Flexible Businesses Run on Flexible Fleets
Flexible Businesses Run on Flexible Fleets
Lingering supply chain issues. Rising costs. Unexpected increases and dips in customer demand. If you’re a business owner operating a fleet of vehicles, these conditions will be familiar to you, as over the past few years they have become the new normal. Businesses need to be more flexible than ever, and fleet management strategies that can adapt to changing market demands are critical to success.
“It’s all about putting the right vehicle in service at the right time, for the right amount of time,” says Dain Giesie, Assistant Vice President of Business Development at Enterprise Fleet Management. “It’s a simple objective. Executing it has become pretty complex.”
But for businesses that embrace a flexible approach and take steps to optimize their existing resources, there are attractive opportunities for efficiency gains and cost reduction, especially for midsize organizations that lack mature logistics capabilities. This is especially so for customer service-oriented companies like HVAC and plumbing contractors, construction companies, and local governments that operate fleets of 20 to 500 vehicles. These organizations often require travel to and from job sites and are increasingly under pressure to do more with fewer resources, Giesie says.
Think long term to adapt near term
It starts with proactive planning toward a long-term fleet management strategy: reevaluating your fleet needs based on usage patterns; considering flexible options like leasing and short-term rental to meet changing demand; optimizing your existing fleet to improve fuel efficiency, routes, and maintenance schedules; and, potentially, determining whether a transition to electric or other alternative-fuel vehicles makes sense for your business.
“I think it’s more important than ever to have a long-term strategy in place that you’re executing toward with the appropriate review cadence, so that you can model things out over the next five, eight, or even 10 years,” Giesie says. “That can give you the structure you need to adapt.”
Understanding the data
Data is key, he adds. Not more data, but a firmer grasp on what the data can tell you about vehicle usage and adjustments you may need to make to operate more efficiently and sustainably. “There is almost no demand in the market for additional data,” Giesie says. “There is almost unlimited demand for insights from the data that currently exists.”
Collaborating with a fleet management partner to implement telematics and data analytics technology can give you increased visibility into your fleet’s performance, help you head off maintenance problems before they become financial liabilities, and allow you to see how changes you make will affect your day-to-day operations.
Centerline Communications: using telematics to manage growth
Centerline Communications, a fast-growing telecom service provider based in W. Bridgewater, MA, worked with Enterprise Fleet Management to roll out a telematics solution powered by Geotab technology built into every vehicle. This enabled Centerline to get a unified view into its fleet’s performance even as it was acquiring other companies and expanding the size of its fleet from approximately 125 vehicles to more than 700 today.
With Enterprise Fleet Management’s help, Centerline was able to gather and assess critical vehicle data that ultimately allowed it to reduce fuel usage by $40,000 per month, excessive speeding by 90% each month, and accidents by 15% year over year. Enterprise also partners with Centerline in sourcing and acquiring vehicles, assisting with outfitting of aftermarket parts and graphics, and cycling out older vehicles at their end of service, an offering available to all Enterprise Fleet Management customers.
A foundation of trust
This kind of close working relationship with a mobility partner remains a fleet manager’s best asset in keeping pace with change, according to Giesie. Take the process of evaluating and implementing new technology, for example. New tech is enticing, but the options can seem overwhelming.
“Our core mission is to be a trusted advisor to our customers. So we do a lot of separating fact from fiction to make sure they don’t get distracted by noise and can stay focused on their objectives. And we don’t put new things in front of customers that we don’t first understand ourselves,” he says.
“Customer service, customer focus: the fundamentals don’t change.”