Top 12 reasons to upgrade your FMS now

Oct. 7, 2016
Your fleet management system (FMS) is one of your most important investments. Why should you consider upgrading a system right now, today, if you've got a system that's maybe 3-5 years old or so?

Say I'm a fleet, and the fleet management system (FMS) in my trucks seems to be working well. It's handling what I want it to, can track where my assets are, can get my drivers where they need to go, and my drivers are trained on it. The system is maybe three to five years old or so. Why would I want to rock the boat now and upgrade to a new FMS, with any change-out work that could mean and possibly a new learning curve I'll put my people through?

It's a key scenario, decision and investment for fleets of all kinds with today's norms of stiff competition, rate pressure, driver shortages, and big changes in regulations and technology. Fleet Owner spoke with six different fleet management system companies to explore this proposition and got many more than our target of 10 reasons; in the end, we chose two from each. They're not necessarily intended as greatest-to-least — one or all of them might be most compelling for your particular business.  

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He wrote about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined FleetOwner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he was a keeper of knowledge at FleetOwner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all-around trucking—and still turned a wrench or two. Or three. 

Aaron previously wrote for FleetOwner. 

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