How often do you take out your vehicle for regular maintenance and servicing? Or how often are you heedful to the engine temperature control? Or to the tire pressure? You probably don’t, until you start facing inconvenience due to any fall-over.
We tend to overlook these small details in the daily run. Although, these concerns may be trivial for those who own a single car or truck. But for the fleet operators with more than five vehicles, overlooking small details might incur losses.
With conventional fleet operational systems, it was not easy to watch and cushion the blow. The traditional solutions offer no real insights for the enterprises on all the vehicles of the fleet, ultimately resulting in an inconsiderate and crude performance of the whole fleet.
The fleet managers need something to equip them with newer capabilities to be updated and guided on the nose.
With the leverage of digital technologies, all these concerns are addressed smartly with an efficient IoT fleet management solution. IoT has embodied the idea of connected vehicles into its concrete form.
But what is IoT? and how is it helping the fleet operators to solve all their impediments?
WHAT IS IoT?
IoT is a network of internet-connected objects embedded with sensors, software, or other technologies accessed via the internet using applications. These things are interconnected over wireless network links (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.). IoT influences various industries like manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and many others. Fleet management has also started exploring IoT technology to improve the efficiency of the whole system.
How IoT Is Revolutionizing Fleet Management?
With the unraveling potential of IoT, fleet operators all over the world got elated with the yearning for their business to take up a notch. Any syndicate and enterprise with their hands-on commercial vehicles need fleet management.
IoT technology facilitates the revitalization of fleet management in a holistic sense. In this article, we will discuss and highlight the facts of how IoT technology can revolutionize and benefit the fleet business.
Automation
Automation helps to mold an insightful transportation system with increased safety and security of assets, vehicles, and drivers. Talking about road accidents, 90% of them pan out due to human and rash driving patterns. Automation in fleet management solutions can be a perfect ticket to mitigate the risks.
IoT enables fleet managers to automate fleet planning and other affairs. For example, Whenever a vehicle breaks down, the IoT system sends an auto-generated alert to the tow trucks and the nearest service stations so that they can reach help.
Drivers receive automatic warnings regarding weather and are provided better route recommendations in real-time.
Predictive Maintenance
Smart vehicles are known for their intelligent reporting abilities. Sensors-equipped vehicles can send automated alerts and signals whenever any part of the vehicle needs monitoring or maintenance due to any debacle. These predictive automated maintenance alerts deter the sudden failure of any vehicle’s unit.
Apart from these, alerts for low battery, temperature control, and engine operation process act as a cloak in the vehicle’s long run. This IoT-enabled information and reports work as a fleet manager’s cue to intervene and nip the problem in the bud.
Cargo And Asset Maintenance
Several sectors are never going to vanish. Cargo and asset tracking are one of them. The needs and necessities of the fleet, geared up with the expansion of new projects, have made adoption of IoT technology mandatory. Fleets can keep up their requirements with the evolving IoT technology to track their assets and cargo. Thanks to the IoT projects developed with IoT technology that has improved the tracking patterns, which resulted in the increased security of assets and job sites.
Sustainable Operations
Referring to the reports, driving over speed limits and idling vehicles can emit up to 10 million tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere. Moreover, it causes excess wear and tear, which stretches the fuel expenditure. The IoT technology was introduced to the fleet solutions with the main objective:
- to track the vehicles along with drivers’ driving patterns,
- to get real-time automated alerts, and
- to monitor fuel utilization to save fuel resources without much human interference.
IoT fueled technology encapsulates the surroundings and sends smart alerts to drivers informing when to apply brakes and when to turn off the engines. Which immensely helps in pruning down the odious behavior thus, prevents fouling the environment.
Cost Optimization
The layers of useful data IoT provides to the freight and transport businesses circumvents the conventional ways of fleet operation. It not only saves time but also optimizes the cost by bridging the communication gap between different stakeholders.
Fleet managers can seamlessly connect with other workforces by enabling real-time communication. They can provide valuable feedback and training whenever required. The intelligent fleet operating solution optimizes costs by making sensors and other communication devices at relatively economical rates. Also, IoT helps fleets to avail insurance discounts and smart fleet management tools into the bargain, providing a higher level of assurance and proof to insurance companies.
Fuel efficiency Tracking
Conventionally, the driver’s driving behavior immensely affects the fuel efficiency and its usage. Factors like unnecessary idling, accelerating and decelerating patterns, more than average speed, and breaking patterns degrade fuel efficiency. But using IoT technology can leverage the fleet operators as they can keep their eye on all of these factors through embedded sensors equipped in their vehicles and train the driver for efficient fuel usage.
Fuel cards are a prominent way to monitor the whole fleet using a GPS management solution. It helps to figure out the quickest routes and keeps check on the mileage, thereby saving thousands of dollars every day.
Some fuel cards like Matrack’s Amex fuel card provide real-time fraud alerts, help you identify credits, help in refunds, and much more. It also avails 1.5% early-pay discounts and provides up to 60 days no interest payment.
IoT is something that has become a norm for fleet owners and operators all over the world now. It has already spread its roots in a lot of aspects in our lives and it is likely to play an everlasting role in fleet operation with the heading time.
With such a tremendous increase in business opportunities to benefit from IoT technology, surely, it has been set to become the backbone of the fleet management industry. So take advantage of IoT in your fleet solutions to stay ahead. Tell us in the comments how you are riding on this technological advancement.