Fleet Management
What is fleet management?
Fleet management is the oversight of an enterprise’s fleet of physical and digital assets through a management software platform. This software enables managers to see actual productivity and throughput insights of the fleet within their operation through a series of systems and technologies that communicate via the Internet of Things (IoT). Fleet management can be effectively orchestrated to help predict maintenance needs, analyse statistical reports through machine learning processors and store data in the cloud for future use.
What are the benefits of fleet management?
The benefits of fleet management include:
- Optimised routes: With the data collected from an enterprise’s fleet of resources, analysis can optimise operation routes.
- Boosted efficiency: All elements of an operation, from deployment to delivery routes, function with higher efficiency due to a greater understanding of the operations through the data provided in real time from actual devices in use.
- Operational visibility: Machine learning (ML) tools can study the behaviours and patterns of your fleet and help you identity risks, proactively predicting maintenance needs to prevent failure within your fleet’s performance.
- Management of at-risk resources: With ML-enabled capabilities, data can be effectively analysed to assess which resources are at risk. If drivers or vehicles are exhibiting certain behaviours, a fleet manager can monitor and make informed decisions to promote health and safety among their fleet and operations.
Why is fleet management important?
Fleet management is critical for enterprise operations as it provides a management structure for all operational assets that helps mitigate unnecessary and avoidable points of failure. With the rapid rise in connected devices, businesses can now store and analyse statistics as rapidly as necessary to make the most beneficial decisions.
Without IoT, fleet management is not sustainable on a large scale. This is because IoT exists as a network that establishes connections between every device and enables virtually limitless data sharing. Software that enterprises employ to manage, store and analyse data from fleet resources is the framework for all manageable assets. The ability of current management technology to give real-time alerts, tracking, data analysis and security updates provides incredible efficiency and oversight for your entire operation. There are also a variety of long-term benefits, including optimising maintenance and sustainability which keep technology working longer.
How does fleet management benefit the autonomous vehicle industry?
The autonomous vehicle industry benefits from fleet management through increased safety and efficiency for both businesses and the workforce. With a system to operate autonomous vehicles, companies have additional assurance that their fleet is being utilised within strict safety and operational protocols.
Autonomous vehicles can also link with each other via IoT technology, promoting less congestion on roadways and more efficient routes and fuel usage. With the ability to communicate and intuitively respond via ML, these self-driving vehicles can avoid shutdowns or drive in formation with similar braking and acceleration rates, further contributing to better traffic flow and benefitting emission reduction efforts. There are also fewer accidents without human operators, effectively removing potential drivers at risk within the workforce from the equation, while keeping non-employee drivers safer on the road.
As 5G becomes more commonly used within fleet resources, connections become stronger and deliveries happen faster. This seamless communication capacity through 5G networks establishes a new standard for fleet management, benefitting the management and oversight landscape.
What are the types of fleet management?
There are three elements of fleet management that are necessary for a sustainable operational model:
Technological management
Including both software and hardware implemented within your fleet’s operation, technology is the driving force behind your fleet management. Hardware is installed to capture real-time data, such as video, audio and GPS tracking. Software enables the collected data to be transferred, stored in the cloud and processed for analysis, helping deliver insights that inform better decision-making.
Individual manager or team of managers
The manager or management staff provides the human oversight required for communication with the fleet operators and the business ownership. They are charged with reporting back on productivity and profitability figures and making dynamic adjustments to the fleet’s operational systems in order to further promote efficiency. Managers take an administrative approach that ensures everything from cost reduction to compliance and governmental mandate fulfilment.
Data management
The data collected and processed by the ML software, including driver behaviour, system diagnostics and traffic patterns, contributes to the deeper understanding of the overall operation, further benefitting efficiency and promoting profitability.
What activities are involved in fleet management?
The responsibilities of a fleet manager or fleet management company include deployment, maintenance of vehicles, analysis of data provided by the technology within the fleet and identification of opportunities for increased productivity. Often, with higher productivity comes growth of the company’s fleet – this can make it difficult for a single person to manage all elements of the operation.
Overseeing hours of service is another critical element of fleet management. With strict compliance requirements involving driving hours, licencing, inspections and taxes, a manager is expected to ensure that their fleet operators are working within regulation. And with better working hours and more efficient throughput, the workforce is happier. The overall well-being and satisfaction of the workforce is essential to promoting sustainability, efficiency and continued productivity.
HPE and fleet management
HPE offers several enterprise fleet management solutions, such as HPE Alletra. With HPE Alletra, there are two options: processing business-critical workloads at a maximum raw capacity of 1.1 PB or processing mission-critical workloads with one hundred per cent availability, intelligent performance and virtually no latency. Operate at cloud speed and scale – and easily orchestrate data infrastructure across its life cycle with simple deployment, AI-driven, intent-based provisioning and invisible upgrades.
Enterprises can also purchase software as a service (SaaS) through the on-prem provisioning of HPE GreenLake. With a pay-per-use model, you never need to pay for more than you use. There are options to lease the on-prem storage infrastructure for a one-, three- or five-year term agreement. This provides flexibility for enterprises that need dynamic storage capacity without the hassle of having to purchase the infrastructure outright.