This is the first in a series of weekly articles that will discuss fleet management and its relevance in the Caribbean context. This series is authored on behalf of and sponsored by Cylo Tracking Ltd, one of the nation’s foremost solution providers for fleet management services.

From the TTPS vehicles patrolling our nation’s streets daily, to cross-country courier services such as Fedex, UPS or Aeropost, many local organisations across all industries rely on vehicles to transport people and/or goods from one location to another during the course of their daily operations.

This set of vehicles, which are used in an operational capacity to meet the organisation’s ends, is known as its fleet, and is often one of the most expensive assets for any organisation.

For this reason, proper fleet management can become essential to the efficient operation, and maybe even the survival, of the organisation.

So, what does fleet management entail?

Fleet management is the use of processes and procedures by a company to organise and co-ordinate work vehicles.

This function is necessary to improve efficiency and safety, reduce costs, and provide governmental regulatory compliance.

There are three main enablers behind every modern organisation’s fleet management efforts:

1. The people: the fleet manager or an outsourced service provider

2. The technology: the fleet management system

3. The data: the information gathered from the fleet management technology

The fleet management system is a solution comprising of:

Hardware

This hardware is in the form of telematics/ IoT (internet of things) devices installed in the company’s vehicles.

These devices store and send vehicle data over a telecommunications network and the cloud to be analysed by the associated software platform.

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Some of the hardware used in fleet management systems may include, but are not limited to, carport dongles, dash cams, tablets and smart phones.

Software

The software receives the data from all the vehicles, collates it, analyses it and presents it in graphical form, tabular form and reports on an online platform.

For modern organisations, the fleet management system aides the fleet manager by automating many of the administrative, maintenance and communication tasks involved in the department’s operations.

This allows the fleet manager to execute more informed decisions in a quicker time frame, resulting in efficiencies for the organisation.

Some of the more specific benefits to the organisation that can be derived through the implementation of a fleet management solution are:

• Reduce labour and gas costs

• Remain in compliance with state and federal regulations

• Locate and track fleet vehicles

• Manage vehicle maintenance

• Improve fleet and driver safety

• Optimise cost-savings

In the local context, many of Cylo’s customers can attest to immediate improvement in their operations after implementing such a solution. Some of the more