Jason Francis, managing director of fleet software company Jaama, says: "Keeping a commercial vehicle on the road is a complex matter which requires specialist skills. A myriad of data including the monitoring of vehicle use, driver hours, laden/unladen weights and defects must be monitored and recorded. Vehicles have to be inspected as frequently as every six weeks to ensure that they remain road worthy, and, as you can imagine, the administration time required to keep things in order is immense."
Francis says fleet managers are beginning to wake up to the full capabilities of modern transport systems. Sophisticated web-based software are freeing fleet operators from manually inputting every item of information, from a driver’s name to a number plate and from a fuel purchase to a vehicle service. Computers using a common language, like and XML, are enabling managers to access in real-time enabling them to address problems as andwhen they occur.
Fleet decision-makers are becoming increasinglysoftware savvy and they understand the importance of choosing technology that can fully integrate with systems operated by external suppliers and other company departments, such as HR, payroll and finance.”
Five years ago, a fleet manager would have to manually enter almost every piece of information which he says was not only time consuming and cumbersome, but could be prone to mistakes, says Francis. “Until now, technology available to commercial vehicle operators has been way behind even though the vast majority of truck operators are savvy when it comes to administration, compliance and knowing what they want from technology.”