By Jeofrey Bean

Customer experience leadership: Failure is a regular part of the learning process for innovation

Companies that will lead The Fleet Customer Experience Revolution will be committed to surpassing great customer service, special pricing and customer satisfaction. They will do so with purpose-built customer experience and the desired user experience within it. The leaders will be the ones with that energizing edginess from testing the limits of innovation on the customer experience continuum. They are the ones to set expectations of what customer experience should be, regardless of industry.

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By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor

Consumers demanding a role in creating lives within vehicles

Time was when control of the “automotive ecosystem,” went mostly one way. The all-powerful OEMs designed and built cars, with some minimal inputs from consumers, and unloved regulations promulgated by government (e.g. safety and fuel-efficiency). To be sure, consumers could, at least, vote with their dollars. Fins, smaller fins, etc.

But in a new study of the global auto industry, “Automotive 2025: Industry Without Borders,” IBM’s Institute for Business Values predicts that a new industry identity is emerging — more open, inclusive and without borders between itself, consumers and the complementary industries within the automotive ecosystem. “Welcoming this transformation can result in benefits the likes of which haven’t been seen since the automated assembly line,” according to Alexander Scheidt, Global Automotive Industry Leader, IBM Global Business Services.

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At the 2015 International CES, automotive tech provider Valeo is demonstrating two new ways that we’ll interact with the self-driving cars of the future: with its Mobius adaptive information display and InBlue smartphone and smartwatch virtual-key tech.

Valeo’s InBlue tech is the virtual key system that will allow drivers to ditch their car keys and bulky key fobs and use a smartphone or smartwatch to unlock and start the vehicle.

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The movement toward alternative-energy vehicles received another push when Honda unveiled a hydrogen-powered car it aims to begin selling in March 2016 in Japan.

While much of the attention on alternative powertrains has focused on electric vehicles — thanks to the success of Tesla’s Model S and the potential of General Motors’ second-generation Chevy Volt (and its concept, 200-mile-range Bolt) — the future is far from set in terms of what may eventually challenge the internal-combustion engine.

Automakers gathering in Detroit for the city’s annual car show have a range of wares for the alternative-energy shopper: hydrogen fuel cells, compressed natural gas, and hybrid or fully electric vehicles.

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Though Ford Motor Co. has ballyhooed the benefits of the aluminum used to build its 2015 F-150 pickup, don’t expect to see the automaker start building passenger cars out of the lightweight metal, cautioned a top executive.

The benefits just aren’t as competitive when used on lighter vehicles, stressed Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of the Americas, during an appearance at an annual industry confab in Detroit.

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For decades, the American truck has been untouchable—as much a quirk of international tax law as anything the automakers did right. In 1962, frustrated by a glut of U.S. poultry, the European Economic Community began taxing chicken imports.

The U.S., in turn, levied a 25 percent tariff on a wide range of European imports, including potato starch, brandy, and—you guessed it—light trucks. The “chicken tax,” as it’s called, persists to this day, and it has kept foreign car companies largely out of the truck market.

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With the lowest gas prices the U.S. has seen in six years and favorable interest rates driving auto sales that are expected to break records in 2015, WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2015’s Most and Least Risky States for Drivers’ Wallets.

What kind of financial risks do drivers take when they take to the road?

To find out, WalletHub ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of several risk factors.

• First, the minimum coverage requirements for the mandatory forms of auto insurance in each state was analyzed.

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Rick Reilly, a sportswriter for ESPN, penned a great column in 1995 entitled, Unwritten Rules. The piece laid out many of the great “known” rules of sports –things that athletes know to be true, but which cannot be found in any rulebook.

There are also “unwritten rules” for business. Those who manage these rules well can be substantively more effective in their interactions with others, and can often achieve their goals by using common sense in appropriate situations.

Here are the Unwritten Rules of Business:

1. Sending prep materials before a meeting

KEEP READING for 16 more unwritten rules

Fleets feeling the brunt of the trend

Automotive technology is a two-edged sword. While it’s making vehicles safer and more fuel -efficient, it’s also driving up the cost of accident repairs at a rate faster than the general rate of inflation, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. That makes it more important than ever for fleet managers to make every effort to manage the collision repairs closely for cost control and to uncover opportunities for savings.

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On average, 38 children die in hot cars each year in the U.S. To try to lower those numbers, Intel has developed a device to send an alert to your smartphone to warn you if you have left your child in your car.

The Intel Smart Clip attaches to your child’s car seat harness and can warn you when conditions in the car are potentially dangerous and the harness is fastened.

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