By Ed Pierce, Founder, ITA Fleet Communications

Anyone involved with marketing in the fleet industry can’t help but read the news from Europe about “mobility management” despite scant relevancy to North American fleets. Is it a European-only phenomenon? What are the implications for fleet managers? How will it impact fleet product and service providers?

First of all, the term is confusing. Google (yes, used as a verb) “mobility management,” and there are myriad topics, companies and services related to everything from mobile devices to senior mobility. A search of “multi-modal mobility management,” provides a lesson in government transportation planning. There’s very little, if anything, related to North American fleets.

An understanding of the term among fleet people generally is lacking. There is a pervasive misperception that mobility management involves adding bicycles, web-based minicab services, and bus route schedules to a fleet operation. This oversimplification is understandable given the inherent complexity of the topic.

However, by looking at more familiar business trends, the move to workforce mobility management makes sense.

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By Keith Trumbull

It is important to develop a material handling strategy that works for your organization. Executing a strategy that can be implemented company-wide will help to make the best decisions for your material handling equipment management.

An effective global strategy is dependent on many variables, so we recommend first developing a country-level strategy. It can be challenging to apply one standardized policy to each of the markets in which a company operates due to differences in local markets. These variations include OEM options, equipment availability, leasing structures, and workplace regulations.

With these challenges in mind, we suggest the following best practices to implement a global strategy:

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November 16-17 in Atlanta

With the explosion of big data, a wealth of opportunity has arisen in the fleet space with driver management, 3rd party data integration and new data mining and analysis techniques, lighting the path to a far more efficient fleet.

But with this level of connectivity comes risk. Hackers are now a real and present danger and new Uber-inspired business models need to be mastered.

At Connected Fleets USA we will explore these topics in detail to ensure your solutions are aligned with the fleet market’s latest requirements.

Here’s what you can expect:

• 30+ speakers including Navistar, Leaseplan, John Deere and Donlen discuss how to integrate, analyze and secure data from the vehicle, driver and infrastructure for fleet efficiency
• Independently researched sessions on data, cyber-security, infrastructure, autonomy, and driver management to give you that crucial edge over your competitors
• With 300+ senior attendees this is the perfect opportunity to speak to your peers and find out how the industry is tackling the latest innovations in the connected fleet space

Download the brochure here: tu-auto.com/connected-fleets

Despite the attention being paid to Uber and Lyft, rental car companies are proliferating, seeking to serve a growing market of younger travelers and their ever-changing tastes, experts say.

“Vehicles are more free-floating, going where the customers are, rather than where the companies would like them to be,” says Neil Abrams, president of the Abrams Consulting Group in Purchase, N.Y.

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The Detroit Bureau

Want to drive on the cheap? Consider moving to someplace with wide-open spaces.

Tired of spending so much to keep your car running, gassed up and insured? If you’re looking to cut costs, you might consider moving to a place with wide-open spaces, according to a new study that ranks the best and worst states for drivers.

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Mark Ballard/The Advocate

In his first campaign commercial, U.S. Sen. David Vitter says he would reduce the number of vehicles in state government to save a couple hundred million dollars.

“Today’s budget mess? My plan ends the waste, like eliminating thousands of unnecessary state cars,” Vitter tells the viewer in a TV spot that debuted last week.

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The Orange County Register

Fleet owners reluctant to pay for equipment upgrades under pending changes to fuel efficiency regulations may take comfort in future cost savings projected in a report commissioned by Calstart, a transportation industry group.

The new rules put forward by the Obama administration would require a 24 percent reduction in CO2 emissions and fuel consumption for trucks starting in 2021, and 8 percent for trailers in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Networkworld

HP is a big company with over 300,000 employees and it has a fleet of about 6,000 company-owned vehicles. When you own 6,000 cars, any efficiencies you can squeeze out of them could mean big savings.

HP’s fleet managers placed tracking devices in about 100 vehicles to collect a variety of data including location, speed, when the car is on or off, etc.

What did it learn? Some of the insights were not that exciting: 70% of trips were on weekdays; 75% were 13 miles or less; 80% were between 7 AM and 5 PM.

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“As telematics become increasingly standard, companies could be found liable for not integrating it into their fleets because the technology does exist, it is available and is also widely used,”

A global survey recently conducted by LeasePlan revealed that the use of telematics leads to increased driver safety, fewer accident claims and a considerable reduction in fuel consumption. The survey, which involved 3,377 drivers in 20 countries worldwide, concluded that driver behavior can be positively impacted by telematics.

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Marc Sibbald/Financial Review

In 2015 mobility is a word being used in fleet management tenders and forward thinking organisations as they look for more efficient ways to move their employees around.

Questions are being asked about how many vehicles are needed to run a business and what is the most efficient way to get people from A to B.

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