Sharing Data With Your Drivers

Fleets that are leveraging telematics data are doing so because they are looking for areas of improvement. Whether it is fleet safety, better maintenance management, reduction in operating costs, or otherwise, it all begins and ends with your drivers.

Let’s face it, fleets place an enormous amount of responsibility on their drivers. So it pays to ask the question: “are you providing your drivers with telematics data?”

If the answer is no(or if you are unsure), there is a good chance that you are limiting your fleet’s ability to move the needle for any area of improvement that you might be seeking. Even if you are providing some data, chances are you aren’t pulling back the curtain to its fullest extent.

Improvement through information

If you are currently tapping into your fleet’s telematics data, we would be willing to bet that you have a number of dashboards to measure key metrics and performance. Those same types of reports can be turned into a wealth of information for your drivers through the use of scorecards, leaderboards, and more.

Driver Scorecards

Looking for a way to provide one on one feedback to your drivers regarding driving habits? Look no further than scorecards. These individualized reports provide a wealth of information that allows you the opportunity to provide constructive feedback for every driver in your fleet.

It might be that a particular driver is great in one area and struggles in another. Both data sets are incredibly valuable to both the driver and the fleet. Positive areas can be opportunities for drivers to cross-train or mentor. Areas in need of improvement can be carefully monitored and goals can be set to course correct.

Leaderboards

Who doesn’t like a little healthy competition? We are competitive by nature and tapping into the “if you aren’t first, your last '' mentality can help your fleet make significant progress in a very short amount of time. Gamification is a proven method to not only improve fleet performance but also can impact driver retention.

Run a month-long contest that is aimed at improving in one specific area and incentivizing the drivers. Once you have the game established, make a public leaderboard that shows daily progress by each driver. Celebrate the small wins on the way to the end goal. Over time, change the game to focus on other fleet improvement areas as they arise.

Avoid Data Overload

We will always advocate for sharing as much data with your drivers as they can manage. The key to that is knowing when they cross the tipping point between data absorption and overload. Finding the sweet spot isn’t as difficult as you might think, you just need to be creative in how you present data to your drivers.

Approaching data like an onion

Like an onion, there are always additional layers of information that you could provide to your drivers. Taking the onion approach means that you present data to drivers in a way that allows them to peel back the layers, as needed, for additional information.

A great example of this lies within the driver scorecard that we mentioned earlier. The scorecard itself is a very easy-to-digest report that only focuses on a number of key metrics. But within the scorecard, there is additional data that helped build the scorecard. Allowing the driver to tap into that data, especially in areas where improvement is needed, can be incredibly helpful.

Building a Fleet Management System With Drivers In Mind

If your current telematics provider doesn’t allow you the opportunity to share data with your drivers, you are missing an opportunity to improve. Driver buy-in is one of the most critical aspects of any fleet initiative, and allowing them to see where they are improving and where additional work is needed is vital.

Connect with our team today to learn more about how Geotab and its integration partners can help you build a fleet management system that promotes data sharing and improves the data-driven process.