THE BENEFITS OF INTEGRATED FLEET MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY The Top Fleet Management Challenges and Their Solutions BY KEVIN ARIES
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cheduling is always a challenge, no matter what industry, but it’s particularly difficult for HVACR business owners.
UNIQUE SCHEDULING CHALLENGES FOR HVACR BUSINESSES Often, when appointments are set there isn’t a lot of detail from the customer. A common call is simply we don’t have air-conditioning, or we don’t have heat. Details are vague because customers just don’t know how to explain the problem. When you combine that set of challenges with the fact that HVACR systems are often extraordinarily complex, it can be difficult for a business to accurately predict how long they are going to be spending onsite. This is different than other industries like landscaping, pool cleaning, or painting – all of which are more predictable. Scheduling then, is a vital part of management to keep service and installations on time and to maintain happier customers. Fleet management technology is one way to solve scheduling management issues. It is a viable solution and one that facilitates easy communication between the field and the office in real time. This can start small, in the form of a device installed in the truck, and it can grow to include a robust mobile application upgrade. In any event, it's important that businesses have access to a real-time vehicle location and that this information is integrated into their job scheduling system. It’s a technology that allows management to see the full scope of service and make accurate scheduling decisions about where and when to send technicians.
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HVACR BUSINESS JUNE 2022
Scheduling is always a challenge…but it’s particularly difficult for HVACR business owners… when you combine that set of challenges with the fact that HVACR systems are often very complex, it can be difficult for a business to accurately predict how much time they're going to be spending on-site at appointments. FLEET MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY – IT’S MORE THAN SIMPLE GPS When it comes to real-time visibility of vehicles, a best practice is a fleet management technology solution designed to give a business a 360-degree view of company equipment and vehicles. Primarily, it starts with the reliance on GPS technology. It comes down to a small device installed within the vehicle that not only tracks certain information about the vehicle, but also the driver. For your service vans and trucks, this technology can track speed, engine hours, whether engines are on or off, at idle or in driving mode, as well as the vehicles’ location. Fleet technology is not only good for tracking and scheduling your fleet, but also about making a commitment to saving the business money. Combining vehicle data into an integrated system, allows you to save fuel and maintenance costs, and offers opportunities to start analyzing trends that will create best practices. For example, you can analyze driving profiles and behavior trends to ensure that they align with preferred safety metrics.
A PROFILE OF FLEET DRIVERS BY NAME AND BY BEHAVIOR The real-time data of fleet technology allows business owners to make real-time data decisions, but also to track trends over time. Fleet technology offers the capability to run a report daily or weekly and then compare these trends over time. You can run a report against a specific set of vehicles or do a deep dive into one vehicle or even one driver, to understand what is happening. If there are problems, this data allows you to mitigate issues immediately before larger problems arise. Data analytics can include items like speed, fast acceleration, harsh cornering, and hard braking. All this information can be insightful for team meetings and training. Armed with knowledge, management can coach best practices and decide exactly what works as well as explain what is expected.
FLEET MANAGEMENT – TECHNOLOGY OFFERS REALTIME SOLUTIONS There are a handful of business problems that a fleet management technology solution works to address.
Here are outstanding HVACR concerns and the solutions a good fleet management technology offers: 1. How to Increase Productivity Real time coordination of vehicles, equipment and people combined with daily schedules, allows service managers to better manage how resources are utilized. This is a first step to help HVACR contractors be more productive. 2. Safety Issues Consider how this technology can affect the safety of your team. Safety is essential for the drivers. For obvious reasons, we want our drivers to stay safe. Add to that, the idea of vehicle costs, maintenance, insurance, and fuel, and it all impacts the bottom line of the company. 3. Reputation Your fleet carries your name, logo, phone number, and more. Part of your company’s reputation is based on how your vehicles travel throughout the community. And they are being monitored daily by other drivers on the roadway. If a driver is not driving appropriately, it reflects poorly on your business. This can lead to a bad reputation and to a loss of business. In communities large and small, word-of-mouth referrals are extremely important. Inconsiderate driving can be quite damaging. 4. Legal Exposure Crashes are not only expensive to repair but can leave a business exposed legally. A continued on page 17
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