Fleet software specialist Chevin has reported a significant increase in requests for mobility related features, with demand coming from existing customers, tenders and through inbound enquiries.

Mobility functionalities – including pool car planners, rental booking functions, journey planning and business trip expense submission tools – have all seen a big increase in demand over the past 12-months, explains Jackie Kirk, Regional Sales Manager for Asia Pacific. 

“This is evidence that fleets are taking on more responsibilities surrounding transportation as a whole and our software, FleetWave, is increasingly used for managing more than just company vehicles," Kirk says. 

“When you look at the traditional one-vehicle-one-user model, it is quite often the case that the vehicle remains stationary in a car park for long periods of time, which means it might not be the most cost-effective or efficient solution. The ability to look at transportation in broader terms, however, tends to encourage managers to experiment with more flexible alternatives.”

With this in mind, the fleet industry is starting to see a bigger cultural shift in terms of mobility and transportation – and fleets are driving the change.

For companies who turn to software such as FleetWave, it becomes easier to create processes of this kind, especially as information regarding personnel and transport types already exists within a fleet system.

“Sometimes, the new processes that are required are directly linked to the fleet, but are not necessarily fleet management as we know it – and that’s especially true when it comes to the mobility of personnel.”

Kirk says smartphones and tablets, for example, are a great way of tracking business journeys and their costs which, in turn, start to create a bigger picture of a company’s mobility needs. Ultimately, new technology grants visibility of existing transportation costs associated with fleet, and can help managers to identify areas where more flexible and economical solutions might be possible.

“There are a range of tools within products such as FleetWave that will help fleet managers with day-to-day booking, allocation and the general management of mobility – and we are certainly seeing situations where vast amounts of useful employee-related ‘big data’ is now being proactively recorded by some fleets for these purposes," Kirk explains. 

“This helps managers to effectively manage more than just vehicles. In response to this new industry trend, we are working to enhance knowledge of the features that are available within FleetWave, such as electronic key box systems for pool car systems and apps to capture information from mobile workers.”