7 Benefits of Geofencing Software for Field Operations

Geofencing plays an important role in making your last mile delivery efficient. Geofencing is leveraged to minimize FTAs (failure to attend) and improve the fulfillment of SLAs (Service level agreements) in the logistics and supply chain industry.

As the word suggests, geofencing is about fencing particular geography. It is a virtual boundary enabled by GPS tracking. Creating virtual perimeters with the help of geofencing tools helps in delivering a superior last mile delivery experience. You can set up alerts and triggers every time a person crosses or enters your defined geofences.

What is a Geofencing Solution?

Geofencing solutions use live location data to activate alerts, notifications, or in-app events, which helps determine whether the asset has moved in or out of a particular zone. Geofencing software developers integrate the geofencing API or SDK with existing software and maintain location triggers.

Common Use Cases for Geofencing Software Include

Marketing: Set-off proximity alerts for deals when app users are at the desired location

Tourism: Provide location-specific information based on traveler’s geo coordinates

Human resources: Tracking employees to see if they are at their designated sites

Zoning: Understand when vehicles or equipment leave or enter certain premises

Attendance: Determine if field personnel are within their earmarked geocoded area

A field management software with geofencing technology will trigger an action every time your vehicle or agent enters or exits a geofenced area, and the system will send an automatic alert or notification to keep you updated.

According to the recent study on telematics, nearly 70% witnessed improved driver behavior and more accurate resource utilization after introducing geofencing technology to their management operations. In the high-security transport and logistics domain, geo-fencing is essential as an effective deterrent against cargo theft.

For enhanced fleet management, organizations can benefit from using geofencing technology. It offers several advantages that can help you improve safety, reduce costs, and increase productivity throughout your fleet.

How can organizations benefit from applying geofencing technology to their field operations.

1) Preventing Vehicle Theft

Thefts of company vehicles and assets are common. Company assets require heavy investment and hence must be secured to avoid being damaged or misused. Geofencing helps in protecting organizational assets by providing regular alert notifications once a vehicle trespasses the geofenced location. This puts a serious cap on vehicle theft too.

2) Mitigating Expenses

A field management software enabled with geofencing technology can curb unnecessary wastages of the fleet, fuel, and time. Geofencing alerts ensure your drivers and delivery agents are not diverted to the wrong areas. In case your agent enters an incorrect location, the geofencing feature sends him an immediate alert guiding him to the right location. You save the time by traveling to the right location along with vehicle and fuel usage. The monetary gain is huge in the long run, plus this adds to the fleet and workforce efficiency.

3) Added Safety

With geofencing, you can track your vehicles and agents in real-time. It provides complete visibility into the movement of your field resources. If any incidents take place outside your geofenced borders, you can quickly locate your drivers and field agents to provide them with the necessary assistance. It assures safety in times of emergency or unwanted scenarios. Moreover, it arrests chances of vehicle theft and misuse of time.

4) Valuable Data

You can get detailed reports for all the geofenced areas with time stamps and validations. This gives the management a complete account of how the driver and agent are spending time on the field, if he has trespassed borders, etc. It also provides access to detailed fleet reports, which helps in evaluating the overall ROI with regards to routes, workflows, and field operations. With such granular data on the performance of geofenced areas, the organization can further decide the improvement roadmap as well as design new geofenced territories.

5) Scheduling Adherence

Your field operations depend heavily on meeting the SLA timelines. And with geofencing, companies can ensure these timelines are not compromised and follow the decided scheduling adherence. Geofencing alerts could be used to check if the assigned routes are being followed. In case of multiple deliveries, following the optimal workflow is critical, along with designated time stops. Geofencing triggers ensure that the schedule of your field operations is not breached.

6) Simplifying Communication

Be it coordination regarding a certain field task or tracking SLA violations, geofencing helps weeding out the communication challenges on the field. A good field management software built-in with geofencing technology helps send out triggered communication so that the field job is completed optimally. This could be sending out an alert to your customer when the delivery man reaches near the address, a push notification for a return shipment, or simply a route related update. Geofencing can be set up to improve the quality of communication on the field. This will also ensure that there are no frequent back and forth calls for clarifications, and the field process moves smoothly.

7) Better Fleet Management

Fleet management becomes a less complicated affair with the geofencing software. You can track vehicles’ movement outside and within the geofence to see how your fleet is used on the ground. You can apply safety measures and check the driver idling time by how much time the driver spends outside the geofence. Route planning can be made better, which will save fuel and cost wastages. Monitoring your fleet and getting real-time reports based on geocoded data points can help in real-time tracking of the fleet and optimize vehicle performance.

GPS-based geofencing software lends field service managers a significant advantage by delivering full transparency, operational efficiencies, and a higher degree of safety for critical shipments. Location-based geofencing could also play a key role in improving customer satisfaction by elevating the overall field service performance.