Can Remote Asset Management tracking help you with your management structure?

On: 22/05/2012 11:26 In: Vehicle Tracking

These days, firms are embracing flatter management structures and moving away from more traditional hierarchies. Apart from bringing advantages in terms of reduced management costs, it can also increase staff accountability and productivity. There are many types of enabling technology available on the market and this article examines how Remote Asset Management vehicle tracking can help to build a more efficient and effective management structure.

For example, any company which runs even a relatively small fleet of vehicles may have a management structure which runs through at least four layers, comprising the fleet manager, senior controllers, controllers and a range of administrative and mechanical support. In the past, this has been essential to maintain adequate intelligence on the whereabouts of the fleet at any given time in order to maximise fleet efficiency and availability. With the advent of Remote Asset Management vehicle tracking, many of these functions can now be subsumed within other roles, leading to a reduction in staff overheads.

With Remote Asset Management, there is no longer any need to rely on manual tracking and recording of distances travelled, routes used, mileage, stops and breaks. Real time software can now take care of all of these vital functions. Once the company vehicles have been fitted with GPS tracking devices and the software systems have been set up, then a wide variety of management information becomes immediately available.

It is a well worn business adage that what gets measured gets managed and this is an important facet of Remote Asset Management tracking. By measuring and monitoring all vehicle mileage, routes and breaks, it becomes possible to implement a more effective staff performance management system. Clear objectives and key performance indicators can be set with easily measurable targets.

These can be monitored and reported back to employees on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Experienced drivers and those exhibiting good practice would need fewer performance management sessions, whereas new drivers or any under-performing drivers could be managed more closely.

This type of performance management approach optimises management time and it can also serve to motivate the workforce. In particular, this type of real-time monitoring system lends itself very well to employee incentive schemes where optimal performance can be reinforced with rewards. In the case of drivers who display sub-optimal performance, Remote Asset Management tracking can provide sufficient evidence to support disciplinary procedures.

Ultimately, Remote Asset Management vehicle tracking has the potential to be a powerful management tool which can reduce the number of management and administrative staff necessary to run a vehicle fleet. It can also reduce fuel expenditure by ensuring that drivers adhere to agreed routes and avoid wasteful activities such as inappropriate engine-idling. In addition, it can help drivers to understand their performance and motivate them to improve.