J.J. Keller has officially launched FleetMentor, its online fleet management solution, after six months of beta testing. Totally web-based, FleetMentor bundles together more than 60 interactive tools and resources designed to help fleets more effectively manage operations, personnel and safety.
The program provides business information, including tools for creating salary and pay packages, help with DOT and OSHA recordkeeping requirements, tracking repair and maintenance costs and much more.
“FleetMentor integrates tools for all aspects of a fleet business into one subscription-based service,” says Rustin Keller, corporate Internet products manager for J.J. Keller. “It is not really high-tech, either. In fact, there is no set-up; no IT involved. You can start using the service five minutes after you buy it.”
All the information stored on the system is kept confidential, but in aggregate, it provides some useful insights into the state of the truck fleet business today, according to Keller.
“We are not watching the data, but we are watching the questions people ask,” he says. “Everybody out there is being squeezed by the same fuel costs, for instance, so everybody is looking for ways to get more efficient. People are definitely looking for the tools to do that.”
The company is also getting requests for multi-modal tools, says Keller, a sign that some freight is shifting to rail. “We certainly get requests for our products to be multi-modal,” he says. “Trucking is what FleetMentor is all about, but fleets want to know how to interact with ports and rail, for example, and we do cover that.
“In addition to fuel prices, safety, accident prevention, recruiting and retention always seem to be jockeying for the top of the importance list,” Keller says. “A fleet's safety record and its driver turnover rates are considered to be a key metric that prospective customers look at to help determine how well a fleet is managed. That hasn't changed and we don't see it changing.”
According to Keller, FleetMentor seems to be the best fit for small to midsized fleets of all types, 10 to 500 vehicles in size. Subscriptions are $795 per year, per user and there are also quantity discounts.
