Leading fleet software supplier, Mycompanyfleet, the automotive division of HR software supplier, NorthgateArinso, has had a year to remember with a strong of new business wins, a series of new product launches and a major consolidation of the gains achieved in its inaugural year, 2009. Business executive Luke Hicks looks back on some of the year’s developments.
There is no doubt that one of the key issues affecting many businesses where employees are permitted to drive personally owned vehicles on company business are the risks posed by what has become known as ‘the grey fleet’.
At Mycompanyfleet, we launched our Driver Self-Serve grey fleet solution late last year to address the duty of care issues around vehicle condition, mileages driven and driver licence checking involving grey fleet vehicles and their drivers.
And in the last 12 months we have sought to refine the offering to fleet customers so that they can now derive maximum benefit from the Driver Self-Serve solution.
So, for example, Driver Self-Serve is now capable of tackling issues such as carbon emission reduction thanks to its ability to generate full ‘grey fleet’ CO2 reports, allowing organisations to see exactly how many grams of carbon dioxide are produced by the grey fleet on average per mile.
The system even identifies which grey fleet vehicles, drivers and even manufacturers are least efficient in this respect, so that fleet managers can take action having identified the culprits or can steer drivers towards less polluting makes and models.
The system also completely automates issues such as service reminders and advises when the vehicle will need to be booked in for the next service to be carried out, making sure drivers do not miss vital services.
In this way, the system provides the fleet manager with a confirmation that a service has taken place and a record of the date, thus creating an easily visible audit trail that meets duty of care requirements.
And the system now includes an alternative travel module which provides users with details of different forms of transport for their planned journey, including taking the train, flying or using the bus, and allows comparisons between them and the cost of using a car.
As well as developing our grey fleet solution, we have also sought to enhance and develop our main FleetAcumen fleet management system with a number of enhancements aimed at giving fleet managers as much functionality as possible.
So, in this respect, during the year we launched a new software module, FleetAcumen Mobile, which allows company drivers to remotely log the condition of their vehicles through their mobile phones and other hand-held devices, thus meeting duty of care requirements and helping speed through service and maintenance booking and scheduling.
The new functionality has widespread applications for companies with both car and light and heavy commercial vehicle fleets.
Operating through any 3G-enabled mobile phone or other hand-held devices such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant), FleetAcumen Mobile allows drivers to log on to the main fleet management system and report the condition of their vehicles online and in line with company guidelines.
This could cover areas such as the condition of tyres, auto-glass, fluid levels and other critical factors, thus meeting duty of care requirements, while at the same time completing an audit trail that provides the company with a clear-cut record in the event of a future event, such as a serious road traffic accident.
Where there is a defect with the vehicle, the driver can report the severity of its nature through his mobile phone and allow the fleet manager to book the vehicle in for servicing before the fault can become any worse.
For commercial vehicle drivers, the new functionality allows them to confirm that their vehicles are in suitable condition to go out on the road before they start their journey, or to report any defects that their vehicle inspection throws up.
One of the key areas of concern for many fleet managers this year and going forward is the rising price of fuel at filling stations around the country.
Rising fuel prices, which have seen a gallon of diesel reach over £6 in parts of the UK, pose a major problem for fleet managers and tighter management of fuel costs is essential.
FleetAcumen can play a key role here by helping fleet managers identify where the highest fuel spends are within an organisation, as it visually displays key cost centres to show expenditure against budget, and to highlight any areas of potential or actual overspend.
For key areas such as fuel costs, the system can be easily configured to show league tables of the top ten most fuel efficient drivers and vehicles on the fleet and those which are the worst, so that fleet managers can take decisions quickly and effectively to remedy the situation.
This functionality gives managers the ammunition to challenge driver behaviours and to consider introducing other initiatives such as eco-driver training as, in the current climate, no manager is likely to want to be the winner in the fuel cost race.
FleetAcumen also offers an enhanced European dimension to its capability and pan European fleets, leasing companies and service providers find it ideal for coping with the rigours of managing vehicles in several countries under a variety of different tax regimes, operating policies and national rules and practices.
It can now operate in up to 20 different foreign languages and is language intuitive, switching seamlessly to the host language when it recognises the country of origin.
The system also provides multiple financial rules, again for up to 20 different European countries, handling both direct and indirect taxation and other financial regulations. It can also provide consolidated central reporting and, through a series of exception reporting dashboards, identify where an organisation might be most exposed commercially.
These are just some of the developments from 2010, in what was a very busy year for us. But, rest assured, we will not be sitting on our laurels in the year ahead, and fleet customers are guaranteed to see increased functionality and enhanced software solutions from Mycompanyfleet in the coming months.