to ensure not just their vehicles’ safety, but also the goods they are carrying. This is why asset tracking is used to prevent asset misplacements on the journey, something that can get expensive.

Servicing and Maintenance 

Keeping vehicles in pristine condition is every fleet’s top priority. On average, vehicle maintenance costs can range anywhere between 30-50% of total expenditures. 

Fleet management software’s servicing and maintenance feature helps managers track all the due check-ups for their vehicles. It allows managers to create reminders for any servicing their vehicles might require. The software also reminds managers about these procedures a couple of days before they are due.

Vehicle Safety 

Features like parking mode ensure that stationary vehicles out of the driver’s line of sight stay safe. If the GPS tracking software detects any movement during this time, it alerts managers promptly to take quick action. Similarly, there is also an alarm for vehicle battery disconnection so that they don’t get stolen.

Summing Up

Having a fleet management system integrated with fleets can be very advantageous for businesses. This is evident when we see how it aids the budgeting process alongside optimisation. With proper budgets for companies, it becomes very easy to set a vision and then work towards it, helping with positive growth.

If you want to experience this transformation for yourself but don’t know where to begin, contact TrackoBit. It is the leading fleet management software in the market and can take your fleet to new heights. Request a demo today!