8 things to look for before choosing a fleet tracking vendor

The importance of fleet tracking and real time visibility is well documented. In the post pandemic world, organizations are increasingly looking to build resilient supply chains with visibility solutions. But the market is flooded with many fleet tracking vendors, how do you choose one? What factors should you look out for? What features should you prioritize? Who are the recognized market leaders? Here’s an article that has all the answers:

When evaluating vendors for your fleet tracking requirements be sure to look for the following:

Customization

Logistics teams at different organizations are set up in different ways. Therefore, not every product will be able to serve as a plug and play solution for your organizational set up. This is where vendors who offer customization options to their customers score over their competition. Try to find yourself a vendor who would be open to making a few tweaks to their product to help it integrate seamlessly with your existing workflows.

Pricing

Investing in a fleet tracking solution can be a substantial investment for a lot of companies and it is important to find something that suits the budget. But, equal consideration should be given to ensure that there is no compromise with respect to the needs of your business. If you choose a solution that comes within your budget but if it is unable to bring any positive changes in the business, the investment loses its purpose. It is essential to do a cost-benefit analysis while choosing a fleet tracking vendor.

Implementation Capacity & Support

It is not unusual to find yourself in a situation where not all of your trips are being tracked by your software. A lot can go wrong. GPS devices may malfunction or truck drivers may withhold consent required for initiating SIM based tracking. It is therefore important to choose a fleet tracking vendor that can help you drive implementation of their tech solution. Further, be sure to choose a vendor that offers round the clock support across many different easily accessible channels.  

Training

Does the vendor offer training to the employees who will ultimately use the fleet tracking system? Understand if there is an on-demand training or free training provided to the people who will have final ownership of the solution. Good solutions are usually user-friendly and will require short to no training to be up and running effectively.

Exception Handling Assistance

Fleet tracking brings about visibility over your logistics operation. It will help you uncover exceptions in real time. Be it an unscheduled halt, a delay or a vehicle breakdown you can be sure of staying informed about. However, a fleet tracking software won’t help you respond to these exceptions. You’ll still need a team of well trained individuals to manage them. Setting up an exception response team can be challenging. Which is why it’s highly beneficial to select a tracking provider that offers add-on services like a dedicated exception response team in addition to fleet tracking.

Product Capability

Depending on the nature of business, commercial fleets have their own requirements. It is important to look out for companies that provide features that are a good fit to the requirements of one’s business. If your business revolves around high value cargo, you might need GPS smart locks. If your cargo is fragile, you might need to monitor driving behavior(over speeding and sharp turns) with OBD trackers.

Clientele

One is only as good as the company one keeps. It is crucial to be aware of the competence of your vendor before making a purchase decision. A quick look at their current clientele will tell you of the approval they enjoy in the market. It is also important to find out what these clients are saying about the vendor. A legit fleet tracking vendor should be in business for a few years and should have built some positive reviews. So before finalizing your vendor, check in your industry. Which vendor are your peers working with? Or ask your network for recommendations or leverage social media to gather some insights before making a decision.

In addition to the pointers outlined above we recommend you follow a “try before buy” approach. Try the product yourself for a short duration of time before finalizing a vendor. If you wish to explore the suitability of Intugine’s real time tracking platform get in touch with us here.