5 disadvantages of using Excel for fleet management
Excel is a versatile, relatively intuitive and low-cost tool. At least at the beginning it is normal for companies to use it to manage complex activities. But while Excel can be an excellent tool for entering tabular data, using simple forms and acting as a database, it is not designed for such a complex and multifaceted activity as managing a car fleet. In fact, there are many problems with updating and sharing and, in the long run, it can lead to mistakes and waste of time in fleet management that could easily be avoided.
5 main disadvantages of using Excel sheets for fleet management
1. It requires significant collaborative effort
It is not at all obvious that all the people involved in fleet management manually enter and update all the required data promptly and in the correct way for all aspects relating to the vehicle (expenses, km travelled, deadlines, availability, maintenance, etc.) and then share them to the right people at the right time.
2. Difficulty in setting up Excel files easily and maintainably
Structuring Excel files so that they are simple to compile, reusable and maintainable over time is a completely trivial task. The files should be able to predict and make manageable a series of unknowns (what happens, for example, when a new vehicle is added and one is removed?). These difficulties are the basis of the next point:
3. Easy occurrence of errors and problems
It often happens that incorrect data is entered or the update is postponed with the risk of it falling into oblivion. The more people involved in the fleet management process, the more difficult it will be to maintain correct and regularly updated data on all files.
4. Lack of data integration
Excel is unable to interact smoothly with other systems without experiencing problems exchanging information. It therefore becomes very complicated to collect and process data in one place and easily integrate with external suppliers and services.
5. Waste of time and waste of human resources
The lack of automation in the management of Excel also presents the problem of the great waste of time of data entry by hand. All that time, spent on boring and routine work, which can be easily and much faster managed by software, involves a huge waste of human resources that could be occupied in jobs that are much more significant for the business on a strategic level.
Support from technology: fleet management software
It is clear that, given the premises, monitoring costs, as well as planning and respecting budgets will be extremely difficult. This is why there are more and more companies that use turnkey or customized software to manage their fleet. Of course, software involves an initial investment which however pays off over time by offering a series of advantages that lead to significant savings in terms of time and resources, both human and economic.
Fleet Manager, for example, led to the optimization of the use of the fleet of two well-known German automotive companies by 40% and 42% respectively. Considering that we are talking about car fleets of around a thousand vehicles each, the savings were considerable.
Among the advantages offered by Fleet Manager we include:
• ease of use (via intuitive and profiled interface)
• immediate sharing of data
• scalability (removing and adding vehicles, as well as adding and removing users are operations regularly foreseen by the application, which do not force you to review the entire workflow architecture
• alerts and notifications (possibility to automatically alert in real time about deadlines, faults, malfunctions, etc.)
• GPS telematic control of routes, driving style and alerts for reporting faults and low battery
If you are interested in finding out if Fleet Manager is right for you and want to see a demo of the platform, contact us without obligation!