Q. How do you see the market for fuel card services evolving over the coming years in terms of partner programs?
A. I think you see most oil companies focus on what they’re good at...
A. Arriving at work, Fran Fleetkeeper scans a large board with dots on a map. Some of the dots are green. Some are red. Some are blinking. These are her company’s vehicles, and she notices some are missing while others are clustered too close for optimal efficiency. But Fran won’t be pinging her drivers. Instead, she taps her phone to implement “Driver Area Eight,” a navigation overlay that directs vehicles in that area to destinations that better serve her operation. On the right of that board might be a fuel fever chart, indicating the total fuel that will be consumed that day, based on the day’s routes and the navigational instructions Fran set to reach them. Maybe the fuel spend has a corresponding line chart that compares to the same day last year or last week, or against industry benchmarks for that vehicle, or against expense goals. When these charts hit red, reports are triggered pointing out to Fran the variables that could save fuel costs. Her phone buzzes. It’s an alert telling her Steve the driver is moving at 60 in a 45-mph zone. She texts him a pre-written alert to slow down. When his seat belt light pings her, it is his second violation in a day, which generates an email to HR for counseling. Meanwhile, the vehicles – some of them driverless -- navigate streets and soon automatically pull in for fuel – or an electric charge – at stations listed as the most price competitive based on real-time data, not published surveys. They drive away and head down the interstate, paying tolls and logging hours of service seamlessly, wirelessly, electronically. Then Fran notices new orders have come in. She panics. Can her own fleet deliver? She checks a ride-sharing service to see about subcontracting the work. She taps a button on her phone and commissions an instant delivery. Then a truck pulls up outside her door with an emergency fuel delivery for their bulk tanks, triggered automatically by a hurricane warning with the potential to shut down her company for weeks. Fran is living in a world run by data, but Fran is more important to the fleet than ever.
Senior Vice President and General Manager
A. I think you see most oil companies focus on what they’re good at...
A. I think you will get both. It’s going to take a lot of time to change to just one solution...
A. I think down the road everybody probably assumes that we end up in a cardless society...
A. No, not necessarily. It may be more of a partnership opportunity as they start to get more involved in other aspects of the business...
A. Vehicles will always need to be fueled...
A. In these regions, a lot of what we do is following our customers. We are fortunate enough to have a database of more than 300,000 customers...
A. We’re getting it more from the customers. If I manage a fleet and I have a presence in 15 different countries, I have a global fleet manager that oversees it all...
A. Obviously, a partner will have more presence than an individual customer. A fleet is just one entity, whereas a fleet management partner might have 20 or 30 accounts in a given region...
A. We’re starting to see a lot of points of integration, whether that be with data or systems. Telematics devices provide a rich data set that can be utilized in a number of ways...
A. Fleet management was historically built on the foundation of data. The more data you had, and the more you could combine various data sources, the easier it was to gain insight into how your fleet is operating, allowing you to make better decisions...
A. The pace of change today is faster than it’s ever been, and yet slower than it ever will be from this point forward...
A. The single biggest mistake we see is to view parts of your fleet operation independent of each other...
A. There are many things, beyond the obvious, such as developing a written preparedness plan and training your employees to implement it so you protect your vehicles and equipment and identify which employees play essential roles during a disaster...
A. Imagine waking up one day to no fuel, damaged roads, and unknown damage to your fleet of 500 vehicles. It’s the ultimate nightmare for a business with any exposure at all to mobility...
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