Why True Seamless Integration Makes a Difference for Drivers

Smart trucks and their related fleet management software have the potential to make a driver’s workday much easier and efficient. Today’s tools make it simpler to stay compliant, follow optimized navigation, ensure the health of the vehicle, and communicate with the back office.

However – as some drivers are already experiencing – a software system that is not truly well-integrated comes with unique problems that cause headaches and waste time. Before long, it becomes evident that rather than a single, integrated environment, you are navigating through a loose connection of siloed apps that don’t always play well together.

How Drivers Experience Technology Integrations

You’ve probably experienced it before in daily life: you’re using your smartphone to view a mobile version of a website and suddenly the app is asking you to re-log in. As you navigate to a different section of the same site, you’re asked for your password again. It’s frustrating and confusing, and you start to see that what’s going on behind the scenes is a workaround that has been pieced together after-the-fact.

It's not uncommon, as most mobile apps are created after a full website, and apps face different parameters and requirements. Other times new features are added, and workarounds must be created to integrate the new with the old. Whatever the cause, it becomes clear where the system is disjointed.

While re-logging in or going through extra steps is annoying for most of us, it is an  efficiency-killer and even dangerous for rig drivers. According to the FMCSA, a driver traveling at 55 mph who takes his or her eyes off the road for just 3.8 seconds travels the full-length of a football field in that time. Every time a driver has to work through a non-optimized user interface in an in-cab tablet, distractions and risks increase.

Out of the cab, workflow can also be interrupted by a lack of integration. Drivers waste precious time re-logging in throughout the workflow, or having to navigate back to a home screen to then dive back down into a separate app. Re-entering the same data in multiple places increases the chance for errors, while annoying workarounds lead to burnout and frustration.

These headaches for fleet drivers also translate into extra work for the back office, who must catch and correct errors, or spend precious time backtracking and researching issues like unassigned drive time (UDT) or other missing information. For management, a lack of integration causes problems as the fleet’s needs change and expand. Without an open and cohesive environment, simply tacking on extra apps and features can create a problematic mix of disparate tools that does not scale.

Conversely, a software system that properly integrates its tools and add-on apps streamlines tasks from the driver’s cab to the back office. Rather than worrying about navigating through various environments and reentering the same information in multiple places, team members can simply focus on entering and receiving the information they need so they can get back to their more important tasks. They can trust that their tools are working together properly behind the scenes, and that all the parts of the system will come together to deliver a single, integrated experience. Rather than adding headaches, the tools make tasks easier and faster with fewer errors.

Experience Seamless Fleet Software Integrations

As a leading provider of fleet management software, Platform Science spends special attention on ensuring its environment is truly integrated and offers a seamless experience for drivers, back office, and leadership. Because of its open nature, tools can be easily added and synced with the overall workflow experience for users. Additionally, all apps in our robust ecosystem of partner add-ons – from which fleets can select additional tools to further customize their system – are pre-vetted and configured to integrate seamlessly.

In the real world, this looks like a driver receiving a load from the back office with a link to a route. By clicking on the link within the load, the driver is automatically ported to the navigation app with the location automatically loading. Small but helpful improvements like these add up to big differences; our customers have reported saving up to 5 minutes per load thanks to the improved integration in their workflow.

In an economy where fleets are all trying to do more with less while actively fighting driver attrition, better workflows and easy-to-use tools improve both driver experience as well as the data quality needed to make smarter business decisions.

Contact us today to learn more about our seamlessly integrated tools, and the difference they can make in your fleet operations.