It has now become a norm for companies to provide transportation for their employees. Many companies have started using transportation management software to manage the fleet and organize transportation.
The fleet management software will have many features to ensure the safety of the employees and to track the vehicles. However, one important feature that employee transportation software needs to have is geofencing. In this blog, we will elaborate more on geofencing and its role in employee transportation.
What is geofencing?
A geofence can be described as a virtual fence that will alert you when a vehicle goes outside the pre-set boundaries. Technically speaking, it is a software that offers location-based service. The application alerts you when the mobile device with the app or the RFID tag enters or exits the virtual boundary.
The alert can be in the form of an app notification, a message, or a mail depending on how the software is programmed. This software application works with GPS. The two types of geofencing are active and passive. The active geofence’s operation depends on the end-user.
The user can switch on or off the service. The passive geofence, on the other hand, is always on. As long as the device is working, this tracking app will also work. Geofencing is used for location tracking, fleet management, asset tracking, billing tracking, marketing, audience management, and security.
How does geofencing work?
While developing the geofencing application, the developer uses Google maps to draw a virtual boundary. The boundary can be generic or a specific location. For example, if the app is designed to be used in a certain city only, then the developer will mark the city limits on the map.
If the vehicle goes out of the city limit, an alert is triggered. This application works with GPS to track vehicle movement. It also gives details on how long the vehicle has been outside the geofence and exactly where it exited the virtual boundary. The application also gives you real-time updates on the vehicle movement.
Role of Geofencing in Employee Transportation
Now that we have a general idea of geofencing and how it works, you may be wondering how it is related to employee transportation management. The main reasons for organizing employee transportation is convenience and security.
Employees need not worry about organizing personal transport or taking public transport to come to the office every day. The company takes care of it. When the company organizes transportation, they plan a route with pick up and drop points that are most convenient for employees.
Also, they also group employees travelling from the same location so that convenient transportation can be arranged. The role of geofencing in employee transportation is safety and vehicle monitoring.
Ensure Employee Safety
Employee transportation with geofence becomes even more important when the employee works at odd-hour shifts. During those times, public transportation may not be available. Also, it may not be safe for the employee to venture out alone.
When a company organizes transportation, the details of the driver and route are noted. In the worst case, if the driver takes a different route or goes beyond the boundary, the geofence will immediately send an alert. The concerned persons can immediately call up the employee and check if everything is fine.
They will also be able to track the vehicle and ensure that there is nothing untoward happening. In serious cases, the information can also be provided to the security persons to check that there are no problems for the employees in the vehicle.
Monitor Vehicle Movement
The geofence also helps the admin or logistics team monitor the vehicle movement. An optimized route is prepared and shared with the driver. Various parameters such as pickup and drop points, traffic congestions, safe routes, detours, and more are considered while planning the route.
Fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, and service are all calculated based on the distance traveled by the vehicle. The geofence will alert the authorities if the vehicle is going outside the set route. You will be able to monitor if the vehicle is being used for personal purposes and unexplained trips.
Conclusion
You can save a lot of time, effort, and money to manage your fleet by using an effective employee transportation management software. The geofence option in the software enhances your employee safety and also helps you monitor unnecessary vehicle movement.
To know more about how geofence can help enhance the function and performance of your employee transport management system, contact us.