Best Fleet Management Software Of 2024 (2024)

When shopping for the best software for managing your fleet, ensure that the option you choose has these core features:

Driver Management

Driver management refers to monitoring and measuring essential driving parameters such as acceleration, harsh braking, speeding and over-idling. When you share feedback on them with the drivers, they can take corrective measures to help:

• Improve driver efficiency and productivity
• Decrease chances of accidents
• Lower fuel consumption
• Better vehicle performance

When you invest in developing good driving habits, driver retention also increases.

Hours of Service Compliance

In addition to keeping your fleet up to snuff, it’s a good idea to choose software that also helps keep your drivers safe—and compliant with their hours of service (HOS). Getting goods where they need to go on time is important, but it’s also vital that drivers take mandatory rests after driving for long periods. HOS compliance ensures drivers take those breaks to help prevent accidents.

Many fleet management apps track driver data, such as engine run time and driver speed. Your drivers should also be able to record the times they drive along with DVIRs, which contribute to your HOS compliance. If you aren’t tracking this data and ensuring drivers are taking breaks, you could be charged a fine or lose your license.

Vehicle Management

Vehicle management may include a GPS vehicle tracking system and a fleet alarm system:

• GPS tracking system: GPS vehicle tracking enables fleet managers to access real-time locations of their vehicles. This allows them to know where vehicles are at any given point in time as well as whether they are moving, idling or parked. GPS tracking helps fleet managers optimize productivity and provides accurate information to customers about estimated delivery times, enhancing overall customer experience. Most fleet management platforms offer GPS tracking through the driver’s phone.
• Fleet alarm system: A fleet alarm system can notify you of issues while your vehicles are in operation. For instance, an alarm system may notify a driver to turn off their engine if they have been stopped with the engine running for a long period of time. This can help to reduce waste of fuel. If the driver does not turn off the engine, the fleet manager can receive a notification as well to contact the driver.

Operations Management

Fleet operations management features include route planning and monitoring, fuel management and task management:

• Route planning and monitoring: Fleet management apps help with route optimization by analyzing past performances for the logged trips as well as anticipating future events. This helps in faster arrival times and a better customer experience.
• Fuel management: Fuel costs form a major part of a fleet operations budget. Route optimization automatically leads to better fuel consumption, lowering costs.
• Task management: Operations management optimizes vehicles, drivers and routes to ensure that each order is fulfilled as soon as possible, resulting in a better customer experience. Fleet management software provides the real-time location of each product. So, in case of delays, customers can be alerted in time and, if need be, compensated accordingly.

Software Integrations

Fleets do not operate in isolation. They must fully integrate with all other business activities. Your software should be capable of integrating seamlessly with other business tools such as CRM and inventory management. Other software integrations you should look for include:

• Other fleet management software
• Accounting software
• Payroll software
• Telematics
• Maintenance apps
• Fuel cards

Inventory Management

Fleet management can make it easier to manage inventory for you, be it parts needed for fleet maintenance or products being delivered. Mobile apps for drivers can be directly linked to inventory levels so that the status is updated as parts are used or products are delivered. In some cases, a platform can even file orders for you automatically once stock on certain items reaches a low enough level.

Additional Considerations

Obviously, you want your fleet management tools to have real-time tracking, maintenance reminders and driver data, but there are other less talked-about needs, too. Keep these criteria in mind:

• Ease of use: Plug-and-play GPS hardware makes it easy to install in all your vehicles and can reduce costs (no installation fees). Also, if the software you choose is intuitive, you won’t have downtime for onboarding managers or drivers.
• Analytics and reporting: Nearly any software for fleet management will collect and manage data for you, but the best ones analyze and interpret that data for you. You should be able to run a report on alerts, fuel, driver speed and engine run time, to name a few. All this data can lead to improved performance and even protect against false claims.
• Mobile apps and device compatibility: This could be filed under ease of use because having your software to help manage your fleet and drivers on a mobile app is super convenient. Mobile apps for the fleet management tool can help drivers enter real-time data after each delivery, which automatically updates the status at all other instances. Choose software that’s available on iOS or Android to ensure none of your drivers are excluded because of the smartphone they choose.