What Is Fleet Management for Your Field Service Business?

When you run a field service business, you know that the name of the game is efficiency. You need your fleet to operate as finely as a Swiss watch to get your techs where they need to be, all day, every day.

Obviously, that’s easier said than done. 

Getting to Swiss watch levels of fleet efficiency requires overcoming several significant obstacles. In our experience, every business in every industry has to deal with stressors and frustrating roadblocks, such as: 

• Unintentional fleet theft, time wasting, and time mismanagement
• Lack of oversight and accountability
• Inability to access actually helpful data and records
• Unsafe or unproductive driving behaviors

Not to mention the high operating costs that come with operating a fleet-based business! Whether you’re dealing with poorly maintained vehicles, wasted fuel, or inefficient use of driver time and technician labor, it can seem like money is always going down the drain. 

Dealing with all of this while you maintain good customer relationships and try to boost your bottom line? It’s a lot. (Too much, arguably.)

Fortunately, you don’t have to handle everything by yourself. Great fleet management solutions can take care of fleet operations, so you can focus on managing your team and growing your business. 

But first, what is fleet management? Let’s take a closer look.

What is fleet management? Here’s a quick, helpful definition.

Fleet management can sound like an expansive and vague subject. Let’s start by making it clear what fleet management for a field service business encompasses. 

The goal of fleet management is to optimize the use of your vehicles to benefit your field service business. A great fleet management system does this by helping you manage all of the different puzzle pieces that go into a smoothly running fleet. 

For example, through your fleet management software, you may be able to: 

• Track (and even schedule!) vehicle maintenance.
• View real-time locations of vehicles.
• Allocate and schedule when vehicles will be used.
• Monitor driver behavior. 
• Pull reports to analyze fleet usage.
• And more! 

The specific features available through each fleet management system depend on your provider, your needs, and how you want to use the system.

What are the benefits of field service fleet management?

Now that you know the answer to “what is fleet management?” in general, let’s talk about how onboarding a fleet management system will benefit your business. 

Having a better handle on the ins and outs of your fleet can help you in many tangible ways. For example: 

• You’ll be able to see how safely and efficiently your team is driving and establish training and procedures to improve safety if needed.
• You can eliminate inappropriate or inefficient fleet use and even schedule more jobs into your team’s days. 
• In some cases, GPS fleet tracking can come with lower insurance premiums just after installation and a period of consistent use. If not, you may be able to negotiate lower insurance premiums after showing how much safer your fleet is under great fleet management. 
• You’ll be able to benefit from on-time and even preventative vehicle maintenance, which can help avoid accidents and lengthen the life of your fleet. 

And that’s just for starters. We’ve seen that our clients usually find that, in addition to more profit and a better reputation for their business, they enjoy greater peace of mind—and that’s priceless. (Of course, the increased profits are great too!) 

What is the fleet management solution you need? 

In order to unlock all of those benefits, you’ll need a high-quality fleet management solution provider. 

When you start thinking about the benefits of fleet management platforms, products, and providers, you’ll see a bewildering array of options. These are the main ones to think about: 

• GPS fleet tracking, including live fleet visibility, real-time location alerts, the ability to draw virtual fences, and full reporting capabilities 
• Dashcams, that are both front- and rear-facing, preferably with modern AI and services such as driver safety monitoring and in-cab driver coaching
• Hours of service and electronic logging devices, systems for helping ensure that your drivers take breaks as needed and provide accurate records about how long they worked

You’ll also want to find an intuitive fleet management software solution, so you can see everything in one place and access all of this fleet-managing magic from your smart devices. 

How are you supposed to find all of that in one provider? We’ve got you covered. 

Select the right fleet management provider for your field service business. 

Doing your homework before you select a provider will really pay off. Consider these general steps: 

1. Start by thinking about what your company really needs in terms of fleet safety, maintenance, and data. 
2. Then, do some online research or ask around. See which fleet management providers are out there.
3. Read previous customer reviews. Capterra and Trustpilot are two of our favorite sites to get the real picture of how a company is doing! 

Finally, once you’ve selected a fleet management provider, make sure you request a demo to see the software you’ll be using in action. If you have any questions about what onboarding with ClearPathGPS would look like, here’s how to get started. 

In the meantime, check out our guide to learn more about best-fit fleet management, Key Areas to Consider When Maximizing a Field Service Business.