What’s worse: collecting fleet management data and not doing anything with it, or not collecting it in the first place?

This was a question posed by Richard Evans, major account sales manager at Jaama, to fleet decision-makers who attended the best practice seminar on fleet compliance.

Evans said that fleets which collect data with no clear policy for its use may have well not recorded the data in the first place.

“As data becomes ever more available through sources such as drivers, IT systems and telematics, it is increasingly difficult to know where to start in terms of capturing it better,” he said.

“It’s also a challenge to ensure that readily available data is processed to be able to make a meaningful conclusion and to act upon it accordingly.

“But, used correctly, the information can be used to produce the strategic intelligence needed to influence compliance.”

Evans recommended fleets should use fleet management software to filter the information to present it in an easily digestible format.

“This way you can see what the issues are and can act on them,” he added.

“For example, in everyday fleet administration activities, we come across situations where the obvious reason to make changes is to save money.

“Seldom is an initiative introduced on a compliance angle unless the business has been burned in the past, so it’s important to ensure that you use fleet management information to highlight the return on investment.

“As an example, having to replace tyres which have been damaged as a result of kerbing, long before tread is worn down to the legal limit, might immediately lead you to dictate to your suppliers that you fit non-premium tyres to your vehicles.

“This may immediately provide cost benefits, but management information can show a longer-term strategy of addressing policy and driver training may potentially make all the difference in reducing indirect costs to the business in the future.”

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