A Guide to Route Planning Software: What Is It Used for?
Running a fleet of commercial vehicles can be complicated and costly. Routes must be planned with the utmost precision. If they are not, it can cause major disruption to your shipments. In turn, that will affect your customer service and your bottom line
That is why using route planning software is fast becoming an industry standard for any company that runs delivery vehicle operations. Problems can be eliminated and greater efficiency can be attained when you use route planning software
Check out the following helpful guide to find out exactly how the software is used and how it can benefit your business.
Route Planning Software Is Used to Enable Greater Efficiency
The primary purpose of route planning software is to plan the routes of vehicles in advance. You can determine how long a certain route takes to complete, what the shortest route is, and how long it will take drivers to deliver items, taking into account things like parking, unloading, and completing paperwork in addition to the journey times.
With access to a wealth of information and software that does all the important calculations for you, your business’s route planning can become seamlessly efficient.
Route planners do much more than the above, though. For instance, the excellent delivery route planner from Circuit helps drivers to stop sitting in traffic because they can easily add, delete or reoptimize multiple stops while on-route and find addresses fast with the inbuilt GPS.
Rerouting Becomes Simpler
Some route planners come with real-time updates, such as traffic news and weather conditions, so that drivers can reroute as necessary to avoid congested roads and unfavorable conditions.
Rerouting when necessary in an optimal way also enables your company to continue delivering undisrupted customer satisfaction.
You Can Save Money
Finding the best routes is easier when you use route planning software, and when you identify the shortest and most efficient routes, you can save a lot in fuel costs.
In fact, some reports state an optimized delivery route generated by route planning software can save companies between 20% and 40% in drive time and fuel costs.
Route Planning Software Takes Variables into Consideration
Route planning software not only finds the shortest routes for your delivery drivers, taking real-time situations into account.
It also considers how many stops the driver needs to make and variables like the vehicle capacity and the availability of drivers within specific timeframes, as well as the different time windows that customers have been promised, such as morning or afternoon deliveries.
You can plan complex multi-stop routes with route planning software, which again, creates greater efficiency and heightened customer satisfaction.
You Can Track Drivers
The software can also be used to keep tabs on your drivers. You can make sure that all drivers are following their routes correctly, not making any unnecessary stops, and are following safe driving practices.
When you are able to track your drivers at every step of the way, you ensure every driver follows company protocols and the delivery process goes as smoothly as possible.
Route Planning Software Equals More Satisfied Drivers
You have seen how route planning software creates greater efficiency and how that leads to customer satisfaction. But by using the software, you also create greater driver satisfaction.
When the software is used to ensure drivers do not get stuck in traffic and do not fall behind on their schedules, the drivers will be happier. And a happy workforce means a productive workforce.
Furthermore, your drivers are the face of your company, as they are the ones interacting with your customers on a daily basis, so having happy and satisfied drivers benefits your business too.