While it might not offer all of the functionality of a fleet management suite on your desktop, many functions such as vehicle tracking and driver behaviour can now exist on an app. We round up some of the best.
Teletrac Navman Director Mobile
Available on Android and iOS, this mobile app provides insight into where vehicles and assets are and what they are doing and allows you to easily and cost-effectively communicate with your mobile workforce.
Key features of the app include real-time location tracking to find a vehicle or asset anywhere, at any time. You can also view whether the vehicle is active and the speed it’s travelling.
The app also enables fleet managers to receive instant statistics about a particular vehicle’s status and offers messaging so you can easily communicate with the operators of those vehicles.
One feature we particularly like on this app is routing, where managers can instantly send a destination address with navigation instructions to a vehicle operator, providing turn-by-turn directions.
Pendragon Vehicle Management
The vehicle management company has developed a new free app that consolidates important vehicle-contract information with driver support functions in one convenient location.
The app gives drivers the ability to book a service or MOT, report a breakdown or accident, get their tyres changed, request a form to travel abroad, and organise glass replacement or repair.
Particularly useful features include allowing drivers to access traffic reports, data relating to fines, an overview of the BVRLA fair-wear-and-tear guidelines, and key vehicle-contract information, such as contract mileage, contract dates and P11D values. The app is available on iOS and Android devices.
Fleetio Go
Fleetio’s suite of cloud and mobile-based fleet management solutions helps businesses automate fleet operations, manage asset life cycles and track drivers.
Using the app, fleet managers can track, score and rank drivers, and manage maintenance, fuel, vehicle inspections, parts, vendors and more. They can also receive data about asset use, maintenance costs, fuel efficiency, parts and labour and perform inspections by completing customised forms on their smartphone or tablet and update data from anywhere.
The app is available on Android and iOS, and the company says it is aimed at fleet drivers too, as it can empower them to be more productive by providing an easy way to inspect vehicles, report issues and log fuel from their smartphone or tablet. Users can stay on top of vehicle maintenance with helpful reminders and maintenance history, as well as provide details via photos and documents.
Using comments and flexible user permissions, teams can customise access, facilitate meaningful conversations and successfully collaborate on fleet management tasks. Users can also manage multiple fleets within the app.
ODO
The start-up company is targeting small and medium-sized businesses with its new software as a service (SaaS) fleet management package. ODO has been created by technology company Drive Software Solutions and is designed for use not only by fleet managers, but also by HR managers, financial managers, business owners and SME business drivers on the go.
There are no upfront costs, with companies paying a monthly subscription for the service they use. The app can help managers track costs, vehicle-use levels, maintenance and servicing records, and run driver licence checks.
It is easy to use and deliberately built for non-technical users across the organisation – whether they are checking all company vehicles have up-to-date MOTs, insurance and service records, inputting a company car driver’s latest journey details, or just trying to work out when a specific vehicle is due for change. The app will be available on iOS and Android devices by June.
Chevin FleetWave Forms
Chevin has unveiled its new data collection app, FleetWave Forms, which it says has an advanced level of code-free customisation. Chevin says that, unlike most other fleet-specific mobile apps on the market, which are only designed for tasks such as rigid vehicle inspection, Forms is a flexible tool that allows users to custom-build data forms.
The app can be used to send tasks to workers in the field, and allows them to easily capture data such as signatures, notes and images. It is designed to work even when offline, on an easy-to-use app.
The app can replace any manual or paper-based data collection form – and can facilitate automatic uploads into FleetWave as soon as an internet connection becomes available.
Designed with drag-and-drop tools for ease of use, Chevin’s new form-building administrative software aims to allow managers to create bespoke data collection tasks, using features such as dropdown questions, free-text entry, date and time selection, decimals, geolocation stamping, signature capture and barcoding.
My Arval
The updated version of this app is yet to hit phone screens in the UK, but the My Arval software system is designed to give everything fleet drivers need to manage their cars all in one place. The digital portal for it is due later in the year and will allow drivers to book service and repair work, at times to suit them, and at Arval-approved workshops. It will also allow drivers to view all relevant information about their vehicle.
Drivers can also use the app to make an appointment or to report an accident and can store all of their documents in the app, such as their driving licence or fuel card.
Using the app, fleet managers will be able to access a wide range of information, including contracts, vehicle specifications, driver information, servicing, maintenance and repair details, invoices, mileage, duration and social feeds.
Jaama’s My Vehicle
This app developed by Jaama claims to deliver significant benefits to drivers and fleet managers alike, by providing a smart ‘self-service’ solution focusing on intelligent process-driven functionality that reduces the requirement for regular manual intervention from the fleet team.
Unlike other apps on the market, the app is able to provide drivers with the functionality to update their odometer readings, undertake daily vehicle checks prior to any journey and flag any defects which may require rectification.
They are also to record essential accident details and provide related photographs of the scene.
The My Vehicle app was designed after extensive customer, technological and usability research my Jaama. An interesting feature in particular developed by Jaama is that data uploaded by the drivers is linked to Jaama’s multiple-award-winning Key2 asset management system, and automatically updated. This automatic syncing of information leads to the automatic triggering of processes such as service, maintenance and repair procedures.