Fleet departments where teams are operating individually from home have been driving an increase in demand for fleet management software, says FleetCheck.

The company said the key development in recent months has been the need to access data online, by team members working from remote locations.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “If you have a small fleet department based in the same location or even the same room, it’s potentially possible to employ paper or spreadsheets for basic data handling, even if those methods have fundamental limitations in terms of their effectiveness.

“However, when that department has been scattered across several places, probably working from home, it becomes next to impossible and an online solution is the only answer, hence the increased interest in fleet management software.”

Golding said on average, FleetCheck had been singing up a new customer every day in recent months, throughout the Coronavirus pandemic - which has resulted in thousands of fleet managers running vehicles from their homes.

Fleets are using the Covid-19 pandemic as a moment to 'advance or consolidate', in their planning for the future, says FleetCheck.

Golding's views mirrored that of Stewart Lightbody, deputy chair of the Association of the Fleet Professionals (AFP), who said the Covid-19 pandemic is a "once in a generation opportunity" to change the way organisations think about their fleet operations. 

Golding said: “Demand has stayed quite strong all through the pandemic but there has been a definite increase since the summer and there are a couple of additional growth factors we have also seen which again are probably related directly to the home working situation.

“The first is demand for our driver walkaround app, which is linked to the need to ensure safety checks are needed for vehicles driven by those who are no longer office based and meeting the requirement in those instances for an online, auditable solution.

“Similarly, we are seeing demand from commercial vehicle fleets with O licences for software that is capable of handling Preventative Maintenance Inspections.

“Again, this is at least in part related to risk management for those who are home working.”