By Mark Thomas, EVP Marketing & Alliances, Ridecell
How Automation Technology Can Transform Your Fleet
Data has become invaluable for fleet-based businesses. Organizations are increasingly leveraging more data from telematics and dashcams, where everything from real-time engine diagnostics to crash detection is readily available. But while GPS tracking information and data dashboards provide benefits for your fleet, you may not be getting the most out of the information these tools provide.
With the help of fleet automation technology, organizations can take the mountain of alerts and insights coming from their fleet systems to review and respond—all automatically. While today’s fleet management systems are great at producing insights and recommended actions, these required actions become to-dos for the fleet manager. By turning those same fleet management insights into triggers for automated actions, managers can avoid repetitive and mundane tasks while streamlining daily fleet operations and helping keep vehicles and drivers safe.
How does fleet automation help?
Fleet managers are constantly inundated with notifications and suggested actions such as fleet locations, schedules, driver behavior, maintenance issues, cabin monitoring and more. They also may be receiving alerts and information from multiple systems and dashboards, making it difficult to sort through, prioritize and act on these insights.
By automating some of the simpler fleet processes, many of those notifications can be turned into automated actions. Managers can set and prioritize business rules moving towards a “self-managing” fleet that prioritizes and resolves alerts and tasks on its own—automating routine tasks by setting up digital workflows that act like digital employees.
A fleet automation platform reads every notification and automates tasks where there is a routine resolution. For example, if a check engine light is showing low windshield washer fluid, a simple work order to the staff employee can be created directing them to the vehicle and initiating the resolution. If it’s a cracked windshield, the glass vendor will be notified along with the vehicle type, year, make and model with a note about which glass to replace or repair. In these and many other cases, there is no need for a fleet middleman to read the alert and manually assign someone to resolve it. Every notification coming from your fleet is prioritized and acted upon if possible.
And automated fleet actions aren’t just for the mundane and routine. They’re perfect for situations where time is critical and action is required immediately. Automating dispatching an ambulance to an accident, or the police to a vehicle that’s detected as being stolen are two examples where a few minutes can save lives or prevent a theft.
Gain control and keep vehicles safe with keyless tech
Moving vehicle keys to the cloud is a crucial part of fleet automation. While physical keys can easily get stolen or lost, keyless technology serves as a digital security system that allows drivers to unlock and lock vehicle doors,fundamentally changing how you access and use fleet vehicles.
- Assign or reassign drivers to vehicles and provide instant access from anywhere
- Remotely control who can start a vehicle and the areas they access
- Grant specific access based on roles
- Set doors to lock automatically as the driver walks away from the vehicle, increasing security of the vehicle and its contents
- Unlock doors as the driver approaches to increase efficiency
By leveraging keyless entry, you gain true control of your fleet’s accessibility. Your drivers won’t have to worry about picking up a physical key or carrying it around during deliveries, and with the help of a proximity locking solution, drivers, vehicles, and the cargo they carry are more secure, saving valuable seconds per delivery.
And, with a fully automated security management solution, you can protect your vehicles and their contents around the clock. The system will automatically detect if a vehicle is moving and whether an authorized driver is present—if not, it will prevent theft altogether by digitally immobilizing that vehicle the moment the engine is stopped and instantly notifying authorities.
Choosing the right solution for your fleet
Is it time for your fleet to embrace true change management and take the next step in your digital transformation journey?
To truly be set up for success, be sure that your automation solution checks off the following boxes:
- Provides actionable data insights that can efficiently inform real-time decisions
- Offers an intuitive technology experience for everyone—from fleet managers to drivers
- Delivers a speedy implementation timeline—that can have you up and running for faster ROI
- Uses flexible architecture that can easily integrate with your organization’s fleet management tools, ensuring a seamless automation experience.
