Procurement Opportunities For Fleet Led By Technology 

27-Nov-14 11:38

For various reasons, the fleet category is one that has often been tricky for procurement functions to get their heads around and deliver on promise. However, with high budgets being put towards it by businesses each year, it is one category where recent innovations could mean a plethora of opportunities for fleet buyers.

After a renewed interest in the 90s, it was the notion of electric cars that more recently caused a stir in the field. Optimism was high with the hope that electric cars would hold the key for the fleet of the future being both economically and environmentally enhanced. However, as discussed earlier this year, electric cars have experienced a slow adoption rate and aren’t expected to be a viable part of fleet for some years to come. By 2020, only 5% of the fleet market is expected to consist of electric cars.

In spite of this, however, fleet is seeing a huge boost in demand which has led to increased investment in fleet management tools which will enhance fleet management for fleet buyers in the here and now. Indeed, as reported recently, it is expected that the fleet management market is on the verge of experiencing a huge level of growth, increasing from $12.56bn in 2014 to $35.35bn by 2019.

With a boost in demand for fleet vehicles there have been increased opportunities for investment in fleet management solutions, one of the most notable of which being telematics.

At its simplest level, telematics solutions enable fleet managers to track and trace their fleet. Gaining real visibility over fleet allows businesses to monitor the movement of its fleet and determine whether certain journeys are actually necessary.

However, increasingly businesses are using this technology to manage environmental issues such as fuel consumption which can help them to plan an overall strategy to go about reducing these levels.

Furthermore, fleet management technology can allow companies to measure how good their employees are at driving by assessing the condition of the fleet. This can lead to training initiatives which will significantly reduce costs for the business on a larger scale.

The possibilities for improving this area of spend are huge for procurement - however, its not without its price. Leaders will will need to assess the benefits of fleet management technology which can have high initial costs and look beyond the buzz to understand what best meets their needs.