Do Commercial GPS Systems Work for Your Fleet?

As a business owner, it is important to make purchasing decisions that balance cost and functionality. New assets that improve your business can be helpful and even essential, but buying without considering what you really need can do more harm than good. For businesses that have many workers out on the road making deliveries or servicing clients, location tracking can be a useful tool in the right contexts. It's important to evaluate your company's needs to determine whether you might need to invest in commercial GPS systems or just in standard consumer models.

When considering the use of location-based tracking for your vehicles, it's important to evaluate the size of your fleet. If you only have a few vehicles on the road, fully featured commercial GPS systems can be overkill, but using tracking to manage dozens of trucks makes planning much easier. Consumer models function perfectly fine if you're mainly looking for better navigation for your drivers. Business oriented services usually offer remote management software that makes scheduling routes and revising them throughout the day much easier.

On the other hand, if you have many drivers but their routes do not vary much from day to day, a consumer device may be all you need. A few basic units should keep your drivers informed when they need to be but keep your costs to a minimum. Commercial GPS systems work well when plans change frequently throughout the work day. If you run a repair service where jobs are scheduled, cancelled, and revised on the fly throughout the day, a management system can be invaluable for even a smaller fleet of trucks.

Another consideration while looking for location tracking involves how much you need to know about your vehicles. Commercial GPS systems are usually permanently installed devices that are active at all times. With these devices vehicles can always be accounted for, even when they are not being driven. If you are worried about where your fleet goes after work hours come to a close, you may be comforted to be able to check up on your vehicles. In smaller scale operations or for businesses where drivers use their own cars this can be less important.

Finally, the type of vehicles that you manage can weigh in on your decision. Commercial GPS systems can offer navigation directions that are geared for large trucks. If your drivers are concerned about clearance heights and tiny roads on their routes, this information is incredibly valuable. If you are working with smaller cars and consumer-sized automobiles, these issues are nonexistent. A regular navigation unit should offer everything necessary to get to the destination and will avoid taking unnecessary detours.

Choosing a consumer or enterprise solution usually involves balancing these considerations and choosing what really works for you. While a centrally managed service is exciting and feature-rich, you may not need the latest and greatest product to get the job done. Still, many features are worth the extra expense and there's always the future expansion of your fleet to keep in mind.