AN INTERACTIVE GUIDE
Fleet Management Buyer's Guide
Fleet management solutions have become an indispensable part of modern-day fleet operations. Today's fleet tracking
software has evolved from delivering basic vehicle location information to serving up torrents of data with the
potential to provide invaluable business insights. But as technologies have advanced, so have the variety and complexity
of fleet management processes, perpetuating the need for more comprehensive solutions for fleet management. This fleet
operations buyer's guide will walk you through selecting the right fleet management solutions for your needs. By the
time you have finished, you should feel ready to move forward with a vendor that can help you achieve your goals.
From our daily conversations with our own customers, who represent more than 4,400 fleets with more than 650,000
vehicles worldwide, we've gathered a sample list of the top goals among fleet managers, along with the tools they use to
meet each objective.
Start with the problem. Then seek a solution. What is driving you to seek a fleet management solution? What specific
issues are you looking to solve? Once you know the answers to those questions, it will be a lot easier for you to select
the right tool for the job.
Try it out
Download this worksheet to help identify your company’s primary goals.
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Worksheet
Reduce collisions and related auto claims
- Video integrated with vehicle and operator data
- Driver coaching workflow
- Proactive data analysis
- Proactive in-cab alerts
- Driver self-improvement tools such as self-coaching, progress reports, or a dedicated driver app
Reduce worker injuries and workers compensation claims
- Video integrated with vehicle and operator data
- Driver coaching workflow
- Customized safety campaigns
- Positive recognition programs
- Driver self-improvement tools such as self-coaching or as a dedicated driver app
Exonerate your company and drivers from fraudulent
claims
- Continually recorded video
- Video footage of collisions and other events
- Vehicle and operator data
Reduce insurance premiums and liability exposure
- Record of long-term safety (5+ years)
- Insurance discount programs for adopting safety technologies
Improve compliance with state and federal regulations
- ELD solution
- CSA data analysis service
- Integrated, electronic tracking solution for HOS, DVIR and driver
qualification files
Reduce mystery damage and maintenance costs
- Fleet video systems capable of capturing aggressive driving, curb cutting, hard braking
- Video that allows you to reduce mystery damage by understanding what happened
Lower vehicle fuel costs
- Fuel management data
- GPS fleet tracking system
- Driver coaching workflow
- Driver self-improvement tools such as self-coaching or a dedicated driver app
Elevate customer service through routing efficiency
- GPS fleet tracking system
- Live stream video
- Video on demand
Try it out
Download this worksheet to help identify your company’s primary goals.
Download
Worksheet
Gather your team
You’ll need help along the way. Getting a team together, along with their input
and involvement early on in the process, can ease the burden of sourcing and
implementing new technologies, head off issues down the road, and increases buy-in
for your project (more on boosting buy-in later).
Stakeholders might include folks who handle information
technology (IT), legal, procurement, finance, safety, operations, and fleet
management. Once you identify these critical people in your organization, invest a
little time to walk them through the issues you are working to solve and get their
feedback on your project. You might even recruit key players as part of a selection
committee to help lighten the load as you vet potential vendors. Be sure to include
their feedback and suggestions in your selection process and criteria.
Visualize what success looks like for each of your goals and objectives. If your goal is to cut collisions, for example,
short-term success may be pinpointing the biggest causes of collisions in your fleet, so you know what to go after.
Let's say speeding and distracted driving are your biggest culprits. Success then becomes reductions in those two
behaviors over time.
Try it out
Download the worksheet to identify what success looks like for your company.
Download
Worksheet
For example...
Short Term
Reduce collisions by 25% in 1 year
Long Term
Reduce collisions by 50% in 5 years
Try it out
Download this worksheet to help identify your company’s primary goals.
Download
Worksheet
Multiple technologies or single solution?
Should you buy multiple technologies and integrate them to help you achieve your goals? Or should you go with a single
vendor to keep things simple? This question pops up each time an organization sources new technology.
In the past, typical fleet management solutions often specialized in one or more processes, offering a fragmented
approach to fleet management services. Fleet managers often relied upon multiple vendors to satisfy all their specific
needs—whether it be fleet tracking, fleet safety, compliance, or a combination of these tools. Thankfully, best-in-class
fleet technology providers have since evolved their offerings to provide for more inclusive all-in-one solutions for
fleet management.
Rather than relying upon multiple vendors for your fleet management needs, a comprehensive solution will allow you to
pick and choose the products most suited to achieve your goals, while also offering extensive integration capabilities.
There are hundreds of options in the market for fleet management technologies. Once you start looking, either by asking
professional peers for their recommendations or doing some online research, you'll soon be inundated with choice.
Try it out
You’ll want to drill down into these seven areas with specific questions
that can get to the heart of what you care most about. To help you with this
step, we created a detailed list of questions vendors should be able to answer
to your satisfaction.
Download
Worksheet
Why should we do business with you?
What can your solution help me do, and how well can it do that?
How does your technology work?
How can I test the system to see whether it works for my fleet?
How will you support me?
How much will this cost?
Are you worth the money, and can you prove it to me?
Try it out
You’ll want to drill down into these seven areas with specific questions
that can get to the heart of what you care most about. To help you with this
step, we created a detailed list of questions vendors should be able to answer
to your satisfaction.
Download
Worksheet
RFP Toolkit + Scorecard
Rather than interview each vendor separately, which can be time consuming, make them
come to you. By using a request for proposal (RFP), vendors fill out a questionnaire
with answers to your questions. It’s an efficient, effective, and widely used
vehicle for gathering the information you need to make the right choice.
But you don’t have to spend days creating an RFP. Just download our free RFP
Toolkit. It comes with a template, a requirements list (questions vendors must
answer), and a scorecard that helps you track answers and submissions.
Now you’re down to a few finalists. It’s time to get your hands on the
products. Take the time to get a thorough demo of each product. Include some of the
people on your selection committee in the demos. After all, you and your team will
be spending countless hours with the product, so it’s important to know how it
feels, whether it’s intuitive to use, and how easy it is for you to get the
video and data you need.
Try it out
Download a checklist of these questions and more to reference during your vendor
demos.
Download
Worksheet
You’ve gotten answers to your top questions and seen all the demos. Now comes
the part where you work with your team to make a choice and build consensus around
it.
Two tools will come in handy at this stage: the RFP scorecard and a return on
investment (ROI) analysis.
If you’ve downloaded the RFP Toolkit, you have a built-in scorecard that
automatically tallies the points you award to vendor responses. To further fine-tune
your scoring, you can add weights to each question or category of questions.
Let’s say you value experience and results most. You can easily assign greater
weights to these attributes.
The second tool that will help you decide is the ROI analysis. This can be an
important step in determining which vendor will give you the best bang for your
buck. But it can also prove useful if you and your team need to build a business
case for your preferred solution and get buy-in across your organization.
Try it out
You don’t need an accounting degree to obtain ROI figures. Vendors responding
to your RFP should have provided that information when they responded to your
request to prove their product is worth it (be sure to question their assumptions
and ask how they came up with their numbers).
You can also calculate your own using our online ROI calculator.
Calculate ROI
You’ve done your research, gathered the numbers, and sat through the demos.
Chances are, you’re now awash with information, and your head is spinning with
so much data. All things being equal, you might want to engage your heart and your
gut to help you make the final call.
One last thing–because fleet technologies are rapidly evolving and adding new
capabilities, you want a vendor that can provide you with proven technology you can
use today, while constantly innovating on your behalf for tomorrow.
Find more resources
If you’d like to know more about fleet technologies and what they can do
for you, we can help. Just reach out to one of our Lytx representatives or visit
our Resources Page.
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more resources
If you've made it this far, you've conquered the essential steps to making a fleet management purchase. If you weren't
able to complete all of the steps, don't worry! You can take away this entire buyer's guide to bring back to your team.
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Download the full Fleet Management Buyer's Guide and share with your team.
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Fleet technologies are rapidly evolving and adding new capabilities.
You need a vendor that can provide you with proven technology you can use today,
while constantly innovating on your behalf for tomorrow.
Get started