The Benefits Of Using Geofences For Your Fleet Business

Geofencing is a valuable tool for fleet businesses. By setting virtual boundaries using GPS or RFID technology, fleet managers can track vehicles entering or exiting specific areas. This technology helps improve route optimization, enhance security, and ensure compliance, making fleet operations more efficient and cost-effective. 

Understanding How Geofences Work

Geofences act as invisible boundaries that are incredibly useful for fleet management. They’re set up using GPS or RFID technology, and here’s how they typically work in practice:

• Setup: It starts with fleet managers deciding where to place these virtual boundaries. They might encircle a warehouse, outline a customer delivery area, or mark off-limits zones.
• Integration: Each vehicle in the fleet has a GPS unit that connects with the geofence boundaries. This setup ensures that the system tracks every vehicle’s location in relation to these invisible lines.
• Monitoring: Throughout the day, the fleet management software tracks where each vehicle is in relation to the geofences. This constant watch helps make sure that vehicles are only where they should be.
• Alerts and Actions: If a vehicle crosses a geofence, the system immediately notifies fleet managers. It can send a warning to the driver if needed. It can also log the activity or disable the vehicle for security.
• Analyzing and Optimizing: After gathering data on how vehicles use these geofences, fleet managers can study the patterns. This helps them refine routes, enforce policies better, and improve overall efficiency.

How does it help you in your fleet business?

Fleet management companies have been immensely benefiting from geofencing systems. Here is how the fleet managers can use the geofencing feature to improve their business

High Performance

Fleet managers use geofencing to elevate the performance of their fleet vehicles. Information like turnaround times, operational costs, fuel expenses, vehicle efficiency, and route costs can help you improve performance.

Saves time

Setting geofences around common places driver’s go, like loading and unloading areas, warehouses, and rest stops, helps with communication. This saves time. 

Cut operational cost

Geofencing can help you reduce your operational cost. By eliminating the requirement for micromanagement, managing several phone calls, and other manual monitoring aspects, geofencing can help you lower your administrative expenses. The fleet managers can concentrate more on the core business tasks by reducing such costs.

Determine exact working hours

Many fleet businesses pay their drivers on an hourly basis. The geofencing feature helps them track their exact working hours automatically. With geofenced perimeters, the fleet management can record their working hours and provide you with an accurate log. It provides details, like the time drivers started working, total duration on the job site, total hours of driving, and more.

Payroll processing

Critical data helps in payroll processing. The HR and finance staff disburses the payment to the drivers based on what they rightly deserve. They can calculate payroll with accuracy without managing paperwork and checking manual records.

Route Adherence and fuel cost saving

Setting a specific point of interest ensures that your fleet vehicles do not deviate from the route. It can help improve route adherence habits and save extra fuel costs. Also, ensuring that the fleet vehicles follow determined routes prevents wear and tear, thereby lowering the maintenance cost.

Better planning

Geofencing allows you to do efficient operational planning and scheduling. Geofencing and GPS data show the exact location of vehicles. This helps estimate their arrival times and adjust trips. It also supports timely delivery and related activities.

Security

One of the features of Geofencing is that it assures asset security. You get instant alerts when your vehicles go outside the approved boundaries. This greatly reduces the chances of theft.

If the vehicles enter the area where they should not be, you receive a real-time geofenced alert. You can check for the real reason for the deviation and take timely action if you think your vehicle and driver are in danger. 

Recover stolen assets

Because of the costly assets in fleet management, theft can cause a financial burden on you. It will be disappointing to lose productivity and create customer dissatisfaction.

Geofencing alerts you when the vehicle is going out of the set territory. You instantly get to know if it is out of the delivery area or is in the company’s parking lot. Knowing about your vehicles’ movements can help the police recover from the theft.

Avoids personal use

Geofencing also discourages the use of fleet vehicles for personal reasons. These alerts help you detect improper use of the assets and also let you know their exact location. You can have a word with the concerned employee and instruct them not to use the vehicle for personal use without permission. You can then also schedule training, correction, and instructions for the offenders.

Verify project hours

Well-maintained and accurate logs are vital to the fleet management industry. These logs show important details. They include when the driver started work, how long each delivery took, and when they finished for the day.

The biggest problem with handwritten logs is that they can be illegible and confusing. Also, you can edit them, making them unauthentic. A geofence can help you verify all the information and have accurate details.

Improving customer satisfaction

By sending timely alerts to your customers, you keep them informed with ETAs. This helps create delight and satisfaction for them.

GPS tracking and geofences help you find vehicles near the customer. This makes it easier to arrange faster delivery. Creating driver checkpoints can help you stay updated on how far the drivers are from the delivery point.

Implementing Geofencing with Matrack

For fleet managers aiming to streamline operations and elevate customer satisfaction, geofencing is an essential tool. Matrack, a trusted leader in fleet management, provides cutting-edge GPS tracking with geofencing capabilities. Here’s how you can leverage Matrack’s technology to transform your fleet operations:

Quick and Easy Setup

Matrack GPS trackers are designed with simplicity in mind, allowing you to equip your fleet vehicles with geofencing features without hassle. The straightforward installation process means you can get started right away.

Intuitive Interface

Matrack’s user-friendly app makes it simple to create, adjust, or remove virtual boundaries whenever needed. You can easily manage settings and monitor activity from anywhere. This works on your desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Instant Alerts and Real-Time Monitoring

Get instant notifications by email, text, or push alerts when a vehicle enters or leaves a geofenced area. This real-time tracking ensures you always know the status and location of your vehicles.

Boosted Fleet Performance

With Matrack’s detailed reports and driver behavior analytics, you can identify areas for improvement. Optimize routes, address driver habits, and ensure effective vehicle utilization to save time and resources.

24/7 Customer Support

Matrack backs its technology with round-the-clock support. Whether you need guidance with setup or troubleshooting, help is always just a call away.

Customizable to Your Needs

Easily adjust the size and location of geofences with a few clicks, and assign different zones for specific vehicles. This flexibility allows you to tailor the system to fit your unique fleet requirements perfectly.

Conclusion 

Geofencing has revolutionized fleet management by giving managers precise control over their operations. This technology makes it easier to track and manage vehicles, ensuring every journey runs efficiently and securely. The result? Lower fuel costs, less wear and tear on vehicles, and time savings all help the company’s profits.

Beyond operational efficiency, geofencing also elevates customer interactions. Real-time updates provide accurate delivery timelines, fostering trust and enhancing satisfaction. On the security front, it offers swift responses to theft and ensures drivers follow their routes. In essence, geofencing isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a smarter way to drive better business outcomes.