Almost all corporate side presentations during the Fleet Europe Forum in Rome had one common denominator: it is time to embrace the connected car to support the digitalized approach towards fleet management in order to boost usage and cost efficiency.
Kicking off the corporate presentation marathon in the Fleet Europe Village was Hyundai Motor Europe’s Head of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, Frank Meijer, with a to-the-point statement: clean mobility is a marathon, not a sprint. For FCEVs to become a valid alternative for conventional vehicles, fleets need to try the technology and gain experience for themselves, supported by app based solutions to optimise vehicle usage and gather data.
That is exactly what Daimler advocated during their presentation on Connect Me, a suite of connected services allowing fleet managers and leasing companies to keep an eye on their vehicles by geofencing, tracking & tracing, proactive maintenance and repair planning, continuous mileage updates, etcetera. Key benefits? Downtime is reduced and vehicle data can be integrated into fleet management systems for monitoring, analytical and thus cost-saving purposes.
The same message was proclaimed by Edward Kulperger from Toronto-based telematics provider Geotab. As one of its major customers, SIXT uses Geotab’s technology to differentiate business from private miles, allowing users to limit benefit in kind taxation.
Data is money
The state-of-the-art “ARI Insights” tool from ARI Fleet provides full transparency on fleet data, from whichever vantage point and both in general and at individual vehicle level, according to the company’s representatives Majk Strika and Dan Durrans. Analysing these data enables international fleet managers to pinpoint discrepancies and challenge operational lease companies in terms of cost management.
Representing the leasing business was Saskia Harreman from LeasePlan, who stressed the importance of a give-and-take partnership approach between clients and leasing companies to achieve optimum value throughout the lease spectrum. As fleet management is extremely complex, especially at a global level, the importance of specialist advice, a full cycle approach and a multidisciplinary take on fleet cannot be overestimated.
China: the odd one out
Less connected to tomorrow’s fleet management but very interesting nonetheless was the presentation by Knut Krösche (Director International Fleet, After Sales and Used Car) on Volkswagen Financial Services’ operations in China. The main challenges Volkswagen Financial Services is faced with, are China’s fickle and heterogeneous legislation and the tab it puts on the amount of license plates issued. But solutions in fleet management are definitely available and so fleet customers can rely on experienced partners to manage their China vehicle fleet with adapted services and an integrated management.