What is the role of the fleet manager?
The employees of a company are not always aware of the role of the car fleet manager. In the collective imagination, he is content to wander the halls with his car keys… However, the stakes are high, and the tasks are many. Managing a fleet of cars involves many processes from the request for vehicles, to their return or sale.
Each task corresponds to several steps. The person in charge is in charge of ordering the vehicle, the fuel card, the toll badge… It is also up to him to organize the delivery with the driver. In parallel, plays a facilitator role between the different departments of your company (payroll, accounting, purchases, etc.) and other interlocutors : drivers, technicians and vehicle suppliers. Therefore, their role is of paramount importance within a company.
What is Phoenix Development doing to promote this profession?
At the initiative of two of our colleagues, we created the aFleet association, which today brings together 7 partners. The objective is really make our work as a car fleet manager (fleet management) known.
Phoenix participates every year in the Flotauto Meetings, a fair that brings together all the players in the market. The term “fleet” is also found there in many stands: the rental company, the oil company, the tire manufacturer… Hence the interest in also taking advantage of this show to remind us of our role in the midst of this cloud providers and partners.
How do you stand out from other fleet managers?
Phoenix Development is a company created by managers and for managerswith actual experience. We distinguish ourselves from our colleagues by creating our own software. This independence is our strength, in a market where other managers use tools that do not belong to them.
It’s a real bonus! Being the only ones who make the decisions, Phoenix Development adapts easier and faster to any customer request. Our software is also highly configurable for any organization. We also differ by the ISO 27001 standard (security of information systems). Phoenix Développement is the only market player to have obtained this certification (both in terms of software and fleet management). It is a guarantee of quality and rigor..
Finally, another of our strengths goes through shared management. Today, some of our clients have difficulty recruiting new talent and therefore find it difficult to perform certain tasks (such as ticket processing, invoice processing, order workflow management…) . We offer you the possibility of delegating these tasks to us.and the demand is exponential. Again, this is an additional service that our partners cannot offer, since they do not have their own software.
How do you help companies manage and optimize their fleet of vehicles?
The profession of fleet commander cannot be learned at school. There is no diploma, there is no certificate, and as we said above, this activity suffers from preconceived ideas. Optimization involves above all working on the image of the manager: thanks to our tools on the one hand, then by automating tasks. Thus, the manager can concentrate on missions with added value.
Phoenix Development provides for the management of the car fleet in an optimized way. This requires reliable data return and strong security of the information entered into the software. This rigor is essential to provide quality data.
This optimization also results in permanent support and advice to our clients. We discuss various topics with them: organization, processes, market surveillance, regulatory surveillance… Some of our clients even want Phoenix Development managers train their employees. They provide them with their experience, explaining, for example, how rental contracts work, what financing methods are used, who are the market agents, etc.
How do you adapt to the need for the energy transition? Are you encountering any particular difficulties?
Our market is subject to regulatory obligations, decreed by the European Union and France. This is the case of the Mobility Orientation Law (LOM), which obliges companies to renew a certain percentage of their vehicles with clean vehicles in the coming years. The stated target for 2022 was 10% vehicles. However, all our clients barely reach 4%…
At Phoenix Development, we adapt to these changes through our tools. To ensure that an employee can drive an electric vehicle, we have created an eligibility questionnaire. Ce document lui demande de préciser son type d’habitation (appartement ou maison), s’il est déjà équipé d’une borne électrique, ou si, dans le cas contraire, una borne se situe à proximité de son domicile ou peut être installée in his house. These different questions direct the employee towards a certain type of vehicle.
Clients want to move faster on these issues, particularly due to the limitations of CSR. However, this dynamism is hampered by a lack of infrastructure.. They don’t grow fast enough. Clients then find it difficult to adapt to the requested goals. They also face other problems: the cost of clean vehicles, the cost of installing charging stations and a still present distrust in the autonomy of electric vehicles. For its part, Phoenix Development strives to provide software and management support to make everyday life easier for customers.
Recruitment is one of the challenges in your industry – how does this translate to the scale of Phoenix Development?
Recruitment challenges affect every industry today, and Phoenix Development is no exception. To remedy this, we carry out training courses.. They are aimed at those with an appetite for vehicle management or operation. Once hired, these new recruits train for 8-12 months in the role of fleet manager.
Please note, however, that if we are short of candidates, on the other hand, we do not lack customers. Every year we record double-digit growth, between 25% and 45%. During the Covid period, we even noticed a 46% increase in our turnover. We are now at a turning point: our sector is evolving and companies understand that it is a real profession. The demands are pouring in and the need for new talent is pressing.
Do you have a last word?
This year we embarked on a global review of our image. By creating a real brand image, in keeping with the times, we will gain visibility and credibility. The aim is for our image to correspond to our position as true experts in the profession of fleet manager.
This image review will lead to the review of all our communication tools and means: software, website, mobile application and our other communication tools.
This content was produced with SCRIBEO. The BFMBUSINESS editorial team was not involved in the production of this content.
Source: BFM TV
