Fleet Europe °76

MAY 2015 - # 76

NEXUS COMMUNICATION - FLEET EUROPE #76 - PERIODIC MAGAZINE - MAY 2015 - DEPOSIT OFFICE LIÈGE X

SPECIAL · 20 Success Stories · The suppliers' offer

6 EXECUTIVE INTERVIEWS Nick Salkeld, LeasePlan Ed Frederiks, Alphabet Michiel Alferink, Athlon Yves Bonnefont, DS Alexander Unfried, PwC Johan Meyssen, CarsOnTheWeb

FACE TO FACE PHILIPPE BISMUT, CEO ARVAL International Fleet Hall of Fame 2014

BECOME THE INTERNATIONAL FLEET MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2015 WWW.FLEETEUROPE.COM

Stop for a minute and ask yourself what do you do? Are you a fleet manager or are you a mobility manager? If you consider yourself a fleet manager then you're like most of your colleagues. Today, the majority of decision makers who think and act on mobility-related issues do so from a mindset of fleet management.

It might not be that surprising. The car is the most common, comfortable and accepted mode of transport, with a clear and established way of calculating costs and answering questions from the tax authorities. Following the principles of fleet management means the status quo is maintained and life is simple, right? No. Mobility is on the scene and starting to shake things up. You may be thinking that the barriers are too big and mobility is too challenging a road to travel right now. Other buyers don't share your view. They're taking action to freshen up and are seizing new opportunities by

EDITORIAL

Start acting on mobility

practising mobility. Corporate buyers aren't the only ones.

Suppliers in the car fleet sector can see the writing on the wall. They're starting to offer integrated mobility solutions as attitudes move from total cost of ownership towards total cost of corporate mobility. The move from fleet to mobility shapes how we think about roles and responsibilities, and what should appear at the top of our priority list.

Yes, there are legislative hurdles and infrastructure issues to be overcome, but there's an increasing appetite for change.

The world is moving towards mobility management and we need to move along with it. In this special issue we present 20 corporate case studies of corporate mobility.

Mostly locally embedded, they're not only inspiring, but they also offer every international 'fleet' manager food for thought about what his or her future looks like.

We're moving from fleet management to mobility management

Steven Schoefs, Chief Editor, Fleet Europe sschoefs@nexuscommunication.be Twitter: @StevenSchoefs

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CONTENT

I DOSSIER I

DOSSIER I Corporate Mobility Management

All you need to know about corporate mobility management, with exclusive insights from 20 fleet/mobility managers who share their success stories.

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BUSINESS I Remarketing

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SCOPE I Fleet Europe Taxation Guide

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The launch of the Car Remarketing Association

The Connected Car may lead to new taxes

Mobility panorama: It’s happening now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 6 Say hello to the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 8 Car-sharing: Think out of the fleet box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 12 Car-sharing: Moving from B2C to B2B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 14 Car-pooling and shuttle services: The rise of the shared ride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 18 Car-pooling and shuttle services: Get smart, share a ride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 20 Multimodality: Set employees free. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 21 Multimodality: High time to make the most of multimodality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P.22 Mobility cards: The open sesame of corporate mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 24 Mobility cards: Could it be magic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 26 Remote working: Anywhere working is the answer. . . . . . . . . . . P. 28 Remote working: Get smart and work where you want to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P. 30 Mobility budget: Mobility tailored to your needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 31 Mobility budget: A difficult start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 32 Corporate mobility management: Interest turning into action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 34 Orange: Video-conferencing, a company-wide solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 39 Case studies: 20 success stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 41 What’s on offer: Partners in connectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 50 Expert view: Nick Salkeld, CCO of LeasePlan Group. . . . . . . . . . P. 54 Expert view: Ed Frederiks, CEO of Alphabet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 55

I BUSINESS I Interview: John Meyssen, CEO of CarsOnTheWeb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P.56 Car Remarketing Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P.56 Interview: Michiel Alferink, VP Sales at Athlon Car Lease International. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 57 Interview: Yves Bonnefont, CEO of DS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 58

I SCOPE I Taxation: The connected car may lead to new taxes. . . . . . . . . . . P. 60

MANAGEMENT I International Fleet Hall of Fame What you didn’t know about Philippe Bismut, CEO of Arval

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I MANAGEMENT I Fleet Europe Awards: This Award is yours to win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 62 Portrait: Philippe Bismut, CEO of Arval. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 65

COLOPHON

Aline Verpoorten - Assistant averpoorten@nexuscommunication.be

Caroline Thonnon - CEO & Business Development cthonnon@nexuscommunication.be

Contributors: Jonathan Green, Eamonn Fitzgerald, Tim Harrup, Frank Jacobs, Frédéric Vanvlodorp

Steven Schoefs - Chief Editor - Fleet Europe sschoefs@nexuscommunication.be

Layout: Hungry Minds - info@hungryminds.com

Laetitia Fernandez - Content & Community Editor - Fleet Europe lfernandez@nexuscommunication.

David Baudeweyns - International Sales & Business Development dbaudeweyns@nexuscommunication.be Sigrid Nauwelaerts - International Key Account Manager snauwelaerts@nexuscommunication.be Romina De Gregorio - Internal Sales & Operations rdegregorio@nexuscommunication.be Céline Gilson - Assistant cgilson@nexuscommunication.be

Pictures: ©Shutterstock// ©iStock//

EDITOR

Thierry Degives, CEO & Managing Partner at Nexus Communication SA, Parc Artisanal 11-13, 4671 Barchon (Belgium) T. : +32 4 387 87 94 - Fax : +32 4 387 90 63 - www.nexuscommunication.be

FLEET EUROPE

www.fleeteurope.com - www.fleeteurope.com/shop Reproduction rights (texts, advertisements, pictures) reserved for all countries. Received documents will not be returned. By submitting them, the author implicitly authorizes their publication.

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DOSSIER

I Corporate Mobility

It’s happening now Smart mobility is a mindset and a coming together of a multitude of solutions. Going for everything in one go would be a bit gung ho, but across Europe pockets of progressive mobility are coming together in corporate mobility programmes.

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ictor Hugo, the French poet, novelist, and dramatist, once remarked that “there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come”.

Today, mobility is such an idea. We’re seeing smart solutions catch on and build their fan base in the corporate community. So, here’s a quick run-down of the solutions that are at the forefront of the smart mobility revolution.

Car-sharing - Having caught the eye of the public, car-sharing has gone corporate and is getting rave reviews.

Research shows that companies using car-sharing can reduce their overall costs of mobility by between 25%-40%.

At times of budgetary pressure, car-sharing seems a sure fire way of cutting costs.

This is just one of the reasons why the number of shared cars in corporate fleets is set to hit anywhere between 75,000100,000 vehicles by 2020, according to Frost & Sullivan. The firm also found that the number of companies engaged in the corporate car-sharing market increased from 13 in 2013 to 20 last year. The shared economy - with car-sharing at its heart - is on a roll.

Electric mobility - Are you surprised to see e-mobility here?

Even though global and European sales are still small (less than 1% of the market), there are pockets of growth which are a cause for optimism. The fleet market is one place.

Improved offerings from OEMs and leasing providers, a realisation that there’s cost saving to be had, and a desire to reduce emissions are driving corporate interest. Leasing giant Alphabet recently announced it had taken more than 1,000 electric vehicle fleet orders. It thinks EVs have now found their place in corporate fleets. We think so too.

Telematics - We may still be a little uneasy about driver privacy, but it isn’t the barrier it once was. Telematics began as a way of locating stolen cars, but it’s moved on to be an enabler of a whole range of smart business practices.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come," remarked French author Victor Hugo.

Today, mobility is such an idea.

Data that enables management to monitor vehicle performance, how well (or badly) a car is being driven and whether there are periods of unexplained down time offers massive opportunities to change behaviours. We’re well on the road to connected fleet management, a market that the GSMA estimates will be worth almost EUR 40 billion in 2018.

Smart working - No summary on the rise of smart mobility would be complete without reference to smart working.

Tech innovations have taken work out of the office and into the wider world.

The rise of third place working has seen motorway service stations, shopping centres and transport hubs, like airports and railways, join the anywhere working revolution. Offering travellers a place to turn up and plug in, they’ve triggered our imagination. But so too has home working, and remote working in hotels and cafeterias, and almost anywhere else you care to mention. There’s no such thing as the office anymore, just different types of work spaces. ■ Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Setting the Scene

Say hello to the future We keep on hearing that it’s time for fleet management to move on and that mobility is the future. But what is mobility, what’s driving it forward and why is it important that we get to grips with this revolutionary idea right now?

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hange can often be uncomfortable, but like the cost of fuel and optimizing driver behaviour, it’s an ever present issue in modern day fleet management.

Over the past decade or so we’ve seen many changes and one thing is for certain; more change is coming.

Principles that were once held up as ‘best practice’ have lost their significance and new ideas have come along to take their place.

To illustrate the point, let’s take a journey down memory lane. Do you remember when pleasing the Finance Director meant procuring a fleet of cars at the lowest possible price? Fleet managers with big volumes would be in their element. They’d pile the pressure on OEMs and then sit back and watch as automakers squabbled for their custom. Back then, things really were that simple. Move on a few years and the practice of outright purchase started to be questioned by fleet managers preaching a new philosophy. Vehicle leasing was put forward as the way to go. It’s gone on to become the dominant force ever since.

combined with sweeping technological shifts, have created the perfect storm for transformational change.

And it’s strategic procurers who are making the change happen. They’re exploring how business systems and processes can be configured to reduce costs and create added value, and they’re strategically positioned, and empowered, to explore ways of doing business using solutions other than the company car.

This doesn’t mean that traditional fleet management practices are going to be put on the scrapheap. But corporations are taking a fresh look at fleet and saying that there’s a smarter way of doing things.

A new mindset This new mindset sets the stage for corporate mobility to shine. But what does mobility really mean? It’s a bit like jelly. It’s really hard to pin down. It doesn’t have a particular shape or a fixed boundary. Yet, don’t constrain it. Fluidity is its strength.

Corporations are taking a fresh look at fleet and saying that there’s a smarter way of doing things.

The shift to leasing was just the start of what we know today as fleet management in the mature markets. Over the past few years the concept of the total cost of ownership has come to the fore with great gusto, procurement has taken over as the corporate lead, and, as a consequence, fleet management has become increasingly strategic in its outlook.

It’s time for the next change The model we have today may have served the sector well, but it’s also been in-situ for some time. The world is changing fast. New economic and cultural conditions,

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A mobility strategy is just not about increasing the uptake of electric cars or using alternative powertrains to reduce emissions. Nor is it simply about the creation of third place office solutions for employers who work on the hoof. These are examples of mobility solutions, but they cannot be called - in isolation - a mobility strategy.

A mobility strategy is a smörgåsbord of travel and communication solutions that are combined to suit the corporation and its employees at an individual level. What’s taken off the ‘mobility’ plate differs by employee depending on their circumstances. Delivering the strategic aims of the company, meeting an individual’s needs, and doing it in a

If a company wants to play in the city - and attract its young and talented population as employees as well as customers - then smart, clean, multimodality, with mobile working, is the only way to go. way that creates value for customers matter far more than the choice of travel that is being made.

Take, for example, a corporate mobility solution for a young, city-based sales manager. Here a mobility budget alongside a mobility card, giving access to public transport, car-sharing providers and third place working, may be the best option. But for a sales manager based in a rural location, the same type of solution will not work. A company car, perhaps combined with a mobility card for ad hoc travel in cities, may be the answer.

A mobility strategy enables these two distinct types of solution to be made available under just one approach.

A company practicing the principles of fleet management cannot do the same thing. For them, a company car is the only option that’s on offer to both employees.

You get the picture. Mobility means choice and flexibility.

It’s tailor-made to meet an individual’s needs and is not fitted like fleet management’s straight jacket.

Environment for change A convergence of mega-trends is creating the framework for corporate mobility.

The Internet of Things means a multitude of mobility innovations are coming to market, and the integration of multiple modes of travel is no longer a pipe dream.

Add in pay-as-you-go, shared- ownership models, and the very notion of having to own a car, to use a car, has been turned on its head.

With rising urbanization, in congested and polluted cities, legislators are also penalizing polluters and

pushing cleaner, sustainable modes of mobility. If a company wants to play in the city - and attract its young and talented population as employees as well as customers - then smart, clean, multimodality, with mobile working, is the only way to go.

Getting all the data needed to make it happen is no longer a problem either. Granular, real-time information, in the age of big data, means empowerment. It’s enabling corporations to make sense of where, and how, a mobility strategy can be made to work.

Move with the times A company operating in an old fashioned way to meet the conditions of a new market reality is going to struggle.

Where employees work, how they communicate and the way that they utilize different modes of travel is changing.

It is the zeitgeist of our time and mobility is where it is at.

The narrow offer in fleet management of a company car for all occasions no longer fits the bill. Whilst no-one really knows what the future will look like, if you look carefully at the direction of travel it’s clearly towards mobility.

The time to create the future and move with the times is now. Or would you prefer to watch it all unfold and be the one that’s left behind to turn the lights out on fleet management? We thought not. ■

Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Corporate car-sharing

Think out of the fleet box Ask anyone about corporate mobility and car-sharing will crop up in the conversation pretty quickly. It’s probably the most widely known mobility solution in the market. The reason for it success is quite simple: car-sharing makes sense.

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ar-sharing is quickly becoming a big success story. Its appeal to a broad base of customers, which has led to a number of different car-sharing models springing up in markets across Europe.

At its simplest level, car-sharing can be described as a provider granting a driver access to a car for a period of time.

Gone are the days when ownership of a car meant use of a car. Today, cars can be shared by the minute. At one end of the spectrum there’s dedicated corporate car-sharing. Offered by an increasingly eager array of OEMs, leasing and hire car providers, the number of corporate customer-operated shared cars in fleets is on the up. Research by Frost & Sullivan found there were around 2,000 shared cars in European fleets in 2013, but they reckon this number will rocket to 75,000 – 100,000 cars by 2020.

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s the car-sharing solutions in the public sphere. OEMs, hire car companies and dedicated car share providers make their shared cars available to members of the public by the minute, but more

often the hour. Membership is booming here too. Navigant Research predicts revenues will break USD 5 billion by 2023.

So you must be wondering which the better of the two is…

Corporate and public car-sharing schemes each have their merits, so take a look at them both. Here are several reasons why you should.

Firstly, car-sharing is a safe bet. It’s been shown to work time and time again in a corporate setting. It has low upfront costs, it’s easy to implement and employees like what it offers. It’s also the perfect first step on the journey into the exciting world of corporate mobility management. It gives those who try it a taste of success and the appetite to go further. Secondly there are savings to be made by better management of vehicle assets. Do you know how many hours a day fleet cars sit idle waiting for someone to get behind the wheel? You’ll probably be surprised. Shared cars reduce the need for fleet cars, but they also give employees access to a car when they need it.

© E-Car

There should be 75,000-100,000 shared cars in European fleets by 2020.

Shared cars reduce the need for fleet cars, but they also give employees access to a car when they need it.

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Add in the fact that car-sharing is a nifty way to introduce drivers to electric cars as third reason for taking the next step. Convincing drivers about the merits of electric powertrains has proved to be a challenge, but give them the chance to get behind the wheel and things can change overnight.

Car-sharing is a way to do this without incurring significant upfront costs. And did we mention that car-sharing is a potential money-maker for the company? Offering shared cars to employees for private use outside of office hours is a way to raise revenue. It’s also a nice little perk to present to the Human Resource department as an employee benefit.

What more is there to say? It’s time to hear what the suppliers have to offer. ■ Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Corporate car-sharing

Moving from B2C to B2B If you’ve decided that the time is right to start corporate car-sharing then you’ll have plenty of providers to choose from.

Here’s a run-down of the brightest players in the market and an overview of what they’ve got to offer.

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easing companies, car hire providers and OEMs are all jockeying for a slice of the corporate car-sharing market. And alongside these established fleet players there’s dedicated car-sharing providers to consider too. Although these companies started out targeting the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, there also now active in the business-to-business (B2B) segment.

This means there’s more choice, but be cautious when choosing a supplier. Public car-sharing schemes have been shown to work in a corporate context, but the needs of the B2B community differ from the consumer market.

This is why specialist B2B providers have sprung up.

Whilst geographical coverage of car-share provision in Europe is growing, it’s no-where near universal. Some providers offer multi-country solutions to entice international fleets, others are country based whilst more still are city focused.

To help you figure out who is doing what and where they are doing it, read on.

Car Leasing companies taking the lead Corporate car-sharing sits sweetly alongside a leasing company’s core proposition. It’s a product that encourages conversations with existing clients about wider mobility issues and demonstrates to potential clients fresh thinking about fleet management. It’s no surprise that leasing companies are leading the charge when it comes to corporate car-sharing.

ALD Automotive told us it has always positioned itself as being a service provider and corporate car-sharing was a natural next step. ALD was the first leasing company to offer corporate car-sharing, launching its services in 2010. Today it offers corporate car-sharing in France, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

ALD tells us that its solution, which offers online booking with automated back-end billing, makes things simple for

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drivers and managers. The company also says that employees can book vehicles for private use at their personal expense, which is a handy way to reduce the TCO. Alphabet, like ALD, is a veteran in the nascent world of corporate car-sharing. Its product, AlphaCity, offers online and keyless access and is available in Germany, France,

The future is digital Car-sharing, once confined to green advocates and hippy communes, has moved on massively in the past few years. It’s now knocking loudly at the door of the corporate fleet community and being welcomed by an increasing number of customers. But will it hit the big time? Yes it will.

One of the most comprehensive studies predicts there could be between 75,000 and 100,000 shared vehicles in Europe by 2020. That’s up from around 2,000 in 2013. A growth trajectory like this could well signal the start of transformation in the way we think about fleet management.

And with what’s coming on the tech front the world we are working in will be changing rapidly.

Connection and Big Data are bringing disparate worlds together and enabling smart actions that will change our relationship with the car.

Keyless car entry, like Keyzee from OTAKeys in Belgium, with remote access via the smartphone, is already making sharing simpler. In China automated garages, operating like vending machines, offer shared cars to customers who wander up on street. And with autonomous cars will we be hailing shared cars by smartphone and waving bye-bye to driving - and ownership - all together? It may sound far-fetched, but stranger things have happened.

the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Italy. The leasing company also told us it’s going to be combining corporate car-sharing with e-Mobility to create a Corporate eCarSharing product.

Will it spark more interest? Alphabet clearly thinks so.

Unlike ALD and Alphabet, GE Capital has just started out on its journey. It has a corporate car-share product in Germany and says it’s watching the trend-setting BENELUX area as it assesses the viability for car-sharing across all of its regions.

The mention of the BENELUX means talk turns to the Netherlands-based mobility pioneer LeasePlan. It has corporate car-sharing in the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Spain and Germany and says there’s more countries on the way. In which locations it will launch and when it will do so was not shared with us when we asked.

Fellow Dutch-based leasing co. Athlon Car Lease told us it offers corporate car-sharing in Europe’s more mature markets, and is also exploring an international proposition. This pair of leasing companies are keeping their cards close to their chests when it comes to sharing what they have planned.

i-Road: Next generation car-sharing The 70 Toyota i-ROAD and COMS ultra-compact personal mobility electric vehicles that have hit the roads in Grenoble, France, could point the way to what’s coming next - sharing. These electric-powered, three-wheeled, one person mobility vehicles are potentially the perfect shared resource for cost and carbon conscious corporations.

Arval was a coy respondent. It offers car-sharing in France and the Netherlands. It’s worth noting that a third of its 250 shared-cars in France are powered by non ICE engines.

To wrap up, Volkswagen Financial Services (WVFS) are backing two initiatives. Although small in scale they could be big in impact. Firstly there’s Quicar. Volkswagen’s official car-sharing pilot with 160 Golf VI at 100 stations in Hamburg. The results of the pilot could light the touch paper for bigger investments.

Audi shared fleet is the second solution. It’s a corporate car-sharing service that enables a group of local companies

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Corporate car-sharing

with 300 Mercedes-Benz B-Class cars in Germany. These can be picked up and dropped off at fixed locations in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Ulm.

© Alphabet

Not to be outdone, German rival BMW's Drive Now offers car-share products in the German cities of Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich, the UK’s capital London and Vienna in Austria.

It should come as no surprise that leasing companies are leading lights when it comes to corporate car-sharing. to share a dedicated fleet of Audi models. It started out as a pilot in Zuidas district in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and has now been rolled out to other sites in Munich, Ingolstadt and Berlin. Is Volkswagen Financial Services onto something special with this innovative new model?

It’s certainly a bright idea.

OEMs slowly moving from B2C to B2B Sharing When it comes to car-sharing car manufacturers have tended to focus on the B2C market. But there’s nothing to stop business people jumping in the shared cars that are lining Europe’s streets.

One exception is PSA which has a B2B offer. Its ShareYour-Fleet corporate car-share solution is available in Germany and is rising eyebrows amongst buyers and suppliers. PSA also has a public car-sharing offer in Berlin with Citroën’s Multicity being part of its portfolio.

Fellow French automaker Renault is making it easier for corporate car-sharing with its factory-fitted R-Access system. Connection here enables keyless access and smart vehicle management, meaning that the technology is in place for car-sharing at a corporate level straight from the factory floor. This automaker wants to make sharing simple for you.

But what the rest and their public-car-sharing services? Daimler’s car2go is today the world’s largest car share scheme operating in 30 locations and eight countries. Hamburg, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Copenhagen, Torino and Stockholm are European cities where car2go can be accessed. Then there’s car2go black

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In Italy Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has Enjoy. Launched in Milan in 2013, Enjoy is now in Rome and Florence with 1,400 Fiat 500s on the fleet. Ford has announced an EV car share pilot in London, UK, in addition to its dealership based offer in Germany. And then there’s Volvo’s Sunfleet in Sweden to name yet another.

Rent-a-Car revelling in shared economy Europcar told us that car rental is the ultimate in ‘sharing’ and that the ‘sharing economy’ is nothing new. Key to facilitating shared services is making sure they’re in the right place, at the right time – and they do the right job. This is what the firm told us it is focusing on.

Its partnership with Ubeeqo, announced at the start of the year, reflects that commitment. Ubeeqo, is a mobility solutions start-up that specialises in a range of mobility solutions including car-sharing in France and Belgium. Europcar told us that with this partnership it has the opportunity to engage business clients with a range of solutions that it has not previously offered.

Like Europcar, Avis, which acquired car-sharing pioneer Zipcar for $500 million in 2013, sees the strategic value and complementary nature of the rent-a-car and shared

Car-sharing Host-Model CiteeCar in Germany operates a host model where the ‘caretaker’ of the car earns credits which can be exchanged for free motoring. It’s a smart model that could appeal to corporations.

Flying high Hertz 24/7 maintains up to 1,000 cars for German airline, Lufthansa at Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin airports. From Fiat 500s and Ford Fiestas to station wagons, vans and SUVs. Hertz 24/7 says the scheme provides an ideal solution for the individual mobility needs of airline staff.

features online reservation, keyless vehicle access and a web-based fleet management tool.

© Daimler

Expanding rent-a-car business Enterprise is next up. The company is busy building its reach in Europe so you can bet they’ll be looking to import their highly successful carshare model from the United States. The deal that Enterprise CarShare has struck with the UK's City Car Club, which will see 800 cars in 17 locations joining Enterprise CarShare, could well be a sign of things to come.

There’s nothing to stop business people jumping in the shared cars that are lining Europe’s streets. cars. Zipcar operates in Austria, France, Spain and the UK with its Zipcar for Business brand targeting B2B customers.

Partnering with BMW for Drive Now (see above) is Sixt. Sixt also offers Sixt Unlimited, a car-share type solution that grants customers the flexibility to book a rental car wherever they want and how often they want for a fixed price per month. It’s a nifty idea.

Enterprise, like other providers in the rent-a-car business, will build a custom car-sharing solution for clients - much like the proposition offered by leasing companies. The rental market is ready to listen to your requests wherever shared cars may be needed.

Other players Start-ups specialising in car-sharing have popped up in cities across Europe over the past few years. Some cover just one city, others cover a handful and a few cross country borders. There’s Greenwheels in the Netherlands and Germany, CiteeCar in Germany, Ireland’s GoCar and Spain’s Social Car, just to name a few. The list goes on, and on.

A start-up supplier covering a small geographical scope shouldn’t signal unsuitability for corporate buyers. There’s merit to engaging start-ups given their innovative approach to issues that some of the bigger players haven’t yet got to grips with. And remember that they may also be the only provider in a country or city that you’re looking at.

Whilst geographical coverage of car-share provision in Europe is growing, it’s no-where near universal.

Meanwhile, Hertz 24/7, which was launched in December 2008, manages corporate car-share programmes for 20 companies and public institutions across seven European markets (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium). It has a shared car count of 1,300 and its solution

The choice is yours. Which type of supplier fits the bill? The best way to find out is to start with a discussion with your current suppliers and to map your employees’ commuting and business travel practices. ■ Jonathan Green

Steps to success: Making car-sharing happen 1. Be clear about what you want - Not all providers offer the same services so specify what you want and explain why you want it. Suppliers can then customise a solution that works just for you.

2. Keep an open mind - Big established players do not always have the best solutions. Smaller, innovative start-ups can offer fresh ideas so don’t discount on size.

3. Talk about car-sharing - Car-sharing is not going to be a success unless you push your target audience to try it out. Once they have, evidence show they’ll l turn into advocates.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Car-pooling and shuttle services

Share your ride The concept of car-pooling is nothing new, but with the rise of connectivity it’s starting to be given a snazzy new look.

Drivers and potential car-poolers can now connect with one another via the swipe of a smartphone meaning there’s never been an easier - or a cooler - way to hitch a ride.

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ar-pooling used to be the domain of students, but with sharing economy catching on and connectivity creating new business paradigms, car-pooling (aka ride-sharing) is increasingly seen as a slick mobility solution. It’s an emerging market that’s attracting attention from many angles. Daimler AG sees its merit: the manufacturer has invested in Europe’s largest car-pooling company, carpooling.com, and describes ride-sharing as an important element of intelligently networked mobility. Ride-sharing services also feature prominently in moovel.com; Daimler’s smart mobility portal.

and mobility specialists to pitch their services which marry drivers with passengers that are looking for lift. Corporate car-pooling means little more than clubbing together with fellow employees to share commutes to and from work.

It’s a simple as that, but it offers big benefits to commuters and corporations that get it right. From supporting employees share the rising costs of travel, through to helping to relieve chronic congestion in cities, tackling polluting emissions and being a better neighbour by reducing car parking pressures, there are many benefits to be gained from this smart mobility solution.

Car-pooling offers big benefits to commuters and corporations that get it right.

Other innovators can sense the opportunity too. Tech giant Uber, the start-up that’s shaking transport’s foundations also offers ride-sharing. It’s looking to transform markets and build a business model from the bottom up. But the big players are yet to push their services onto the corporate market. So, it’s left to a myriad of small time tech players

From supporting employees share the rising costs of travel, through to helping to relieve chronic congestion in cities, there are many benefits to be gained from car-pooling.

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Companies of the calibre of Accenture, E.ON, UCB Pharmaceuticals and Virgin Atlantic Airways have been sold on corporate car-pooling for good reason. Smart mobility is a mindset that demands a shift in attitudes. By challenging commuting behaviour, change can also be encouraged in other areas of business operations too. For example, smart mobility solutions like car-sharing and car-pooling for business travel move into scope if employees leave their personal cars at home.

The provision of shuttle services at central transport hubs, such as railway stations and bus terminals is another way of challenging car dependency. Offering shuttles mean cars are left at home and new ways of working are once again adopted. Also, in cities where planning permission is getting harder to come by, demonstrating that the workforce doesn’t depend on the car could be a factor which makes or breaks a planning application. By themselves car-pooling and shuttle services aren’t going to be revolutionary, but they play an important part in changing corporate culture. Once again, it’s about looking at the big picture, and taking incremental steps to realise the vision of smart mobility. ■

Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Car-pooling and shuttle services

Get together One way to make a room go silent is ask who's responsible for managing car-pooling, commuter travel and shuttle services. In the age of smart mobility it could become a common question, but it needn't be a burden.

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ake no bones about it car-pooling and shuttle services are tough agenda items. In most companies they aren’t actively managed, but interest is growing as mobility gathers momentum. Fortunately, suppliers are starting to unravel this exciting area and explore new solutions.

Leasing companies say car-pooling is closely linked to their core offer. ALD Automotive told us it currently operates a fleet over 10,000 vehicles fully dedicated to pool fleet. Athlon Car Lease and LeasePlan also said they offer car-pooling throughout Europe as part of their fleet management services.

Car-pooling can be a strong customer proposition and it’s attracting interest from OEMs, rent-a-car providers and tech companies too. On the OEM front, Opel told us that there’s a ‘revolution’ in commuting.

It's taking a closer look at commuting in co-operation with flinc in the Rüsselsheim, Germany. Here Opel is testing a “share your ride“ concept with employees and told us this is part of a growth strategy which focuses on new mobility services. Daimler AG's investment in carpooling.com adds weight to OEM interest in this area of mobility. In the renta-car segment, Hertz told us it maintains a dedicated car pool fleet for employees. It’s equipped the fleet with telematics and GPS tracking, and additional services including booking mechanisms, vehicle reporting and maintenance and available.

GUTSi shows the way GUTSi express commuting shuttles support commuters in London, UK travel into the City using luxury Mercedes Sprinter minibuses. With at seat electrical charging points and WiFi connectivity some leading financial institutions including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Tysers, Liberum Capital and Knight Capital offer the service to their employees.

Car-pooling is a powerful way to change behaviours and support smart mobility.

Whilst Zimride, an e-based ride-matching service offered to Enterprise rent-a-car’s university and business partners in the United States, is a sign of what could be coming. With 350,000 users and partnership with Facebook it’s certainly not small scale.

Closer to home, Europcar, with its acquisition of Ubeeqo, is broadening horizons too. We were told that other developments in the pipeline that fit with an overall change in behaviours, and ride-sharing was a mobility solution that was particularly appealing for those living and working in cities.

Think local But if you are looking for an international commuter carpooling partner then think again. The best bet today is to bring up Google, type in car-pooling (or ride-sharing), your country and city. Plenty of locally-based providers will pop up and could give you what you’re looking for.

Moving on to shuttle services, workplace travel planning is of growing importance as planning consent for business parks often means commuter travel action plans need to be in place.

And that means buses and coaches, linking to rail hubs, enabling workers to come to work without a car. Someone has to manage this and its falls to the mobility lead. ■ Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Multimodal mobility

Get smart, combine options Instead of pushing the use of a car for every trip, it’s time to start trusting employees and encouraging multimodality.

It is a super smart choice for many reasons and it’s a decision you can make today.

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truly integrated transport network has been the holy grail of urban planners ever since the year dot. Our ability however, to plug together multiple modes of transport, sync timetables and provide cost effective, last mile mobility, has always proved to be a step too far.

But now we’re in the age of integrated industry. Machineto-machine connectivity and masses of Big Data are making the impossible, possible. A bright new future for multimodality is forming.

It’s challenging conventional wisdom that the car is always the smartest choice. And it’s a trend the corporate community needs to watch closely. Knowing when and how to travel isn’t the hard part anymore. Technology lets us know what the best routes are at any given time, what the conditions of travel are like, the costs and the times, and how multimodality can deliver what we want. It also maps performance against the car so you can see what comes out on top.

With mobility cards in our pockets and mobility budgets to manage the costs, everything is in play to make multimodality happen. We just need to take the first few steps.

Our better understanding of the direct and indirect costs of corporate fleets means other options than the car are not just entering the fray, but being encouraged. Take, for example, awareness of travel time. Sat behind the wheel, cursing congestion, is not just a cause of stress, it costs companies billions of Euros. So encourage employees to make use of multimodality and turn travel time into productive time with WiFi connectivity. Employee health and wellbeing is moving to the front of corporate consciousness too. Weight problems and obesity are increasing at an alarming rate according to the European Union. Over half the population is now overweight or obese, and weightlinked illnesses are impacting the bottom line. We’re eating poorly and spending too much time sat on our bums. The answer, according to policy makers, is active travel. It means getting out of the car, using our legs, pedalling our bikes and choosing multimodality over the car. Sounds familiar?

Encourage employees to make use of multimodality and turn travel time into productive time with WiFi connectivity.

Choosing multimodality over the car is key to reduce carbon emissions and look after employees’ health and wellbeing.

Add corporate responsibility in the equation and there’s even more reasons to get engaged. Pressure to reduce emissions means there’s much merit in leaving the car behind.

Multimodal mass transit systems are lower carbon than mainstream cars. And modal shift will not just be good for a company’s carbon accounts; it could soon be the only way to travel into a city. There are moves afoot to tackle local air pollution with low emission zones, outright bans on diesel fuels and punitive taxes on cars. The way that we’ve been allowed to move around cities is changing and the car is firmly in the firing line. It means new solutions utilizing multimodality make sense for many reasons. The time has come to figure out what it means for your company. ■ Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Multimodal mobility

High time to make the most of multimodality In the past if a supplier had just one product in their mobility portfolio it was seen as perfectly acceptable, but in today’s multimodal world product diversification is becoming an absolute must. And as a corporate fleet manager you should think how to use this in your employees’ advantage.

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he lines de-marking which supplier offers what in the fleet supply chain are beginning to blur. It’s not just one country or industry segment where the transformation is taking place.

Leasing companies, OEMs and rent-a-car providers are all exploring multimodal solutions in multiple countries.

And they’re joined by new entrants looking to take a slice of the revenue pie. So, get strapped in for a whirlwind tour of mobility suppliers offering multimodal solutions. The time to start thinking about what they can do for you has surely come.

Leasing companies First up it’s the leasing companies. ALD Automotive told us that personal vehicles are not anymore centric in urban mobility, and this encouraged the development of smarter mobility based solutions at the company. Here’s the list of what ALD have now got to offer alongside the leased car.

Across Europe there’s ALD Railease, a public transport solution in combination with a lease car, and ALD 7Wheel Lease and ALD 6Wheel Lease combining a car with a Piaggio MP3 scooter and 2-wheeler respectively.

Then in France there’s ALD 2Wheels for leasing for scooters and motorbikes, and in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands there’s ALD switch, which enables drivers to swap their lease cars based on changing needs over specific time periods. Staying with two wheels, there’s ALD companybike in five countries which brings pedal cycles into the frame. For cross company sharing there’s ALD poolbike too. If you need a remote office to get your head around all these offers, then choose ALD flex.

ALD also told us it sees an additional mobility market for employees not eligible for a company car - hence the broad portfolio of offers that its pulling together. It’s not the only one that senses an opportunity.

Athlon Car Lease says the concept of mobility stretches beyond the small number of people that actually qualify for a car lease. With a normal leasing provider serving

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between 10-20% of the employee population, Athlon says there’s 80-90% of the workforce that still have their own mobility needs. The company says that in the near future it will move into B2Employee and B2C segments as mobility management changes how corporations consider and manage employee needs.

Athlon’s 5-step mobility plan, which we’re told supports customers build cost-efficient mobility, takes advantage of products including Flexdrive in Belgium, which enables a driver of a leased vehicle the opportunity to save part of the budget for specific mobility needs during the year (e.g. holiday car). Flexdrive will be coming to Italy and France as Athlon ramps up its mobility offer.

Why fleet and business travel management should converge It’s not just traditional car fleet suppliers that are spreading their wings across the mobility spectrum.

In the business travel community Travel Management Companies like CarlsonWagonlit Travel, HRG and BCD are integrating the car into their portfolio of offers.

Enabled by smart tech from Amadeus, KDS and Travelport, business travel agencies are positioning themselves as providers of door to door mobility rather than point to point travel. And with ground transportation and public transport in their service offering you could soon being doing business with a business travel supplier, rather than a firm in the fleet supply chain.

Does the coming together of distinct segments of the wider mobility community signal the start of two supplier communities shrinking to become one that’s focused on business mobility? Researchers at Frost and Sullivan believe that facilitating integrated doorto-door business travel management solutions will be one of the main focus areas for growth and investment in the automotive industry in 2015.

Multimodality is smart mobility in action. It creates flexibility and stimulates employee satisfaction.

Bikelease is offered in Belgium and the Netherlands, along with Railease which gives drivers the chance to choose the train and other public transport solutions. There’s also corporate car sharing solutions, mobility cards and mobility budgets, working alongside MOMAS, a system that manages the mobility package of each employee and makes multimodal happen. Athlon told us its mobility management solutions are available in all the countries where it has a presence.

Alphabet is keen to stress the importance of electric cars in the mobility conversation. It says its AlphaElectric solution stimulates discussion about the total cost of mobility and what solution best suits an employee and the business. Then to make multimodality happen Alphabet’s told us that its latest product development, the Alphabet Mobility Budget, includes everything from car, to public transportation to bikes. Whilst it’s only available in the Netherlands at the moment, there are plans for this solution be rolled out on an international level in the years to come. Big plans indeed.

LeasePlan multimodal solutions are confined to the BENELUX region with train, bus, bike and car-sharing, along with e-car charging on offer. The specialist is well known for its pioneering approach to multimodality and is a barometer of change taking place in the sector. Finally, GE Capital told us it offers a car and bike combo in the Netherlands, but that’s all for the moment.

OEMs Why would an OEM encourage the use of any mode of transport other than a car? By taking a slice of the mobility market OEMs can break into new markets, take a slice of new and existing revenues streams and build brand awareness and loyalty amongst customers. And that just for starters.

The torch bearers for OEMs in multimodality are Mu by Peugeot and Moovel from Daimler Mobility Services (DMS).

Buying Peugeot Mu credits give members access to rent a vehicle, scooter, bike or accessory. It’s a service that’s available in more than a hundred cities in France and also in England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland.

Moovel, confined to Germany, is an app that draws together a host of mobility services and packs them behind a smartphone’s screen. Simply swipe to take a share car, hitch a ride or hail a taxi. Public transport provision completes the picture. The offer sits in the B2C segment, but don’t be surprised if it starts to operate in the B2B market.

Rent-a-car SIXT is the innovative player. It’s offering BMW motorbikes and scooters (with electric drive) in Germany and Spain and told us more European countries are about to come on board. It also has myDriver (a black car service) and Sixt rent a bicycle in its multimodal arsenal. Also, in co-operation with Deutsche Bahn, SIXT is joining the train and car up.

Other to watch Transportation Network Companies, like Lyft, Uber X, Sidecar, Haxi, Summon and Wingz are disruptors outsourcing rides to third parties. They aim to tear up the old rules as they go along and make Mobility as a Service (MaaS) the new norm. Analysts expect them to engage with the corporate community and diversify their service offering as the market matures. This means there could be a whole new supplier offering and supply chain that the B2B community has to get to grips with. ■

Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Mobility Card

The open sesame of mobility Imagine a mobility card that offers access to all modes of travel with the ease of comfort of electronic billing at the back end.

It sure sounds good. Freed up to be flexible about their travel, employees can make smart mobility an everyday occurrence.

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here’s no need to imagine. The mobility card is here, it’s ready to be put to use and it’s finding itself in an increasing number of workers’ wallets.

It’s early days, but the card is now catching the eye of corporations looking to do things differently.

But first up, what is it? Well, a mobility card can take two forms. In a physical form it’s a piece of plastic that’s Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled, whilst in a virtual format it’s a smartphone solution that sits behind a screen.

Either which way, turn up at a transport hub, touch your mobility card (read smartphone) on a smart reader and hey presto, the gates open and you’re off. No need for tickets, paper receipts or time-consuming expenses claims. With a mobility card everything is computerized and completed in real time.

Pre-pay or post-pay, the payment options can be configured to fit your needs. Do not fear about overspending.

Expenditure caps can be created over specified periods of time, whilst barriers can be put in place to prevent mis-use against mobility policy. A mobility card is like a corporate police person meaning you don’t have to spend time implementing the rules and chasing up the offenders.

Turn up at a transport hub, touch your mobility card on a smart reader, the gates open and you’re off. With a mobility card everything is computerized and completed in real time. but you get the point. Providers come from the public as well as the private sector. Transport for London opens up UK capital with the Oyster card. In France Parisian’s can use the Visite Pass and in the German city of Berlin there’s the WelcomeCard. These cities - along with many others in Europe - are pushing the value of multimodal mobility and are pressing the advantages home to the corporate community.

A mobility card is like a corporate police person.

So, what can card holders get access too? Planes, trains, tubes, trams, metro, taxis, bike-sharing and car-share schemes are all part of a mobility card’s provision. Almost any mode of travel you can think of along with fuel charges, parking cost and road tolls can be included on the charge sheet. And we can’t forget to add in access to third place working hubs too. Mobility cards offer a comprehensive coverage of everything employees needs to get a decent day’s work done.

Ultimately a traveller’s geographical location and the card provider’s service provision determine what’s in scope,

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So what’s the catch? There are some questions that need to be answered around benefit-in-kind taxation, but they’re not insurmountable. With the support of the taxation authorities it’s possible to iron out any issues and make the mobility card a solution that works for legions of corporate travellers.

What’s stopping you getting started? It’s time to check out what the mobility card can do for you. ■ Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Mobility card

Yes, this could be magic With multimodal the new modus operandi, smarter ways to manage corporate mobility are needed. The mobility card is being mooted as the smart solution and it's making waves.

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ith multimodal now the norm, anything that makes it easier for corporate travellers to access different modes of travel, and companies to control and manage travel policy, has to be a positive thing. Yet one of the challenges when trying to introduce corporate mobility structures is convincing stakeholders that it’s not too complex. Will the mobility card show the sceptics that it’s the way to go?

With tools, business models and dedicated services already available, mobility card suppliers will need all the weapons in their arsenal to advance in the market. We think they’ve got what it takes, but do you?

The coming of the mobility card Leasing companies are the movers and shakers pushing mobility cards forward, but there’s an OEM, rent-a-car and an entrant from outside of our industry moving mobility cards to the next level. BENELUX is at the heart of the action, but suppliers are also looking at Germany and France, as geographical interest spreads.

LeasePlan was eager for us to know that it was one of the pioneers in the market - everyone, it seems, wants to take the title of prime mover in mobility cards. Its multimodal Mobility Mixx mobility card, started over a decade ago in the Netherlands, has seen a gradual increase in demand. LeasePlan added that it has plans for further rollout of the card into Belgium.

The company also told us that it offers mobility cards in several European countries directly or via partners for both national and international use. It says that its Travelcard solution does not only cover fuel expenses, but can also be used to charge e-vehicles.

The BENELUX region is in the vanguard. Athlon Car Lease joins LeasePlan as an early adopter. The company told us it has partnered with XXImo to offer corporate

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travellers access to a wide array of mobility linked services without the normal hassle of expense accounts.

Parking, carwash, fuel, charging, public transport, hotels, international travel and flexible offices are available through the card.

Athlon says that the possibilities for customers are endless and can be fine-tuned in the back office to fit every user’s need. That’s a bold claim, but with over 5,000 cards issued to customers the firm has high hopes for the future.

ALD Automotive says its mobility card should be seen as the physical support of mobility budgets. The payment method remains physical (a card), but, in time, ALD expects that the ‘card’ will move into peoples’ smartphones.

ALD's broad range of mobility solutions are supported by the card, so whatever mobility services a corporate customers chooses, ALD says it can configure the card to suit. This type of plug and play flexibility is sure to appeal.

Stand aside leasing suppliers moovel, from Daimler Mobility Services (DMS), is not

Urban changes to drive adoption of mobility cards.

With Europe’s urban areas under the cosh of congestion and increasing concern about air quality, there’s more policy measures then ever being taken to push public transport, enable multimodality and banish dirty cars from city streets.

Corporations doing business in a city could well find that the only way to get around in the near future - economically, efficiently, with ease and with minimum environmental impact - will be with a mobility card.

Will the arrival of the mobility card be enough to convince the sceptics that mobility is the way to go?

Your main suppliers certainly think so.

targeting the corporate market for the moment, but it could well be the smartphone based solution that leasing co. ALD was talking about.

Offering shared cars, ride-sharing, taxi, trains, buses and bikes, all through a smartphone interface with integrated payment, moovel may be the ultimate template for corporate mobility.

DMS told us moovel, with one million customers since its launch in 2012, can be used throughout Germany. Its target group contains everybody who wants to get from A to B easily, conveniently, efficiently and for the best price. This description sounds like a corporate traveler to us, no? Maybe we’ll see a B2B version of moovel soon.

Sixt, the German based rent-a-car provider is getting creative with three distinct card based products. Firstly it launched Sixt's Corporate Card Plus which bundles car rental and fuel spend on a single card with Aral/ Routex earlier this year. Sixt told us its customers no longer have to worry about separate bills and will gain greater transparency of their spend.

© Mobility Switzerland

Secondly, there’s Sixt unlimited which offers customers the flexibility to book a rental car wherever they want and how often they wish for a fixed price per month. It’s available in all Sixt countries in Europe. And finally, in

A mobility card is any type of solution that helps to plug together different modes of travel and makes it simpler for employees to travel on business.

co-operation with BMW, BMW i3 clients can activate their Sixt Gold Card to book cars on a special Sixt rate. It says this gives BMW’s e-mobility customers the possibility to be mobile abroad and travel longer distances.

Sixt may not offer as comprehensive a coverage as the leasing players, but it’s showing intent and proving that mobility cards are not just for the leasing sector. Another non-leasing player that’s blazing a trail is XXImo. We’ve already heard about XXImo’s partnership with Athlon, but they’re also a provider in their own right.

Launched in 2011, XXImo is building up its offer and country coverage. In the last 18 months alone it's added 27 new services to the product line up including foreign VAT reclaim, corporate car-sharing, eCab and Uber.

Transactions on XXImo can be limited in time, budget and region to ensure control and compliance. And at the end of the month the mobility manager receives one VAT invoice for all transactions of all employees. How much simpler will that make management at the back end?

XXImo is available in the Netherlands and Belgium, and will enter the French and German markets later this year. The firm told us they were also studying viability in other countries where potential partners could use XXImo’s technical infrastructure.

Coming next With big data and M2M communications driving transport integration, mobility cards offer a convenient way to swipe in and switch between different modes of travel.

It’s not just good news for travellers, but suppliers who want to offer holistic services to clients that are focused on business outcomes rather than cars.

So the only question left is whose going to win the race to be the integrator - the Amazon.com - of mobility? ■

Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Remote working

Anywhere working is the answer Technology has liberated the workforce and more employees than ever are working outside the walls of an office. Smart working is the way the world is moving, but there are pitfalls to prepare for when pulling together a smart mobility strategy.

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ow many different places have you worked in the past month? These days it seems absurd not to be able to connect to the Internet, download emails and access company systems when on the move.

The age of 24/7, three-six-five working has cemented itself in the corporate psyche - but it wasn’t always like this.

What constitutes a workplace has been re-defined in a relatively short space of time. Just under 25 years ago the Internet and e-mail arrived on bulky desktop computers to start the electronic revolution. Come the turn of the century and wireless technology cut the chains at our desks. The iPhone followed in 2007 and things moved up a gear.

Let’s not forget our duty of care obligations in the rush to connect ourselves to new work spaces.

Today the Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine communication mean more and more things - including the cars we drive - are getting connected to the world around them. We can now always be on, but are we ready to go?

The changing face of the workplace has given rise to new work places and work styles, but corporations need to be prepared if the benefits are to be felt. The clear line that once existed between business travel and commuting is blurring, travel patterns are changing, and new mobility solutions are starting to get enticing.

A mobility strategy, given its big picture perspective, stimulates take up of the new world of work. So, whether it’s supporting home working or procuring third place workspaces, enabling in-car connectivity to optimize productivity or driving new policies that support smart working, mobility is central to achieving success.

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The changing face of the workplace has given rise to new work places and work styles: with the Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine communication, we can now always be on.

Smart working however can sometimes sound too good to be true. Be aware of the risks. Don’t just assume that WiFi hot-spots are secure. Public WiFi is often unencrypted and offers hackers an easy way to eavesdrop into Internet-based communications. What makes a connection secure and how can security levels be checked? Find out the answers, communicate with employees and don’t compromise the corporation.

Regular readers will know all about our passion for keeping people safe. Fleet managers are already facing tough challenges in managing the use of mobile tech behind the wheel.

With the car becoming more like a mobile office, the risks of distracted driving are increasing. Let’s not forget our duty of care obligations in the rush to connect ourselves to new work spaces. ■ Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Remote working

Work where you want to The conversation in corporate services today is about enabling employees and empowering them to be outcome focused wherever they’re located. Fortunately, there’s pioneers in our sector who understand this and are taking action to add value.

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lexible and remote working is at the centre of the smart mobility agenda and, like car fleet management, it’s a topic that’s experiencing transformational change. As fleet and work space come together there’s some smart solutions for you to start thinking about.

ALD Automotive is once again in the limelight. ALD flex, launched in 2013, gives clients access to flexible working hubs in Belgium, via provider Mobispot’s network, and the Netherlands, in a deal that has been struck with Swung House. Initially targeted at SME’s, ALD told us that it’s offer has also proved popular with larger corporations.

Athlon’s partnership with mobility card provider XXImo in the Netherlands opens up access to shared office space in its portfolio. Once again the trend setting BENELUX region is right at the heart of total mobility solutions.

Understanding the need for flexible office space isn’t a simple affair. GE Capital sees this as an opportunity where it too can add value. The leasing firm told us that although it has no specific mobility solution to accommodate working-from-home, GE Capital’s Fleet Consulting Team can advise on the cost benefits of introducing such policies.

Sharing economy shows the way The folks at Zipcar might have something to say about all the attention being lavished on leasing co. The evangelist in the sharing economy has signed a deal with Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspaces, to bring cars and workspace together in the UK. Through the alliance, Regus customers can access special offers to join Zipcar for Business including a waived set up

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© Daimler

Getting realistic about real estate Suppliers in our sector aren’t going to get into buying prime real estate, but they’ll partner with companies that are. With the first strategic alliances being signed between suppliers, here’s a breakdown of the prime movers who are making it happen.

Office space inside the car The driver and passenger chair in the Mercedes F015 concept car can swivel round to create a meeting space inside the car. With people in the front able to have faceto-face interactions with backseat passengers the car could become the perfect flexible workspace. And with autonomous driving around the corner having a meeting on the move could be about to get a new meaning.

fee, discounted membership, lower driving rates and driving credit. In return Zipcar for Business members receive an annual Regus Businessworld preferred membership, complimentary business lounge visits and one month free on a full time office or any virtual office programme.

Regus is one sector specialist you want to talk too. It’s pushing the boundaries by opening shared workspaces at transport hubs like motorway services, train stations and airports across Europe. It makes us wonder why a leasing company hasn’t followed Zipcar’s lead and come together with Regus to create a winning offer for corporate customers. ■ Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Mobility Budget

Mobility tailored to your needs The future is about offering employees a "smörgåsbord" of mobility solutions, making sure access to mobility is easy and managing the entire process efficiently from end to end. A mobility budget is one of the mechanisms that make this all possible.

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obility budgets are a breakthrough concept that can have a transformational effect on the way corporations think about and manage corporate mobility. Let’s start off with what should be a quick question. What’s your company’s annual expenditure on mobility? We’re not just talking about car leasing costs here, but mileage allowances, car-sharing, parking costs, public transport tickets and so on.

It’s most probably a bigger figure than you imagined; that’s if you can actually find out what the total cost is. With expenditure coded under varied cost centres, data interrogation is extremely difficult - if not impossible. Wouldn’t it be helpful if all the costs were packaged up in one place and could be analysed at individual level? It sure would help financial control and improve strategic procurement. Well, with a mobility budget it’s possible.

But a mobility budget is so much more than just a way of collating costs. It’s also a mechanism that gives an individual employee the freedom and the flexibility to choose the mobility solutions they need, whilst giving the corporate entity the financial assurance and comfort that its funds are being effectively managed. If it sounds smart, that’s because it is. But let’s strip it back to the basics as we get to grips with what a mobility budget can do.

A mobility budget is a fixed amount of money that an employee can use to spend on any work-related travel costs over a specified period of time. Come the end of the period, if there’s any money left then employees can choose to keep the cash or trade it in for other forms of company benefits.

The mobility budget gives an employee the flexibility to choose the mobility solutions they need, whilst giving the corporate entity the financial assurance that its funds are being effectively managed. employees get ease of access to many a mobility service as the two solutions sync seamlessly together. For leased cars it means right-sizing. Mobility budgets give employers the power to change cars depending on the circumstances. If the family is going away for the annual summer holiday and a bigger car is needed for a couple of weeks then simply switch it. If you fancy a scooter on your return as the family won’t be travelling, again just switch. Yes, there are limits to how many switches can be made, and payroll needs to be covered off because of benefitin-kind taxation impacts, but it’s all possible.

The administrative ease of managing mobility budgets is a potent force for change.

It places trust in employees, empowers them to be smart about their choices and incentivizes sustainable travel practices.

And when a mobility budget is combined with a mobility card,

For the employer, the administrative ease of managing mobility budgets is a potent force for change, a way of slashing administrative costs at the back-end and giving employees what they want.

They may be in there embryonic stage, but surely the potential that’s on offer means they’re worth investigating. ■

Jonathan Green

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Mobility Budget

A difficult start Once upon a time a car was bought - now read leased - and that was the job done. Today it’s about integrated and flexible multimodal travel that’s tailored to each and every employee.

I

f you are left scratching your head and wondering how to create fully-flexible mobility and manage it at the back-end, then you’re not the only one. Fear not though. Innovative suppliers have sensed your pain and have a solution up their sleeves. Say hello to the mobility budget.

It’s a BENELUX thing The big moves towards mobility budgets can be found in the BENELUX region. Here there’s a real buzz. Leasing companies are important players but there’s also a renta-car company creating a stir too. OEMs are absent, but not conspicuously. Okay there’s the summary, so who’s doing what?

Leading leasing lights Mobility budgets are propositions that expand the core offer of leasing companies, so leadership from the sector should be expected. Athlon Car Lease was one of the first to break cover and stand tall. It offers a solution to customers in Belgium and the Netherlands in partnership with a leading payroll provider.

Athlon told us its solution enables corporate customers to integrate alternative mobility solutions into the much larger pool of salary components. Follow Dutch-based leasing co. LeasePlan manages its mobility budget through Mobility Mixx, the firm’s mobility card that’s available in the Netherlands. Like its Dutch competitor Athlon Car Lease it plugs together the front and back end through a mobility card and mobility budget combo.

It’s not just the Dutch that are in on the game. GE Capital says it has been active in the BENELUX region since 2014. Its budget solution - using a pre-paid visa card - is managed through a central portal we’re told.

Alphabet is excited and expectant about the future. Its mobility budget breaks new grounds when it comes to flexibility we were told. The company’s end-to-end solution is currently available in the Netherlands but will be rolled out internationally in the years to come. Alphabet - it seems - has big plans.

Growing interest Watching these four take confident steps forward and seeing a changing taxation landscape in Belgium - ALD Automotive has revealed its hand. ALD told us that, in anticipation of Belgium’s Mobility Budget Law, its solution will be launched shortly.

But it’s not just leasing companies that are leading lights.

Europcar, with its acquisition of Ubeeqo, has got its hands on Mobilities Benefits. This multimodal alternative to the company car has a mobility allowance proposition at its heart. So is the rent-a-car market getting ready to broaden its portfolio of services? We think it could be.

Now you’ve got the lowdown on who to talk to, you should take a closer look. ■

For the moment the mobility budget is still concentrated around the BENELUX.

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Jonathan Green

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Corporate Mobility Survey Frost & Sullivan

Interest turning into action Fleet and business travel management is converging and creating the conditions for corporate mobility management, but what’s driving the change, who’s in charge and why should you be interested?

T

here’s a shift away from simply considering the total cost of ownership of fleets and a move towards managing the total cost of corporate mobility, according to new research undertaken by Frost & Sullivan.

This finding is perhaps not surprising when you consider that over half the companies surveyed by the global growth consulting firm said they don’t know how much they spend on mobility services. And, given downward pressure on budgets and the need to optimise spend, respondents said the highest attributes that any mobility solution should address were overall cost and cost control.

Transformative impact of tech The researchers found that tech is having a transformative impact on both the fleet and travel functions in organisations.

With a growing visibility of spend on such services being offered by solution providers, there’s already a convergence of the fleet and travel management departments at several corporations who responded to the survey.

It is this trend that will see integrated door-todoor business travel management become one of the main focus areas for growth and investment in the automotive industry in 2015. Singh believes that companies need to start implementing new value propositions today to ensure they maintain their relevance in a rapidly changing marketplace.

It’s the fleet client’s task to examine similar-sounding claims for vital differences.

The changing face of travel and mobility With personal travel being revolutionised through continued growth for on-demand services, it was only a matter of time before new-age mobility providers came knocking at the door of the corporate community. With this in mind, Frost & Sullivan set out to discover what the current usage, policies, and willingness are for such new mobility business models in the corporate world.

And after surveying 485 corporate leaders across five of Europe’s most mature markets - Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom - and holding almost 120 in-depth interviews, the firm is now perfectly placed to advise on what the future holds for corporate mobility and suppliers that are operating in the sector.

“There is a revolutionary shift underway in the corporate mobility space, linking smart solutions from several adjacent industries, such as fleet, travel and expense management, to the general mobility industry, which results in changing customer preferences towards new business models,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Principal Mobility, Mr. Martyn Briggs.

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“The rising digital technology capability turns car companies into service providers and makes it crucial to develop pioneering business models to secure one’s share of the market,” he added.

Best player to provide new mobility solutions Source: Frost & Sullivan Technology Provider 4% Don’t Know 13% Car leasing companies 25% Car rental companies 16%

Corporate travel agencies 15% Car OEMs 14% Mobility specialist 13%

More data and reporting seems to be demanded in the mobility area: 52% of survey respondents didn’t know the spend on mobility services, whether as a quantified range or as a percentage of company turnover.

Preferred areas to address within mobility solution Source: Frost & Sullivan

57%

Overal mobility cost 43%

Cost control

39%

Ease of use Operational efficiency

33%

Employee satisfaction level

32%

Travel duration/effectiveness CO2 emissions

26% 19%

Employee usage rate

16%

Data transparency

15%

Timeliness of information

14%

Taking mobility forward If you’re thinking there’s a clear line of ownership when it comes to corporate mobility then think again.

Over 12 job roles were registered by respondents as the key decision makers for corporate mobility. These ranged from individuals in facilities, finance, human resources, all the way through to board and at CEO level.

And with just five percent of the sample declaring their job role as a dedicated mobility manager, the sales channel and business development plan for corporate mobility providers is far from straightforward. The research suggests that a customer segmentation plan is required to filter companies likely to be interested in mobility solutions.

For example, when looking at industry sectors, ICT firms were the most interested in car-pooling (26%), and around a third (28%) of respondents from both public sector and financial services companies were interested in corporate car-sharing. The service sector industry was most interested in car rental, showing that there is some early potential to prioritise mobility products by customer industry segment.

The rising digital technology capability turns car companies into service providers.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Car Manufacturers’ Fleet Strategy 2015

Awareness of mobility solutions Low Med High

Interest in mobility solutions

Yes No

Low Med High

8

%

32

37

%

%

53 %

Experience - Pilot or implementation

49 %

39

51 %

%

30 %

There is a remarkable discrepancy between the awareness, the interest and the actual experience from corporates with regard to alternative corporate mobility.

Source: Frost & Sullivan

It’s all about the data However, one product or service that seemed to be demanded consistently across all the survey respondents was data and reporting.

52% of the sample didn’t know the spend on mobility services, whether as a quantified range or as a percentage of company turnover, whilst almost a third (31%) were not aware of the company’s carbon footprint from fleet and/or travel. Respondents said the highest attributes any mobility solution should address were overall cost (57%) and cost control (43%), which transparent reporting and travel data can provide.

Business, Qixxit (Deutsche Bahn) and moovel as prime movers in the corporate sector.

On top of this it says car companies will increasingly start to compete for corporate mobility directly, and they’ll implement new services that target business travelers with products beyond cars.

Add in Internet aggregators and there’s a hotbed of activity across industry verticals to engage the corporate community.

Multimodal platforms will continue to push hard to gain ground for starters.

There’s evidently an appetite amongst respondents to get a better understanding of what’s happening in their organisation, why it’s occurring and what can be done to make it smarter.

Taking action There were few respondents who were completely unaware of new mobility solutions (just 8%) with over half (53%) recognising a point of convergence between fleet and travel management. Given this level of awareness, it’s not surprising that over two-thirds of respondents have a high (32%) or medium interest (37%) in mobility solutions.

Interest is turning into action. Just over half of respondents (51%) reported that their company has had experience of mobility either through a pilot project or implementation.

Preparing for the future So how will corporate mobility manifest itself in the near future? Multimodal platforms will continue to push hard to gain ground for starters. Frost & Sullivan cites NS

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The final trend to watch out for is the rise in flexible working. Frost & Sullivan is predicting we’ll see growth in shared vehicles, ride-sharing and third places as the culture of working and what we call the work place starts to shift. ■ Jonathan Green

Join the discussion at Intelligent Mobility 2015 Over 200 representatives from major OEMs, government bodies, entrepreneurs and leading fleet customers will be gathering in London, UK, over 1 and 2 July 2015, to make new connections and hear pioneering developments within the mobility industry. Urban Mobility is Frost & Sullivan’s annual global exclusive event where senior experts within mobility meet. It is a unique opportunity to mix with senior industry representatives and some leading industry thought leaders. Can you afford to miss out?

Find out more at ww2.frost.com/event/calendar/ intelligent-mobility-2015/

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Learn from your peers

20 Success Stories Corporate mobility happens today. That is made clear by the 20 companies you can find in the following pages. Each of them not only thinks of mobility, but has developed and implemented a complementary employee mobility solution to the company car. The selection of companies shows that it is not too early to act on mobility and that alternative mobility can be cost efficient.

W

e want to thank all companies that participated for their time and willingness to testify.

Although most companies interviewed developed multiple solutions in various countries, we decided to focus on one specific solution for each company that stands out in the field of innovation and

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success; be it car sharing, multimodality, car-pooling, shuttle service, mobility budget integration or smart offices. We are sure that you can learn and get inspired by what your corporate fleet peers are doing. And we hope that these case studies may lead you, your company and employees to a new and successful employee mobility strategy.

As Fleet Europe is convinced of the relevance of steering our community towards a smarter mobility approach we will permanently investigate and report on new initiatives and best practices, as you can find out on our dedicated Smart Mobility channel at fleeteurope.com. â– Steven Schoefs

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Case Study Orange

Video-conferencing, a company-wide solution Telecommunications multi-national Orange brought three domains linked to mobility together under a single management structure in 2011: business trip management, video-conferencing and fleet management. We talk to Hélène Billon, Director of Facilities and Mobility Management.

“This mobility approach, within a context of strong economic competition, was also introduced as we emerged from a social crisis which led us to reflect on the attention we paid to our workforce. The ideal was to bring together three domains (business trips, video-conferencing and fleet management) in order to gain in efficiency thanks to a sharing of data and to a common use of our means.”

With 70,000 professional business travellers, the business trip cost centre weighs heavily on your company which is present in 29 countries.

This domain is therefore among your priorities?

Hélène Billon: Business trips have indeed been the subject of a global strategy at Group level for over ten

years. We have accentuated the action taken with a view to optimise cost.

Putting in place an easier and multimodal reservation tool has improved the usage level of restrictive tickets.

Since 2011 air travel expenses (93% in economy class in 2014) have reduced by 32% and those allied to trip transactions by 25%. The proportion of trips made by air, particularly to foreign countries, amounts to 40%, with train travel (principally for trips within France) accounting for 60%.

What do your staff members think about these measures?

H. Billon: It is always a little difficult at the beginning because people have their habits. We communicated a great deal about this evolution. At the end of the day, these measures help our managers to more easily remain within their budgets.

© Orange

“

Our perspective is to optimise the time and energy of our personnel by offering them innovative methods in terms of mobility. This approach provides a better work-life balance but also fits into pour policy of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% between 2010 and 2015,” explains Orange’s Hélène Billon, Director of Facilities and Mobility Management.

Hélène Billon, Director of Facilities and Mobility Management: “By bringing together business trips, video-conferencing and fleet management we have gained in efficiency thanks to a sharing of data and to a common use of our means”.

Video-conferencing is in some ways a principal weapon and a manufacturing brand for Orange…

H. Billon: This is quite clearly an excellent way of using and demonstrating the know-how which we sell to other companies. But apart from this shop-window factor, it is also an excellent solution for facilitating mobility and reducing our environmental footprint. We have 340 OVP (Open Video Presence) equipped rooms internally and 46 TP (Tele-Presence) rooms in our different premises.

Video-conferencing also represents an efficient solution for safeguarding our personnel from health and geopolitical risks in some countries.

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© Orange

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Case Study Orange

The video-conferencing system enables the immersion of all participants within a same meeting.

What level of use do they have?

H. Billon: We number over 4,000 videoconferences per month, and this is increasing by 5% per month. This corresponds to a usage rate of 20%, without counting regular use of these rooms without using the videoconferencing equipment. We hope to achieve 25% this year, which would be a good level.

Does the personnel like this meeting formula?

H. Billon: Absolutely, and especially as we have taken care to provide pleasant rooms with a simple reservation system, but also – and this is vital – ease of use. Over time, we have improved the level of services, particularly with regard to setting up and taking on the role of moderator.

What are the advantages of this formula?

H. Billon: This system avoids a certain number of trips, thus reducing wasted time, fatigue and costs. It is also beneficial to the work-life balance of our personnel. Video-conferencing also represents an efficient solution for safeguarding our personnel from health and geopolitical risks in some countries.

Fleet management represents the third major pillar of your mobility policy. What are your objectives here?

H. Billon: Orange has a fleet of 23,000 vehicles in France from several manufacturers, with which we have framework contracts. Peugeot and Renault are our principal LCV suppliers, and these vehicles represent 90% of the fleet, mostly used by technicians and sales personnel. Where company cars for corporate staff are concerned, the model range is more extensive, and in particular includes German brands.

Our major objectives are a reduction in both costs and CO2 emissions.

How have you gone about this?

H. Billon: We have considerably broadened our model catalogue: from around a dozen models in 2010-2011, we have moved up to over sixty now, with CO2 level (130 to 103 grams) and a reduced TCO (€ 760 to € 536 per month) as KPIs. While engine sizes have reduced and the CO2 emissions level is currently restricted to 120 g/km, the range of cars on offer to our personnel is much wider.

We have also introduced hybrid and electric models. Within this framework, last September we signed an agreement with the Renault-Nissan Alliance involving the supply of 200 electric cars which will be used for internal car-sharing. A pilot test was successfully completed in 2015 with 300 vehicles (100 in 2013), which represents the largest fleet in France dedicated to this service. Our ambition is to reach 3,000 vehicles in 2020!

For more information following our interview, particularly on fleet management and car-sharing, see www.fleeteurope.com/channels/ smart-mobility ■

The Orange recipe • 4,000 video-conferences per month • B roadening the model catalogue which has reduced average CO2 emissions (130 to 103 grams) and TCO (€ 760 to € 536 per month) • Car-sharing service open to the whole of the personnel • Training in eco-driving • Restrictive tickets and economy class air travel • A great deal of communication with the personnel

About Orange Orange is one of the principal worldwide telecommunications operators: • Turnover: 39 billion Euros (2014)

Financially, are the results positive?

H. Billon: We are also very happy on this front. Our initial outlay was profitable in three years with regard to business travel (down 10%). And to this should be added the gain in productivity of our personnel (less wasted time, fatigue…), although it is not easy to quantify this element.

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Frédéric Vanvlodorp

• 156,000 members of staff (almost 100,000 in France) • 35,000 vehicles (23,000 in France) • 29 countries Three priorities in the domain of mobility: • Business trip management • Video-conferencing • Fleet management and car-sharing

CORPORATE CAR-SHARING

© Daimler

After coming of age in the B2C market, corporate car-sharing has boldly arrived in the B2B community.

With shared cars joining company cars on the roster of corporate mobility solutions, a growing number are entering corporate fleets and proving a hit. With the shared economy gaining momentum and the connected car offering smarter solutions, more sharing and less ownership in could be on the horizon.

Make it interesting for employees PROJECT

Company name: Accenture Sector: Business consultancy Name: Marc Thiollier Function: MD, Geographical Services Lead Fleet size: 15,000

Accenture believes that the future will show that what companies need to do is offer more of a package to employees rather than simply a company car, and mobility will be in this package. The company is looking to encourage the acquisition of clean cars in two ways: by incentivising people and by putting in place some restrictions.

RESULTS Via the car policy model it offers to employees, Accenture tries to make it interesting to

Car-sharing used by all PROJECT

Company name: Bayer Sector: Health care, agriculture and high-tech polymer materials Name: Dieter Westermann Function: Head of Sourcing Fleet & General Supplies Fleet size: 28.000

Mobility for employees was previously only covered by leased passenger cars. More than 12 months ago Bayer decided to introduce car sharing from DriveNow. Following the success of DriveNow, car2go was also introduced and Bayer is beginning to cross borders to new sites to ensure the usage of car sharing there too. The company sees in this a genuinely sustainable approach, from both cost and ecological standpoints.

acquire a vehicle which is less polluting. And drivers can add extra options to the car if it is a ‘clean’ car – emitting for example less than 100 g/km of CO2. Electric cars are the best example of this, and Accenture offers free parking and recharging for electric cars in some countries.

FUTURE The latest news from Accenture is that they are going to make the pool cars available for employees to rent privately for evenings or weekends, paid for by the employee. The advantage is that the same access badge is used, so it is easy. Going further, more electric cars and plug-in hybrids will be added to the fleet.

usages per month, and more than 15 cars are available per day at its main site. It is an easy-to-use system for company and private driving. There have been no complaints about the service so far and it is used by all hierarchies.

FUTURE Bayer intends to steer ground mobility in the direction of the most efficient alternative, helping users to make the right choice. It will ensure that its employees from abroad can use the systems as well, and expand the system to other countries where it is possible.

RESULTS Bayer has achieved more than 45 business

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I 20 Success Stories

CAR-POOLING AND SHUTTLE SERVICES How we travel at work and where we work is in the midst of transformational change. And this means employee commuting to and from the office - or other workplaces - all of a sudden comes into the frame. With corporations seeking to support workers make smart choices when travelling on their commute, car-pooling and shuttle services are now in scope. It's time for total mobility solutions.

Ride-sharing as principal weapon PROJECT

Company name: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Sector: Pharmaceutical Name: Giovanni Novello Function: Head of Facilities Services Fleet Size: 2,100

GSK, whose principal premises of the vaccine production branch are in a business park to the south of Brussels in Belgium, pursues a voluntary policy in terms of mobility. Alongside facilities offered in terms of public transport, private shuttles, bikes and tele-conferencing, ride-sharing is producing even more spectacular results, with a level 5 times higher than the national average. A highly visible launch campaign, an efficient platform, fiscal advantages and dedicated parking spaces, constitute the ingredients for success.

Improving people’s lives PROJECT

Company name: SAP Sector: Enterprise Application Software Name: Daniel Schmid Function: Chief Sustainability Officer Fleet Size: 25,000

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The philosophy behind SAP’s mobility approach is to improve people’s lives – employees, customers and others. This means, for example, a decision to return to the 2000 CO2 emission levels by 2020.

Within this framework SAP aims to have 20% of the fleet in electric vehicles by 2020.

RESULTS The first principle where employees are concerned has been to provide a much more flexible range of mobility solutions.

In Germany, for example, the ‘Bahncard

RESULTS During the first six months of the action between 2013 and 2014, 650 persons of the 5,800 at the principal site in Wavre, subscribed. Some 100,000 km were covered, with an average car occupancy of 2.2 persons. The potential reservations level amounts to 95% for members.

Out of the 8,900 workers, 900 now use ride-sharing.

FUTURE A new more dynamic platform was launched at the beginning of 2015. GSK intends to convince even more workers.

100’ system gives free use of trains to employees, using a one year card instead of having a company car. Alternatively, company cars can come without fuel cards.

FUTURE SAP has instigated a ride-sharing system called ‘TwoGo’ which makes alternative mobility a very simple matter for employees. There is an app to access this system, which can be used on employees’ smartphones, or on their Outlook calendars. The system matches people who can share rides, where to meet, who to pick up, etc.

This is expected to be even more popular as time goes on.

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I 20 Success Stories

Transport services right outside the door PROJECT

Company name: PricewaterhouseCoopers Belgium Sector: Tax and business advisors Name: Christian Claessens Function: General Services Director (Purchasing, Fleet, Facilities, Real Estate) Fleet Size: 1350

It is not always possible to avoid using a car in Belgium as much as can be done in other countries, because the public transport services are not fully integrated. So PwC tries to find solutions using both cars and public transport – or something between the two. Since 2006 the company has been working with the motto ‘Less Car, More Mobility’.

RESULTS When looking for new buildings PwC attempts to find those which are very

PROJECT

Sector: Bio-technological Name: Pierrick Desuzinges Function: EHS Manager Fleet size: 28,000

FUTURE There will be a bicycle parking area made available at the head office in Brussels, and electric car charging points are to be installed in all of the offices in Belgium.

RESULTS

Favouring partnerships

Company name: Johnson & Johnson Switzerland

well connected to the public transport network. PwC has succeeded in finding such a building in Ghent, next to the Ghelamco arena, which has public transport services right outside the door. In Brussels however, a shuttle service is provided from the nearest metro station to the office. At Ghent, PwC has decided to make bicycles available for employees to use.

For historical reasons, since 1991 Johnson & Johnson has been working from several buildings in the cities of Neuchâtel and Le Locle. This factor has necessitated organising mobility principally around three axes: inter-site shuttles, cross-border buses into France and partnerships with public transport and other companies, ride-sharing in association with other parties (internal platforms and those used in common with other companies, the city, the University of Neuchâtel…)

Ride-sharing is the most popular measure, with a participation level of 10-30%. The shuttle system is used by almost 10% of the workforce.

It is used for both professional trips and for the home-work run: employees living in Le Locle and further afield who arrive in the city, for example, by public transport. The cross-border bus is less successful, mainly because of inappropriate schedules. Johnson & Johnson has been looking at instigating its own service, but the costs are too high for it to act alone.

FUTURE These actions will be continued with a desire to improve collaboration and dialogue with other players (companies, authorities, police…).

MULTIMODALITY Joining up the dots between different modes of travel and getting the timings right used to be near to impossible.

But massive improvements in transport interoperability switching between different modes of travel has never been easier. With all this choice suppliers are starting to leave one-dimensional offers behind and come up with multimodal solutions to meet the everyday needs of modern business.

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Alternative mobility is a reality PROJECT

Company name: Swift Sector: Financial telecommunications Name: Caroline Ceustermans Function: Fleet & Mobility Manager Fleet Size: 950

SWIFT is located in the countryside just outside Brussels and public transport services are relatively limited. So the company wanted to offer alternatives to cars which enable people to ease some of the many concerns they face today in the domain of mobility. Moreover SWIFT’s ‘Work from Home’ programme allows people to work for up to 2 days from home.

RESULTS There is also an innovative approach to leasing. Members of staff can add (and

Win-win for everyone PROJECT

Company name: Ernst & Young Belgium

Sector: Audit and Tax Consultancy Name: Ghislain Vanfraechem Function: Director Facilities Fleet Size: 1450

Aware of the importance of a good worklife balance and that of keeping costs and the ecological impact at bay, EY allows teleworking and provides satellite offices with flexible workspaces across the country, from which employees can use an EV for local transport. Another initiative, rail-lease, was launched in 2008 and has already convinced 10% of EY personnel.

RESULTS By commuting to the office by train at least 60 days a year – which is a commitment

Mobility Pure Switch PROJECT

Company name: Elia Sector: Energy Name: Marie van den Hove/ Valérie Legat Function: Compensation & Benefits Manager/ Mobility coordinator Fleet Size: ±400

Elia’s mobility policy rests on 3 pillars: drive less, drive differently and consume less.

Employees are encouraged to work at home and organise tele-meetings. When visiting customers or Elia sites, they can use electric pool cars and bikes, whereas for long distance travel high speed trains are favoured.

Moreover, for those who choose an EV as a company car, Elia provides a charge station at home and increases the lease budget.

RESULTS Inspired by an employee satisfaction survey

are adding) an electric bike or a scooter to their car leasing contract. So this provides a combined transport solution for the whole of the duration of the lease contract. SWIFT also owns a pool of electric bikes which enable people to move between the main site and another site not very far away.

FUTURE In terms of cars, average emissions are coming down all the time, and the company is in the process of adding electric cars to the range to bring them down even further.

Swift keeps on making its fleet even greener and reducing CO2 emissions. In early May 2015, 21 BMW i3 electric cars entered the SWIFT fleet.

rail-lease users make – employees use their company car less, resulting in lower fuel costs and lease rates, and savings in parking costs. The employees gain precious time and avoid traffic anxiety, while their productivity increases.

FUTURE Currently a study is being carried out on the feasibility of a mobility budget instead of a lease budget. In an ideal world, employees can use a mobility card which is topped up every month and which can be used for public transport, a rental car, parking, a taxi ride, or even an airline ticket.

in 2011, Elia’s revamped mobility policy dubbed ‘Mobility Pure Switch’ - reduces Elia’s ecological footprint and makes employees aware of the role they can play by taking the right means of transport for every destination, learning how to burn less fuel and choosing an eco-friendly car.

FUTURE Elia will continue raising ‘the right means of transport’-awareness amongst their employees, promoting hybrid and electric vehicles as lease cars, combined with the use of all kinds of bicycles (bike lease) and/or public transport (railease). The car budget will eventually be transformed into a mobility budget.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Case studies

Efficient planning and increasing awareness PROJECT

Company name: WML

Sector: Utility company (water) Name: E. Creusen Function: Facillity manager Fleet Size: 210

WML’s fleet consists mainly of service vehicles that need to offer both load capacity and range. Therefor diesel is still the main fuel type, but the company strives to limit their mileage by maximizing planning efficiency.

The same goes for their passenger car fleet, which comprises PHEVs and EVs. Moreover, all employees are stimulated to commute by public transport, e-bikes or car sharing.

RESULTS Less unnecessary or avoidable kilometres are being driven, both by service vehicles

10% of daily cyclists

and company cars. People save time by teleworking, whereas flexitime helps them to avoid traffic jams when they do have to come to the office. They can also reserve a pool bike if they have a meeting nearby and are invited to take the train if they need to travel outside the province.

FUTURE 2015 will see the start-up of a large scale sustainability programme. Although WML’s vehicle fleet only represents 2% of the total CO2 emissions, the company takes significant measures, e.g. monitoring the use of company cars, expanding telework possibilities and issuing mobility cards as a commuting alternative.

ing part in collective initiatives. It has also made 16 bikes available to the personnel for professional and private trips.

PROJECT

Company name: Ethias

Sector: Insurance Name: Fabienne Verlaine Function: Mobility Coordinator Fleet Size: 300

Ethias has deployed a number of actions in the mobility domain across its various Belgian locations: free public transport for those staff members who request it, encouraging car-sharing and above all the use of bikes. Encouraged by public awareness campaigns and support in buying electric bikes, the company has encouraged its personnel to use bikes. Since 2013, Ethias has been offering facilities to cyclists (parking, changing rooms, service point, electric recharging points…) and provided many internal events while tak-

Two experimental laboratories PROJECT

Company name: Sanofi Sector: Pharmaceutical Name: Franck-Olivier Bizot Function: Global Procurement Manager Fleet size: 30,000

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Sanofi is to move into 2 new campuses in France this summer, one of 3,000 persons in the Paris region and the other of 1,000 persons in the Lyon area. The company is taking the opportunity to study and put into operation certain actions at the advice of Arval. Electric shuttles for personnel transport, car-sharing with electric cars for movement between sites and external meetings, and a personalised application for public transport: these are some of the formulas dedicated to the on-site personnel. Those managers entitled to a company car will see electric vehicles added to the list of

RESULTS There are 177 daily cyclists among the Ethias personnel, a figure which has been multiplied by 5 in 3 years. With a level of 9.3%, the company is well above the national average. From June to September 2014, the cyclists covered 27,800 km.

FUTURE The company is aiming for 10% bike users in 2015. It is also looking at the possibility of substituting the classic company car by a ‘greener’ car plus a bike.

models. They can also opt for a mobility credit giving access to electric vehicles whether in car-sharing or not, aeroplanes, trains, taxis, short term car rental…

RESULTS It is still too soon to draw any conclusions from this exercise. Sanofi believes at least 6 months will be required.

FUTURE The multi-national is in the process of taking a further step in its mobility management.

Experiments carried out in France may be duplicated on other urban sites/campuses of the group, in particular at Frankfurt, Boston and Singapore.

A multi-facetted approach PROJECT

Company name: BNP Paribas Fortis Sector: Banking Name: Peter Heck Function: Country Sustainability Manager Fleet Size: 10,000

Forming part of an environmental management system, the mobility policy is multi-facetted and impossible to detail here. The first major measure was to install the administrative buildings close to public transport hubs in Brussels in order to encourage the use of these transport modes. Bicycles and remote working are encouraged in a number of ways.

RESULTS Of the 7,500 employees at the 3 main Brussels sites, 60% come to work by train,

16% by bus/tram/metro, 1% by bike and 23% by car. Since 2011, the number of car users in Brussels has decreased by 8%, in particular thanks to the ‘green car policy’ which authorises the combination of a company car with a public transport subscription, provided the car-parking space is given up. The number of cyclists (>800) has tripled in 5 years. In 2014, almost 6,000 staff members undertook 60,000 working days from home (up 147% since 2012).

FUTURE The multi-facetted approach is being maintained, with a permanent and proactive analysis of action.

MOBILITY BUDGET Perhaps you're keen to empower employees to have the freedom to choose their travel modes whenever they want, but you're concerned about managing costs, company policy and all the associated administration that comes with it. The mobility budget is the mechanism that makes everything possible. It allows budgetary control, integrates policy and streamlines administrative process to make it all manageable.

Budgeting for employee mobility PROJECT

Company name: Allianz SE Sector: Financial services Name: Franz Fehlner Function: Head of International Fleet Fleet Size: 18,000

Allianz, the multinational insurance and financial services company headquartered in Munich, promotes employee mobility by encouraging staff to balance the use of fleet vehicles with an array of alternative transport means: train, bus, tram and bicycle. Central to the policy is a "mobility budget" of €1,000 a month per employee that can be spent at discretion, depending on the length of trips and available transport options.

RESULTS Devolving responsibility for mobility to the

individual has boosted employee motivation, Allianz claims. In turn, this has led to increased environmental awareness resulting in reduced CO2 emissions. Fleet costs have come down as well and the health benefits for employees who decide to spend less time sitting in vehicles are said to be noticeable.

FUTURE The coming focus will be on electric transport, with an emphasis on electric bikes.

Franz Fehlner is preparing to make the business case for adding e-bikes to the mobility mix and he hopes that Allianz management will indicate its approval by the end of this year or in early 2016 at the latest.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Case studies

BMS offers an alternative to the company car

Company name: Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) Sector: Bio-pharmaceuticals Name: Xavier Bazan Function: Car Fleet Manager France Belgium Netherlands Fleet Size: 700

PROJECT

RESULTS

BMS’s project, launched in March 2014 in collaboration with Ubeeqo, was aimed at the personnel working in the RueilMalmaison headquarters who drove less than 10,000 km/year and lived in the Paris region. BMS offers them 2 options allied to a mobility credit: a small compact car for urban trips or access to car-sharing vehicles (combustion engine or electric). The credit is a sum allocated to cover other modes of transport (public transport, taxis, short term car rental, interior flights…), suited to the needs of

Out of around a hundred persons, 8 heads have subscribed to the system. The five car-sharing vehicles (of which three are electric) also available to the personnel (including for personal use) who are not entitled to accompany car, achieve a usage level of 50%.

Car-sharing also involves ride-sharing.

It’s all in the mix PROJECT

Company name: Siemens NV/SA Sector: Electronics & Electro Technics Name: Rob Custers Function: Fleet procurement & Mobility manager Fleet Size: 1,450

the personnel. Ubeeqo makes a platform available to manage everything on-line.

Dynamic Office is the approach of Siemens to reduce unnecessary kilometres.

Employees can work at home, at satellite offices across the country, or even at Carestel branches. If transport is necessary, the best possible means in terms of time and cost is chosen. Since 2012, lease car entitled employees have been able to choose to spread their budget over a car and several other mobility options.

RESULTS Fewer kilometres means reduced costs

FUTURE BMS and Ubeeqo are attentive to evolving needs. The fleet and the mobility credit service offering will be modified according to use.

and less time lost in traffic. Telework is also a strong motivator for employees and, by enabling employees to convert their lease budget into a mobility budget, they can choose a smaller car with a lower benefit-in-kind and use the rest of the budget for public transport, a lease bike, a taxi ride and even a rental car that suits their temporary needs.

FUTURE Siemens promotes electric mobility amongst all employees by providing EVs as pool cars.

The next step in Siemens’s mobility plan is car-sharing for everyone: everyone can book a car from the company’s pool that suits their specific, ever-changing needs.

SMART OFFICE

© Accenture

Work where you want to. That's the mantra in the modern company. With connectivity empowering employees to work wherever and whenever they want, the out of office email need never be put on again.

Connectivity makes remote working possible, but making sure employees have access to the right type of work spaces is a separate issue. Working beyond the walls of an office requires careful planning and excellent execution.

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Teleworking as a cornerstone PROJECT

Company name: Cisco Systems

Sector: IT Name: Hans den Hollander Function: Manager, Car Fleet Fleet Size: 6,500

As a global leader in networking and communication technology, Cisco Systems is a strong believer in teleworking and videoconferencing.

Employees who work from home receive the necessary hardware to be able to do their job as they would in the office. Consequence of their green car policy, PHEVs represent 25% of Cisco’s fleet in the Netherlands. On a European level the CO2 cap is progressively lowered.

RESULTS By allowing employees to work from home, it is estimated that the average ecological

Synergistic vision PROJECT

Company name: Barilla Sector: Food processing Name: Giovanni Tortorici Function: Global Supply Chain, Purchasing Manager Fleet Size: 819

The mobility concept formulated in 2009 has been gathering pace, feeding off the crisis as companies have been moving towards making savings. Barilla has applied rightsizing in all its forms, but realises that this alone is not enough to achieve the business savings objectives.

RESULTS The winning strategy – undertaken from the outset with a team that involved the fleet manager, mobility manager, purchasing manager and the IT manager –

Generalised decentralisation PROJECT

Company name: Colruyt Group Sector: Food and non-food distribution Name: Vic De Meester Function: Environmental Coordinator Fleet Size: not shared

Whilst the mobility policy acts in favour of the home-work trip (carpooling, 4,500 company bikes of which 1,000 are electric, free public transport…), Colruyt Group has in particular put its stakes on decentralisation in order to limit business trips and enable the personnel to work close to where they live. This strategy is accompanied by multiconnection equipment and tele/videoconferencing, to work directly with the headquarters at Halle, close to Brussels.

footprint of the fleet has decreased by 20% since 2007. Moreover, the fact that employees work from home 1 or 2 days a week means that Cisco Systems requires less office space: for every 100 employees only 60 work stations are needed.

FUTURE Cisco Systems will continue to promote EVs and PHEVs in their fleet. In order to lower the number of company cars and further decrease the amount of commuting miles, the company investigates the use of so-called mobility cards (in the Netherlands) and the conversion of lease budgets into mobility budgets or car allowances, as already widespread in the UK.

was involved virtual meetings (tele-presence, videoconferencing…) with travel policies which recognised fleet as one of the elements of the entire system. A web platform that includes all possible means of travel and which tracks the movement mode of the employee, making him aware of what he chooses, is part of the system.

FUTURE The lower costs of travel and cost containment within fleet has led to substantial double digit savings, and enabled Barilla to plan extensions of services to groups of users who were previously unable to take advantage of them. This will be ongoing.

RESULTS Everything is not concentrated in the Halle headquarters: administrative offices have been set up in different parts of the country. The 23 meeting rooms are used by the shop managers twice a month, in groups of 10; previously, these 240 persons all had to come to Halle. Five decentralised training and selection sites limit travel by personnel and candidate employees to Halle. Another example: the technicians no longer come to the central warehouse every day.

FUTURE This policy will be strengthened, with further development of remote working for certain functions.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Telematics: What's on offer

Partners in connectivity On 22 April, the Reuters news agency reported that PSA Peugeot CitroĂŤn and IBM were working together to connect cars to the Internet. The story suggested that the trans-Atlantic partnership would look beyond the usual navigation, emergency assistance and infotainment offerings.

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he two are said to be creating new services for drivers and passengers, as well as back-end applications that could perform preventive car maintenance and execute intelligent traffic management. The talk is of vehicles communicating persistently with networks and tapping into smart grids of sensors to avoid congestion and reduce pollution. Software analytics are included in the package and the project could also link cars to retailers, an IBM executive said. The companies have established an innovation centre in Paris, according to Reuters.

"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."

When the science fiction author William Gibson said "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed," he meant that some people always have the latest technology and others have little or none. So, residents of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, enjoy the world's fastest broadband connections with download and upload speeds of 1,000 megabits per second, while in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, the internet "is slow and irregular," as one travel guide puts it.

and deployed. We have also been looking at innovations in the field so see who is doing what, where and when.

One thing is clear: Joint ventures between car manufacturers, software developers, phone makers and management consultants will become more frequent in the connected world. So, let's meet some partners.

The software partner Telsa, the electric carmaker co-founded by Elon Musk, pioneered over-the-air updates that allow the car to download software patches, but the major manufacturers have been wary of offering an opening that might allow malware to be installed. Earlier this year, however, Ford said that it was partnering with Microsoft to create a cloud-based network that will offer regular over-the-air updates to its vehicles.

Joint ventures between OEMs, software developers, phone makers and management consultants will become more frequent in the connected world.

The Gibsonian future is already here for drivers of vehicles connected via the cloud. For them, there is no Africa/Asia divide because connectivity is becoming more evenly distributed by the day. Networking between vehicles is beginning to have a strong influence on product development and social media are improving the ways customers are addressed and services are presented.

In light of these changes, Fleet Europe has begun a conversation with some of the key players in the industry about the telematics and connectivity solutions that they have developed

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Microsoft is also working with the Chinese automaker Qoros Automotive, founded in 2007. When Qoros began to brainstorm the car's telematics system at its design centre in Munich, the engineers sought out a platform that would allow for full integration with new services and offer scalability to match the company's global expansion plans. Qoros decided to deploy its telematics array on Microsoft Azure, a cloud environment that provides storage and resources for developing and hosting applications in Microsoft's data centres.

The management consulting partner "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you're a consultant." That is what Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, says. Global management consulting firms such as Accenture and McKinsey & Company are not slow when it comes to spotting potential income streams, and the connected car is very much or their radar these days.

Visiongain, the business information provider, predicts that the value of the global connected car market will reach $30.2 billion in 2015.

Accenture declared last year that it had started talking to the Fiat-Chrysler Group about upgrading its Uconnect™ systems that provide drivers with communication, entertainment and navigation features.

"Accenture and Fiat-Chrysler Group are jointly designing, building and managing the technology operations, the mobile platform, that will deliver the next generation of connected services for FiatChrysler Group Uconnect™ systems in Europe," said Luca Mentuccia, global senior managing director, Accenture. The implementation will use the Accenture Connected Vehicle Business Service, which offers onboard and connectivity solutions; telematics and data integration, and end-to-end services to automotive and new entrants to the connected vehicle ecosystem including telecommunications and insurance companies. The new Uconnect™ Live services will be available later this year in a number of European countries.

Google and Apple are turning their attention to the automotive business. But they are not the only tech giants interested in the industry.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, SEAT signed an agreement with Samsung to develop solutions to provide total connectivity across a range of vehicles equipped to keep the customer always connected. New features to be extended gradually to the rest of the SEAT range.

Under the agreement, Samsung will supply SEAT with the software to develop its own apps, to be managed from Samsung handsets.

Now that cars are turning into smartphones with wheels, Google and Apple are aiming at automotive.

The phone partner Now that cars are turning into smartphones with wheels,

"In 2015 we fully entered the Internet of Things, with six billion things now connected to Internet," said Jürgen Stackmann, SEAT Executive Committee Chairman. "One of SEAT's main objectives is to meet emerging needs and SEAT customer expectations." ■

Eamonn Fitzgerald

Stay connected around the globe The eCall system will automatically alert the European emergency services number 112 in the event of a crash. It will also wirelessly transmit airbag deployment, impact sensor information and GPS coordinates to emergency agencies. Carmakers expect that impending EU legislation will give them clarity on the infrastructure needed to support the black-box style eCall system, as well as the specifications for devices that will need to go in all new European models by October 2017. The ERAGLONASS emergency call system requires all new cars licensed in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan be equipped with onboard ERA-GLONASS terminals. GLONASS, which stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, is Russia's version of the US Global Positioning System (GPS).OnStar Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors, provides in-vehicle security, hands free calling and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States, Canada, China and Mexico. A similar service, known as ChevyStar, is available in Latin American markets.

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I What’s on offer

The view from the fleet experts Yes, fleet professionals worry about data privacy, and they are concerned about digital security as well, but they appreciate the many benefits of car connectivity. Fleet Europe asked Neil Cunningham and Ian Hucker, who work with two major movers, Hertz and Opel-Vauxhall, about connectivity and corporate customers.

OPEL/VAUXHALL

HERTZ The Hertz Corporation is the world's largest general use car rental brand, operating from some 7,700 locations in 145 countries worldwide. Neil Cunningham, General Manager, Hertz UK and Hertz 24/7 Europe, points to the company's 2009 acquisition of the Paris-based Eileo S.A. for its proprietary car sharing technology, including telematics, as a pivotal move in the company's growth. With the help of Eilo, Hertz has developed a powerful web-based fleet management tool with the following features: • R eal-time visibility: to control the status and performance of each vehicle in the fleet.

• V ehicle utilisation reports: to know how drivers are using vehicles.

• M aintenance scheduling: to know exactly when maintenance and repair outage is due in order to manage vehicle down time.

• P erformance dashboards: to improve efficiency and optimise performance.

• E mergency services: including automatic crash response • R oadside assistance: activated via OnStar service centre • Remote link: smartphone app functionalities • Stolen vehicle assistance and localisation • Vehicle diagnostics • Remote services (door lock/ unlock) • W i-fi hotspot in the car (4G LTE access, up to seven connected devices)

Fleet Europe: What is the biggest advantage of this solution for corporate fleets?

• V ehicle connectivity: to speak directly to a driver.

Hertz vehicles have an integrated hands free phone system to always stay connected.

Ian Hucker, Director European Fleet: "With OnStar in your new Opel/ Vauxhall, you will have as a fleet manager ac omplete coverage of all important car related services. This will enable the fleet manager to maximise car & driver related employee care (e-call and roadside assistance) as well as basic fleet management tools to ease up his own life."

"All these features help our clients to manage and report on every aspect of their fleet to drive efficiencies through improved utilisation," says Neil Cunningham.

In addition, an API is available to selected telematics service providers to offer bespoke fleet management and telematics solution for Opel/Vauxhall vehicles.

• G PS monitoring: to know exactly where the vehicles are and find vehicles parked in the wrong spot.

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With the help of OnStar, the mobility and service assistant developed by the Opel/Vauxhall parent company GM, fleet managers can focus on their core task: Keeping drivers safe, productive and connected.

Among the benefits that OnStar connectivity delivers for Opel/Vauxhall drivers are:

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DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Expert View LeasePlan

“Corporate mobility isn’t only about technology” The future of corporate mobility will be determined by technological progress, especially with regards to connectivity.

“But it isn’t only about technology”, says Nick Salkeld, Chief Commercial Officer of LeasePlan Group.

According to LeasePlan, what does the future of efficient corporate mobility look like?

Nick Salkeld: We foresee a shift from vehicle-centred to driver-centred services. We’re also experiencing increasing demand for mobility solutions beyond traditional lease products, so we’re investing in corporate car sharing, more flexible lease products, and other solutions. Offering related services to our corporate clients helps them get more value from their fleet by increasing efficiency and utilisation.

We also aim to make mobility even easier for drivers, for example via apps to select and book mobility services.

What will be the key drivers for development in corporate mobility?

N. Salkeld: We see political, environmental, social and technological drivers. In the first category: governments investing in mobility and infrastructure to promote desired outcomes; in the second: rising eco-awareness influencing both policy makers and car buyers. Two important social drivers: urbanisation, still increasing, and consumer preference, changing from owning to using. The key technological driver will be connectivity, creating new business models and vehicle features.

How can ‘classic’ fleet suppliers rise to the challenge of this brave new world of connected mobility?

N. Salkeld: Services, like car-sharing, will become more popular and on-board telematics will create new chances to add value to customers. Innovation will impact the competitive landscape. All stakeholders in today’s value chain need to ask themselves: Which new service combinations will make mobility easier?

Successful leasing companies will react quickly to these changes, and offer flexible solutions that meet all mobility needs.

Do you see companies like Apple, Google, Samsung or others enter the corporate mobility business?

N. Salkeld: Changes in the mobility value chain are already bringing new players to market: Uber is shaking up the taxi industry, private car-sharing initiatives are everywhere, and in the U.S., an autonomous vehicle recently completed the first coast-to-coast journey. Car manufacturers, but also

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Nick Salkeld, CCO of LeasePlan Group: “All stakeholders in today’s value chain need to ask themselves: Which new service combinations will make mobility easier?”

Google and others are very active in the area of autonomous driving. And Apple and Samsung are among those looking to extend their touchscreen technology to vehicle dashboards.

But corporate mobility isn’t only about technology, it’s also about knowing what role mobility plays within a company. How it is linked to the main processes. We have that expertise: it is our core business.

How will LeasePlan evolve as a corporate mobility service specialist?

N. Salkeld: Our mission is: make fleet management and driver mobility easier. We will continue to innovate, in mobility cards and telematics, among others. By keeping in constant touch with our clients’ changing needs, we can offer them leasing and mobility solutions to make their lives easier. ■

Steven Schoefs

DOSSIER CORPORATE MOBILITY I Expert View Alphabet

“Act now to meet future employee demands” Ed Frederiks, CEO of Alphabet International, is seized by the urgency of now. Too many companies think of corporate mobility as a future issue. “But the future has already begun, and no company wants to lag behind”, Ed Frederiks says.

“

If companies want to meet their employees' future mobility demands, now is the time to act – because those demands are changing fast. Increasingly, employees want corporate mobility to offer flexible solutions and freedom of choice. Companies wanting to attract and retain talent will have to provide incentives in these areas, as in others”.

But in terms of cost and comfort, clients complain, mobility solutions still lag behind the company car...

Ed Frederiks: We at Alphabet provide cost-effective, flexible and sustainable solutions. Our clients only pay for what they really need. Our customer-oriented culture drives an in-depth consulting approach. We focus on truly understanding how our customer's business works. We talk with fleet managers, HR, CSR and the end user. When we've understood the challenges, we create a tailor-made Business Mobility solution.

Some people have a problem with eMobility, I know. But the benefits of a well-considered approach, like Alphabet's holistic solution AlphaElectric, are great. We're the one-stop shop for vehicles, charging infrastructure and additional services. Our consultation includes an EPA (Electrification Potential Analysis), determining to what extent EVs suit your company. The EPA creates a driving profile for each vehicle, checking whether eMobility is a good choice. It's essential to get the mix of electric, hybrid and petrol vehicles right for each customer.

And there are those that believe corporate car-sharing is complex, mainly because of all the additional IT infrastructure needed. While that may be so, the system does optimise your company cars, so they don't sit unused on your parking lot. Plus, employees can use them after work, at their own expense. All of which benefits the TCM of your company.

How will integrated mobility – with a wider focus than just the car – make life and work better?

E. Frederiks: As mobility needs change, the demand for flexible solutions increases. It's no longer enough to provide a company car. Employees want a choice, want flexible and convenient door-to-door mobility. And that means looking at the big picture, providing holistic products and smart services way beyond the company car.

Integrated mobility also implies connectivity, which provides faster, easier, more flexible and transparent access to mobility services. Which means that Business Mobility solutions have to be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and mobile applications.

Ed Frederiks, CEO of Alphabet: “Employees want flexible door-to-door mobility. That means looking at the big picture, providing holistic products and smart services way beyond the company car.”

Will Apple, Google, Samsung and others enter the field of corporate mobility? If so, how do you see the competition of these new players?

E. Frederiks: There will be new players, especially in IT, telematics and connectivity. Which makes it all the more important for lease companies to use their know-how of the industry and of their clients' needs to stay ahead. At Alphabet, we're well prepared. ■

Steven Schoefs

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BUSINESS I CarsOnTheWeb “Ex-lease volumes will decline in 2016” Johan Meyssen is a happy CEO. Not only did he recently celebrate the 10th anniversary of CarsOnTheWeb (COTW), his online B2B used-car auction house boasts some fine results. Last year, COTW sold as many as 28,000 vehicles to dealers and traders.

“

This year we’ll be signing European-wide cooperation contracts with two major leasing companies. Also on our to do list is buyer development: looking for additional sales markets, identifying new target groups. Adding up all our efforts should result in another 15 to 20% growth in volume this year”.

with Autoscout24 in Belgium. If it’s successful, we will probably roll out similar programs in Europe.

What are the key trends at play on the auction market, both today and in the near future?

Johan Meyssen: Firstly: The ongoing integration of IT platforms between sourcing partners and auction partners. This provides important efficiency gains as well as exceptional sales benefits.

Secondly: The so-called C2B market is an important new target group.

These are private persons using our auction services to sell to professional buyers. We’ve just initiated a pilot scheme for this segment

Johan Meyssen: “2015 will see a lot of ex-lease cars entering the market, but that volume will decline again in 2016. So we’ll need to look for new channels to provision ourselves.”

And thirdly: The growing success of online auctions. Given that we’ve got thousands of vehicles on our website at any given time, it becomes crucial to structure the data around your customer’s purchasing habits. Big Data Management and Business Intelligence are increasingly important.

Which are the most important challenges facing the remarketing industry?

J. Meyssen: For cross-border specialists like us, the red tape involved in moving cars from one country to another and registering them there is still a nightmare. Another constant challenge is the logistics part of the business, including the speed required to transport cars from A to B. And of course, the market offering is an inherent problem – we can only auction those cars that come to market. ■ Caroline Thonnon

“Remarketing gets the Association it needs” The Car Remarketing Association (CARA) will be introduced in Rome on 18 November, on the occasion of the second Fleet Europe Remarketing Forum.

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olfgang E. Reinhold, Senior VP Car Remarketing & Operations at LeasePlan, is one of the initiators of CARA: “The remarketing industry is an important economic sector, but we are still too focused on our local markets.

So we needed an Association that defends our interests.” Those are twofold: to lobby European legislators, aiming to make cross-border trade as transparent and easy as it should

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be. And also, to self-regulate: pooling information, setting up standards and norms. “The fleet industry is our core business, and remarketing is an important part of the fleet management process – so remarketing is an integral part of our DNA,” explains Caroline Thonnon, CEO at Nexus Communication, the organiser of the Fleet Europe Remarketing Forum.

European Union,” says Reinhold. “In conjunction with that, the administrative burden needs to go down. We need to do a lot more electronically.

“Also, we need uniform standards on how to return cars. If we can achieve clarity on the rules, and confidence on the process, then cross-border sales will go up, with benefit for the end consumer.” ■

Cross-border sales “First and foremost, we need uniform and clear regulations throughout the

Frank Jacobs

BUSINESS I Athlon Car Lease International

“I want to know that the Athlon customer is satisfied” Michiel Alferink’s career has been an interesting one: fresh out of university, the Dutchman left for Spain – but last November, he was named Vice President Sales and Commerce at Athlon, the Netherlands-based leasing multinational currently managing over 250,000 vehicles worldwide.

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hat figure is not all-important to Michiel Alferink: “I want to offer more than just cars. And I want to know that the Athlon customer is satisfied my customers are happy”.

How important is international business to Athlon?

Michiel Alferink: About a quarter of our business is international.

This year, our target is to grow 5% overall, and you can’t do that without growing your international business. Customer satisfaction is key to growth. Which is why we’re streamlining our products and services. A customer using FlexDrive in Germany will now also be able to use it across our 11 markets – I’m including Switzerland, where we’ll be up and running by summer.

Are you still aiming to open four more markets before 2017?

M. Alferink: Yes our expansion aim has not changed. The Nordics are a likely candidate but nothing’s been decided yet. We have a shortlist of 7 or 8 countries, and the Nordics are on it. And of course, the world keeps turning after 2017.

How are you working towards that 5% growth target?

M. Alferink: By offering better service to existing international customers, by attracting new customers, and by reaching out to new segments, like SMEs and sole traders. And private

Michiel Alferink: “I’m interested in two questions. What do you offer besides cars? As mobility is becoming increasingly important. And: How satisfied are your customers? Our satisfaction levels have been rising consistently over the last three years.” lease. Remember: only up to 20% of employees get company cars. That leaves 80% with mobility needs that could be met by private lease – a very attractive way for companies to offer added value to their employees.

Another way is to offer those 80% a Mobility Card.

Where do you expect growth to be strongest?

M. Alferink: Our market penetration is a bit lower in southern Europe than in the Netherlands, where we’re in the Top Three. In that ‘outer ring’ of Europe, we expect growth to be in traditional lease products. But in the European core countries, we see more growth in private lease and other non-traditional products, like

FlexDrive. Those products in turn help protect our traditional business, because existing customers say it satisfies their needs.

How important do you think global fleet management is?

M. Alferink: Very important. But we should realise that regional differences still matter. The differences within Europe are relatively small, but those with the U.S. are quite big. Which is why so many companies are still structured around EMEA, Americas and Asia-Pacific as regions. But we see clients evolve towards a global perspective. But I don’t think this will be the dominant trend in the next few years. ■ Steven Schoefs

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BUSINESS I New DS brand

A premium brand, with the spirit of avant-garde Yves Bonnefont is overjoyed. The creation of DS as a separate brand was announced last June, and on the day of our interview, the CEO of PSA’s newest brand can report the launch of the new DS 5, the first with DS’s own front face and monogram.

“

We have 3 ambitions. Firstly, avant-garde: we want to be forward-looking, and unlike any other brand.

Secondly, high-tech: we want to create cars advanced in powertrain and connectivity. And thirdly, luxury – specifically the French savoir-faire –, translated into the materials we use”.

Remind us why exactly DS needed to be a standalone brand within PSA? Yves Bonnefont: The premium market is very attractive in terms of growth and profitability. But doing premium within a generalist brand is impossible. So you have to do it as an independent brand. That’s the only way to control your product plan, the product itself, your marketing and communication, and the experience you provide to your customers.

Now that DS truly is a standalone brand, what is next?

Y. Bonnefont: Our aim is to double the DS product range between now and 2020. So over the next 5 years, we want to move from 3 to 6 models in our range. We’ll be entering new segments, because that’s the only way to double our range. Those will be the fastest-growing segments in terms of volume and profit, and on a global level.

Which European markets are important to DS? Apart from France, of course Y. Bonnefont: We have a strong foothold in the UK: the Brits really love the DS 3. Of course, to evolve as a premium brand in Europe you must be present in Germany. Competition there is fierce, but it’s an important market for us. We also see a lot of potential for premium in Spain and particularly in Italy. The Benelux countries are important as well, not because they’re a big market, but for their high level of premiumisation.

Outside Europe, China is of course very important. You’re opening stores there at an incredible rate.

Y. Bonnefont: We started creating our retail network in China in mid-2012; in the 24 months since, we’ve opened 80 stores, close to one per week. China will probably become our largest market some time this year. On a global level, we’ll be inaugurating many DS Salons – spaces in Citroën dedicated to DS. Combining DS stores and Salons, we’ll be opening no less than three per week around the world this year.

Apart from China, which other global markets matter to DS? Y. Bonnefont: Europe clearly still is our home market: we

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started here, and in 2013, 87% of our sales were still here.

That’s not a comfortable position to be in, and we did indeed pay a price for our overexposure in Europe. We’re racing towards a better regional balance in our sales portfolio.

China was our first priority outside Europe, but also Russia is a market of interest – today the situation is terrible, but we hope the economic cycle will turn around soon. When it does, we can act quickly. And Latin America is also of interest, although right now currency woes are also limiting the potential. But that’s just how economic cycles work. We have to be opportunistic, and act when foreign exchange rates and economic growth open a window.

What are your sales goals this year, both in Europe and beyond?

Y. Bonnefont: We don’t deal in such short-term targets, for one simple reason: once you start managing a premium brand by the volume, it’s not a premium brand anymore.

We want to protect the value of our cars over the long run.

But I can share my mid-term views. There is no reason DS shouldn’t be in line with the global market as a whole, about 10% of which is premium. So it would make sense for DS to generate about 10% of PSA’s total sales. ■ Steven Schoefs

Yves Bonnefont, CEO of DS: “In the premium market, the market share of fleet sales is very important. So raising our fleet sales profile definitely is one of our priorities for the years to come.”

SCOPE I Fleet Europe Taxation Guide 2015

The Connected Car may lead to new taxes Company car taxation is complex, and upcoming technologies are likely to make it more confusing. We asked Dr. Alexander Unfried, Global Automotive Tax Sector Lead at PwC, to navigate us through this potential minefield – and look into his crystal ball for the tax consequences of the Connected Car. But let's start with the 2015 company car taxation situation.

The 2015 picture for company car taxation across Europe is very much the same as in 2014. In general, the more CO2 a car emits, the greater that car is taxed. At the same time, some governments have enacted direct subsidies, fiscal incentives and regulatory policy to help accelerate the movement of hybrid or full electric vehicles (EVs) into the marketplace.

The reason for this dual approach is easy to fathom. Governments are paying closer attention to the growing mountain of research indicating that the long-term shift to an economy that is consistent with climate stabilization will require a vehicle fleet predominantly powered by electric drive.

For fleet managers, the bottom line is that you can minimise your tax bill by choosing more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In other words, the ‘cleaner’ the vehicle, the less tax to pay. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, depending on the country, fleet managers might be faced with any combination of vehicle registration tax, road tax, VAT on new vehicles, CO2 solidarity contributions, fiscal penalties for private use of company cars, congestion charges, and even benefit-in-kind income tax.

But help is at hand, in the shape of the ninth edition of the Fleet Europe Taxation Guide, made with the support of PwC and its network. This indispensable guide makes it easier for fleet managers to comprehend the complexities of the company tax situation in 23 countries across Europe.

This year it also includes a very helpful overview of the main changes

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that have been implemented in each country compared to 2014.

The guide will enable corporate fleet managers to steer a path through the minefield of company car taxation, and come out on the other side with an optimal TCO of their company car fleet.

EV growth: Slow but sure As to whether the fiscal incentives are promoting a significant switch of fleets to Electric Vehicles, the jury is still out. European sales figures of EVs remain small (approximately 1% of new car registrations). Some countries are showing good growth, driven by government support, improved models offered by OEMs, and an increasing willingness of fleet managers to select the EV option.

Connected Car. Two consequences are worth mentioning. First, the Connected Car could lead to a smart road pricing system, which might be a fairer way to charge for road use than current systems. Second, for fleet operators, real-time status information for every vehicle will help maximise availability and minimise TCO. ■

Denzil Walton

A shining example is Norway, where subsidies that include exemption from purchase tax, VAT, toll road charges, registration tax, and annual circulation tax, are leading to EVs being more attractive than conventionally powered cars on a TCO basis. No surprise to find that EVs account for over 3% of new car sales in Norway.

As to Europe’s future mobility, electrified alternatives to the traditional combustion engine look certain to diversify. However, the rate of adoption of electric powertrains will depend on several factors in addition to fleet emission regulation, most notably battery pack price and the expansion of the charging infrastructure.

Another fast-moving development that will have fiscal repercussions, as Dr Unfried touched on, is the

Order your Fleet Europe Taxation Guide 2015 Go to the Fleet Europe e-Shop at http://shop.nexuscommunication. be/ to order your copy of the 2015 Fleet Europe Taxation Guide. It explains the company tax situation in 23 countries across Europe.

The digital version includes extra chapters on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

3 QUESTIONS TO... their transport infrastructures and stimulating the growth of the market for electric vehicles. So we are already seeing some countries limiting their incentives, and other countries are expected to follow.”

ALEXANDER UNFRIED PWC

1. What are the main trends impacting company car taxation in Europe in 2015?

“The overall focus is still on CO2 taxation and the tax incentives for the electrification of the automotive powertrain, although of course the details vary between different countries. However, governments are facing a fine balancing act between getting the tax income they need for

2. Why is it important that corporates take company car taxation into account in their policy?

“Tax has a direct and significant impact on the cost of a vehicle fleet.

What’s more, the cost of running a car fleet – taking into account tax, insurance, purchase price, fuel, leasing etc. – is likely to be 5-10% higher in 2015 than last year. So anything a fleet manager can do to reduce cost will be beneficial. And if you can save taxes while improving your company’s sustainability image, so much the better!”

3. What elements will impact car taxation in the upcoming years?

“It is estimated that by 2020, four of every five new vehicles manufactured will be wirelessly connected to the Internet. Real-time connectivity between car, driver and a whole host of partners – such as insurance providers, fuel companies, OEMs, retailers and tax authorities – is a very real possibility. It will be interesting to see how the inevitable rise of the Connected Car impacts fleet car taxation. I can foresee a future where the growing popularity of electric vehicles will reduce revenues for road maintenance.

The concept of taxing drivers based on distance travelled is therefore likely to be an appealing alternative model for governments to consider. And the data transmitted by the Connected Car makes this possible.” ■ Denzil Walton

Tim Harrup

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MANAGEMENT I Fleet Europe Awards

This Award is yours to win Have you never wondered how your work stacks up to that of your peers in the fleet industry? Considered your achievements being worthy of acclamation by an audience of international fleet stakeholders?

If you will it, it is no dream. Apply to the 2015 of the Fleet Europe Awards, and you're only two steps away from receiving the acknowledgement you and your team deserve.

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heThis year's Fleet Europe Awards will be held on 19 November 2015 in Rome. The ceremony in the Eternal City presents the ideal opportunity for international fleet professionals to receive the international recognition they deserve, for the new and creative solutions they devise, the innovations they develop for their industry, and the benefits they generate for their companies.

INTERNATIONAL FLEET MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD This is an award that recognises the person or the team having most successfully developed an international fleet management strategy leading to an optimised TCO. This Award category looks at the complete and overall vehicle fleet management approach.

From this year on, the prizes to be awarded will be segmented in order to take into account the size of your vehicle fleet.

The jury will reward best practices related to the International Fleet Manager of the Year Award in two different levels: the person or team with responsibility of 1,500 vehicles or more in at least 3 countries on the one hand (category Large Fleet), and the person or team with responsibility below 1,500 vehicles in at least 3 countries on the other hand (category Medium Fleet).

It rewards a project or programme that improves the safety of the drivers and limits incidents and accidents related to the vehicle fleet, whilst taking into account cost optimisation.

THE INTERNATIONAL FLEET INNOVATION AWARD This award rewards an innovative project in a specific field of fleet management (car policy, implementation, green, mobility or safety approach, driver satisfaction,…). A project can be rewarded if the jury decides that an initiative of the fleet managers applying for the Fleet Europe Awards 2015 stands out in the field of innovation and contributes to fleet management optimisation on a wider scale.

INTERNATIONAL FLEET HALL OF FAME The International Fleet Hall of Fame Award recognizes vehicle fleet industry leaders and pioneers who have contributed to the international fleet management profession throughout their career. Eligible nominees must have at least 5 years of international fleet management experience.

Do you know an international fleet professional who meets these criteria? Nominate your preferred fleet leaders now by sending an e-mail to Steven Schoefs (sschoefs@nexuscommunication.be). ■ Steven Schoefs

INTERNATIONAL FLEET GREEN & MOBILITY AWARD This award is presented to a company that has successfully implemented a green project or initiative in efficient alternative mobility for its fleet. As Green issues and Mobility issues are so closely interlinked, the organisation has decided to merge these two categories into one and the same Award category. The green and/or alternative mobility project combines eco-friendliness with employee productivity and Total Cost of Ownership optimisation.

THE INTERNATIONAL FLEET SAFETY AWARD This award is presented to a company that has successfully implemented a driver safety project, within the framework of the CSR strategy and with a focus on driver behaviour.

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It’s time to win an Award: Apply now!

You can’t win if you don’t enter! So, if you are a fleet manager with international responsibilities, and if you and your company have optimised the fleet management policy and processes, or if you are a fleet supplier that has developed a new tool which helps optimise car fleets, you are the ideal candidate for this year’s Fleet Europe Awards.

Apply now! Send an e-mail with your contact details to Steven Schoefs, Chief Editor (sschoefs@ nexuscommunication.be), to receive the application form.

Be proud of your fleet management and step into the footprints of the International Fleet Manager of the Year 2014 Michael Dana (FedEx): this year you could be the winner and step on the Fleet Europe Awards stage in Rome on 19 November 2015.

MEET THE 2015 FLEET EUROPE AWARDS JURY All Award categories open to international fleet managers (fleet customers) will be assessed by a mixed jury composed of international fleet managers, lessors, car manufacturers, fleet specialists, as well as the Fleet Europe editorial team.

This is the jury so far.

Fleet Managers Michael Dana , Senior Manager Fleet - Fedex Express Europe, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa, FedEx Luc Dendievel, Director Fleet EMEA, Johnson & Johnson Karin Meersman, Corporate Fleet Manager EMEA, Johnson Controls Csaba Csiszko, Director EHS, Philip Morris International Andrzej Sacha , Global Fleet Solutions Manager, Nestlé

Fleet Suppliers Hans-Georg Lutz, Senior Manager International Corporate Sales, Mercedes-Benz Cars Martin Jahn, Managing Director, Volkswagen Group Fleet International Stephane Chesnel, Head of International B2B Development, PSA Peugeot Citroën Ian Hucker , Director European Fleet & Commercial Vehicles, Opel AG Adrian Porter, Director Fleet Sales & Remarketing, Hyundai Motor Europe Jean-Pierre Mesic, VP Corporate Sales, Renault Erik van der Werf, International Sales Director, Athlon International Knut Krösche, Head of International Fleet, Aftersales and Used Car, Volkswagen Financial Services Alessandro Pigazzi, Head Of International Strategic Accounts, Arval Thomas Schröder, Global International Account Director, LeasePlan International Vinzenz Pflanz, Chief Commercial Officer, Fleet Logistics International Stéphane Renie, Sales & Marketing Director, ALD International Carsten Kwirandt, Head of Marketing & Business Development, Alphabet International

Fleet Europe Steven Schoefs, Chief Editor, Fleet Europe Caroline Thonnon, CEO & Business Development, Fleet Europe Tony Elliott, Global Fleet Expert, Fleet Europe

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MANAGEMENT I International Fleet Hall of Fame

“I always compete against myself, not against others” “A typical day? There aren’t any”, Philippe Bismut laughs when we ask him to describe his daily routine. As CEO of Arval since 2011, he relishes the pace and the challenges of a global business career at the highest level. How does he keep on top of it all? Two or three times a week, he straps on his running shoes for the biggest challenge of all: “I always compete against myself, not against others”.

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t the Fleet Europe Awards last November in Hamburg, Philippe Bismut was inducted in the International Fleet Hall of Fame in recognition of his services to the fleet and lease industry.

An honour he takes pride in, but modestly shares with his fellow workers at Arval: “We’re all working very hard, taking risks, launching initiatives. Everybody is contributing ideas. I see my awards as a recognition of this. So I was really pleased for the team. It’s like in rugby: if you’re a good team, the scrum is united and strong”.

Massachusetts The sports metaphor is no coincidence. Since his early school days at Neuilly-sur-Seine (near Paris), Philippe Bismut has loved both field and track: “When I was younger, I practised all kinds of team sports. With age, I focus more on running and cross-country skiing – long distances, that require some mental resilience”. But Bismut is not just a tenacious athlete, he also was a brilliant student, one whose stellar results could have launched an academic career. “My problem, if you want to call it that, is that I loved so many subjects at school: physics and maths, but also Ancient Greek and English”.

His good grades landed him a spot at the prestigious École Polytechnique, where he was picked for the Corps des mines, one of France’s most selective educations. “I was fortunate that the Corps allowed me to go abroad for a year – not as commonplace then as it is now – and went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, where I conducted research”. One unofficial result of that research would determine the course of his career: “I realised that although I was good at this type of academic research, it didn’t make me happy. I was alone, always surrounded by the scientific world. I wasn’t out there in the real world, interacting with people, really doing things”.

Versatility Philippe Bismut chose a career in business, and joined BNP Paribas in 2002 as CEO of Arval UK. Afterwards, he became Deputy Managing Director of Arval and, in 2006, CEO and Chairman of BNP Paribas Lease Group (today BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions). After his appointment

Philippe Bismut: “I like to play all kinds of music on the piano, except jazz. For some reason, that doesn’t work for me.”

as CEO of Arval in 2011, he also became the group’s chairman in 2013.

So, with all that business experience now behind him, does he know what it takes to be a good CEO? Philippe Bismut: “Business life is difficult and unstable nowadays.

Companies go through various phases – expansions, restructions, other developments... This variety of situations requires a variety of skills. Versatility is essential: the ability to adapt your management style to the nature of the challenge”.

Or, to illustrate with a metaphor: “When you’re moving something uphill, you need to push. When things are going downhill, you should be able to pull the brakes.

Those are not the same talents. So the message in today’s corporate climate is: Adapt your management style to the nature of the challenge. Sometimes you need to be careful, conservative. Other times require a more daring, or more authoritative approach”.

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Is Bismut as a CEO a team player or a solo artist? Does he seek input or does he push forward his vision? “When we’re in the execution phase, I like things to go exactly as we have decided. But getting at that decision is another matter. It’s not only more pleasant, but also more fruitful to have everybody contribute to a decision. Telling your team up front how things should be is arrogant, risky, ineffective – and contrary to everything I believe in”.

Beethoven One of Philippe Bismut’s favourite ways to relax is music – both as a player, on the piano, and as a listener. “I like to play all kinds of music on the piano, except jazz. For some reason, that doesn’t work for me. And I like to listen to a wide variety of music too. But especially classical music, and especially Beethoven and Schubert. There have been many geniuses in musical history, but for me, these two tower over everybody else!”

Even though his recent induction in the International Fleet Hall of Fame feels like the reward for a successful career, Bismut is not even remotely thinking about what might come after. “The beauty of Arval is that the

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business model is so rich that I don’t contemplate a life after Arval”. Philippe Bismut clearly isn’t ready to put away his running shoes just yet... ■ Steven Schoefs

THE ARCHITECT • P hilippe Bismut is married, with three children, a 28-year-old son who works in Madrid, and two daughters (26 and 21) who work and study in Paris.

• A polymath who says the Rule of Three has turned out to be the most useful thing he learned in school.

• L oves travel, and has had a fascination for California as well as deep affection for England, but if he had to move now, he and his wife would prefer Spain.

• D reamed of being an architect when he was young: “If you have the talent, it must be great to build things”. Admires the work of Lord Norman Foster, known for the London Gherkin, the Millau Viaduct in France, and the Hearst Tower in New York.