28 May What does implementing outsourced fleet management look like?

The importance of diligent implementation

It is critically important to have an implementation team assigned to you as a new client, to ensure that all bases are covered and that the handover of inventory data and responsibilities for service delivery is managed in a systematic and thorough way. Unlike with lessors, in essence, with fleet management, you are always a ‘transitioning fleet’ and it is vital that your Fleet Management partner takes ownership of the supplier relationships and immediately commence data collection from the suppliers, bringing all information and control together into one place.

The great advantage of this is that you will have complete oversight of your fleet despite the fact that you may be transitioning from one lessor to another – and of course, your Fleet Management partner will deal with outgoing and incoming suppliers alike although the elements of service and commercial focus and measurement may be slightly differently skewed between the two for obvious reasons.

What are the main components of the implementation process?

Scope

A full and detailed understanding of the scope of project is vital from the outset because, although this is in part a discovery phase, where methods, formats and stakeholders will become apparent, without a clear understanding of what the full scope of services and therefore, expectations are, the Fleet Management partner will not be able to guarantee that all the bases are covered.

Priorities

There are always more urgent elements to every implementation, whether that is engagement with a particular supplier or ensuring that an outgoing member of staff’s role is covered for example. The important point here is that those priorities must be aligned from the outset, so that the client and Fleet Management provider are aligned from day one and that the plans meet expectations.

Plan

As with all things, planning is critical and with Fleet Management outsourcing, none more critical than the planning of communication. When and what you communicate to each stakeholder should be carefully planned and orchestrated in order to foster the correct level of engagement and support. Notwithstanding this, ALL aspects of the implementation should be carefully planned prior to execution and monitoring.

Phases involved in the process

Engagement

• Defining full scope and creation/signature of NDAs and contracts
• Formulation of a project team at both Client and Fleetworx
• Introduction of all Client key stakeholders and current process owners and the opening of communication lines
• Introduction of all Client fleet suppliers and opening of communication lines
• Signing of necessary supply chain NDAs

Transition

• Collection of all current fleet detail from Client and suppliers
• Identification, design, and transition of supplier management processes
• Identification, design, and transition of Client governance processes
• Establishment of key two-way reporting interfaces between Fleetworx and Client

Strategic

1. Commence engagement in policy development objectives, vision, and roadmap
   Examples: BEV Strategy, Entitlement, Choice Policy, etc.
2. Commence analysis of current contracts and supply chain opportunities
   Examples: Replacement cycles, contract terms optimization, re-write strategy, etc.
3. Commence alignment to procurement objectives and supplier review cadence
   Examples: Leverage, supply chain consolidation, formal review performance management
4. Commence alignment to Client/Environmental objectives
   Examples: CO2 reduction strategy, driver safety initiatives, and programs

Who are the key people to involve in outsourcing my fleet?

Local process owners

• Facilities, Administration, Finance, Procurement, Payroll etc.

Local policy owners

• HR / Compensation and Benefits

Central policy owners

• Regional HR / Compensation and Benefits

Central departmental specialists

• Procurement, Finance, Legal, CSR etc

What sort of timeline should I expect for outsourcing my fleet?

Implementation timelines will depend on a number of factors, on multiple fronts, but it would be fair to say that these are largely influenced by the complexity of the supply chain. The more complex the supply chain, the more individual lines of communication need to be opened and people engaged, thus this simply draws on more resource on all sides to manage. In these situations, many clients prefer a phased approach, managing in groups of countries, for example, perhaps commenced a month apart in order to make it more manageable. Notwithstanding this, provided that you the client can resource sufficiently, the Fleet Management partner should be able to run a parallel implementation across multiple countries within a timeline of 3 – 6 months to completion, depending on the complexity of the service scope and policy.

Contact Graham Rees to discuss outsourcing your company car fleet