Every mile travelled has implications on your fuel balance sheet, your scheduled maintenance, your customer service, and your overall profit. This is the primary reason why many businesses are exploring smarter, more connected solutions for the vehicles they use. Companies like Radius ensure their customers and their drivers can make optimal use of technology by delivering more connectivity across their operations without adding undue hassle in the process.
Why More Connectivity Comes from Better Visibility
A lot of transport and service businesses are still losing money, often in small ways that could be prevented. Runs to the mechanic that didn’t have to happen; routes that aren’t as fuel-efficient as they could be; time spent waiting, being lost, or needlessly repeating sections of a trip. All these wastes add up and cut into the margins of the biggest transport companies. In general, the businesses running away from this pattern are the ones with greater visibility across all their operations.
They know where their vehicles are at any time, how they’re being used at that exact minute, how costs are trending, and where they’re likely to rise. They have all the information they need to take action before a minor problem turns into a setback or catastrophic loss.
This isn’t just a matter for businesses managing a fleet of two city-courier vans. And better visibility isn’t solely to deliver better decisions. It’s about getting more done faster and with greater frequency. Customers experience less downtime, so they’re less likely to have to schedule downtime. Drivers know what’s expected of them, so they make fewer mistakes, and trips tend to run more smoothly.
Telematics: No Longer Solely for National Fleets
Telematics has been one of the best-adopted new tools in the toolbox of the modern fleet. Vehicle data, when combined with location data and performance data, helps managers understand how an asset is being used in the real world, with real-time operating data. This supports route mapping and optimisation, fuel usage (and limiting, if needed), and timing maintenance in a far more planned way, and also supports driver safety messages and assistance.
For truck drivers, that can mean get-me-out-of-there-faster dispatching. Less time sitting idle when they’d rather be driving fast. For fleet managers, that can mean more targeted insights. Is one particular driver constantly exceeding the speed limit? One truck always returning to the depot with an empty tank? One van doing twice as many trips and constantly burning up tyres along the way? Now data can be collected for every mile of a vehicle’s operating life, and not only can these questions inform the actions fleet managers take, but as those reports add up over time, you get a better idea of how to maximise the assets you have.
More Connected All Around
It’s not just a business’s fleet that works more smoothly when it’s more connected, but the entire system. It’s your fuel card and the leasing of your vehicles. Your ability to speak to your drivers and your ability to recharge your EVs. Service management tools need to link up with scheduling software, and shared workspaces need to share data.
The list goes on. When all this works together, it saves you a lot of time and a few headaches. You also tend to make more optimal decisions because what happens at the other end makes itself known quickly, helping you understand quickly how to fix an issue or just yell at someone for getting it wrong. Whatever works best for you.
