bglen-2han – Throughout 2022 Technology Trends , fleets faced many challenges. Topping the list was a dramatic increase in fuel costs. Record-high costs affected fleet fuel budgets, making the largest fleet expense even larger. Inflation impacted costs for other fleet essentials too, like parts, fluids and replacement vehicles.
Supply chain issues plagued fleets as well, making it difficult to get parts and vehicles.
Making matters more complicated was the labor shortage. Drivers, trade professionals and technicians were hard to come by.
The survey showed significant year-over-year increases in using GPS to accomplish fleet goals, with productivity, routing, maintenance and fuel consumption topping the list.
These goals tie directly back to the key challenges fleets faced in 2022, suggesting that technology is helping them better manage the things they can control, despite a volatile environment.
When asked about the challenges they face, survey respondents indicated pressure is mounting for fleets. The degree to which respondents rate common fleet challenges to be extremely or very challenging has risen each year since 2021 — and in some cases, dramatically.
Key takeaways
- 96% of fleets using GPS fleet tracking software found it beneficial.
- Increasing costs were reported as the biggest challenge, followed by labor shortages and meeting customer demands, all of which grew year over year.
- Adoption of asset tracking has risen by 6% to 29% since the 2022 study.
- Respondents in the services industry indicate increasing use of field service management technology, with 38% of fleets scheduling jobs through dedicated software (compared to 19% the previous year) and 33% using an app to communicate with the field (compared to 12% last year).
- In the face of inflation, fleets are cutting costs by using GPS fleet tracking: respondents reported an average 9% decrease in fuel costs, a 17% reduction in accident costs and a 12% decrease in labor costs.