By Matt Betz, Vice President of Business Development, Motus, LLC
It goes without saying, that in a fleet career that has spanned five decades, I have been witness to numerous changes. Sure, the basics remain the same; Acquisition Management, Maintenance Management, Risk Management, Information Management, and Business Management, to name a few. Over the years, however, a number of different issues have grabbed our focus from time-to-time. These include the move to outsourced fleet management, tax law changes, fuel crises, and numerous other fleet-impacting developments.
That is why I was honored when asked by the folks at Fleet Management Weekly to write a recurring column speaking about one of the newest changes that I’ve noticed in our industry – the growing focus on the Modern Mobile Worker. And, more specifically, the fleet manager’s role in supporting the efficiency and productivity of these mobile employees. Over the coming months, we’ll be covering this issue from a number of perspectives.
What Is the Fleet Manager’s role?
We know that care and support of fleet drivers is not a new focus for most fleet managers, but there is evidence that executive management views are changing in regard to the fleet manager’s role. Those fleet managers that are seen as helping the organization reach annual financial, operational and/or cultural goals are regarded as valuable members of the team. To that end, I’ll discuss a number of issues in the coming months;
- Regulations covering the Modern Mobile Worker (IRS, DOT)
- The growing cost of under-reported personal miles
- Methods of providing transportation that best meet the organization’s goals
What are the best ways to support the Modern Mobile Worker?
Traditional fleet programs employing maintenance management, fuel management and collision management have proven to reduce fleet costs while increasing driver productivity. However, we can all agree that technology has made huge advancements over the past several years, and poses great opportunities for fleet and the mobile workforce. In future columns, we’ll also discuss:
- Fleet’s responsibility to help find solutions for the company, business units, and mobile employees
- Developing tools to improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity
- Solutions that ensure compliance with government mandates
- Enabling the mobile worker to perform multiple tasks with minimal effort
Finally, I’ll elevate future trends that will impact you, your organization, and your mobile employee base. I realize that this all may sound daunting and like additional work for the fleet manager, but by employing some of the newest advancements in technology, we can accomplish our goals, increase our standing in the organization, and do it with little additional effort. Success in this area is about opening our minds to new ideas, and not about introducing administrative overhead.
Upcoming columns will touch on:
- Increased responsibilities of the mobile worker
- Management’s need for data beyond operating costs
- Tools designed to streamline the workflow of the mobile worker
- The “Connected Car” – The constant stream of data coming to fleet drivers.
I hope you will join me in the coming months for this exciting new discussion about the Modern Mobile Worker in Fleet. If you have ideas, thoughts or suggestions about additional items I should include in the discussion, please contact me at 678-579-2262 or [email protected].
