Digitalising walkaround checks and defect reporting is the number one reason that businesses say they want to adopt fleet management software (FMS), according to FleetCheck.

An analysis of the top five reasons mentioned by companies planning to buy FMS also included, in order, removing a reliance on spreadsheets, improving compliance, centralising fleet data and ensuring that key diary dates such as MOT tests are recorded.

Peter Golding, managing director at the FMS specialist, said: “This survey has been compiled from businesses who have contacted us over the last year with a view to adopting our software to improve their fleet management – and it makes interesting reading.

“The fact that walkaround checks top the list shows that there continues to be a high level of interest in moving away from paper-based systems for these essential processes and towards the improvements that digitalisation can deliver. Further to this thinking, it’s also noteworthy that ‘improving compliance’ is mentioned prominently in the survey.

“Looking at other results, it’s interesting that the desire to move away from spreadsheets remains a key factor in FMS buying. This has been an argument for the adoption of specialist fleet software for many years and, as fleet management becomes ever more sophisticated, the limitations of using a spreadsheet are becoming ever more apparent.

“Finally, the desire to centralise data is something that has very much been driven by post-pandemic conditions. More people are still working from home, including those involved in managing the fleet, and having remote access to information is essential to them.”

Peter added that sales of fleet software continued to be strong, with FleetCheck having seen 25% growth in client numbers since the start of the year.

“This is very much a growth phase for FleetCheck. We have just moved into new offices as a result of our ongoing expansion and the reason, we believe, is that our products are directly answering the needs of fleets – as shown in this survey.”