To keep up with its growing customer base while delivering a first class service, Paradigm Housing Association has turned to FleetMatics to optimise the running of its 100 vehicle fleet.

Head of Paradigm maintenance Ian Kennedy was concerned that the fleet manager didn’t know the exact location of each vehicle, which was causing inefficiencies while routing.

The company’s aim to excel in customer service was also being hampered due to the poor visibility its fleet.

“Efficient scheduling of the vehicles was virtually impossible for the Fleet Manager,” explained Kennedy. “We knew that by installing a fleet management solution the fleet manager would have location visibility of each van and hoped that this would help improve our customer service.”

After surveying the solutions on the market the managers at the housing association selected FleetMatics as it is easy to install into each vehicle, priced well and supported by a robust organisation with a dedicated customer service team.

The FleetMatics system also presents additional attractive features, in particular the vehicle’s current location and tracking.

“The FleetMatics solution has definitely helped improve customer service,” said Kennedy. “For example, being able to give the expected arrival time of an operative to a tenant is really helpful. We can also accurately distribute jobs to our operatives and ensure everyone’s running to schedule.”

A further benefit to the company has been the reduction in vehicle idling time. Kennedy explained: “There have been a few cases when the operatives would divert from their daily planned route and meet up with other co-workers for breaks.”

To resolve this, Paradigm set up an alert that notifies the managers if vehicles converge during the day with the result being that productivity has increased markedly.

Since installing the FleetMatics GPS tracking solution Paradigm has also been able to defend its drivers if they have been wrongly accused of traffic offences.
 

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