By: Walter Bond

As we launch into the new year, Bowl games, NFL playoffs, the NBA, NCAA, and NHL seasons are all in full swing. As a former basketball player in the NBA, watching football is still my favorite. Regardless of the sport, though, these events all have something in common: impact players. We can’t talk about teamwork without understanding the role of impact players on the team.

Impact players bring us to the sport in the first place and are what keep us coming back. We are watching to see which NBA player is going to dive across the floor for a loose ball, make the key score, or block a shot at the perfect time. We don’t want to miss the moment when a college player leaps over ten people to force himself into the end zone.

At work, we can make an impact too. As a fleet professional, you must be or become an impact player for your team. Our companies need us to be a little more creative, a little more take-charge, to negotiate better, to be more resourceful. Your motto needs to be, “I will do it!”

READ MORE to learn 5 ways you can have more impact for your team!

By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

Other than “driving growth,” which is a ubiquitous marketing goal, improving the customer experience may be the hottest B2B marketing trend of the past few years. In explaining Apple’s success, Steve Jobs once said that his company started with the customer experience and worked back toward the technology.

With that goal in mind, many companies are confused about the best implementation approach. Dr. Peter Fader in his book, Customer Centricity, draws a distinction between two directions, “customer-centric” and “customer-focused.”

The “Customer Focused Marketing” approach looks at the benefits offered to the customer while the “Customer-Centric Marketing” approach looks to define the gain realized from its customers.

READ MORE to learn the balanced CX approach to building customer loyalty.

By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

When it comes to running a fleet of vehicles, what’s the best way to save a business money: spend as little as possible on the goods and services the fleets need to operate, or to run the fleet so it operates at the lowest overall cost?

If you answered “both,” Bingo! That’s the view from the top of the industry, but it’s not always the way fleets are run.

Over the past 10 to 20 years, those in charge of purchasing have gradually gained leverage over fleet management. The reason is clear: fleet has long been seen as an overhead expense, and in an increasingly competitive world, controlling costs is one of the keys to survival.

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Bloomberg

Air travel is one of the safest methods of getting from point A to B, and in the near future, driverless car technology will reduce traffic accidents and related crash injuries and deaths, making road and highway travel safer.

Aviation’s safety record can be attributed to the fact that it’s among the world’s most regulated industries, with information being shared among manufacturers, airlines and governments any time an airline or manufacturer detects the smallest defect in a mechanical part ensuring that maintenance engineers worldwide are on the alert.

The Trump administration dropped Obama-era plans that would have allowed regulators to approve self-driving systems before they go on sale — similar to the type certifications common with aircraft, in favor of a lighter-touch approach.

Read the article at Bloomberg.

Forbes

Last November, Elon Musk shook the heavy-duty vehicle market with plans to produce an all-electric semi-truck, taking about 400 orders from big haulers like UPS, PepsiCo, Sysco and Anheuser-Busch.

California is providing incentives worth $398 million to support purchases of clean trucks and buses in the state, prompting Tesla rival companies such as BYD, to ship its own electric Class-8 trucks to haul heavy cargo offloaded at ports.

Daimler’s Fuso eCanter electric delivery vans are being shipped to global customers, and last October unveiled a concept Class-8 truck that goes over 200 miles per charge, the E-Fuso Vision One.

Read the article at Forbes.

Wired

In the world of urban mobility, a smartphone and extra cash make getting around pretty easy, but American cities need to determine how to make transportation options work for all their residents, no matter their work schedule, neighborhood, or annual income.

Creative and realistic plans for infrastructure, electric charging networks, ride-hailing services and public transit systems need a place in your city’s survival kit.

“Cities need to get a better handle on their data,” says Ashley Hand, a former strategist with LA’s Department of Transportation who now works for the transportation and tech consulting firm CityFi. “Figuring out not just what you’ve got and how to use it more effectively, but then building the capacity to actually look and understand that data is something cities just aren’t ready for.”

Read the article at Wired.

Black Book

This week’s Black Book Market Insights report shows cars overall dropping in value by a record -0.78%.

Mid-Sized Cars saw the highest depreciation with a -1.18% decrease in value followed closely by the Compact segment at 0.93%. 

Volume-weighted, overall truck segment (including pickups, SUVs and vans) values declined by 0.54% last week. In line with the average weekly adjustment of 0.57% over the previous four weeks. 

The Sub-Compact Luxury Crossover segment performed the worst, decreasing by 1.38%.

Read the report at Black Book.

The Guardian

Gnarly road planning, terrible weather and reckless habits make the Russian capital one of the worst cities in the world for drivers, thus building self-driving cars a unique challenge.

Disturbances like car wrecks, construction and government motorcades can wreak havoc for miles. Seat belts are scorned, and traffic laws widely ignored; speeding violations are enforced with $4 fines, paid by phone. The rate of road fatalities is nearly double that of the US, with an average of 20 serious accidents a day just in Moscow.

“We don’t have the luxury of California roads,” says Olga Uskova of Cognitive Technologies, a Russian software maker that specializes in autonomous vehicles. “The environment is ever-changing: the snow has covered traffic signs; it’s raining on your windshield, the sun is blocking you. Our people train using these kinds of data.”

Read the article at The Guardian.

By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

It’s a fact that under the watchful eyes of superiors and peers people who work in offices and factories aren’t very likely to break the law or their employers’ standards of conduct.

But it’s a different story when it comes to people who work in a mobile office, a term that aptly describes a fleet vehicle.

It’s also a fact that 94 percent of all accidents are caused by driver error, including acts of commission and omission. Chief among these are speeding, tailgating, using a cellphone, and engaging in all sorts distraction.

One more fact connects these dots: when employees know their behavior is being monitored and measured, and that there are consequences for poor performance, they improve their performance. The logical conclusion here is that if a fleet wants to reduce its accident rate, it needs to put eyes in the mobile office, to monitor and measure the behaviors of its drivers.

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Safety and Health

Transportation-related fatalities – which increased slightly to 2,083 – accounted for 40 percent of all fatal work-related injuries in 2016.

Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers experienced 918 fatal injuries, the most of any occupation.

“America’s workers deserve better,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Loren Sweatt said in a Dec. 19 press release. “The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is committed to finding new and innovative ways of working with employers and employees to improve workplace safety and health. OSHA will work to address these trends through enforcement, compliance assistance, educating and training, and outreach.”

Read the article at Safety and Health.