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The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Staff changes are one of the biggest culprits for this, as Ashley Sowerby, managing director at fleet software specialist Chevin, explains: "When it does occur, it's usually due to a change in personnel at the client's end during the implementation phase. The original project co-ordinator, the business champion behind the decision to invest in the first place, leaves and the replacement lacks the same level of ownership, understanding or enthusiasm required to maintain the momentum.
"Politics can also come into play, with the new member of staff reluctant to get behind a solution selected by their predecessor."
It's also worth remembering that a software package is only as good as the people operating it. It will give you plenty of information and answer a lot of questions, but unless you do something with that, it's a waste of time and capital.
Martin Evans, sales and operations director at Jaama, thinks that negligence is a bigger problem, with fleets operating cheaper systems on a smaller scale: "There is a risk of that. It's only a tool - it gives you all the answers but you need to know what you want to achieve. We're not the cheapest on the market, so it's not something our customers tend to do, but people who just think 'we'll buy a fleet system' and then don't do anything with it will often go for a cheap one."
Another pitfall to be aware of is selling your investment to management. Chances are you're going to need sign-off on buying a software package before it goes ahead, so you'll have to convince board members or other senior staff of its merit.
But convincing senior management to sign the cheque is one thing, getting them to play ball is another. If management ignore what you're doing, it can be a pointless exercise.
Evans explains: "There's no point in having a tool that saves you money if your organisation is going to ignore it. Fleet managers have to be able to sell the information they get from their software.
"They often say 'that's great, but the management team's never going to be interested'. Unless you can sell what you want to change, you're never going to get anywhere."
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