By Reinier Willems, International Marketing Director, LeasePlan International
The day-to-day basics of managing hundreds, or even thousands, of vehicles and drivers are very demanding. That can mean opportunities for adding value are frequently overlooked, either because they’re not noticed, or because there simply isn’t enough time in the day to even consider them.
But what if you could easily access real fleet and market insights – to take the guesswork out of managing a global fleet and start really improving your operations?
The three types of insight
If you want to make any kind of improvement in global fleet management, the first step is to understand where you are currently, and where you want to be.
The key to understanding where you are is data-driven insight, and for global fleet managers there are 3 types they’re interested in:
1. Fleet insight
Fleet insight is the information you need to have a clear view of your fleet – both locally and globally.
It’s the information that tells you where your vehicles and drivers are, what they’re doing, and any potential areas of risk. This insight gives you a powerful way of seeing where there are opportunities to improve productivity and efficiency, but if you want to get a hold of those insights, you need a robust reporting system in place.
With all of your fleet data collected and consolidated, you’ll get valuable insights into:
• The total cost of operating your fleet
• Detailed risk profiles of your drivers
• Emissions data that can help simplify regulatory compliance
• What you’re actually spending vs. budgeted figures
2. Market insight
A lot of the costs associated with managing a global fleet hinge closely on market forces. If you want to minimize the cost of keeping your fleet on the road, you need to see and understand them.
To do their job as efficiently as possible, international fleet managers need visibility of:
• Vehicle list prices and residual value developments
• Fuel price indices in every country you operate in
• Key economic indicators such as interest rate developments
• Updates in legislation and local practices
All of these give you a sharp insight into all the key aspects of your fleet, in the context of the markets you operate in, helping you make smarter sourcing and management decisions.
3. Benchmark insight
Benchmarking helps you understand how your operations shape up against relevant peers from your industry. It helps you stay competitive, demonstrate knowledge of what’s going on in your industry, and adopt best practices.
This data isn’t always easy to get your hands on. And once you have it, you still need to adjust multiple data sources to your specific situation so that once you start comparing, you’re comparing like-for-like.
However, when you have a good setup that allows you to compare apples with apples, this insight will be invaluable in, for example, assessing whether your fleet targets are realistic.