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It’s a Win-Win Situation
By Jackie Gately

There are many benefits to equipping your mobile workforce with a fleet management tracking system. As an employer, you stand to gain productivity and financial benefits. But few realize the benefits a GPS tracking system also provides to employees and customers. Whether you have just a few service vans, or a fleet of salesmen on the road, with a fleet management GPS tracking system, everybody wins.

Companies that institute fleet tracking most often realize significant productivity and cost benefits, including:

• The ability to dispatch or reroute the closest fleet vehicle to an emergency appointment
• Lowered fuel bills due to reduced trip mileage and more fuel-efficient speeds
• Reduced over-time and billing errors through automated payroll and billing
• Reduced time and effort spent on paperwork and reporting
• Retention of more responsible and efficient employees
• Elimination of excess employee stops and idling time
• Decrease in unauthorized and off-hour travel
• Elimination of employee fraud, excessive speeding, or out of boundaries driving
• Availability of tangible metrics for employee incentive plans and performance reviews
• Easier dismissal of problem employees with evidence supported by concrete data
• Reduced insurance costs if your insurance company offers savings for fleet management plans
• Potential tax savings

Less obvious employee benefits that result from a vehicle tracking system include:

• Increased safety when driver is lost, broken down or suffers a medical emergency
• Expedited recovery of a stolen vehicle
• Alerts of excessive engine temperature and exceeded weight limits through sensors
• Protection from false driving accusations and customer claims
• Cost savings passed on to employee in the form of salary incentives and bonuses
• Impartial metrics to discern and reward highly skilled and loyal employees
• Discovery of more efficient future travel routes based on route history
• Reduced paperwork and manual reporting

Customers receive the ultimate benefits of a vehicle tracking system, such as:

• Higher response to emergency or urgent appointments
• Better predictability about when to expect fleet member
• Realization of product and service savings passed on to customer
• Safer fleet driving within the community.
• Higher likelihood of fleet member on site who is responsible and has integrity

So, while it’s been argued that installing a fleet management GPS fleet tracking system is a little too reminiscent of “Big Brother” watching, consider that it’s not only the corporation with something to gain.

Jackie Gately is a freelance writer. She can be reached at jackiegately.wordpress.com