Fleet Logistics’ owner, TÜV SÜD Group, is reorganizing its fleet consultancy division by absorbing the legal entities behind the TCOPlus and FleetVision brands into the Fleet Logistics Group.
In May 2015, international testing and certification specialist, TÜV SÜD Group, acquired both TCOPlus and its sister company, FleetVision, market-leaders in consolidated fleet reporting, TCO forecast solutions and international fleet consulting, based in Belgium.
The two companies became 100% affiliates and operated within the company’s Fleet Business Unit alongside but legally separately from Fleet Logistics, TÜV SÜD’s European market-leading fleet management provider. The former ownerB remained with the business as managing directors.
The new move, effective from July 31st, will see the disappearance of the separate legal entities. The brands will be retained within the Fleet Logistics Group, creating a consultancy business line headed by Director of Fleet and Mobility Consultancy, Thibault Alleyn.
Both brands, TCOPlus and FleetVision, will continue to exist, as will their associated tools such as GreenCube and FleetCube, within the new business line.
The former owners, Hans Damen and Bart Vanham, will take a step back from day-to-day activities and formally leave the business by mutual agreement by October 1st 2017. They remain, however, committed to ensuring business continuity for TCOPlus and FleetVision customers.
The consultancy business will continue to be run and staffed by a global network of seasoned and highly experienced experts in their respective fields, and will remain operationally separate from the outsourced fleet management services that Fleet Logistics provides, working with separate IT systems and databases to ensure independence in accordance with the wishes of leasing companies and clients.
This model is similar to the way consultancy divisions are typically run within corporate banking, audit and financial services companies.
In terms of its remit, the reorganized business line will continue to provide advisory and consultancy services on a broad range of fleet and mobility issues.
These include managing tenders for fleet clients with a variety of suppliers; providing IFRS readiness checks; and carrying out fleet audits at country, regional and global levels to evaluate potential savings, as well as redesigning in-house fleet teams, their tools, interfaces and the way they operate with suppliers.
The division also specialises in designing and implementing telematics and safety programs, as well as evaluating mobility providers and providing support and advice on the move from car-centric fleet management to driver-centric mobility change management.
There will be a focus on the continued development of state-of-the-art solutions, such as FleetCube and GreenCube, along with strategic reporting and dashboards at global, regional and national levels, and custom-made sales and marketing tools.
A transition of mostly back-office processes will take place during the summer, to further increase the level of service delivery to customers and streamline activities within the Group.
Both consultancy and fleet management business lines will continue to report into Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jörg Löffler, who said:”Customers of both TCOPlus and FleetVision will not notice any discernible difference in the high quality of services that they will continue to receive, nor changes in the independence of recommendations and deliverables.
“However, having three different legal entities was not in-line with TÜV SÜD Group targets around effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, instead of three legal entities within our consultancy business, we have moved now to rationalise these to just one under one manager in order to improve time to market and innovation competence.
“Our consultancy arm will continue to act separately from our fleet management business, with Chinese walls, and separate IT systems and databases firmly in place, in order to maintain its independence. We are convinced that this new structure is the best option to take the business forward,” he said.
