Many drivers and fleet managers in the industry aren’t satisfied with their fleet management software solutions.

The main concerns?

  • Hard-to-reach customer support that isn’t available 24/7
  • Simple tasks are complex and time-consuming
  • Drivers and back-office staff are struggling to adopt glitchy, unreliable technology
  • Scalability of most fleet management solutions is questionable

While there are many fleet management software solutions in the market, not all of them are good quality. The user experience, quality of support, and engineering make a difference in a fleet’s cost-efficiency and profitability.

Here are five signs that you may not be getting a high ROI on your fleet management software.

1. You can’t reach customer support 24/7

Are you struggling to get ahold of customer support? Not being able to get in touch with a real person may impact your fleet’s bottom line and efficiency.

If you are able to reach a rep, are they under-trained and unhelpful?

An understaffed and undereducated support organization is often a symptom of broader issues like:

  • A flawed product that leads to a higher call volume
  • A poor internal understanding of the product and the market they serve
  • A higher emphasis on sales than customer success

Think of your fleet management solution as an extension of your company and team. Reliable customer support means fleet managers won’t get excessive calls from drivers. 

Poor customer support causes frustration and severely impacts operations. Every minute spent on hold is one not spent on your customers. You deliver top-notch service, so shouldn’t your fleet management software provider be held to the same standard?

Here is what Holly and Joe Mrazik had to say about customer service when they switched from Omnitracs to Motive:

“We are so used to being put on hold for 30 to 40 minutes when trying to get support in the past. So we were amazed by how quickly we got to talk to a person who actually knew what they were talking about. We love the customer support.”

Eric Stallings, Safety Manager at Sierra Mountain Express, says that Motive’s support is “100 times better.” He adds, “In the past, we had limited hours and had to wait 30 minutes to speak to a person. With Motive, the support is 24/7. We simply call in, hit 2, and immediately get on the line with a rep.”

Here are some quick figures from Motive’s support team (based on 2018 data*):

  • Support responded to 90 percent of customer emails in less than 20 minutes
  • Phone pickup rate: 95 percent
  • Customer satisfaction rate: 91 percent
  • 73 percent of phone calls were answered in less than 60 seconds

*Data source: Motive customer service database

2. Your drivers are complaining

A constant stream of driver complaints means there are issues with the software. It could also indicate an overall level of driver happiness. Frustrated drivers who don’t feel supported may look for work elsewhere, costing your company time and money in driver turnover.

Your success with any technology is predicated on your team’s ability to use it. Therefore, the efficacy of your business is dependent on the ease-of-use and reliability of your fleet management software.

“Our drivers like the Motive system a lot better. Our old fleet management solution kept kicking the drivers out and causing frustration. Motive has been a lot simpler for them to use.” — Matt Myers, Fleet Supervisor at CSX.

According to an independent study, the Motive fleet management solution is 50 percent easier to use.

3. Adding extra modern functionalities is always a challenge

Some fleet management solutions have been around for decades.

A positive, right? Not always.

The problem is that those platforms were built for an older set of requirements. Today, the trucking industry has many more challenges, which often require new functionalities, tools, and integrations.

Adding extra functionality is a significant engineering challenge that many have struggled with, degrading the user experience and putting compliance at risk.

Motive is an intuitive, modern solution that is easy to scale with. Moreover, with the Motive App Marketplace, our industry-leading third-party integrations can help any fleet to improve efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and increase profitability.

We understand that every fleet may have different requirements, and our platform accommodates accordingly. With the Motive App Marketplace, you can customize your fleet management solution to fit your needs.

4. Asset tracking and increasing dispatcher efficiency are administrative burdens

Driver detention is an industry-wide problem that can cost fleets up to $1,280 per driver per year. Many fleets in the trucking industry are struggling with extended detention periods and dispatcher inefficiency because they don’t have the right tools.

If you don’t know what your average dwell time is, how to minimize that time by becoming more efficient, and how to automatically track your vehicles, these are clear signs that your fleet management software isn’t providing you the right information.

The Motive fleet management solution empowers its users with the following features:

  • Real-time GPS tracking: GPS tracking with location history for analyzing routes, eliminating paperwork and administrative burden, and increasing efficiency.
  • Geofencing: Virtual parameters inform you whenever a driver enters or exits a specific location. This also enables you to minimize detention time by identifying where drivers are being held for extended periods.
  • Facility Insights: It is a robust library of 60,000+ geofenced facilities that shows you when trucks arrive at a facility, when they leave, and the average dwell time.

With the right tools, data, and insights, you can increase dispatcher efficiency, track your vehicles more effectively and easily, and reduce detention time that directly affects the bottom line of your company.

5. You are struggling with driver coaching and improving fleet safety

A collision on the road can cost you thousands of dollars in damages, court cases, and lost business opportunities.

Your fleet management solution should enable you to easily identify at-risk drivers, simplify driver coaching programs, and track improvements in driving behavior over time.

It should be a cause of concern if you cannot easily find any of the following information in your fleet management software:

  • How safely your drivers are on the road
  • The number of critical safety events, such as hard acceleration, cornering, and braking
  • Which drivers require immediate assistance and coaching
  • Which drivers are showing improvement since you started a driver coaching program

The Motive fleet management solution combines all this information and more in one place.

Drivers are ranked on the basis of safety scores, so you can easily identify the best- and worst-performing drivers in your fleet.

The Motive fleet management solution also integrates seamlessly with the Motive Smart Dashcam.

You can use video to make driver coaching sessions significantly more productive. With the Smart Dashcam footage, coaching is based on facts, not assumptions. You also have video evidence in case a driver, who is not at fault, needs to be exonerated.

Nybll, a leading health-centered food service provider, recently managed to exonerate a driver with the help of the Motive Smart Dashcam.

Here is what Keven Thibeault, the owner of Nybll, has to say about it:

“A few months after we installed Motive’s Smart Dashcams, we were involved in a collision, and if we were sued, it would’ve probably cost us half a million dollars, minimum. But because we had video proof, we were exonerated.”

You can read Nybll’s full story here about how they achieved positive ROI within months of using Motive.

If you have any questions about the Motive fleet management solution and how it may help your business, call 844-325-9230.