Fleets including larger vehicle operators are still wedded to using spreadsheets despite their extensive limitations.

FleetCheck is urging the industry to educate businesses about the disadvantages of using spreadsheets.

So says FleetCheck, which believes the fleet software industry should do more to educate businesses about the disadvantages of spreadsheets when it comes to managing company cars and vans.

Peter Golding, managing director, said: “If the fleet software sector could persuade just a relatively small percentage of fleets to set aside their spreadsheets and use specialist software, both the industry and general standards of fleet management would grow exponentially.”

He added that despite perceptions that spreadsheets only remain prevalent in the fleet SME sector, this is not the case.

“We quite regularly come across fleets of more than a thousand vehicles where there is no specialist software in use and they are being managed by a combination of spreadsheets and paper systems that cannot help but be producing poor results.”

Golding summarised: “Good fleet management software will automatically draw in data from a wide variety of reliable sources, enable you to put in place a policy infrastructure, and essentially only demand your attention when tasks need managerial action. It will also provide a high level of transparency over your fleet, operationally and financially, as well as aid compliance.”

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