Overseeing, organizing, and optimizing a company’s fleet of vehicles is a tough task – one for which fleet management operations depend on high precision and strong cooperation between divisions. A digital fleet management system is an essential tool to coordinate these operations.
To optimize efficiency and operational costs, fleet managers have to establish effective automated processes. The basis for it all: Solid fleet and freight data, ideally in real time.
In this article, we’ll discuss how mobile data capture tackles the specific challenges fleet managers face, from data accuracy to regulatory compliance.
Everyday challenges of today’s fleet management
Staying on top of fleet management demands a lot of effort and precise data. In their day-to-day work, however, today’s fleet managers face several roadblocks.
Manual data entry
Manual data entry is the enemy of efficiency. It’s not only slow: Typos and incorrect numbers result in inaccurate vehicle inspection reports, drivers’ logs, maintenance records, and compliance documents, compromising the reliability of fleet data. Tracking fleet data by hand – and then checking for and correcting errors – imposes a large workload on admin staff.
For the management needs of growing, dynamic fleets, manual data entry is woefully inadequate.
Load tracking
Keeping track of the exact location and status of loads is not trivial. However, today’s customers expect precise delivery times and real-time updates.
An inefficient tracking system reduces the ability to identify operational disruptions, causing delays, additional costs, and impacting customer satisfaction.
Compliance and regulatory management
Fleet management is subject to local regulations and requirements. Failure to comply can result in legal penalties, fines, and increased insurance costs. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that every vehicle inspection, maintenance log, driver qualification, and accident report is properly documented.
Administrative efficiency and scalability
Fleet management operations involve a host of administrative tasks, many of them time-consuming. With growing fleets, more demanding customers, and tightening regulations, this paperwork becomes an ever-larger burden.
Workflows based on physical documents and manual data entry scale badly. They eat up time and storage space, are prone to error, and make for poorly accessible data.
Streamline fleet management with mobile data capture
In the face of these challenges, it’s clear that there is a real need for innovative solutions.
The solution is close at hand. Ordinary smartphones meet all the requirements for accurate data capture: powerful cameras and the ability to run data capture software.
Scanbot SDK offers a variety of Data Capture Modules that are the perfect fit for your fleet management or freight drivers’ app. Let’s explore how you can use them to digitize fleet management workflows and enhance efficiency and accuracy!
VIN Scanner SDK
With the Scanbot VIN Scanner SDK, you can instantly capture VINs directly from trucks or cars. The SDK leverages powerful OCR technology to extract VINs accurately. They’re delivered in a machine-readable format ideal for automated processing in your fleet management system.
Where to use it:
- Vehicle inspections and maintenance: To ensure that inspection and maintenance records are matched to the correct asset
- Fleet inventory and asset management: To streamline vehicle movement tracking and real-time vehicle status updates
- Compliance and regulatory reporting: To record VINs during inspections and maintain up-to-date logs for audits and compliance checks
U.S. Driver’s License Scanner SDK
The Scanbot U.S. Driver’s License Scanner SDK quickly and reliably extracts data from AAMVA PDF417 barcodes, replacing slow and error-prone manual data entry with fast, automatic data extraction. The extracted data is parsed and presented in a human-readable format, and can also be processed by automated systems.
With mobile driver’s license scanning, you can stream workflows such as:
- Onboarding: To verify license validity and to record driver data in the fleet management system
- Regular compliance checks: To simplify and document regular driver’s license checks, as required in many jurisdictions
MRZ Scanner SDK
Personal identification documents such as ID cards and passports typically come with a machine-readable zone (MRZ). With the Scanbot MRZ Scanner SDK, you can quickly and accurately extract personal and document data from these MRZs.
Whenever you need to capture data from official identification documents, MRZ scanning is substantially faster than manual entry and all but eliminates human error.
Mobile MRZ scanning enhances workflows related to:
- International fleet operations: For fleets operating in multiple countries, MRZ scanning ensures fast and reliable recording of drivers’ personal information.
OCR SDK
The Scanbot OCR SDK reliably scans structured documents. Unlike ordinary flatbed scanners, its robust Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine extracts the text from the images, returning it in a machine-readable format. The SDK delivers searchable PDF documents or plain text, which is perfect for storing important documents.
Mobile OCR document scanning facilitates:
- Digitizing and automating fleet paperwork: To scan and extract data from vehicle registration documents, insurance forms, compliance certificates, and maintenance logs
- Expense and receipt management: To capture fuel and service receipts for drivers on the road
Document Scanner SDK
The Scanbot Document Scanner SDK delivers crisp document scans and comes with features such as automatic capture and cropping for user-friendly document scanning.
Where to use it:
- Processing transport and logistics documents: To scan transport documents, such as BOLs and PODs, and automatically process their data in the fleet management system
- Enhancing freight visibility: BOL and POD scans can be used to rapidly update customers on the status of their goods.
All Scanbot SDK Data Capture Modules return data in key-value pairs, perfect for automated processing in your backend system. With our solutions, you can not only extract relevant data with high accuracy, minimizing human error, you can also update your fleet management system in real time.
The SDKs run entirely offline, without connection to third-party servers. This ensures reliable performance in remote areas, as well as protecting sensitive data.
Available for integration into both mobile and web-based fleet management apps, the SDKs enable real-time data capture and significantly reduce the manual workload for drivers and administrative staff.
This is why freight logistics leaders like ArcBest are already using our Document Scanner SDK for BOL submission and benefit from real-time data updates.
Try the Data Capture Modules now right in your browser with our free Web Data Capture Demo. Or message us at sdk@scanbot.io to learn more about the Scanbot SDK Data Capture Modules.
