Fleets need to consider app effectiveness, warns Chevin

The fleet sector is being targeted with apps, but not all of them provide an effective way to engage with drivers on an ongoing basis.

That’s according to Chevin Fleet Solutions, whose managing director Ashley Sowerby has warned that the fleet industry needs to consider the correct apps to enhance business functions:

“A large proportion of all apps are extraordinarily limited in scope and next to useless,” he said. “Some in the fleet sector are little more than skins that provide the means to contact your supplier.

“For fleets that want to develop driver contact strategies to cover anything from managing driver timetables to fulfilling duty of care responsibilities, the majority of apps available don’t do enough or don’t do what they need to do sufficiently well.

“The fact is that many apps that are being made available to fleets are driven by the desire of the sales or marketing department to offer an app to customers as a novelty, rather than producing something that is genuinely useful.”

Sowerby said that fleets need to make sure that apps have a real benefit and enhance existing functions rather than introduce processes that aren’t needed.

He continued: “Consider what the driver really needs to know and what would improve the fleet’s performance. It’s all well and good using an app to collect information but what happens to the data then?

“What we need to see are apps that integrate with relevant software and business functions to help reduce administrative burdens.”

Chevin resisted introducing its own app for some time before identifying how the technology could be used in a positive way.

Sowerby explained: “What makes our app, FleetWave Mobile, different is the high level of integration available. It’s an extremely flexible tool that integrates with other software and can be used to help manage not just all kinds of fleet processes but almost any work-related tasks that happen on the move.

“For example, drivers can use a form on the app to carry out daily checks of their vehicles. The app can then send alerts and actionable reports to workshops, finance departments and much more. This provides a genuine benefit in reducing downtime and improving process flow.

“It is a whole world away from some of the flimsy apps that are being offered to fleets.”