Effective use of data is key to helping fleets meet demands for greater productivity and compliance at a lower cost, says Richard Evans, head of business development at Jaama.

He told visitors at Fleet Management Live that the number of sources fleet managers can gain data from has increased significantly over the past 10 years, and this has added another dimension to the challenge of management.

“As fleet professionals, you need to ensure the data collected is the strategic information you need,” said Evans (pictured).

“It is important to be methodical in your approach, be clear on the objectives for collecting it and, more importantly, be clear on what are you going to do with the data when you have it.

“Collecting data and not doing anything wrong with it can be as bad, or potentially worse, than not collecting it in the first place.”

He added: “It is essential all data is centralised so you have a holistic view of your entire fleet operation and you are not a slave to a number of disparate systems that may become overwhelming, which may lead to trends being missed.”