Smart fleet solutions: driving profitability and efficiency across your business
Fleet operators are fighting to stay competitive, control costs and meet growing customer expectations for on-time delivery of products or services. From excessive idling and unsafe driving behaviours to delays due to breakdowns or traffic, there are many factors that can increase costs, create inefficiencies and tarnish the customer experience.
Smart fleet management solutions can help you overcome challenges like these using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors that can draw real-time insights from fleet vehicles. Combined with features like automated route planning, a connected fleet lets you maximize operational efficiency, prevent vehicle breakdowns, enhance driver safety, maintain compliance and more.
How fleets benefit from smart solutions
The right smart fleet management solution can help your business achieve:
1. Greater operational efficiency
GPS tracking technology can provide real-time visibility into vehicles across your fleet. A smart fleet solution can use this information to ensure vehicles remain on optimal routes, responding to dynamic conditions as required. For instance, if a fender-bender or stalled vehicle slows traffic, the system can recommend an alternate route, so the vehicle doesn’t waste time and fuel idling.
With automated scheduling and dispatching, smart fleet solutions can maximize fleet utilization, minimize total kilometres driven and help ensure deliveries reach customers on time. These features cut down the time spent manually planning out the best routes while lowering the chance of errors.
2. Improved fleet security
Sensors installed in vehicles can monitor the condition of electrical systems, engine cooling systems, tires and other components in real time. Integrated with a smart fleet management platform, these sensors can detect and notify you if a vehicle’s wheels are misaligned or tire pressures are low. They also use predictive analytics to detect faults that could lead to a failure at inopportune times. This helps avoid accidents caused by malfunctions, as well as breakdowns that could leave drivers stranded and vulnerable to theft or harm.
Additionally, automatic and instant alerts notify you of theft or unauthorized use if a vehicle leaves a designated area, enabling a fast response.
3. Lower costs
Predictive maintenance can drive significant savings by minimizing repair costs. With the ability to detect potential problems in real time, you can address small issues before they turn into bigger and costlier ones. At the same time, keeping fleet vehicles in top shape through proactive maintenance will extend their lifespans, giving you a higher return on your investments.
Additionally, reducing unnecessary idle time across your fleet through optimized routing can lead to big savings on fuel costs. Driving behaviours such as speeding, rapid acceleration, hard braking and tailgating can also lower fuel efficiency. Smart fleet solutions can detect actions like these, helping you identify coaching opportunities to improve a driver’s fuel efficiency and on-road safety. Telematics that track fuel usage can help you identify trends and determine if your strategies for improving fuel efficiency are effective.
4. Enhanced sustainability and compliance
The same features that reduce fuel usage also support more eco-friendly driving. Minimizing the number of kilometres driven through optimal routing reduces your fleet’s overall carbon footprint. Curbing driving behaviours like excessive speeding that increase fuel usage will also help lower CO2 emissions.
Smart fleet solutions also support compliance with industry regulations and safety standards. For example, some systems collect data from electronic logging devices that record hours of service, time, speed and other metrics, then generate on-demand reports. This saves time for both fleet managers and drivers while improving safety and avoiding penalties for noncompliance.
5. Better customer experience
Customers like to know when they can expect their shipments and where they are on the journey. If there’s an unexpected delay, customers want immediate notification in case alternative arrangements are required. Smart fleet management systems can enable this level of insight into a shipment’s status and provide real-time updates to customers, improving their satisfaction with your service.
Smart fleet solutions in action: Musket Transport
Fleet operators are already using smart fleet solutions to reap the benefits this article describes. That includes Musket Transport, the largest intermodal carrier in Ontario. Bell’s professional services team equipped Musket Transport’s fleet with an upgraded GPS tracking solution that makes it possible to precisely track vehicles during long-haul trips outside the province. This has helped the company optimize fuel usage by reducing empty miles. While the average empty mile percentage for trucking companies sits in the 6 to 8 percent range, Musket Transport has achieved its goal of 3 to 5 percent with the help of Bell’s fleet management solution.
Helping fleet operators pull ahead
Improving competitiveness with a smart fleet solution is vital to long-term success in today's market. As fleet management technologies evolve, new capabilities will put even more power in the hands of fleet operators. Now is the time to adopt those technologies.
Bell can help, bringing more than two decades of IoT experience to plan and implement the best smart solution for your fleet, enabled by partnerships with market-leading solution providers. Plus, when you choose Bell, you get the benefits of Canada’s best national network – helping you get ahead and stay ahead.
See bell.ca/fleetmanagement for more details.