Route Planning Software: What Is It? Why Do You Need It? How Does It Work?

When it comes to planning route schedules, the devil is in the details. You have to collect all of your addresses, map out the shortest and most fuel-efficient route plans, and make sure you account for specific requirements like preferred time windows, vehicle capacity, driver or field tech skills, and much more. But what if you have multiple routes with hundreds, even thousands of deliveries/jobs to plan? Or what if you have multiple drivers/field techs to whom you need to assign routes? Or maybe you just want to create more efficient routes? 

That’s where route planning software comes in. This handy software can help businesses of all sizes plan out their routes more effectively from start to finish. It can give delivery and field service organizations the tools they need to serve more customers and generate more profits while they do it. 

If you’re looking for a way to make your next routes more efficient, route planning software is the answer.

If there’s a specific section you want to jump to in this breakdown of route planning software, visit one of the headings below:

• What Is Fleet Routing?
• What Is Routing Optimization Software?
• Free Routing Software: Too Good to Be True
• What Is the Best Route Planning Software?

What Is Fleet Routing?

If you operate a fleet of vehicles and have a team of drivers or field techs and are trying to decrease your overall operational costs while simultaneously trying to fulfill as many orders/jobs as possible, you’re performing fleet routing.

Route optimization planning software is designed to help businesses with fleet routing by planning efficient routes for deliveries, sales calls, or other fieldwork. The software takes into account the starting location, destinations, drivers/tech capabilities, and vehicles. 

It then calculates the shortest or fastest route between the points and optimizes for mileage efficiency to minimize fuel costs. The software can also be used to calculate the best route for multiple vehicles/teams and multiple sets of deliveries/jobs. This is especially useful for delivery companies and field service businesses. 

By using fleet routing software, businesses can save time and money by ensuring that their fleets are operating with the most efficient routes possible.

Fleet routing for deliveries

Getting goods from one destination to another is essential for any delivery business, but it can be a real challenge to optimize vehicle routing and scheduling in logistics businesses like delivery–especially as the number of orders and drivers grow. 

There are a multitude of factors to consider when routing for deliveries, including traffic patterns, delivery times, and the specific needs of each customer like the time they want their order or when will they be home to receive it. 

Fortunately, there are several delivery route planning software programs that can help businesses to plan and manage their fleet routes. By inputting basic data such as delivery addresses, driver particulars, vehicle capacities, and time window requirements, businesses can get an optimized route schedule with the best routes for their drivers. 

In addition, because of the real-time tracking capabilities, these tools can be used to reroute drivers in case of unexpected events like a last-minute order or cancellation. As a result, businesses can save time and money by using fleet routing software to optimize their delivery routes for any type of delivery business.

Fleet routing for field service work

Whenever a customer calls for service, one of the first questions that a company representative will ask is, “What is your address?” With that information, the company can determine which technician to send to the call. 

Assigning a technician to a job isn’t always as simple as assigning whoever is closest to the job. There are a lot of factors that come into play, like the skills that the technician possesses e.g. certification, experience with specific equipment required for the job, or the ability to speak a particular language. All of this gets even more complicated as you hire more technicians and get more service calls coming in. That’s where fleet routing comes in. 

Fleet routing is a method used by companies to determine the most efficient way for technicians to travel between service calls. By taking into account numerous factors like the shortest distance, lowest fuel cost, technician skills, customer requirements like time window preference, and many other factors, fleet routing can help ensure that each field tech is operating with the best available schedule. 

In today’s competitive market, efficient fleet routing has become essential for any field service company that relies on a mobile workforce.

What Is Routing Optimization Software?

Routing optimization software is commonly used by delivery companies such as food and package delivery companies, and also field service businesses such as utility companies or lawncare crews. This specialized software helps organizations plan and optimize their route schedules for better business efficiency.

Effective vehicle routing optimization software can help companies in many different ways. For starters, it can help improve customer service by ensuring that deliveries/service jobs are completed on time and that up-to-the-minute ETAs are communicated to customers. It can also help companies save time and money by allowing an operations route planner to import thousands of orders/jobs at once and have their routes automatically planned and optimized in seconds.  

If you aren’t familiar with the industry or are new to routing optimization software, you might wonder why you need advanced software to map out a route. After all, couldn’t you just use Google Maps?

Some businesses do try to get by with free routing software like Google Maps or MapQuest, but these options simply let you build out a list of routes instead of building an optimized route plan – with the algorithm taking into account all of the unique business requirements that a delivery or field service business needs to.

The takeaway is that routing optimization software is an essential tool for any organization that prioritizes the efficient delivery of goods or effective delivery of field services.

How does it work?

Routing optimization software makes the entire route planning and scheduling process much easier, and it all starts with orders or jobs. Rather than having to manually enter your addresses line-by-line, specialized software allows you to import thousands of orders/jobs in bulk in just a few seconds. It’s as easy as sitting back and watching your orders/jobs get mapped out in front of your eyes.

Then, you can optimize your routes based on particulars like driver schedules or field tech skills, vehicle capacity and specifications (e.g. refrigeration, lifts, etc.), and customer requirements (e.g. time windows, curbside drop-off or in-home delivery, etc.). 

The ultimate goal is to minimize travel time and operational costs while also focusing on providing excellent customer service. 

Something to remember is that each business will have its own unique needs when it comes to route optimization planning software. For example, a company that delivers food will have different route planning needs than a company that provides pest control services. Regardless of the niche your business is in, route optimization planning software can be a game changer.

Do I need route optimization planning software?

If you are a delivery or field service business of any size you need to utilize route optimization planning software. Still, you might wonder if now is the time. If you’re on the fence, here are five signs that it might be time to invest in this type of software:

1. You are experiencing service delivery delays or problems with customer satisfaction.
2. You are losing out on orders/jobs because you can’t meet customer demand.
3. You are wasting time and money with inefficient service delivery.
4. You are focused on improving customer service and reducing your operations costs.
5. Your teams are feeling stressed and overworked trying to provide effective service delivery.

If any of these signs sound familiar to you, then it’s probably time to consider taking the leap and implementing route optimization planning software into your business.

Free Routing Software: Too Good to Be True

Who wants to pay for software when you can get route planning software free of charge? If all software was equal then that would be a fair rationale, but the fact of the matter is, there’s usually a reason something is free.

Free map software like Google Maps and MapQuest exists, and some small businesses might try to make one of these tools work as a stopgap measure. The reality is these are not route optimization platforms, they will simply let you build a list of orders/jobs. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try free mapping software and see how it could work for your business, but many professionals quickly find that they end up creating more work for themselves and create new problems to replace their old ones. 

The good news is that the cost of specialized routing optimization software doesn’t have to be out of this world. OptimoRoute is the #1 rated route optimization platform and its pricing starts at around thirty dollars per month and offers a wide range of features, including a free mobile app for drivers/field techs. 

Also, keep in mind that many route optimization planning platforms, including OptimoRoute offer free trials, you can take the software for a test drive and get a real understanding of the ROI and business efficiencies it can create for your company. 

What Is the Best Route Planning Software?

Choosing the best routing optimization software is an individual process since it comes down to the specific features each business needs. A small restaurant delivery business with two drivers working in a small area will have different needs than an HVAC company with hundreds of technicians managing thousands of jobs. 

Here are some of the “must have” features you likely won’t want to compromise on as you look for the best routing optimization software: 

• Automated planning: Plan your routes weeks in advance by importing thousands of orders/jobs at once in bulk and having routes automatically created for you.
• Route optimization: Optimize for driver/field tech skills and availability, vehicle capacity and specifications, route distance, and efficiency, customer requirements like preferred time windows or days, and much more.
• Personnel management: Balance workloads equitably or by compensation level to keep a handle on expenses. Coordinate multiple team members for a single job as needed. Keep track of hours to limit overtime costs.
• Real-time tracking and route modification: Track your drivers/field teams in real time to make sure routes are being followed and to be aware of any unanticipated issues. Relay accurate ETAs to customers and modify routes in real time to handle things like last-minute orders or vehicle breakdowns. 
• Mobile app for drivers/field tech: Give your drivers/tech their route schedules, important order/job details, and navigation capabilities all in one app. Communicate changes and updates directly without wasting time on the phone.
• Customer feedback: Set up automated customer feedback requests for a completed job so you collect reviews and make improvements. 

These are key features of route planning software that you won’t want to miss out on, and that’s why we’ve made sure that OptimoRoute offers all of these and more. Just as important – OptimoRoute is completely adaptable to your unique business workflows regardless of whether you are a small or large company or a delivery or field service business.

Take your time to weigh the options and consider what your specific needs are and how the software you’re looking into can address them, and don’t be shy about taking advantage of a free trial. 

In the meantime, check out this comprehensive breakdown if you want to learn more about route planning basics.