Fleet Management Blog

3 Benefits of Using Mobile Fleet Management Apps

Do you still find yourself sorting through stacks of paper to manage your fleet? Do you find it hard to communicate crucial information to and from the field? Using fleet management apps and mobile technology can simplify your fleet operations and help your whole team work smarter. Here are 3 benefits:

For fleet managers, contractors and other professionals, the chief construction app used to be the phone’s flashlight: a handy device for inspecting cracks in a foundation. Thankfully, things have come a long way. Today’s apps for fleet management as well as construction professionals offer powerful new means to boost productivity in the field.  This is especially true when it is paired with a robust, centralized fleet management platform.

1. Save time – Eliminate duplicate data entry

Using a mobile fleet management app that is connected to a central system like Fleet Cost & Care’s Atom, creates a workflow that saves time and eliminates duplicate data entry. Most business interactions start with a quote. Being able to quote accurately and professionally in the field with an app like Atom will make other steps of a job like, scheduling both equipment and personnel and even billing your customer easier to carry out. Once a job is awarded, the quote you created on your mobile device can be converted to a job with the tap of a finger. They key is nothing has to be re-entered. Using a centralized system that your mobile app is connected to allow the quote you converted to a job to be immediately available to your dispatcher back at the yard.  All the information initially entered on your mobile app flows through your fleet management software. Once the job is completed that same information is now in the hands of your AR department for easy and accurate invoice creation. Centralization and real-time exchange of data from your mobile app will help your staff make proactive rather than reactive scheduling decisions, cut down on time sifting through whiteboards and reports, reduce time discussing daily operations, and get bills out more quickly!

2. Fleet management apps Create a digital trail – all the way back to the dispatch room!

Creating a digital trail of every step of a job is important for efficiency, accountability and reporting. Sometimes it can be hard for team members to collaborate while out of the office, but with a mobile app like Atom you can communicate in real-time from any job site back to your yard, branch office or corporate headquarters. With Fleet Cost & Care’s NexGen desktop software and Atom mobile app, your team can break down these barriers to enable greater communication, workflow, and efficiency all the while creating a digital trail of all the phases of a job.

Having an app that tracks all of your fleet activity – from job quoting and scheduling to labor and job site details gives you quality business intelligence at your fingertips.  As a result of these digital data points (input by the user during different phases of the job) you can see patterns and trends in the jobs your company performs for its customers. This can reinforce positive business decisions or curtail poor decisions that do not turn out to be profitable. The digital trail created by the Atom fleet management app allows you to look at something like an equipment utilization report, which can help to insure equipment is being properly rented from anywhere at any time. Fleet managers can also make sure jobs are profitable by tracking expenses throughout the job. One can also track output and success of your salespeople and their win/loss record. Mobile fleet management apps insure lots of valuable data and insights which helps management and operations make qualified decisions about future resource allocation.

All of these benefits tie into the first step in the process of job creation, the quote, when the digital trail is created correctly information needs to be input once and it is then available to other necessary employees who can see it and use it to keep work and profits flowing.

3. Increase Accuracy – Single entry point of data decreases risk of errors

Dated and inefficient processes like standalone systems that do not leave the office can be error prone and the information is hard to share throughout the company. Using a mobile app that is linked to a centralized system increases accuracy across the management of your fleet.

Standalone systems lack real-time visibility into people and resources; using an integrated fleet management app like Atom brings all necessary information together – from the quoting of your salespeople to resource availability back at the yard even to the digital job tickets received by your operators or drivers. When information is only input once the chance of human error decreases. Consistency and accuracy of quoting from job to job increases do to the ability to look back into past quotations and jobs performed. Resource and labor allocation also benefits from single entry point of data as complex job information requiring multiple pieces of equipment and personnel flows through the system rather than having to be keyed in or hand-written at each phase of a job.

Fleet management apps are changing the way fleet managers & their employees as well as other construction professionals go about their daily business. In addition to serving as a powerful communications tool, today’s mobile app on your tablet or smart phone can operate as a mobile fleet management HQ, thanks to a growing roster of specialized apps like Atom designed to bolster productivity in this very mobile field.

To learn more about fleet management solutions and mobile construction apps that will help your business be more proactive, contact us for a free consultation.