Driver and vehicle compliance and safety are some of the top priorities for any business that runs commercial vehicles. Software development has helped ensure that fleets are able to deliver on these duty of care responsibilities. Advancements to digital fleet management tools have also enabled fleets to benefit from the greater operational efficiency enabled by an enhanced level of connectivity and utilisation of real-time data.
For example, Jaama claims it has experienced significant demand from companies signing up to its Key2 fleet management software over the past 12 months, as fleets aim to tighten up on their operational and compliance administration. It has also says it has seen a rise in customers rolling out its MyVehicle App for commercial vehicle drivers for the distribution, construction and local authority sector, since Covid-19 began changing the business landscape from March last year.
The company cites the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of its MyVehicle inspection app for CV drivers to enable them to carry out vehicle inspections and log defects via their smartphones, helping move the transport industry away from a paper-based environment.
Information logged on Jaama’s app is transferred in real time back to the fleet team giving an immediate audit trail, while alerts of vehicle problems can be acted on immediately to reduce potential vehicle downtime. As we have previously explored in TNB, with the food and home delivery sectors working their vans and trucks harder than ever, keeping vehicles on the road has been a vital consideration.
An app-based system can also complement additional Covid-secure protocol, reducing close contact between drivers and the office staff processing their paperwork.
Replacing legacy systems for additional insight
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions (HCVS) selected Jaama’s Key2 fleet management platform to manage its fleet of 70,000 funded and 14,000 fleet managed cars, vans, trucks, and plant assets.
Replacing legacy systems introduced in 2004, Hitachi Capital’s investment has been made in a bid to futureproof the growth of its fleet, and to act as an end-to-end business system to manage its fleet from design and build to disposal.
Key2 gives HCVS a central repository for all customer and asset information and the ability to add interfaces with new suppliers and systems very easily.
“It gives us the ‘complete truth’ on what is happening with vehicles on our fleet, which is very powerful for us and our customers,” said Jon Lawes, MD of HCVS.
“We work with many different external suppliers and they are all seamlessly plugged into our intuitive system. Data can be easily extracted using a powerful reporting tool in real time, which provides access to management data far more quickly. It now takes minimal resource to compile reports, freeing up more people to act on the results.”
Fleet compliance is a key priority for operators, and a fleet management tool needs to understand all compliance regimes. In the case of HCVS, the company set up a holistic truck compliance schedule, which can display all planned events split by asset and/or customer.