Today, due to the pressures of the pandemic, more and more customers are relying on delivery of goods rather than self-collection. This fact is forcing most companies to find new ways to optimize their fleet management processes in order to stay competitive and meet customer demands.

For many entrepreneurs, the development of fleet management software development is an ideal opportunity to automate their daily multi-part work processes and to provide logistics managers, drivers and customers with easy-to-use software that offers modern solutions for every country.

To prove it, the fleet management software market has reached $16.9 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $19.6 billion by the end of 2021, according to a Fortune Business Insights report.

Moreover, experts predict the market will grow to $59 billion in 2028, with a CAGR of 17% in 2021-2028.

These statistics show that many companies are already investing and planning to invest more money to optimize and automate their operations with powerful fleet management software.

For this reason, we have decided to shed light on this topic and discuss the following aspects:

What is fleet management software?

Simply put, Fleet Management Software (FMS) is a cloud-centric technology solution that enables enterprises to monitor and manage all vehicles, drivers and technicians using multi-component applications.

Below is a list of the most important parameters that you can follow in real time:

Current vehicle location and route direction with GPS tracking
Current speed, temperature, fuel rate and consumption, door opening
Driver operating time (HOC) and trip
Refrigerator and trailer control
Many others.

In general, each functional module can contain dozens of functions that provide comprehensive data for managers in a given process.

How does fleet management software work?

This may sound simple, but the reality is that implementing a fleet management system is a huge and long-term process from real-time data requests via satellite GPS to end-user interface control panels with lots of information stored in a centralized online system.

First of all, it all starts with developing fleet management software that contains the fields, functionality and scalability needed to meet your specific business model and challenges.

Second, you need a strong and secure cloud server to receive and process the real-time data you receive from vehicles and send it to the final dashboard for managers.

Third, one of the most important components is the electronic recording device, which must be connected to the OBDII port of each vehicle in order to share real-time data over the network.

It should be noted that here you can select a cellular or satellite network to bring the data needed for truck fleet management to the dashboard.

Ultimately, GPS tracking is made possible by requesting and receiving data from satellites orbiting the earth, gathering a wealth of information, including your fleet management processes, and sending it via satellite directly to the dashboard.

Which are the Must-have Features for Fleet management software?
Let's now discuss what logistics software features will be essential in 2021 to meet most of your business needs and address emerging challenges.

#1 GPS vehicle tracking

One of the main goals in implementing and using a fleet management system is to manage trucks and vehicles in real time to get accurate data about truck location, current speed, fuel consumption, travel time, etc.

All of this is possible by connecting an electronic GPS tracking device to your fleet management software and syncing them to work together.

For this reason, the GPS vehicle tracking function is the cornerstone of an efficient and targeted fleet management system.

These features enable your company to lower operating costs, increase productivity, use fuel efficiently, increase security, and reduce theft rates.

#2 fuel management

Fuel consumption costs are one of the most important cost models for any business that offers delivery services. This means that automated fuel management software is a must for any logistics management software in 2021.

It allows you to automatically check the fuel levels of all trucks in the fleet, the average refueling and emptying frequency, and control fuel costs in general.

This gives you automatic real-time visibility of possible leaks and thefts to avoid negative risks that directly impact profits and customer satisfaction.

Fleet fuel management software allows you to set an alarm to display an alert whenever you drain. In addition, the case can automatically trigger a series of notifications that continuously show the fuel level in the tank, the average fuel consumption per time and per vehicle.

#3 Monitoring driver behavior

Truck drivers play an important role in the entire delivery process by moving goods from A to B. Therefore, monitoring driver behavior is now a mandatory function of online accident management software.

First, this feature allows you to track drivers and minimize fleet collision rates to significantly reduce operating costs.

According to the Automotive Fleet Report, the US merchant fleet average annual collision rate in 2018 was 20% Repair and Maintenance.

Additionally, the report states that the average road accident damage is $70,000 per truck, making it one of the most cost-effective models for your business.

Second, fleet incident management software allows you to automatically view real-time metrics and generate comprehensive reports based on in-depth analysis of driver behavior.

Reports can even include heart rate, fast acceleration, fast braking, sharp turns, and other driving metrics that help analyze the quality of their work and make recommendations on how to improve the overall fleet process.

4 trip registration function and mileage calculation

It is common knowledge that every fleet and delivery company is based on advanced logistics algorithms. Therefore, fleet management software is the ideal choice for monitoring, managing and improving your operations.

Firstly, the logbook feature is essential for your fleet business as it automatically tracks and collects many travel parameters by compiling them with electronic vehicle locations.

So, the best fleet management software lets you avoid working with diaries and spreadsheets by automating this process with trip logs that collect real-time data.

This can reduce labor costs and save fleet managers a lot of time to focus on more important tasks such as business growth and customer development.

#5 Automatic car maintenance on time

According to the 2018 Automotive Fleet report, fleet maintenance costs rose to 18% in 2018 due to high labor costs and spare parts prices.

This fact shows that fleet management software with automated alert tools and vehicle maintenance reports is essential and must-have for your business today.

In order to keep your vehicle maintenance and repair costs low, you must carefully monitor and analyze the condition of your vehicle fleet according to the distance traveled and the type of vehicle.