For businesses with logistics departments and teams who regularly travel as part of their roles, an efficient transport management strategy is essential.
As many major businesses start bringing their logstics departments in-house, and others look set to follow suit, the need for a streamlined process is more present than ever before.
Making the most of the latest technology is a great way to improve your transport management processes, but it’s important that you choose the right solutions and learn how to intergrate them into your strategy.
In this article, we explore the ways you can make the most of technology and software to ensure your business’s transport processes are as efficient and effective as possible.
Use A Virtual Credit Card
For many employees who are in the transport sector, a company credit card is crucial. These cards can allow your staff to buy fuel and other essentials that they need quickly, and then claim the items as a business expense. The issue with company credit cards and expenses is managing them, and this can take a lot of time and effort.
Thankfully, virtual credit cards, such as those offered by Payhawk, can save your management team and staff time when dealing with employee expenses. The cards are digital, and data is automatically uploaded onto the company’s expenses management platform. As such, organisations can track expenses instantly and get up-to-the-minute data on costs.
Check Out Fuel Consumption Trackers
As well as travel expenses, you can also track your team’s fuel expenses, including how much petrol or diseal they use in each journey, what fuel they use for personal trips and how much they pay per litre for fuel.
With this information, you can then ensure that your company only pays for fuel used for work trips, and potentially reduce your fuel costs. This information can also help you to set prices for deliveries, as you can clearly see how much fuel costs your company per mile. These tools are helpful and can save you time, as you won’t have to manually check fuel costs and review vehicle consumption.
Explore Fleet Management Software
If more than one team member travels for work, whether it’s in a company car or their own vehicle, then you can make the most of innovative digital fleet management tools. You might not define your company transport as a ‘fleet’, particularly if many staff use personal cars for work travel, but while they are working these vehicles are classed as workplaces.
If your team regularly use their own cars for work, then you could consider getting them company vehicles. This approach can mean a lot of administration, but fleet management software tools can ensure that you have everything you need in one place. You can then save time and ensure that your company fleet is compliant with all relevant regulations. With fleet management software, you can also intergrate all of your other information, including expenses data and fuel consumption records, so you have everything you need in one place.