By Kristi Webb, CEO, Element Fleet Management North America
Fleet management, like most industries, has been completely reinvented in recent years by a dedication to analytics. Fleet is now tech-focused. It’s data-oriented. And it’s global. All these factors will continue to drive trends as the calendar turns to the New Year.
Element Fleet expects our industry to continue evolving at an incredibly rapid pace in 2017. While there are many developments to be aware of, here are four we’re focused on as the New Year dawns:
Advanced analytics paves way for real time insights
Someday soon, a connected vehicle will send as much as 25 gigabytes of data per hour to the cloud. That’s a lot of data, especially when coupled with data from your customer orders and day-to-day operations. But how can all this information come together to provide value?
Advanced analytics offers a faster way to bring more sources of data together, delivering insights and recommendations about engine performance, weather and location, accident information and even driver behaviors – such as speeding, idling, and harsh braking – in real time.
How we keep drivers safe will continue to evolve
As insights from data become tangible, you can learn more about vehicles in your fleet, but also driver behavior. Advanced analytics can take your fleet a step further when it comes to safety. For example, telematics can report on a wide range of data, from seatbelt clicks to harsh braking.
Recently, Element helped ADT Security Services, a leading provider of security and automation solutions for homes and businesses, discover that, among their drivers, a history of harsh braking increases the prospects of a collision by up to 9 percent. Fleet managers at the company acted on this insight, assigning customized distracted driving modules and coaching sessions to these high-risk drivers.
The voice of the fleet manager will be heard
Fleet is becoming more integrated in the day-to-day operations and decision-making of industries with whom we work. We’re seeing many companies start to shift toward a model where fleet is part of the bigger picture.
Fleet managers are encouraged to get involved in discussions around organizational change and business-wide priorities. This elevated profile of fleet within organizations expands the skill set required of successful fleet management, including strategy, change management, finance and negotiation.
Automakers, transportation companies continue to make moves
Big car companies are making the news these days with specific investments in the sharing economy. Ford recently announced autonomous vehicle testing, becoming the first company to share a target date for the release of driverless cars. General Motors invested $500 million in Lyft.
It will be interesting to see how automakers and ride-sharing services both compete and come together in an industry that’s on the precipice of a complete renaissance.
What fleet trends are you following closely? Leave a comment or send us a tweet, @ElementFleet.
Piece authored by Kristi Webb, CEO of Element Fleet Management North America. Each month Fleet Management Weekly features insight from executives at Element Fleet Management.
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