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

The company carried out analysis of the top five reasons mentioned by companies who had contacted it in the past year with a view of buying fleet management software 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 FleetCheck, said: “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 interesting the desire to move away from spreadsheets remains a key factor in FMS buying.

“There 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 spreadsheetare 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.”

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

He added: “This is very much a growth phase for FleetCheck. We have just moved into new offices as a result of our ongoing expansion.”

In October, the company adopted a new corporate identity following a 12-month period that saw a 40% increase in revenue.