More and more, fleets are beginning to realize that using the power of the ever-present smartphone or tablet, whether the device belongs to the company or the employee – brings a whole range of new possibilities.
Chief among these, said Ron Katz, Chevin Fleet Solutions Senior Vice President, North American Sales, is the ability to use these devices to help manage compliance, fulfil legislative obligations and to proactively monitor maintenance oversight.
He explained: “Especially among commercial fleets, we’re seeing smartphones being used for a range of tasks – for example to enable the carrying out of basic daily maintenance checks. We’re working with a fleet where this daily task generates 800 paper based driver inspection forms for each van every single day, but a mobile device means that the whole process can be easily automated.”
“This type of gain in efficiency has obvious appeal for fleet operations in terms of reduced cost, time saved, auditing capabilities and general efficiency. ”
Katz said that fleets are beginning to realize that using mobile devices for proactive maintenance inspections can have a dramatic impact on running costs.
“As most fleet managers know, many drivers of company vehicles continue to operate their vehicle with a known problem until the issue becomes acute, resulting in excessive maintenance costs. For example, a transmission issue that can be easily rectified when it first occurs can eventually lead to outright failure.
“However, if drivers are required to perform regular vehicle inspections, most drivers will report a problem rather than continue using their vehicle. Over time, mitigating problems before they become serious will drive substantial fleet savings.”
Chevin introduced its FleetWave Mobile module, which allows almost any mobile device to push structured data to its core FleetWave software system in 2014.
Katz continued: “It’s taken a little time for the market to fully understand the potential that a product like this offers but we’re seeing more and more interest in using this technology to drive all kinds of fleet processes – from the vehicle inspections to delivery verification and even work request logging.
“As a tool, FleetWave Mobile is incredibly versatile and, every week, we seem to come across new uses that will deliver real and measurable benefits to fleets.
“A key feature of FleetWave Mobile is that it can be used offline and data uploaded when a connection becomes available,” he added.
