It is no longer a hidden fact that the shipping industry has to encounter many roadblocks. Most of these challenges usually appear during long-distance shipping, loading and unloading, moving up the fleet, and the last-mile delivery system. As a result, the business falls and often has to compromise its revenues and profit margins. If the management is not up to the mark and the business is associated with customers directly, they will be answerable for their customer’s safety, experience, and demands.
Most businesses running a fleet must implement strategies that can help them control their fleet movement, consistently keep an eye on it, and avoid situations like heavy traffic or roadblocks, etc. Although different business strategies are there to improve a fleet business’s overall efficiency and productivity, it is only with the help of technology that one can gain excellence in the overall process. Fleet management software is not just another piece of website or application to be integrated with your entire system. Instead, it will house different features and modules that will help you control the fleet movement, track them, route map according to the source and destination points, and so on.
Keeping this in mind, we have shared certain details about the most important features that fleet tracking or management software should have.
A GPS-Integrated Map
Within the software module is one of the most common and important features that the fleet tracking system should have. It can be a separate module or the single one where you can check the terrain and details and monitor the real-time fleet movement simultaneously.
You must get this specific feature in the software because you need to map the routes, plan the directions according to the traffic behavior, and optimize the routes on the o if somehow the fleet is stuck and cannot move ahead due to accidents, traffic, heavy rain, and so on. The GPS-integrated app will help you track down the vehicles, communicate with your drivers, and even optimize the route plans to ensure the deliveries are made on time without damaging the shipment or the passengers.
Real-Time Route Planner
Another important feature that the fleet management software should have is a separate planner module where you can plan and optimize the routes based on real-time facts. It should be integrated with the GPS so that you can have the perfect and the most accurate view of the terrain and the features.
You should be able to pull up the traffic data from the past days to understand if the route chosen will be better for the last-mile delivery or long-distance shipment between two warehouses or not. based on the details, you can optimize the routes and ensure the fleet can move freely without being stuck in traffic for hours or unable to move ahead due to floods, huge accidents, etc.
Integration with Mobile
Several fleet management solutions, like Trace & Track, comes with an integration feature with the mobile for hassle-free use. You can access all fleet and delivery route details from your mobile and any location over the cloud. In addition, it comes with multiple features, from bar code scanner to digital signature and photo capture module.
The application will further help you to prepare and modify the delivery roaster and assign the tasks to each driver in the easiest possible way. Once the roaster is formed, you can share the same with drivers for better performance. It will further help in assessing the overall needed to reach the delivery point along a specific route. Based on this feature, you can optimize the route from your phone on the go.
services related to it.
Push Notifications
Another important feature that you need to have in fleet management solutions is push notifications. To enhance user experience, the software should send push notifications to the registered mobile number of email ID of the customers. This will help you to give a seamless experience to your customers and make them aware about delivery status, especially for the last-mile delivery.
Admin Dashboard
You should also check if the vehicle management system comes with an admin dashboard or not. It needs to be connected to all other portals and offer easy navigation. Plus, the dashboard will serve as the main header with extensions or dropdowns where different portal options, contact information, and other such windows will be present.
This way, you won’t have to scroll down the entire page to find the portal you need to work on. Suppose the admin dashboard is not optimized appropriately. In that case, you will face a lot of trouble navigating between different pages of the software, let alone handling the work easily, especially when its on the go.
Continuous Monitoring Window
Last, the vehicle management system should have a separate window for continuous monitoring of fleet movement. The map should be connected to the GPS, showing all the route details. Besides, you should be able to compare the current conditions with the routes you have mapped to understand if you are going in the right direction or if the routes need to be optimized.
Conclusion
In this article, you now know the most important features you need to include in fleet management software and their importance. Ensure all the features are there because the software will be the core of your business and if it lacks any single feature, you won’t be able to take the experience to the next level and manage the fleet movement properly. This will impact your revenues, business reputation, and customer base. Therefore, planning and appropriate development is a must for fleet management. Trace & Track offers outstanding solutions for fleet management, ensuring businesses can delivery outstanding performance consistently without any further hassle.