This feature is the third in a series of weekly articles discussing fleet management and its relevance in the Caribbean context. This series is being authored on behalf of and sponsored by Cylo Tracking Limited, one of the nation’s foremost solution providers for fleet management services.

Investing in a fleet management system can be a daunting challenge.

With an organisation’s fleet being one of the most expensive assets, selecting a solution to manage this asset base is a decision which can have an impact on your business for years to come.

The right solution enables companies to track and maintain their fleet in a cost-effective manner and can even provide insights for growth.

Moreover, a poor or mismatched solution can soon become a burden on operations or be so "user unfriendly" that it is rarely used. This can be tragic for small and medium enterprises.

So, with the many fleet management solutions available in the local market today, how do you find the best match for your business? In this article we will provide you with a guide through the most relevant criteria that should comprise your evaluation process.

There are six main areas that should be addressed when evaluating any solution for internal stakeholder use within an organisation. These are:

1. The solution feature set (and its relevance to the business’s needs)

2. The user interface

3. Scalability

4. Training

5. After-sale support

6. Cost

The solution feature set and scalability address what can be achieved by the organisation through implementation of the solution.

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While the user interface, training and after-sale support criteria determine how well the solution and solution provider support the organisation in driving user adoption and engagement of the solution. No solution can be productive if it does not address all these areas (functionality, adoption, and engagement). And no solution can be effective if the return on investment (determined by cost) is not positive.

The solution feature set

The features provided by the solution of your choice should address the challenges currently incurred by your company as well as one or two features that can help you strategise for growth. Companies in different industries have different requirements. Companies of different sizes will also have different requirements.

For example, a small company with a small fleet should prioritise real-time GPS tracking and insights to reduce operational costs as their foremost considerations.

For companies with mid-sized fleet, their focus should be identifying a GPS tracking system that has all the amenities of an entry-level fleet management system along with some advanced telematics features. In addition to vehicle diagnostics, reduction of fuel consumption, good user interfaces, and driver behaviour analytics.

For large companies, priorities can be narrowed down to detailed vehicle diagnostics such as monitoring engine temperature, on-off time, stop