How to Choose the Right Fleet Maintenance Software

If you’re currently in the market for new fleet maintenance software for your business, you have plenty of options to choose from. However, there are only a few platforms that are actually worth your time and consideration. How do you narrow your list down to find the right ones?

The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Fleet Maintenance Software

Fleet maintenance software is a centralized digital platform that automatically tracks, monitors, predicts, and streamlines various elements of a company’s fleet management program. It’s specifically focused on driving efficiencies, lowering costs, improving safety, and – ultimately – supporting a stronger bottom line for the organization.

Trying to manage a fleet without fleet maintenance software is like trying to start a fire with two small sticks when you have a butane torch sitting next to you – it just doesn’t make much sense. Fleet maintenance software affords organizations a number of distinct benefits, including:

  • Improvements in labor and productivity. Good fleet maintenance is often predicated on efficiency, productivity, and accuracy. Fleet maintenance solutions help by digitizing work order management, automating preventive maintenance scheduling, benchmarking labor with codified repairs, and even pre-scheduling shifts to ensure there’s less downtime (both for labor and assets).
  • Superior warranty capture. With fleet maintenance support, you don’t have to worry about missing out on warranties. The system tracks and reports on missed warranties. It also identifies failure patterns to ensure there’s OEM accountability in place. A good system will even measure the value of warranties to help you identify problem areas.
  • Total integration. In this day and age, you need your different applications and digital systems to talk to each other. Not all fleet maintenance software is created equal (so you’ll have to make a careful selection), but some of the best ones, like Cetaris, are capable of seamlessly integrating with more than 150 third-party tools and apps to prevent information silos. This is a huge win.
  • Advanced data and reporting. Finally, don’t forget about the importance of data. With fleet maintenance software, you’re not only able to collect more data – you’re able to analyze and understand it. This gives you the fuel needed to make proactive, evidence-based decisions that move your fleet (and organization) forward.

When you combine flexible benefits such as these, the value of fleet maintenance software becomes quite clear. At this point, it’s just a matter of integrating the right platform into your company’s tech stack.

Choosing the Right Fleet Maintenance Software for Your Biz

There are dozens of fleet maintenance solutions to choose from. However, not all of them are created equal. It’s important that you know what to look for and that you select the one that’s a perfect fit for your organization and your existing processes and technological infrastructure.

Here are several helpful tips:

  1. Identify Your Needs

Always start by looking in the mirror and identifying what your business needs (as it pertains to fleet maintenance and management). Make a list of everything that comes to mind. Then go back through the list and star the ones that are most urgent and important. These become your priorities in your search for fleet maintenance software. The solution you choose should check off as many of these “boxes” as possible.

  1. Evaluate Features

As you look at different fleet maintenance options, consider the individual features they offer. While these tools often come loaded with hundreds of different capabilities, you need to be realistic and zero in on the ones that you’ll actually use.

If a solution has 100 features, but you’ll only use three of them, it might not make sense to pay a premium for that specific software. Another one might only offer 50 features, but you know that 25 of them will be useful. That’s a much better use of your resources!

  1. Try a Demo

Once you have a shortlist of two or three possible options, ask to try a demo (or to at least get a walkthrough of the software). It’s helpful to see how it actually works and functions in real-time. This will give you a better idea of how well it’ll work for your organization moving forward.

Find the Perfect Fit

Choosing fleet maintenance software is all about identifying the right “fit.” There are plenty of options to choose from, so you’ll have to look for the one that seamlessly integrates with your own business and addresses your key weaknesses while supporting and extenuating your existing strengths.