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Nexus Communication – Smart Mobility Management n°5 – Quarterly periodic newsletter February 2012 – Deposit Office Liège X
International Integrated Corporate Mobility Solutions
I How to implement a mobility budget ? I Case Studies:
Rexel - Accenture Belgacom - European Parliament PwC Belgium
Join the Smart Mobility Forum & Awards on March 15th in Brussels.
edito A mobility budget, the solution to your mobility management?
A
according to a recent report, the introduction of smart mobility budgets could reduce congestion on Dutch roads by as much as 20%. The report by B50 (the 50 leading Dutch companies in terms of Smart Travel) also suggests that personal mobility budgets in the Netherlands have a potential target of as much as 6.5 million commuters. These could all be persuaded to choose their own, most appropriate means of transport, if provided with a personal budget to do so. In the Netherlands, buzzwords like the New World of Work, Mobility Budgets and Smart Travel have captured the attention of the corporate world. Also in Belgium, a swelling chorus is proposing the introduction of mobility budgets for employees. The trend is so strong that some are already seeing mobility budgets as the standard of the future. Experts predict that other countries will also start to trend away from classic lease contracts to new, adaptable mobility budgets. But a certain amount of doubt and hesitation remains. Today’s fiscal and legal procedures are not yet ready for this new trend, and companies themselves are not keen to take on more paperwork. Nevertheless, the desire to explore the option is clear and present.
Caroline THONNON cthonnon@nexuscommunication.be
Studies show that mobility as a policy is becoming more of a strategic issue, taken up by HR Management. Final responsibility for mobility policy will need to be near the Board of Directors - or taken the Board itself. The current economic crisis, the growth of traffic congestion, the increasing demands of employees for more flexible combinations of work and life, require answers, and at least an outline of a plan, from our governments. Now that we’ve started our engines in the journey towards an integrated management of mobility - let’s switch to first gear. Please join us at ‘Move to Integrated Mobility’ in Brussels on 15th March, a first international event on this subject. And please stay for ‘Implementing a Mobility Budget’ on 16th March, a customer-only training session by the Smart Mobility Institute. Caroline Thonnon
Smart Mobility Institute - Brussels, March 16th 2012 The Smart Mobility Institute (SMI), unaffiliated with any commercial interest, is both a training session for corporate decision makers and a platform to exchange expertise and best practices. The goal of the SMI is to facilitate the implementation and management of a smart mobility strategy, and thus help bring the market to maturity. The SMI provides a forum to all interested sectors of industry such as mobility, fleet, travel, IT, and communications. It gives voice to the needs and desires of companies transitioning to Smart Mobility Management.
Session topic: I mplementing a Mobility Budget-Registration fee: €495 (including free access to the Smart Mobility Forum & Award on March 15th) More information: www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com/sme To register, contact Romina De Gregorio (rdegregorio@nexuscommunication.be)
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Content 6
22
DOSSIER
strategy
THE MOBILITY BUDGET
20 Travel industry
6 Introduction
European Union Emissions Trading Scheme
From car scheme to mobility scheme
22 Smart Mobility Event
Need for acceptance and communication
10 Management
27 Carpooling
12 Implementation
How to manage and control the budget
12 The Green Budget Impact on CSR
13 Tracking the tools How to avoid the burden of extra administration
16 News About softwares, a mobility card and awards
16 Community About the mobility budget
17 Mobistar Prior conditions are lacking to start with a mobility budget
18 Maastrichtbereikbaar Smart leasing pilot in the Netherlands
3 events in 1 Smart Mobility Forum Smart Mobility Awards Smart Mobility Institute Catching a ride
29 Taxation
Smart Mobility needs Smart Taxation
34
case studies
42 News
Jean-Noël Gouillou “Mission possible: optimizing the mobility costs”
34 Accenture Marc Thiollier “Moving Forward, a new approach to the work environment”
36 Belgacom Femke Vandoninck & Etienne Verhelst “Mobility Budget as a box of bricks”
39 European Parliament
39 PricewaterhouseCoopers Christophe Van Obergen “Mobility is essential, not the car itself”
Steven Schoefs Chief Editor (sschoefs@nexuscommunication.be) David Baudeweyns Sales & Development (dbaudeweyns@nexuscommunication.be)
Kathleen Hubert Operations & Communication (khubert@nexuscommunication.be) Filip Van Mullem Marketing & Development (fvanmullem@nexuscommunication.be)
News from the industry suppliers
48 Keolis
Bernard Tabary Facilitating mobility and integrating solutions
50 Peugeot MU Coralie Henry Poppe & Sylvain Demas “Peugeot is ready for B2B”
52 ALD Automotive Carel Bal “Mobility is in ALD’s DNA”
54 Polycom
Tom Skinner “The Mobility Point”
Romina De Gregorio Internal Sales (rdegregorio@nexuscommunication.be)
ISSUE N°6 SMART MOBILITY DIRECTORY 2012
industry
30 Rexel
Caroline Thonnon Content & Business Development (cthonnon@nexuscommunication.be)
48
Chretien van der Aa “Video-communication will become commonplace”
56 Interoute Jan Dezutter “Making video universal”
Contributers: Tim Harrup, Frank Jacobs, Dirk Steyvers MANAGING PARTNER: Thierry Degives EDITOR: Nexus Communication SA, Parc Artisanal 11-13, 4671 Barchon (Belgium) Phone : +32 4 387 87 94 - Fax : +32 4 387 90 63 URL: www.nexuscommunication.be
SMART MOBILITY MANAGEMENT www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com contact@nexuscommunication.be
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
From car scheme to mobility scheme A personal mobility budget allows employees, within a pre-defined budget set by the employer, to personally select her/his transport mode suiting best the individual needs for the planned journey. The mobility budget is gaining more and more supporters although there remains some hesitation.
Virtual account “A mobility budget can be compared to a virtual account for employees frequently traveling for business and as such represents a new flexible travel and mobility management alternative for the company” explains Marcel Bakker, representing Mobility Mixx, a Dutch consulting company proposing innovative mobility alternatives to companies since many years. The virtual account continuously provides a transparent and updated overview of the available budget and the incurred travel costs. Within this virtual account, the employee selects the most appropriate transport method for each journey, ranging from car to bicycle, scooter, public transportation such as train, trams, metro, or even carpooling..., respecting the company budget limits and policy. On top, at year end, a surplus in the account can for example be paid back to the employee as a bonus. Starting point In the framework of corporate mobility planning, the mobility budget concept has initially been activated as a solution to reduce the use and the cost of the company car, replacing vehicle mileage by cheaper and more sustainable journeys. According to Bart Desmedt from Traject, “because of the growing mobility
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cost awareness, influenced by rising congestion, parking shortage and fiscal measures, the term mobility budget is more and more used for the (management of) the total cost of (employee) mobility in a company. This includes not only the company fleet cost but also trip reimbursements for members of staff without a company car, parking costs, infrastructure for sustainable modes and new ways of working.” Beneficiaries A mobility budget or a company car are part of the employee’s compensation package and considered strong motivators to join a company, explains Johan Serrien from Fleet Solutions. Especially the company car, as status symbol, is still valued superior than any monetary budget value. However, many employees are currently not entitled to this kind of benefit. Indeed on average still only 20% of company’s staff are entitled to a company car or a mobility budget. The remaining 80% only benefit from a reimbursement of their business travel or home-work commuting where the travel allowance is linked to the commuting distance. There are hence two categories of beneficiaries. A minority entitled to mobility benefits and a majority compensated only for commute traveling. From this angle a company car budget
is seen as a benefit, whereas a commuting/travel reimbursement is mostly perceived as compulsory to travel to the office. Proposing an inspiring, coherent, responsible, flexible and environmentally encouraged Mobility budget to the entire company workforce can create a new united and collective stimulus of shared responsibility, especially in line with generation Y expectations. Shared responsibility Mobility budgets are an opportunity for any company aiming for cost savings whilst providing employees with entire freedom and flexibility in the choice of transport modes, consequently leading to “responsible” decisions and behavior. Full operational lease as a typical European conventional way to provide company cars currently lead to a “shortcoming of driver responsibility” suggests Paul Dam from Mobility Concept. “When provided with a leasing car, most employees are barely aware of the costs of driving their vehicle. This ignorance is reinforced by the Dutch fiscal taxation scheme which foresees for a lease car driver a fix 25% on income, no matter how many private kilometers have been reported (501 or 20,000…)”. A mobility budget is an optimal solution for this “deficiency of responsibility” as the scheme, through freedom of choice,
Knowledge workers will benefit most from the mobility budget scheme.
Companies with specific mobility related problems like parking shortage, have more than only financial interests in introducing a mobility budget.
A mobility budget scheme should offer the same continuity as the use of the car. Easy ways to combine and shift transport modes are crucial.
A company allowing employees to make their own decisions are a more attractive employer.
People are able to make a good decision on how to travel.
Modern urban commuters. The main challenge is the change management process: getting the support of the target publics.
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
steers drivers simultaneously to expenditure responsibility and environmental engagement. “Generally speaking, companies have significant advantages to replace as much as possible the car use by multimodal alternatives” says Bart Desmedt. “Especially larger, corporate companies who want to empower sustainability and employee engagement are a perfect target group for mobility budgets,” believes Johan Serrien from Fleet Solutions. Challenges Today, Mobility budgets, still do not benefit in many countries from optimal fiscal support, which limits an accelerated and dynamic development at corporate level. In the Netherlands, mobility budget schemes have already convinced an increasing number of companies. For new ideas and concepts to grow, top management engagement, as very often, also plays a key role. Convert a car policy into a mobility policy simultaneously involves a fundamental commitment of many stakeholders within the company,
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a mind shift at individual level and fiscal support. It is only when these three elements will be aligned and synchronize that Mobility budgets for all the good reasons described here before will enter their Golden Years. Caroline Thonnon & Filip Van Mullem
Characteristics of the mobility budget (*)
Defining the business objectives
> Budget based on individual mobility solutions/needs
>P rofit > cost savings, HR benefits, predictable costs versus hidden costs
> Risk of cost is at the employee > Employee has more flexibility/ free choice of more mobility modes > Mobility modes will be facilitated by the employer > Employee will be stimulated to make smart choices *source: Fleet Solutions
>P lanet > CSR and CO2 reduction >P eople > flexibility and employee benefits
Implementation needs acceptance and communication Thinking about introducing a mobility budget is relatively easy, developing and implementing one is much more complex. People are used to the comfort of and freedom of the company car. The success of the implementation depends on understanding the objectives of the company, the acceptance of the employees to use alternative mobility and clear and transparent communication with employees and stakeholders.
the company car is part of certain employees’ salary packages, a replacement package should offer an equal benefit. If parking budgets are shifted to public transport, there should also be a benefit or at least a status quo for the employees involved.”
Successfully implementing a mobility budget demands a clear corporate strategy where stakeholders and employees want to go in the same direction.
I
ntroducing a mobility budget only makes sense if your company is ready to change employee behaviour and if substantial advantages can be generated by the implementation. When this is the case, you can start with the detailed definition of the mobility project.
According to Johan Serrien from Fleet Solutions the definition starts with the appointment of a project manager and sponsor. “You also have to define the current mobility situation, the overall objective and the approach to reach your goals. You have to know who your customers and stakeholders are, you need to define the deliverables and boundaries, the possible risks and constraints and the possible financial and non-financial impact.” Marcel Bakker from Mobility Mixx in the Netherlands and Bart Desmedt of Traject – Mobility Management In Belgium are convinced that having an overview of your current situation and insight into current visible and hidden costs like parking space and fines, administrative costs, etc. is elementary. “Ideally, a cost-benefit analysis should be done from the point of view of different segments of the employees population”, says Bart Desmedt. “For example, if
Change takes time When you have defined the mobility budget project, you have to set clear but realistic targets. The chosen mobility options can best be discussed with representatives of all relevant departments. “The acceptance of these options should also be tested among the target public, using concrete examples and calculations”, points out Bart Desmedt of Traject – Mobility Management. His mobility colleague Ronald Van Lankveld of Fleet & Mobility Consultancy confirms this in the nice formula “Effectiveness = Quality X Acceptance”. Kees Froeling of Conclusion points out that you need to set limitations from the start, “but use today’s limits.” There are four main pitfalls. Firstly, there are many stakeholders and many employees who see the car as a sacred cow and the new mobility budget can be seen as an uncertain situation. “So involving them at an early stage and communicating openly is the correct way to turn the mobility budget project into something from themselves and not something imposed from above”, state Paul Dam from Smart Leasing Maastricht-Bereikbaar and Marcel Bakker from Mobility Mixx. Secondly, change management will take time, so keeping the momentum is essential. “Stick to the defined goals and don’t start by allowing exceptions for some people”, says Michel Willems from Mobilitas, as this will decrease the credibility of the whole project and create resistance from other employees. Thirdly, be prudent with figures. “The worst pitfall is to start with a budget in Euro’s without knowing the real costs and benefits. Involving Euros can attract negative attention from the management, unions etc.”, Minze Walvius tells us. Also be aware of all possible fiscal consequences for employees and the company. “But you also have to take productivity into account and the cost saving of mobility alternatives.” Finally, no implementation without efficient monitoring. Steven Schoefs
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
How to manage and control the budget Developing, implementing and managing an Integrated corporate mobility budget – including travel and non travel activities - is a complex matter for any company’s operation.
T
he allocation of corporate mobility budgets is one of the important market developments in corporate business travel management. The management of a corporate mobility budget takes the shape of a “shared responsibility” where on the one hand the role of the employer is to define the mobility budgets and control compliance and where on the other hand the employees can personally define and manage their transport requirements, irrespective of whether this involves car, rail or other sustainable transport solution(s). As such, this “partnership” should continuously ensure business related mobility is a positive and productive experience where travelers’ needs are correctly balanced with final cost implications says Kees Froeling from Conclusion. According to Minze Walvius from Advier the possibility for the employee to personally select each journey reservation undeniably contributes to the individual behavior change. Complexity According to Johan Serrien from Fleet Solutions, a professional mobility management system must at least be able to manage mobility packages and mobility contracts including procurement, operating cost management, administration, inventory information and performance monitoring. It must also be able to manage the quality of imported data through automated error handling. Developing, implementing and managing an integrated corporate mobility budget – including travel and non travel activities – certainly is a complex matter for any company’s operation. Mobility Budget Management ultimately is about streamlining and monitoring the impact at three levels: on employee productivity (efficiency), on company cost and on the environment. Productivity Productivity is intimately linked to the initial assessment of the necessity to travel as travelling for the wrong reasons immediately and simultaneously produces a cost and a loss of productivity. To correctly assess and monitor productivity, there
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is a simultaneous need for a professional travel request module and a solid expenses module. The travel module must be built on a preapproval process based on criteria tailored to the company’s mobility policy requirements and environmental priorities. A sophisticated automatic system associated to a coherent mobility policy must first encourage employees to think twice about travel and entertainment costs by giving online control of travel patterns compared to policy guidelines. The spirit is one of minimizing unnecessary travel and reducing costs while achieving business objectives. Cost The cost element addresses two levels – the costs of the journey, and the costs for processing (approval, reimbursement and expense reports). For Marcel Bakker from Mobility Mixx and Paul Dam from Mobility Concept, continuous transparent insight in the allowances, the costs and the budget balance by the employee is mandatory. According to Patrick Billiet
Mobility budget management is a shared responsibility.
Automated system to deliver up to 65% processing cost savings.
from MobileXpense, a state-of-the-art mobility budget monitoring system enables a company to master the expense reimbursement process, directly connected to the accounting system, complying with local regulations and create processing cost savings up to 65% compared to manual methods (as still used in many organisations...) Even if for some alternative modes of transport there are still a series of manual calculations and difficult parameters tracking to be made. Environment From and environmental standpoint, a high-tech oriented mobi lity budget management system is able to check the scheduled travel request and automatically propose the most appropriate choice. BingMaps for example, says Patrick Billiet from MobileXpense, automatically calculates the distance between two locations and allows the system - in name of the line manager - to propose to employees pre-defined transportation methods and encourage alternative or multimodal travel options. A mobile device manages their expense claims through a simple start-stop click, automatically calculating and communicating the travelled distance from a smart phone. For safety reasons, it also immediately tracks their location if needed and where appropriate. Challenges According to Alexander Prinssen from Fleet Solutions, an advanced mobility budget management system, on top of being fully integrated, must remain totally open and be built to accept all types of reservation systems, new e-booking developments and innovative mobile devices. Today, travel and non-travel related activities still depend on multiple internal departments, budgets, tools and cards. But fortunately, innovative integrators start helping corporations to integrate fleet, fuel, travel and credit card data. They also help design, implement and consolidate multi-country reporting. But as Bart Desmedt from Traject stipulates, the multimodal mobility card, able to execute the immediate payment of each type of transport is the major challenge currently being worked on. A full “one fits all” card will probably never exist. As Michel Willems from Mobilitas suggest, each corporation will have to decide for itself how far it wants to push the “big brother” policy and create its own tailored multimodal mobility card with a set of mobility methods and suppliers in line with corporate policy and requirements. Filip Van Mullem
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
The GREEN budget Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a model that encourages businesses to voluntarily operate with consideration to society. It involves being responsible for the impacts of all business activities and ensuring the wellbeing of all staff.
Mobility Budget: good for People, Planet and Purse
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ore organizations are now aiming to modify their business related mobility practices in an effort to be more CSR focused. It is clear for Kees Froeling from Conclusion that businesses allowing staff to make their own travel / non-travel decisions will be those more likely to have happy employees who feel good about themselves and the company they work for. A Corporate Mobility Budget concept simultaneously promotes flexibility and shared responsibility. For Paul Dam from Mobility Concept, the shared responsibility facet involves a collaborative approach between the employer and the employee, creating a “Smart Mobility Mindset and Culture” which are legitimately CSR focused. On might advise that because of this shared responsibility, CSR should be labeled CISR – Corporate & Individual Social Responsibility, as Corporate Guidelines decided by management are useless without the ultimate individual commitment and implication of the employee. Culture CSR is not just about “green travel”. For
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Minze Walvius from Advier, a Mobility Budget proposes a set of initiatives that are good for employees, for those with whom it does business through improved hospitality and for the communities in which it operates. The business needs to embrace CSR holistically and to absorb this into the travel / non-travel behavior. CSR in Mobility is not achieved in isolation, but by a collective mindset for the benefit of all stakeholders. Education, encouraging good behavior and rewarding commitment to CSR by acknowledging things such as compliance to the travel policy are critical to success says Marcel Bakker from Mobility Mixx. Policy To effectively make CSR a part of a Smart Mobility Policy, Bart Desmedt from Traject recommends that the strategic business and cultural decisions ensure corporate Smart Mobility provides an increasing number of safe and comfortable travel options relating to daily mobility. For Michel Willems from Mobilitas, efficient planning of home-work, client and business related traveling is essential. Continuously ensure business related mobility is a positive and productive
travelers’ experience. Ensure you are riskaverse in the Mobility Management by providing access to technology enabling to keep travelers well informed about all aspects of business mobility options that may impact their journey. Benefits The benefits for society resulting from a Mobility Budget approach are “planet driven”. Minimising travel and selecting eco-friendly or multimodal travel alternatives such as car sharing, public transportation, bicycle, walking have an important impact on the carbon footprint reduction. The benefits for employees are more linked to wellbeing as they include, according to Johan Serrien from Fleet Solutions, flexibility for the choice of mobility modes, financial upsides as a consequence of making smart choices leading to a final attractive remuneration package. For the employer, on top of motivated employees, a Mobility Budget brings transparency in the administrative processes, a high degree of cost control and true contribution towards sustainability. Filip Van Mullem
Tracking the tools One of the main obstacles to start with a mobility approach is the burden of extra administration and the difficulty to guarantee a smooth management of the selected variety of mobility solutions. If your organisation is large enough, you could perhaps create a management tool in-house, but not everyone has enough internal resources to do so. You can also look what is available on the market. And today unfortunately the offer still lacks maturity and geographical coverage.
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hen you can keep the management of your mobility budget in-house, as for example Belgacom Group does (see page 36), you gain complete control over the initiative and the budget. But you need mobility expertise and solid financial resources to invest an important amount of money to manage this new mobility approach. According to Ronald Van Lankveld of Fleet & Mobility Consultancy it can be easier and more effective to work with a third party providing substantial support to the employer and employees linked to administration and management of mobility services. Whilst Ronald confirms that today’s offer is insufficient, he believes the future looks positive and promising as more and more consultancy companies have started developing mobility tools to enhance the organization and management of efficient mobility. The main current challenge is the accurate calculation of the costs relating to the different mobility alternatives and a comprehensive translation into the mobility budget for the employee. Today, there seems to be two different types of mobility support by third parties. Mobility Advice First there is the classic consultancy approach where advice is offered to start a mobility initiative where sensitive matters are approached such as setting up a transparent communication with employees and stakeholders, defining realistic targets consistent with the corporate strategy and creating guidelines to respect achievable timing. At Conclusion, Kees Froeling confirms that the subsidiary Conclusion Green Consultants is called in to set up a balanced mobility policy. Traject provides mobility advice to institutional organisations and corporate customers, developing a global vision on traffic and mobility with a focus on mobility plans including tailor made transport systems. Mobility Management The second type of mobility consultancy promotesa more indepth approach, delivering management software tools for mobility managers to precisely follow-up the mobility use by employees, related costs and benefits. Most of them are local tools as the cross-border integration of mobility services is still too complex or even impossible to set up. One of the current active management providers is BUPP, a web-based platform used by Advier in the Netherlands, to manage location access by budgeting the use of facilities such as parking, park and ride, buses... Paul Dam,
Employees opting for a mobility budget instead of a classic company car often receive a mobility card for easy access to different types of mobility.
Smart Leasing Maastricht-Bereikbaar : “For the pilot Smart Leasing, Maastricht-Bereikbaar commissioned Mobility Concept to take care of the web-based mobility services and the project management.” In this area, international corporate clients expect a lot from the leasing companies. Indeed they are seen as potentially one of the most efficient new mobility services facilitators, acting as single point of contact for the customer in combination with the classic car leasing. By offering integrated mobility services and solutions to manage a mobility budget there is an opportunity to create a competitive advantage. Athlon Car Lease is one of the first leasing companies concentrating on the wider range of these mobility services. Concerning the definition and the implementation of the mobility project the Group launched the division Athlon Mobility Consultancy, supported by daughter company Fleet Solutions for the day-to-day management. It is clear that the existing smart and integrated mobility services offers still need to grow in recognition, volume, players and maturity to become really efficient and valuable to all of us. Steven Schoefs
MOBILITY CONSULTANTS > Advier - www.advier.nl Minze Walvius - Director/Owner and Owner Stichting Managing Mobility - minze.walvius@advier.nl > Conclusion - www.conclusion.nl Kees Froeling, Solution Manager The New World of Work kfroeling@conclusion.nl > Fleet & Mobility Consultancy - www.mobiliteitexpert.nl Ronald Van Lankveld, Owner - ronald@mobiliteitexpert.nl > MOBILITY CONCEPT - www.mobilityconcept.nl Paul Dam, Project Manager Pilot Smart Leasing paul.dam@mobilityconcept.nl > Mobilitas - www.mobilitas.be Michel Willems, CEO - m.willems@mobilitas.be > Mobility Mixx - www.mobilitymixx.nl Marcel Bakker, Commercial Manager marcel.bakker@mobilitymixx.nl > MobileXpense - www.mobilexpense.com Patrick Billiet, CEO - pb@mobilexpense.com > Traject - www.traject.be Bart Desmedt, Managing Director - bd@traject.be
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
News
Mobility Management application from Fleet Support Mobility Budgets are increasingly popular. Last May, a Dutch study showed that drivers prefer a flexible range of appropriate transport modes to a classic company car. But such flexibility competes with the anxiety that paperwork will increase. In order to transition to a Mobility Budget, the Dutch fleet management company Fleet Support is working on an application that will reduce the paperwork to a minimum. The application will also allow to work on cost control, risk analysis and reporting. (Source: AgentschapNL, own reporting)
Radiuz launches card for Mobility Budget Dutch mobility provider Radiuz has just unveiled its first Mobility Budget card. Radiuz Total Mobility will enable travellers to determine which mode of transport is most appropriate for the trip they’re about to make. The Radiuz card will allow flexible switching between train, tram, bus, bicycle, scooter, taxi, etc. No longer will it be necessary to buy different types of journey passes - always a more expensive option. Wantogo, the company behind the Radiuz card, happily assists the traveller in his choice of transport. The Radiuz App allows you to enter the start and finish of any given journey. Taking into account such variables as expected departure and arrival, duration, cost, CO2 emissions, the number of transfers, the app then selects the optimal voyage. Via monthly bills, the user receives an easy overview of the cost incurred. The manager can consult all travel times and connected data online. He can even check how environmentally friendly the user’s trips have been.
Mobility Budget gets ALD Mobility Award For the first time ever, Dutch leasing company ALD Automotive has awarded a prize for mobility. The winner of this first ALD Mobility Award was Mn Services, a pension administration and asset management company. Mn Services received the prize “We want this prize to serve for its set of mobility measnot just as a reward for one company, but as a platform for all ures and for its adoption of a companies to exchange ideas about Mobility Budget. Apart from achieving best practice in the field the award itself, the comof mobility”, says Carel Bal, ALD pany also received an elecAutomotive’s general director. tric bike by Suzuki. The ALD Mobility Award will celebrate companies with a future-oriented mobility policy, and inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Mn Services won this first award because of its “mobility range, which comprises innovative measures that are well aligned to benefit both the employer and the employee”, the jury report reads. Mn Services encourages the use of e-scooters and e-bikes, and offers its employees a Mobility Budget.
OUR COMMUNITY ON mobility budget
about the
Daniel Nijsten, Sr Buyer “CSR & Environment are motivators for the employees to opt for a company car. However, for the company, it’s mainly a case of cost optimisation, isn’t it?” Friso Metz, Senior advisor at KpVV “Company cars are popular,but a mobility budget is popular as well. So it’s an attractive HR tool. Also, it fits well with corporate responsibility schemes, as it promotes the use of smaller, ecofriendlier cars and more sustainable modes of transport. In the end, it could save costs, especially as it could solve parking problems. Parking places are extremely precious, so any reduction in the need for parking spaces is interesting for companies.” “52 Dutch companies presented a report on mobility budgets to the State Secretary of Finance. It has been received well, and the Finance Ministry will see how they can implement its fiscal recommendations in the 2013 Tax regime. See the following article and report (Dutch only)” http://www.slimwerkenslimreizen.nl/ index.html?artikel_ID=925&loc1=2&soc1=2&art=2&art=2&le esverder=925&naam=Nieuws&#abc925 Manish Garg, Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan “Looking at the current euro crisis, I’d say that to introduce a mobility budget is a means to optimise cost for a company. Rather than leasing new vehicles, companies look towards corporate car-sharing schemes for short business trips, thus dissuading their employees from using personal vehicles for the same. At the same time, there’s also the concern for the environment. Less CO2-emitting vehicles = Less company car taxation.” Ann Massart, Marketing & Communication manager at Alphabet Belgium “According to me, a company car firstly is an important tool for retention and motivation within a global HR policy. Of course, the environment and efficient mobility go hand in hand with this, and should be linked by a sensible car policy, matching with the company culture. The key to achieve this, is finding the right fleet supplier who understands your company needs.” Alexander Rahe, Managing Director at solariz Enterprise Group “CSR & Environment are my favourite motivators. The savings are welcome as well and with a tool that can track and report this, my company is prepared.” Johannes Berg, Consultant at WSP “The Dutch slim reizen website has a database with best practice in mobility budgets http://www.slimreizen.nl.” Join our LinkedIn Community Smart Mobility Management and share your expertise, your questions and your best practices !
What would be the major reason for your company to introduce a mobility budget scheme for employees?
Travel/ traffic optimization: 27% Cost optimization: 34% HR & motivation: 20% CSR & environment: 20%
Results of LinkedIn Poll ended on February 5th 2012. Total votes: 56.
Caroline Thonnon
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Mobistar Prior conditions are lacking o start with a Mobility Budget Companies that are willing to adopt a Mobility Budget, are often prevented from doing so by fiscal and administrative circumstances. One such company is Mobistar, one of Belgium’s telecommunications specialists. Karel Boussu, Hospita lity Manager at Mobistar, explains the obstacles between wish and reality.
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obistar is a subsidiary of France Telecom. It already offers attractive mobility solutions to its employees. The about 850 Mobistar employees with a company car can opt for the classic formula, or for a payout of the car budget (with tax paid on the gross amount). Another option is to choose a smallerscale car, combined with a subscription to the entire public transport system (train, tram, subway, bus). Furthermore, the fuel card for the company car can also be used to refuel a motorbike, if it is used for commuting. Finally, all employees enjoy free public transport into work, can use a folding bike if they give up their parking spot, and have shared cars and shared bicycles at their disposal.
Why a Mobility Budget for Mobistar? Karel Boussu: “Lots of Belgian employees get a company car to sidestep the high tax on earnings. The company will assign a certain amount for this to each of those slated to drive a company car. What we’re noticing, is that the entire amount will be spent on the car itself, even though that is not necessary, strictly speaking. But that’s understandable: What you get, you use. To have the employee use his or her mobility budget in a more realistic and sensible way, you need to propose alternatives to allocate the remaining budget. You could consider paying out that amount, or you could opt to offer a mix of other
Neither our fiscal legislation on benefits in kind, nor our social legislation, nor our insurance administration are ready for a Mobility Budget in Belgium”, says Karel Boussu, Hospitality Manager at Mobistar.
modes of transport, or you could offer fringe benefits. A Mobility Budget will let the employees decide themselves how to spend an allocated budget. This will increase employee satisfaction. In the Netherlands, take out is a wellestablished system, completed with a Mobility Card exists. This card is a mode of payment: a budget is deposited onto it, and the employee uses it to pay for using a shared car, a city bike, public transport, etc.” So why not yet Mobility Budget in Belgium? Karel Boussu: “Neither our fiscal legislation on benefits in kind, nor our social legislation, nor our insurance administration are ready for a Mobility Budget
in Belgium. A mixed-use approach to mobility implies a mixed system of taxation on benefits in kind, implies a separate follow-up of insurance, etc. But the relevant government administrations don’t know how to deal with such a mix of mobility services. The necessary regulations are simply not there. In Flanders, a group called Mobiel21 is trying to get some companies to start a pilot project but even with the support of the Flemish government, the plan is dead-ending on the aforementioned administrative problems. First and foremost, we’ll have to wait for measures by the federal Belgian government. Only then can we start thinking about a real start for Budget Mobility.” Steven Schoefs
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DOSSIER
The mobility budget
Maastricht-bereikbaar Smart leasing pilot in the Netherlands A smarter way to adapt mobility to the needs of individual employees is being piloted by lease drivers in the South Limburg region in the Netherlands. During 2012, lease drivers will be able to make their own decisions about their mobility. Their employers will gain experience in working with personal mobility budgets and help shape the Smart Leasing concept in more detail.
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aastricht-Bereikbaar offers a range of products and services which make it easier for commuters, visitors and truck drivers to work and travel smart.
Under the Maastricht-Bereikbaar banner, governments, employers, and mobility service providers work together to keep Maastricht and its suburbs accessible. Maastricht-Bereikbaar stimulates structural changes to the travelling and working behaviour of commuters, visitors, and truck drivers. It also offers products and services which will help you travel and work smart. Cofely Zuidoost Frank Mulleneers, HR Manager Cofely Zuidoost: “We at Cofely are excited about this initiative and very interested in the outcome of this pilot. This process will give our people more insight into their mobility behaviour. We as an employer will be able to gain experience in alternative ways of dealing with mobility issues. I’m personally also participating in the pilot, and right from the start I noticed I was more conscious of the question of why I need to travel. I also consider whether taking my car is necessary, both for business and personal trips. The usefulness or necessity of mobility depends to a great extent on psychology.”
Frank Mulleneers (Cofely): “We are excited about this initiative and very interested in the outcome of this pilot. This process will give our people more insight into their mobility behaviour.”
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New mobility calls for new ways to lease The existing forms of leasing do not offer much freedom of choice. It’s “one size fits all” for lease drivers. These ways of leasing don’t encourage smart choices like selecting smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, driving economically, and using inexpensive fuel. In addition, the costs for business travel on public transport are often not reimbursed. Employers have almost no influence on the costs and environmental impact of lease cars.
Maastricht-Bereikbaar stimulates structural changes to the travelling and working behaviour of commuters, visitors, and truck drivers. It also offers products and services which will help you travel and work smart.
New ways of working, sustainability, new forms of mobility, a new generation of employees, and different travel needs: all of this strengthens the demand for more modern forms of leasing. Lease drivers ought to be able to have flexibility and to choose the travel solution which fits their personal situation and budget, or even the particular day of the week. Employers want to meet the wishes of their employees, but the costs have to be manageable. And it should not cost any extra time. Personal mobility budget A personal mobility budget gives lease drivers control over the costs. It allows them to tailor their mobility to their own needs. The mobility budget compares to a bank account, with reimbursements and expenses. Each month a fixed amount will be transferred to the account, and in addition lease drivers will receive a variable amount per journey, to cover fuel and other costs. Employees who carpool or use public transport will also receive a variable amount as reimbursement. This means that the budget changes to reflect travelling behaviour. The cost of using the lease car will be deducted from the budget, as will the costs for using other methods of transport, such as the train, bicycle sharing, taxis, and car sharing. Lease drivers can have an influence on their own mobility costs. The choice of travel method, the choice of lease car and the way it is used, the driving style and the fuel costs all determine the mobility budget. Lease drivers will be able to access a personal webpage to see changes to their budget and account. This means that reimbursements and expenses are completely transparent.
ABOUT MAASTRICHT-BEREIKBAAR Maastricht-Bereikbaar has a range of products and services. Over the next few years, the range of services will be extended: > Extra Park+Ride locations outside the city. >T ransportation from Park+Ride locations during rush hour and on high-traffic days. >T ravel advice via www.maastricht-bereikbaar.nl, Twitter account @naarMaastricht and signs with up-to-date traffic and parking information along the side of the road. >A mobile version of the www.maastricht-bereikbaar.nl website. >A n “in-car” application with parking information. >V arious pilots, including one which will allow municipal employees to gain experience with The New Way of Working.
TRAVEL SMART, WORK SMART Travelling smart will reduce the number of cars on the roads and highways, particularly during rush hour. There are alternatives to taking your car, such as making the journey by bicycle or using public transport. But there are also other possibilities, such as travelling outside rush hour or carpooling. In addition, many companies offer their employees the option of working from home a few hours or days per week, avoiding a commute altogether. Working independently of time and place like this is called The New Way of Working.
Paul Dam
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STRATEGY
Low carbon aviation
European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Transport is more dependent on oil than any other sector. The long term viability of the transport sector and, in turn, successful inter-connected global economies demands improved fuel efficiency and diversification of (fuel) supply across the transport sector.
Jonathan Green, GBTA ICARUS Europe.
Good legislation creates a space that incentivises innovation and stimulates joined up thinking amongst regulators and business.
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he best way to create a low carbon aviation sector has been brought sharply into focus with aviation emissions entering the EU ETS in 2012. The outcome - emission reduction though the most efficient means - is laudable.
Policy makers have an unenviable role to satisfy the voices of disparate stakeholders whilst finding a solution that ensures the natural environment on which business relies is effectively sustained. GBTA’s position on emissions reduction, through its sustainability project, ICARUS, is not driven by altruism. Emissions management goes hand in hand with operational efficiency. Organisations’ today are being impacted by changes to our natural environment, whether through legislation to protect the environment, taxation to stimulate efficiencies or the physical impacts of degraded environments on business operations. Increasing demand for oil and resource pressure will inevitably lead to rising costs, price volatility and market uncertainty. Uncertainty does not create the environment for business investment and innovation. The twin challenge A global challenge like climate change and effective resource
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management requires a global solution. The aviation sector is one of very few sectors that operates in a truly global context. Its global nature can be its strength. By operating collaboratively at a global level and harnessing the strength of global innovation a global solution can be created. There could also be unintended consequences in taking a fragmented, regional approach. There is risk that collaborate efforts to achieve the right solution at a global level could be constrained by regionalized activity, and competing or conflicting agendas. The aviation sector has responded to the twin challenge of rising prices and environmental regulation by investing in fuel and emissions efficiency measures. Manufacturers have invested in fuel efficient aircraft design, research in alternative fuels has led to bio fuels trails and a focus on carbon efficiency has led to operational changes that have reduced fuel costs and emissions. Good legislation creates a space that incentivises innovation and stimulates joined up thinking amongst regulators and business. The business community can benefit from the stick but there a place for the carrot: especially when times are hard. The news early this year that a European carrier was halting its use of biofuels due to supply issues demonstrates the importance of joining up policy drivers with the research and development and ensuring supply chains are able to respond to demand. At a time when emissions from aviation enter the EU ETS a low emissions fuel is not available. The ETS creates regulation by regional airspace rather than global airspace. The discussion about changes to airspace management in Europe and the resulting emissions efficiencies that this could lead to is now brought sharply into focus. Jonathan Green
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STRATEGY
Smart Mobility Event
15 & 16 March
Move to Integrated Mobility ! On March 15th, Smart Mobility Management is organising the first international event on Integrated Mobility in Brussels. Join us to share experiences and to shape the future of a new world of work and mobility.
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he future is increasingly determined by new mobility. Consider the broad range of possibilities offered to corporate staff, the car, the train, the airplane, the bicycle, the bus, the metro... Not to mention virtual conferencing for those who decide not to travel.
And consider what’s at stake: speed, comfort, environment, employee efficiency, and, of course, the bottom line. It’s not just about fleet, travel, meeting and conferences - it’s about a completely new way of integrating and managing all mobility related solutions in an economically-complex environment that represents major challenges and extraordinary opportunities. Both at the level of international operating corporations and the level of mobility suppliers and their offering.
Benefit from valuable information and knowledge presented by industry leaders
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7 Learning opportunities Define a Mobility Strategy & Policy Implement, measure and report Define when to more or not Optimize Corporate Mobility costs & CSR Maximize efficiency for drivers & travelers Smart Communication Technology Mobility suppliers, solutions, innovations
Important benefits et access to quality G information & ideas Use peers as sounding boards Share best practices with key achievers Generate new professional relationships Get recognition for your achievements Emerge as a pioneer and leader Become a mentor to someone
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Programme
Move to Integrated Mobility
9:00 Welcome 9:30 Opening speech and introduction by Caroline Thonnon (Nexus Communication) 9:40 Smart Mobility Management: a unique media platform to promote International Integrated Corporate Mobility Solutions - by Caroline Thonnon & Filip Van Mullem (Nexus Communication) 10:00 European Commission and mobility - by Sylvain Haon - Executive Director - Polis 10:20 From Fleet to Mobility Management - by Giovanni Tortorici - Manager - Barilla 10:40 From Travel to Mobility Management - by Torbjorn Erling - Meeting & Travel Manager - Ikea (tbc) 11:00 Coffee break and networking 11:15 Integrated Mobility Management - Case Study - by Bernard Dehaye - Coordinator Mobility, Environment & Sustainable Development - Dexia 11:35 Mobility Integrators: who will take the lead? - by Martyn Briggs - Consultant - Frost & Sullivan 12:00 The New World of Work - by Jasha Dix-Huijts - Strategist - KPN 12:20 The New Office – corporate solutions – by Andrew Brown - Group Communications Director - Regus 12:40 Smart Work Centers and the impact on mobility – by Bas Boorsma - Head, Work Life Innovations Program – Cisco Systems 13:00 Wrap up – by Filip Van Mullem (Nexus Communication) 13:10 Networking lunch and sponsors’ interview – by Steven Schoefs (Nexus Communication) 14:30 THINK TANK with international decision makers and mobility suppliers Moderator: Donatello Piras
Workshop 1 - Defining a mobility policy and implementing a mobility strategy
- How to make the shift to a real integrated mobility strategy? - How to optimize overall mobility costs and CSR? - How to maximize efficiency for the drivers and travelers within your organization?
WORKSHOP 1. Selection and sourcing of mobility solutions
- How suppliers fulfill the needs for mobility solutions - What is the availability of integrated mobility solutions and is still to be developed?
16:45 Closing remarks
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STRATEGY
Smart Mobility Event
Smart Mobility Award
Smart Mobility Institute
The Smart Mobility Award for Innovation will be handed over to a supplier having recently developed and marketed a product, service or tool which helps corporations significantly improve the implementation or management of Integrated Mobility Policies. The submitted cases must show concrete impacts on the essential objectives of Smart Mobility: employee efficiency, cost optimisation and improved carbon footprint.
A unique training session for international decision makers
The nominees are... > Alphabet: AlphaCity – Corporate CarSharing > A thlon Mobility Consultancy: MoMaS (Mobility Management System) > Carpooling.com: carpooling.com > Co-Maker: Mobility Platform > Daimler/Europca: Car2Go > T halys, Jet Airways, Brussels Airlines, Brussels Airport: A new stage in air-rail intermodality > VIM: Co-Car
The Smart Mobility Institute is a neutral training session for international corporate decision makers and provides a platform for exchanging expertise and best practices. The Institute helps decision makers to implement and manage a smart mobility strategy and helps to bring the market to maturity. The Smart Mobility Institute provides a voice to the mobility, fleet, travel, IT and communication industry and expresses the needs of corporations to move to Smart Mobility Management and the requests to industry’s players.
March 16th – Implementing a mobility budget Who should attend? International decision makers in : > > > >
Mobility Fleet Travel & meeting ICT
> > > >
HR Finance Purchasing & procurement Facility
iscover the nominated projects on www.smart-mobilityD management.com/sme he projects will be evaluated by an international jury comT posed of decision makers in corporations. Melchior Wathelet, Belgian Secretary of State for Environment, Energy and Mobility will attend the event to reward the most innovative supplier in Smart Mobility Management.
Use peers as sounding boards and get recognition for your achievements
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Important: the event is limited to 25 participants and is exclusively reserved for customers.
IT’S NOT ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW BUT WHO KNOWS YOU! From multimodal to international, Smart Mobility Management is developing at fast speed, involving many different players active in multiple industries such as fleet, travel, IT, technology and integrated mobility services.
To help our readers and partners identify “who is who”, we have developed a powerful directory tool able to present in a clear and complete way the leading companies and latest products and services. For suppliers and manufacturers active within the mobility related categories presented in the blue box, this directory is a unique opportunity to become highly visible to 37,000+ corporate decision makers across the world.
> > > > > > > > > > > > >
Business travel services Car manufacturers Car rental Car sharing Lease & Fleet Management IT & communication, Online mobility service, Parking Rail Smart work centers, Telematics & navigation Travel expense management Virtual conferencing
Register now and be published immediately online as well as in the printed version coming out in April 2012. www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com/directory
. A D N A P T A I . Y F A W NE A LONG W N O S E N O E G V E E . V K O L N A T L L U F E N O T JUS
[ SECOND GENERATION MULTIJET DIESEL ENGINES ] [ REVOLUTIONARY TWINAIR ENGINES ] [ INNOVATIVE SMART FUEL SYSTEM ]
NEW FIAT PANDA. Discover the power of love. For further information or to arrange a test drive, visit www.fiat-fleet.com
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smart mobility management - n째5 I Combined cycle consumption: 3,9 - 5,2 l/100km. CO2 Emissions: 99 - 120 g/km.
STRATEGY
Carpooling
Catching a ride Unlocking the idling capacity of cars sounds like an almost unrealistic form of mobility. Europe’s biggest carpooling network, www.carpooling.com, seems however to have found a straightforward solution to this enormous economic and ecologic challenge. Too good to be true?
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arpooling is nothing new. Catching a ride to a popular destination has been part of the game since the very first human means of transport were introduced. Today carpooling is gaining momentum at an accelerated pace thanks to many factors. Congested cities, global warming, increased connectivity, technological innovations and the proliferation of social networks form the ideal breeding ground for alternative mobility solutions. People no longer need their individual car, they’d rather travel in an efficient way to their destination. European initiative Carpooling.com offers exactly that in the form of a ridesharing platform covering 9 countries (so far). In Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland,
The mobile app of carpooling.com is downloaded 15,000 times a month: proof that Europe’s biggest carpooling network is expanding at great speed.
Spain, Switzerland and the UK drivers and passengers can book and offer rides to literally any destination, more than 5,000 cities in 45 countries. Combine this enormous potential with the possibility of choosing how much space an comfort you need, an innovative “scoreboard” indicating how safe, punctual and correct your passenger/driver is and a comprehensive cost calculator and it isn’t hard to understand why until now almost 3.5 million users are registered resulting in more than 600,000 transport opportunities a day and 1 million people transported every month. It goes without saying that this carpooling network is not solely meant for individuals, people sharing a workplace can easily optimize their trip to and from their job by carpooling. Drivers reduce their cost, passengers improve their mobility and all enjoy an economically and ecologically responsible form of peer-to-peer transport. Carpooling.com
even sells white label solutions for companies which allow their employees to carpool to work and as such save money for travel expenses. On top op that the set-up of Europe’s biggest carpooling network guarantees an easy combination with any way of public transport imaginable. Dirk Steyvers
How does it work? > surf to www.carpooling.com > complete the free registration > find and book rides to 5,000 cities in 45 countries >p ick a driver/passenger you want to travel with on basis of shared interests, how much space an comfort you need, what you want to pay, user ratings, specific criteria, etc. > enjoy the trip > rate your driver/passenger(s)
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STRATEGY
Taxation
Smart Mobility needs Smart Taxation Today’s density of traffic in some urban areas, the cost of mobility and the environment are driving us to consider other options for our mobility than the “your freedom” car. Extra incentives could convince those in doubt. The government can play an important role by using taxes as a policy instrument, a proven concept to influence consumer behavior.
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ost mobility modes have their taxes; we tax cars, either company cars or private cars used for professional purposes, we have a tax regime for public transport, for biking to work, company bikes, company scooters, for car pooling, organized common commuter traffic, etc…. Immediately by saying this, we expose two challenges; to understand all these rules and the impact of them.
Taking taxes into account will ensure that mobility solutions get the correct balance in the mobility budget.
Furthermore, what if the company is providing a variable combination of these mobility solutions? Are taxes cumulative, so actually discouraging people from changing mobility habits? Can taxes for one mobility mean be offset against bonuses given for other environmental friendly means of transport like bicycles? What if the company throws extra pension savings, extra holidays, etc… into the equation? It takes a lot of knowledge and insight, even judging on common sense rather than clear rules to measure the impact of taxation on multi mobility solutions. Total Cost of Mobility It is important for car fleets to consider the full TCM, including all tax effects, certainly in those countries that have linked car taxes to CO2-emissions. Even more, it is important to take into account the tax effect of choices of mobility modes into the mobility cost or budget in order to get a) full insight in
the real cost of mobility and b) to have the full effect of the policy influencing effect of taxes set by the government for certain means of mobility. For the employer it is important to know the full cost of mobility in order to take the correct investment choices. Taxes may be an important part in these cost calculations since they may influence employers to facilitate and incentivize certain means of mobility taking into account their strategic objectives in terms of CSR, HR and profit. For employees, taxes, or no taxes, and the effect of these on mobility budgets, are certainly influencers. Employees do react on taxes and tax incentives may change long lasting behavior. If the employer is providing a level of freedom of choice of mobility means, clearly employees will maximize output from their mobility budget. Taking taxes into account will ensure that mobility solutions get the correct balance in the mobility budget. A car is more expensive than the lease or rental cost and a company bike can have a lower cost after taxes than the lease or rental cost of the bike because of tax incentives. Therefore it is critical that a proper mobility budget takes taxes and their impact into account. In the coming months we will provide you more insights in the applicable rules in a number of countries including effects and impact. To be continued and clarified…. Bart Vanham BVH Consulting - car and mobility taxation expert
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case studies
Rexel
Mission possible: optimising mobility costs Reducing mobility costs by 20% over the next three years: that’s the goal Rexel has set itself. Jean-Noël Gouillou, who heads indirect procurement at Rexel, the distributor of electrical materials, sees three axes for optimising mobility costs: travel, company cars and new technologies.
Jean-Noël Gouillou, Rexel’s director of indirect procurement, has a mission: to reduce mobility costs through optimised processes.
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Rexel Rexel is a global leader in the distribution of electrical supplies, and is present on all continents. The group operates in 37 countries, with a network of some 2,100 branches, and employs 28,000 people. Originally French, the company now realises 80% of its annual turnover of 12 billion Euros abroad. Rexel provides innovative solutions and services for professional clients to improve comfort, performance, and energy efficiency. With expertise in the industrial, commercial and residential construction markets, the Group offers end-to-end electrical solutions and services that are helping its customers conserve the world’s energy resources.
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ast autumn, Jean-Noël Gouillou presented all 37 countries where the Rexel group has a presence with his plan to optimise mobility costs. The plan was ambitious - and precise: to achieve 20% savings over three years, 1/5 of the total would be saved in 2012, 1/2 in 2013 and the rest in 2014. And how? By implementing common tools, solutions and processes, shared between HQ and the subsidiaries. Three axes “We will work on three major axes”, says Gouillou, Rexel’s director for indirect procurement. “Travel, company cars, and new technologies. The latter includes solutions in the fields of ICT, telepresence and videoconference.”
Step 1: Travel “Until now, each business unit and each subsidiary had its particular procedures to deal with business travel. We will harmonise procedures at Group level, rationalise them at the local level, and propose alternatives whenever possible.” “This will largely be a matter of policy and process measures. We’ll be working along with the HR and Finance departments to reach global objectives.” “We’ve identified three specific levers to achieve this. The first lever is the introduction of online travel booking. This should give management a tool to challenge the perceived necessity of business trips, and propose videoconferences instead. The second lever is the implementation of payment cards, eliminating paper invoicing in favour of
100% electronic billing. And the third one, finally, is the introduction of an online expenses tool. This will allow us to assemble all costs associated with travel and analyse them, to improve cost optimisation.”
Step 2: Telepresence “In parallel with our travel cost analysis, we’re working on telepresence solutions to use first as a service. Rexel is already using Genesys for web conferencing in almost all the countries that we’re present in. The idea is to provide our managers with the opportunity to propose alternatives via telepresence, after having analysed travel costs. Tata Communication and Regus are already offering interesting alternatives.” “The success of telepresence and video conferencing will depend on their acceptance by our staff. That’s why we’re developing policies that will help them to define their options clearly, and to avoid the stress of travelling. We will add how-to guides to these policies. For it is not enough simply to have a contract with suppliers of these technologies, it’s essential to change corporate culture and create an environment in which solutions and alternatives are positively encouraged.”
Step 3: Company cars “The final element is the cost optimisation of company cars. The ever-evolving technology can and must help us support our subsidiaries in making the right decisions locally. Our centralised sourcing tool will enable us to assist in the quoting process, and help identify the real cost of each quoted vehicle.”
“This process must be expanded so that each subsidiary can optimise their current catalogue, with targets for CO2 and fuel consumption, based on job grade.” “After this, we’ll continue to work with leasing companies and manufacturers, challenging their performance on a continuous basis. We’re keeping a close watch on the evolution of engine technology. As soon as new engine models come to market, we’ll make related quotations available to our subsidiaries. This will allow them to always have the best-performing cars at their disposal. And that’s important, since these cars will remain in service for three years.” The start: analysis and measurement “Our subsidiaries have different degrees of maturity. What matters, is a level playing field, and that implies that analysis and measurement are crucial. Finance, HR and Logistics need to work together to increase awareness across the entire Group. The policies need to be consistent, so that everyone knows what’s expected of them within the relevant parameters.” “Rexel works with lessors that have references. They’re already working in auction-based systems, and are able to guide us through the impact our choices will have. Guidance of the quoting process in the field of indirect procurement is routed through the central tool, and each country will have a visible presence in this system.” “The tool, which we already have, allows for a transparency of indicators on both the corporate and local levels. About 80% of business is in the hands of selected lessors who provide us with detailed reports. Rexel then makes the decisions. Challenging full service approach with
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case studies
Rexel
Costs and processes need to be measured and analysed. This is how Rexel will implement effective solutions.
lessors is the best way to compare projected and actual cost, both reducing number of suppliers and internal administrative processes “Because unless you’re able to compare the price in theory with the cost in practice, there’s no point. We need to ensure through tools on a common platform that we all work with the same reliable, well-measured data.” Think global, act local “The worldwide procurement department helps national subsidiaries make the best possible choice. We take into account national differences, but the solutions are in effect truly international.” “We don’t necessarily have full-time travel managers or fleet managers in all of our countries. They’re often multitasking, and don’t always master all details. That is where we come in. We facilitate their job. Achieving the benchmark is the buyer’s job. Analysis helps us make better decisions..” Alternative mobility “We ask our suppliers - whom we consider to be true partners to propose alternatives. Whether it’s car-sharing, contracts that combine travel by car and by train, or other options. Maybe it’s more useful to make an electric car available at a certain location rather than systematically using taxis. But again, that depends on the analysis. Unless and until we have useful data, we can’t make the right choices. The alternatives will be born of the solutions and measures that we’ll be setting up.” “We don’t want to consider mobility as a marketing exercise, with some actions added for good measure. If we want to convince our subsidiaries across all our countries, we need to show that we can impact cost.” Caroline Thonnon
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Rexel has developed a web portal that allows subsidiaries and suppliers to get to grips with all relevant elements, all key performance indicators, and then make the right decisions.
Rexel, results and mobility - Fleet management:
- Total fleet: 7,400 (of which 5,300 cars, 1,300 vans and 800 trucks).
- Percentage of employees with a company car: almost 20%.
- Personnel tasked with fleet management: approximately 40 (in shared, part-time responsibility).
- Travel management Percentage of employees effecting business travel: about 1/3 - Organisation Mobility is handled locally, in every individual country. However, the Group provides solutions and tools in cooperation with third parties, through framework agreements, to optimise these activities.
Geographic diversification > North America 29% > Europe 58% > Asia-Pacific 10% > Latin America 2% > Other 1%
ADVERTORIAL
ALPHABET
Ed Frederiks on outstanding business mobility At the end of 2011 everybody in the leasing industry was speaking about one thing: the merger of Alphabet and ING Car Lease. The restructured management was recently introduced with Ed Frederiks being one of the two CEOs now heading the company. We spoke to him about the new Alphabet, his idea of business mobility and his outlook for 2012.
Mr. Frederiks, first of all, how would you sum up 2011? 2011 was a very exciting year. ING Car Lease and Alphabet have become one great company. With this complementary joining, Alphabet has doubled in size and now has twice as many cars under management than before the merger. We can offer extensive services in a total of 19 countries. And we have the experienced and motivated employees to do this successfully. We managed to keep all of our people aboard. It’s an achievement we’re very proud of. To be a provider of outstanding business mobility we really need all of our people with all of their expertise and knowledge. Speaking of business mobility: What does ideal business mobility look like for you? For me, it means finding the business mobility solution that best fits our customers’ needs. To work this out, we take a lot of different criteria and points of view into consideration: fleet managers, procurement officers, drivers, CFOs and CEOs – they all have different angles on business mobility. For example: As a driver you want to experience the service, as the person in charge of HR, you’ll be looking for perks to offer future employees. And as a fleet manager, you want to work with an expert company in fleet management. Finally, a CFO will
look at the total cost of mobility. We scan the big picture and take all relevant aspects into consideration. This way we find the best business mobility solution and help our customers cut down costs. Is Corporate CarSharing part of this business mobility approach? What are the next steps regarding AlphaCity? We would like to introduce AlphaCity in all of our markets as soon as possible. For us, outstanding business mobility means much more than traditional leasing. Integrating different forms of transportation and offering Corporate CarSharing is self-evident for us at Alphabet. Nowadays, younger people are interested in quick, flexible and accessible mobility. That’s exactly what we offer with AlphaCity. We are really helping our customers lower their mobility costs with these kinds of solutions. Tackling these costs from a traditional angle might not deliver the same results as introducing new business mobility solutions, such as Corporate CarSharing. Given that total cost of mobility (TCM) and sustainability will remain two important topics in 2012, how will
Alphabet approach them? We will approach TCM and sustainability by integrating environmentally friendly cars into our customers’ fleets. In every company’s mobility there’s room for environmentally friendly solutions that also help with cost-cutting. Greener fleets and alternative business mobility solutions will, in the long run, lower TCM and benefit sustainability. Electrical vehicles can be integrated into fleets and Corporate CarSharing solutions, as they’re ideal for urban mobility. I know this might sound idealistic, but for us it isn’t. Just think of the stunning success of mobile phones – 20 years ago hardly anyone had one, and what would we do without them today? What is your outlook for 2012? It will be a great year. We’re still enjoying the post-merger energy and are working on bringing the best of both worlds together. Now we have twice as much experience, twice as much knowledge and twice as much ambition. We’re not an inward-looking company, though, we don’t want to focus on ourselves – we want to focus on our customers. They will be the big beneficiaries of the new Alphabet!
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case studies
Accenture
Moving Forward, a new approach to the work environment Moving Forward is a project instigated by Accenture to encompass a whole new way of working involving almost all of its staff in France. Marc Thiollier, COO for France and Belgium, Luxemburg and The Netherlands, explains the main features of this ambitious initiative.
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ne of the factors behind Accenture’s ‘Moving Forward’ project was the desire to mobilize employees around a new approach of our work environment, based on innovations, experimentations and technologies. The company therefore wished to re-launch an environment of dynamism. The Marc Thiollier: objectives were to improve the “There is no elitism.” flexibility of the company’s working environment and be able to work together more effectively. “We are a technology company too, but we wanted to make a difference where the ecology was concerned, and also open ourselves to the outside world. We wanted to better integrate Accenture and our eco-system, explains Marc Thiollier. “Our ‘ecosystem’ is composed of our clients, partners, providers, along with the universities which provide new recruits. The public authorities in the widest sense of the phrase – from the city of Paris right up to state level, for example –also belong to our eco-system with which Accenture wants to interact better”. There are some 3,500 persons within Accenture in France taking part in ‘Moving Forward’, but the project is for all of the staff. The daily working life of the company has certainly been seen to change. Space management is one aspect, in order to improve work life flexibility, and of great importance is home working. This was not possible to the same degree previously – executive assistants were not able to do this – but it is
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now available for all staff. Executive assistants, in fact, trialled the system first to make sure it would work. Almost everyone can do this now, working in security and privacy in their own homes. Marc Thiollier uses the example of someone who may live an hour and a half’s drive away from the office. Using the company maximum of three days home working per week, this
A new approach to work-spaces.
being a separate system. “But we also recognise that sometimes a higher quality of video-conferencing is necessary (in terms of picture quality)”, details Marc Thiollier, “and so we have facilities for this. This enables the participants to be aware of a certain degree of body language and other factors”.
Accenture tele-presence makes people feel that they are all in the same room together.
equates to nine hours of wasted time in the car saved, all of the fuel which would have been consumed during these nine hours saved, and consequently less CO2 emissions. This also helps Accenture in staff retention, because employees know that it is one of the rare companies to offer this degree of flexibility. There is even an improvement in the way staff members work together, because when they are at home they do not have other distractions such as going to fetch a visitor. The team spirit has been improved through this mix of office working and home working. Videoconferencing – three levels Videoconferencing is another very important aspect of ‘Moving Forward’ and with Accenture, this is available on three levels. Firstly, every staff member’s PC is equipped with a web-cam and/or microphone, so video/audio-conferences can take place from each workstation, or from home when they work from there. Telephones are incorporated into the PC’s rather than
The third level is genuine tele-presence which involves multiscreen rooms in different buildings being set up and decorated identically, so that participants really feel that they are all in the same room together. Accenture refers to this as an immersive experience, with the camera automatically focusing on the person speaking, and the sound coming out from various speakers to recreate spatial look and feel. This system is used for complicated negotiations or subjects, and for sensitive issues. It is used in circumstances where eye contact is necessary along with a really good appreciation of the other peoples’ body language, and can be particularly useful, because of this, when talking to a potential new employee. The candidate is invited to attend an Accenture facility close to his or her home, and the interviewer does not need to travel in order to conduct a very high quality virtual interview. The important element linking all of these three levels of video-conferencing is that they are all available to all members of staff when the occasion calls for them. There is no ‘elitism’ whereby only employees of a certain grade can use one or the other… There are also interactive screens available, whereby people can ‘write’ on the screens and what they write appears on the screens of everybody else. This is called Whiteboarding. Documents can be shared, created and provides an extra dimension to interactive meetings. Tim Harrup
Moving Forward – the basic facts About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, employing over 244,000 in more than 120 countries. Accenture has experience and capabilities across many industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, and collaborates with its clients to help them improve their activities, whether as businesses or governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.
> Home-working > Tele-presence > Installing energy-efficient equipment > Reducing building CO2 emissions by 30% in 3 years > Car sharing > Flexible work spaces > Use of creative social media
DISCOVER THE ACCENTURE MOBILITY SERVICES Accenture Mobility Services: “In this era of rapid change and great advancements in industry after industry, we’re helping clients use mobility to connect consumers, employees, business and machines.” QR Code Directions: 1. Open a ‘barcode scanner’ application on your Smartphone 2. Point your phones camera at the code and scan 3. The code will bring you to a mobile site where you can find out more information right from your smartphone
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case studies
Belgacom
Mobility Budget as a box of bricks Belgacom, today’s specialist in telecommunication & media-services with more than 5.3 million mobile users, 4 million fix telephone lines, 1.5 million internet connections and 1 million television subscribers, was established in 1930 as Belgium’s national telephone company. As one of Belgium’s largest companies, employing some 16,000 people, the Belgacom Group is a pioneer on more than one level. One of these is professional mobility.
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emke Vandoninck, HR Manager, starts the conversation : “As a big company in Belgium Belgacom really copies our entire society. One of the most recent trends in that society is the growing interest in flexible mobility, due to a blurring boundary between work and private. On top of this we are located in the heart of Brussels with excellent public transport services. The ‘gare du Nord’ is almost next-door, metro and bus are easy to access. Just like in any big city we encounter traffic jams and parking difficulties over here as well, which means our employees were more than willing to participate in alternative mobility. Furthermore our company attaches great importance to the CSR-element.” What is the focus of your Mobility Policy? Etienne Verhelst, Business Services & Fleet Director : “Since 2009 we offer employees free mobility. I’m a big fan of the bricks-principle : until 2009 employees with a company car disposed of one brick the exact size of their car budget. But there are hidden costs like fuel and parking. So we decided to subdivide this and visualise it to inform the employees on what we spend on which item. Next we granted fuel and parking a certain ‘value’ and thus created three bricks with which the people could shift while we added some mobility alternatives.”
This year will be an important evaluation year for the Mobility Budget of Belgacom. The plan is to enlarge the offering by 2013 so that the Mobility Budget fits the need of the Belgacom employees even better.
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Femke Vandoninck : “Today our employees are offered three free choices : opt for a smaller or cheaper car, choose a limited fuel card and, finally, opt for public transport and give up their parking space. If they give up their parking space, this means they have no access anywhere to Belgacom parkings. We return the saving to those people and use this budget for paying the public transport. We also allow them to find a payparking if needed and use their budget to refund the resulting parking tickets.
What else does Belgacom Groep do apart from the Mobility Budget?
Etienne Verhelst and Femke Vandoninck are proud that one third of the company car drivers already subscribed to the Belgacom’s Mobility Budget concept.
How did you start this procedure up? Femke Vandoninck : “We started it up in 2008. First we analysed what possibilities there were on flexible mobility, realising that the company wanted this to be a cost-neutral exercise. The start-up coincided with the integration of our Proximus and Telindus-branches which obliged us to harmonise our fleet-policy. This means we offered a number of people a company-car in exchange for a reduction of their salary. Finally 300 employees opted for this company-car proposal. At that moment the decision was taken to stop renting the building where our Proximusbranch was located generating supplementary parking problems. This gave the Mobility Budget plan even more bearing.” Which employees are eligible for this Mobility Budget? Femke Vandoninck: “All people with a company car, also our sales staff although they can’t opt for a limited volume of fuel. Now employees realise themselves very well what it takes to organise their professional transport efficiently. After the Mobility Budget plan was made up, we turned it into a collective labour agreement that was clearly communicated. The reactions were very positive. One third of the employees with a company car, over 1,200 people, subscribed to this plan. The people that do not have access to a company car are guaranteed a full reimbursement of all public transport for commuter traffic, including the pre- and post-route plus some extra train tickets for private usage.” Do all options enjoy the same popularity? Etienne Verhelst: “No, the most popular one is opting for public transport and give up parking space together with limitation of the fuel volume .Opting for a smaller car is not popular at all. Not so much because the employees so badly want a big car, but because from time to time they need a bigger car. So the question now rises how we can make these people opt for a smaller car during the year and a have them dispose of a bigger one during specific periods. This is not an easy exercise as these last periods are similar for a lot of people – weekends and holidays – boosting the request for big cars exponentially.” Looking back would you change some elements? Etienne Verhelst: “The tricky point is that the people giving up their parking space at a certain Belgacom-site also give it up at all other sites of our brand, even if these sites do not neces-
> Flexible working hours since the 80’s > Possibility for video-conferencing >P ossibility for tele-working in 25 satellite-offices, with a maximum of 2 days a week (25% of the employees listed for this option) >A new smartphone at favourable price for every employee every 2 years > Hybrid cars in the car policy lists >2 8 electric vehicles as part of a fleet that is used as poolcar or company-car
sarily encounter parking issues. But it is a systematic restriction in our parking policy. Even today I do think we could not have solved this differently. By 2013 we want to re-evaluate our Mobility Budget plan on basis of our lessons learned and of new possibilities so that we can carry out necessary changes or even enlarge the offering with public bicycle- or car-sharing like Villo or Cambio. A second element is that we want to formulate an answer for those people who prefer a part-time usage of the Mobility Budget. The difficult thing here is that public transport is not really organised in part-time. All subscriptions are full-time concepts.” How do you organise the follow-up? Etienne Verhelst: “We have chosen for internal follow-up via an automated system with a simulation tool. With this tool the employees can make their own mobility calculations. Because we oblige them to reconfirm their choice each year in November, managing it remains surveyable. It is however impossible to opt for a smaller car one year and a big one the next. The choice of car is linked to the duration of the leasing contract. We do have to admit that governing the limited fuel cards was a big challenge at the beginning, because only one fuel card supplier accepted to work with limits on a yearly basis. The existing limits are mostly mentioned to counter fraud, but that was not what we were looking for.” Femke Vandoninck: “The required supplementary follow-up has more to do with employees changing cars of functions or with new employees joining us during the working year. At those moments a manual intervention is necessary, but where possible we let the electronics do their job.” Do you know whether this exercise resulted into extra costs or rather cost-cuts? Femke Vandoninck: “The exercise is at least neutral for each individual’s budget, so the same goes for the whole company’s budget. We did not have to hire extra people in order to manage it and as a big company we can count on scale benefits.” Etienne Verhelst: “We do notice that the average mileage per company car lowered from 35,000 tot 30,000 km. The Mobility Budget certainly contributed to this effect.” Steven Schoefs
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Understanding the mobility challenges At Thalys, we believe that it is our job as a travel supplier to help our clients face their daily challenges. The global financial crisis which causes some companies to believe we are on the brink of economic meltdown makes the need for travel expense management even more urgent. For travel managers, one might think it’s all about cutting costs and reducing their travel budget. But even in 2012, opportunities are more diverse. Rethinking the travel policy idea and understanding the mobility challenges, will result in a more satisfying traveler and a lower overall budget for the company. It’s all about putting the right pieces together… Jean-Pierre Martin Head of Sales Thalys International.
We focus our analysis on the overall trips of a client and offer a wide range of services to decrease the global cost of his journey. First of all, traveling on board of a high speed train means travelers can work and be productive. This is an indirect saving, therefore reduces the overall cost of the trip. As railway stations are always located in city centers, the average cost of travelling is decreased as most of the travelers use the public transport (tickets are sold at the ThalysBar). 41% of travelers use public transport to get to their Thalys railway station, and 51% do so when they come out of the station to get to their destination.
High speed trains: no hidden costs! One change lever for travel managers is certainly to gain more controls over ancillary fees. These fees are hard to track and reduce the ability of a travel manager to manage the budget. More important, they tend to cost lots of money. In this context, choosing high speed trains over an airline is very interesting. Most railway companies do not charge ancillary fees; travelers do not pay extra for their luggage or for a special seat. Besides, on board of Thalys, in Comfort 1, we provide meals served at the seat, and the Wifi access is also included in the price of ticket. No credit card surcharge Thalys distributors do not add an additional surcharge to the ticket price, when purchased with a credit card. This means that there is no hidden cost behind the official ticket price. Corporate tickets are fully flexible Thalys wishes to go further by anticipating corporate expectations and has made the train journey easier and more flexible. Our specific corporate rates enable business travelers to travel flexibly, so they don’t have to worry about a last minute exchange.
It’s all about figures Another problem for travel managers is getting access to accurate data. To implement and manage a mobility budget, they need to know what their exact expenses are and what their traveler’s habits are. We provide our corporate clients with a very detailed reporting of their consumption. We think it is of prior importance to give them the tools to control their expenses.
New CO2 legislation “Our efforts will result in a more satisfying traveler and a lower overall budget for the company.”
In 2012 the new European regulation on carbon emissions might trigger a change in the business travel market. Flight tickets prices are expected to be rising to enable airlines to absorb the higher taxes. Our carbon footprint confirms that Thalys offers a transport solution in line with the fight against climate change. Between Paris and Amsterdam, a Thalys travel generates around 8 kg of C02 per travelers whereas a flight generates around 75 kg/CO2 per travelers.
Summary Mobility is more than choosing the lowest price for a business journey. It means selecting the right supplier for the right destination. Within Europe, the new CO2 legislation will force airlines to come up with creative solutions to reduce the carbon footprint. High speed connections are an interesting alternative for flights. But high speed trains offer a lot more: thanks to the optimized services, a trip is not a waste a time, but a true investment. This value goes way beyond the simple price of a ticket, and can be a decision lever.
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case studies
European Parliament
European Parliament’s Mobility Point The European Parliament (EP), the representative institution of the European Union, recently established a Mobility Point in the heart of its Brussels complex. We interview Tom Skinner, Adviser to the Director General for Infrastructure and Logistics (DG INLO), of the European Parliament.
The Mobility Point offers services as personalised advice on travel around Brussels, to Strasbourg and Luxembourg and between EP site.
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Tom Skinner: “The foundation of our Mobility Point in the EP in Brussels is a direct consequence of a budgetary resolution which Parliament voted in 2008. The purpose is to raise consciousness of sustainable modes of transport, and to lower our carbon footprint. Parliament has an objective to reduce emissions by 30% by 2020. This measure is one response to the fact that around 40% of Parliament’s total carbon footprint is accounted for by the transport of persons, including from commuter journeys by Parliament’s staff, the transport of Members in official cars owned or hired by Parliament, by visitors to Parliament and official travel by the Members. Transport of persons is the largest single component of Parliament’s carbon footprint.” How does the Mobility Point work in practice? T. Skinner: “The mobility point opened on 15 June 2011, and is managed by DG INLO and run by experts from two mobility consultancies. This information point provides tailored travel information on mobility and the best way to plan journeys. It offers information on promoting sustainable transport alternatives, by e-mail or at the desk, to anyone working for or in the EP and to all visitors to the institution. The Mobility Point has close contact with most travel providers and its own experts, and can advise in real-time
on the best sustainable transport alternatives for travel in Brussels and also to and from Luxembourg and Strasbourg. During its first three months, the Mobility Point received more than 250 requests despite the holiday period. 75% of those requests were made by internal staff and covered a wide array of topics: from train times, carsharing and information about bicycles. People requesting information are given a comprehensive and up-to-date Fiche de mobilité detailing modes of transport, transit points and estimated travel times. Since its opening the mobility point has provided 670 consultations. Mobility Point also offers an internal website full of useful tips which is regularly updated and provides information on accessibility in the EP for people with reduced mobility. 230 people have signed up to be kept in regular contact with the point and receive advice and news regarding transport issues.” Should we interpret these figures as a sign of a real internal need for a Mobility Point? T. Skinner: “The Mobility Point forms an integral part of the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme action plan. Our monitoring of Parliament’s carbon footprint shows a negative trend arising from the transport of persons over the last five years. The emissions per employee-equivalent increased by 6.3% between 2006 and
2010. Although there are obvious explanations for this trend, Parliament has assumed responsibility to try to reduce this trend so far as is possible and to encourage people to make environmentally-friendly choices. Our objective is to reduce carbon emissions in so far as is consistent with the obvious constraints arising from the nature of the Institution and the need for efficient and effective working procedures.” What other means do you employ apart from facilitating the best real-time travel choices for members, staff and visitors? T. Skinner: “The EP has a Mobility Coordinator and has sought to negotiate favourable terms for its staff for season tickets for public transport in Brussels and Luxembourg. When it comes to Parliament’s staff, we are seeking to promote car-sharing for work-related travel and to establish a platform for staff to coordinate supply and demand for work-related car sharing arrangements. Video-conferencing also forms an alternative to such travel and is increasingly used in place of physical journeys. As a result of video-conferencing, in 2011 DG INLO alone avoided a total of 743 individual missions. This saved around €135,000 for the work related travel budget of Parliament and about 51,000 Kg CO2.” Dirk Steyvers
THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY POINT Discover the whole interview with Mr Tom Skinner and the future of Mobility Point on www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com, or by scanning the QR code. QR Code Directions: 1. O pen a ‘barcode scanner’ application on your Smartphone 2. Point your phones camera at the code and scan 3. T he code will bring you to a mobile site where you can find out more information right from your smartphone
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case studies
PwC Belgium
«Mobility is essential, not the car itself» Companies in the auditing and consultancy business traditionally have high staff turnover. In the war for talent, employers need an attractive profile. PwC Belgium extends this strategy to include employee mobility. In 2009, the firm started redesigning its fleet policy resulting last July in a new mobility policy that links employee benefits to green mobility initiatives.
“C
SR is central to our strategy”, says Christophe Van Obergen, Compensation & Benefits Manager at PwC Belgium. Overall, approximately 1,500 people work for the company, of who over 1,000 are entitled to a company car. “Consultants are expected to spend as much time as possible with clients and prospects. So mobility is key. But mobility should not just fit the individual needs of our consultants. It should also reflect the social responsibility of PwC as a whole. That’s why we’re no longer talking about using a car, but about facilitating mobility.” Re-engineering the car policy to create a mobility policy kicked off with a significant addition of low-emission cars. Up to 600 cars were replaced with more eco-friendly alternatives, with CO2 limits of 140 g/km for PwC managers, and 120 g/km for junior and senior staff. These limits will be regularly reviewed as new, increasingly eco-friendly cars enter the market. “In addition, employees can choose car models from only three main manufacturers - Mercedes, Audi and BMW. These three brands have an excellent track record and constantly work to reduce CO2 emissions, which will help us reduce our emission levels systematically.”
Car sharing unpopular But simply reducing CO2 emissions is not enough for PwC. “As an employer in a hypercompetitive environment, we need to meet the demand for flexible commuting”, Christophe Van Obergen continues. “Many staff members can telework in the PwC office of their choice, if they book office space in advance. For some years now, we have been extensively using teleconference and videoconference systems, which are especially useful for reducing international travel. On the other hand, we’re seeing that car sharing and car
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The future will be flexible As soon as the mobility budget is realised, PwC Belgium would like to move on to a flexible benefits account. “This means we’re talking not just about organising the corporate side of mobility, but also the entire range of possible fringe benefits, such as extra insurance, supplemental retirement savings, etc. Our UK colleagues have been doing that with some degree of success for some time now, but the British tax system deals more easily with this type of formula. I hope this will soon be the case in Belgium as well, as it would help us to hire and retain young talent.”
PwC Belgium: fast facts Activity: Tax, audit and consulting HQ in Belgium: Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, Brussels Other offices: Antwerp, Ghent, Liège People in Belgium: 1,500 Fleet size in Belgium: 1,100 cars
Christophe Van Obergen, Compensation & Benefits Manager at PwC Belgium, hopes that about 20% of employees within PwC Belgium will use the future mobility budget.
CSR is central to PwC Belgium, where approximately 1,500 people work, of who over 1,000 are entitled to a company car.
pooling are not very popular: work schedules for our typical consultants can vary, which makes collective transport difficult to organise.” Adjusting individual mobility Recently, a mobility account was introduced as a first step towards a comprehensive mobility budget. The mobility account today is a personal account into which PwC annually deposits 500 euro on condition that the employee entitled to a company car has no accidents during the lease period, and no damage is recorded when he or she hands in the car. “We’re able to deposit those 500 euro because we’re saving money on damage claims”, says Christophe Van Obergen. Currently, the employee can spend that amount on extra options for the next car, or save it as a buffer for the portion of the damage claim paid by the driver in case of a future accident. But PwC Belgium wants to go even further, and is in talks with Belgian public transport companies (train, tram, bus and metro services) to enable employees to enjoy a combination of corporate and public mobility, based on a single mobility budget. Christophe Van Obergen maintains that this could be realised by July 2012. “The ultimate goal of such an agreement is: less car, more mobility. An employee who opts for a lower-priced car could spend the remaining budget on alternative transportation. We could also use it to fund parking fees.” Once this system becomes operational, it should reach a participation rate of 20% of employees, Christophe Van Obergen states. “That is an ambitious figure, but the youthful attitude of our people, and the fact that so many of them need to work in the congested centres of our cities, mean that it is also a realistic figure. But I hope that service providers, and especially lease companies, will get off the fence and fulfil their role as integrators. So far, any attempts in that direction have been too few and too far in between, which is a pity: this could be an interesting competitive advantage. And of course, it’s up to the government to create the right circumstances. We’re not aiming to benefit financially, but we would want the scheme to break even.” Steven Schoefs
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industry
News
Regus and Shell in a partnership trial
Regus and Shell start to collaborate in France.
Regus and Shell have announced the trial of a joint programme. This involves the opening of a first Regus business lounge at a motorway service station (Limours-Janvry) just to the south west of Paris. Drivers calling in to the station can check into Regus to use high speed internet, copying and scanning facilities and courier services, among others. The Regus centre also means that a fuel or meal stop can now be combined with working. Access can be bought at the Shell checkout, or be obtained via a Regus Businessworld card. If successful, the concept could be rolled out across Europe.
Google in-car navigation for Daimler
Deutsche Bahn improving mobile information systems German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) has indicated that it is to improve its journey planning applications. ‘Mobilitätsmanager’ newsletter reports that DB has reworked its DB Navigator application for Android-enabled smartphones, and that this will now enable passengers to access information on journey alterations directly. This type of access was previously only possible by iPhone or by visiting DB’s website. The newly reworked application will include information on delays and modifications, and will be equipped with an intuitive device. Users will also be able to find information about the ‘Call-a-Bike’ facilities from Google maps points located at stations, and make their choices. DB is also making improvements to its mobile phone ticketing application, including seat number reservation.
Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium develop clearing house for e-mobility
E-clearing.net is a new trans-European initiative on e-mobility.
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, and Eike Böhm, Vice President Product Innovations and Process Technologies at Daimler, seal the new cooperation between Daimler and Google.
Daimler and Google are strengthening their strategic partnership. This will give Daimler access to application programming interfaces under the name of Google Maps API, providing Daimler with the ability to include map-related applications in its vehicles. Daimler will thus be able to use Google maps for incar map displays, and this partnership will enable other Google services to be integrated more smoothly into the vehicles.
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Three operators of charging networks for electric cars in three different countries (Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands) are developing a common European clearing house for e-mobility. This joint initiative of the operators behind Blue Corner (B), e-laad (NL) and ladenetz (D), called e-clearing.net, will act as the central interface that streamlines authorisation, clearing and a vast array of value-added services for e-mobility. Last year, the three operators involved signed an ‘e-roaming’ agreement, allowing their customers to easily recharge their e-cars through any of the other two networks. Interconnecting the growing number of systems, integrating navigation and reservation options, and billing between providers, will be major tasks for e-clearing.net. The first applications will go online in June 2012, and will be free of charge for the first few years.
pub europcar
www.europcar.com To succeed anywhere on the globe, a business needs to move around it. Move goods, equipment or people. Move the right way and right away. Make Europcar your mobility partner, and you can. We’ve an extensive range of cars and trucks in over 150 countries across the word. EuropcarClub offers total freedom and flexibility for one regular subscription, saving money and CO2 emissions. And thanks to our Smartphone app, bookings can be made from anywhere. Get in touch and make the planet your place to do business. smart mobility management - n°5 I 43
industry
News
Agreement between Polycom and Ingram Micro
Low cost meetings from BCD Travel
Polycom Inc. has signed an agreement with Ingram Micro for the Benelux countries. The agreement will enable Polycom to extend its reach in these countries, and will make the Polycom RealPresence system available from thousands of IT retailers. The RealPresence platform is the most extensive software infrastructure for video-conferencing, and can be used with mobile business and social applications and devices.
4 travel manager’s priorities for 2012 Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) published its ‘Travel Management Priorities’ report for 2012. This shows that company travel managers are set to focus on four main priorities during the coming year. These are driving through cost savings in both air and ground transport, improving travel compliance, optimising hotel spend and making more use of on-line facilities. Improving communications on travel policy and compliance will be one of the avenues for achieving these goals. Previous CWT research has shown that only around half of company travellers are familiar with their own companies’ travel policies.
At the website of BCD Travel, you can now easily book a meeting space with the new ‘Low Cost Meeting’ concept.
BCD Travel has introduced a new concept called ‘Low Cost Meeting’. This involves ready made meetings packages for five major cities in Belgium and the Netherlands, and provides clients with a simple, quick and inexpensive method of holding meetings outside of their own premises. Clients select the time and the hotel, along with specifying the type of meeting (in Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Eindhoven or Rotterdam) and BCD Travel makes all the arrangements at lower cost than would normally be associated with the organisation. More information can be found on the website www.bcdtravel.be .
Cities need to communicate internally for better carbon solutions A report compiled by Accenture along with The Climate Group, Arup and Horizon Digital Economy Research , says that cities are not taking full benefit from the data they possess, to improve smart initiatives. They should be encouraged to make use of available data to create new smart, low-carbon solutions to improve daily life. The report points to the fact that individual ecologically-friendly projects produce information for their own purposes, but often fail to interlink this with other data or other projects. Cities are also unsure of the social and financial payback from investments in this area which they are considering. As an example, the report says that a common communications backbone for a smart grid and a road pricing scheme could produce economies of scale. “An intelligent city not only reduces carbon emissions, but attracts talent and investment through quality services and infrastructure and through convenience that delights residents,” explains Volker Buscher, Director, Arup. “Cities must
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According to a report from Accenture, The Climate Group, Arup and Horizon Digital Economy Research, cities should be encouraged to make use of available data to create new smart, low-carbon mobility solutions.
open up their digital assets and create a thriving information marketplace for innovations that achieve these aims. It will take courage for city leaders to challenge the cultural norms of their administrations and expose themselves to this form of dynamic collaboration.”
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industry
News
Car-sharing initiative in Germany
Autolib’ hits the road
The Zentralverband Deutsches Kraftfahrzeuggewerbe (ZDK) is to instigate a car-sharing model, reports Autohaus Online. The ZDK is the German Federation for Motor Trades and Repairs, representing the professional interests of 38,000 accredited automotive companies. It is to do this by making it possible for member dealers to enable car drivers to have part ownership of cars. ZDK president Robert Rademacher indicated, however, that the organisation would probably not get directly involved in car-sharing. Current car-sharing operations in Germany are run by Daimler (car2go), BMW (Drive-Now), VW (Quicar) and Peugeot (Mu).
Copyright: Autolib’
Autolib’, the new car-sharing scheme in Paris.
Yamaha starts scooter leasing with ALD Automotive
Polycom Inc. has signed an agreement with Ingram Micro for the Benelux countries. The agreement will enable Polycom to extend its reach in these countries, and will make the Polycom RealPresence system available from thousands of IT retailers. The RealPresence platform is the most extensive software infrastructure for video-conferencing, and can be used with mobile business and social applications and devices.
Travel Managers are still valued
Yamaha works together with ALD Automotive to promote two wheels leasing amongst professional clients.
In a further demonstration of how company mobility is no longer restricted exclusively to cars, ALD Automotive has come to an agreement with the French structure of motor cycle manufacturer Yamaha – Yamaha Motor France. The latter is to make available a range of nine two-wheel vehicles, including the EC-03 electric scooter, for companies and independent professionals. For its part, and as it already does with certain other manufacturers, ALD is making this service available under the name of the client – in this case ’Yamaha Lease Pro’. Maintenance is included, and individual clients can opt for other services such as tyre replacement or fuel cards. Yamaha Motor France Director General Eric de Seynes commented: “Our demand responds to a growing demand from companies, which are increasingly turning to two wheels”. This initiative is not the first experience ALD has with two wheels, however, as it already manages the Post Office’s fleet of 10,000 vehicles in France.
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A survey carried out by the GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) in the USA, has found that companies are recognising the importance of business travel, and therefore investing in good management talent to take care of this aspect of running their business. GBTA chairman Craig Banikowski (photo) commented: “Despite global economic challenges, job compensation and security remain strong for travel buyers”. The findings have been published in the GBTA’s annual Travel Management Compensation and Benefit survey, and they show salary increases of around 5% over 2011 for travel managers. The survey also reports that the responsibilities of USA-based managers are increasingly extending beyond the country’s borders. Two of the more recent additions to responsibilities are in the areas of using new technologies, and in risk management.
Inforad to enter GPS market Inforad is launching a GPS location service. The company has not before used its existing Ci box-unit to provide this sort of in-car service, but has now decided that its existing technology makes this a logical move. In order to operate this new service, Inforad has established a dedicated subsidiary, under the name of Inforoad. It will come into direct competition with established suppliers such as TomTom.
Digest Awards for Europcar & FCm Travel Solutions The World Travel Awards in Qatar have seen car rental company Europcar pick up two prestigious awards. The company has been named ‘Best Car Rental Company’ and ‘Best Ecoresponsible Transport Company’. FCm Travel Solutions has been named the World’s Leading Travel Management Company. Some 213,000 professionals from the travel industry cast their votes at these awards.
SNCF and Avis offer extended electric mobility
Lufthansa crosses Atlantic on bio-fuel On January 12th Lufthansa has operated the first transatlantic flight using 100% bio-fuel. The Boeing 747 400 series took off from Frankfurt, bound for Washington, with around 40 tonnes of bio-synthetic fuel aboard. On this first flight alone, Lufthansa expected to have reduced its CO2 emissions by 38 tonnes, which is the equivalent of 6 internal flights from Frankfurt to Hamburg.
Tele-presence gaining ground A survey produced by International Data Corporation shows that the turnover from tele-presence facilities such as videoconferencing services, increased by almost a quarter over the past twelve months. This market is now worth around 680 million dollars worldwide, up by more than 130 million dollars from a year earlier. Those within the sector believe that there will be more growth over the next five years.
Regus offices in SNCF stations The SNCF, the French railway company, has signed a contract with temporary office specialist Regus for the installation of office facilities in certain of its stations. This is in a desire to make the train experience even more ‘work-friendly for business travellers. The first station to be so equipped will be Le Mans at the end of 2012, followed by Bordeaux, Nancy, Amiens, Paris Nord (photo) and Lille Flandres. All will be equipped with Regus offices by 2014.
Avis has delivered 10 Citroën C-Zero models to French rail operator SNCF.
French rail operator SNCF and its car rental partner of 25 years Avis, have announced an extension to the service they offer clients, reports Déplacements Pros. Under the name ‘100% Electric Train and Avis’, passengers arriving at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, or Marseille Saint-Charles, will be able to continue their journey using electric power. Avis is making available 6 Citroën C-Zero cars in Paris, and 4 in Marseille in the first stage. These 100% electric cars have a range of 100 km and can be recharged in 8 hours. If the initial project proves to be successful, it will be extended.
Air travel has increased in 2011
Extended agreement between EasyJet and Europcar Easyjet and Europcar have extended their strategic partnership. The partnership has been in operation since 2003 and is due to end in 2014. Through the partnership, Easyjet clients benefit from advantageous rates when booking Europcar vehicles, along with a reservation system which enables the flight and the car to be arranged at the same time. Since the start of the partnership, some 3 million Easyjet clients have taken advantage of this partnership.
Airbus increases electric fleet Airbus has just taken delivery of its fifteenth Citroën C-Zero car. Airbus uses electric vehicles at its site in Toulouse, along with those at Blagnac, Nantes and Saint-Nazaire. The vehicle delivered joins a fleet of some 150 vehicles managed for the aeronautical company by car sharing company Carbox. This latest addition to the Carbox-managed fleet means that Airbus has the largest fleet of car-sharing vehicles of any private company in France.
In 2011 air travel increased by 7.4% in 2011 compared to 2010.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation has released figures which show that air travel increased by 7.4% in 2011 compared to 2010. Reported by Déplacements Pros, these figures also indicate that some 2.7 billion passengers took to the air last year, up by over 5% on the previous year. The overall increase is put down to a global economy which, despite severe hiccups in certain regions such as Europe, is still growing. The emerging markets in particular are seeing increases, with Middle Eastern airlines doing particularly well. In Europe, there has nevertheless been progress, with the expanding destination network of low cost carriers helping.
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industry
Bernard Tabary, Keolis International
Keolis, facilitating mobility and integrating solutions Keolis integrates mobility solutions so you don’t have to suffer travelling In each of the 12 national markets in which it is present, the Keolis Group is a major integrator of mobility solutions. Keolis feels that mobility should be an option chosen rather than as a nuisance suffered. And this by any means necessary: bus, cars, trains, automated metro, trams, bicycles, and ferries, but also by better managing traffic nodes such as ports, aeroports, train stations, car parks, etc. Main concerns: looking out for the comfort of travellers, and making sure that both business and government - Keolis’ two major client bases - get the best possible mobility solutions.
Bernard Tabary, CEO of Keolis International
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afety, reliability and respect for the environment are absolute prerequisites for mobility”, says Bernard Tabary, CEO of Keolis International. He is one of the key leaders of an enterprise averaging 12% growth over the last 10 years. “Intermodality is at the heart of our business model. That is a reflection of the importance of SNCF, the French railway company with 55% of the shares - our major shareholder by far.” Both in its dealings with government departments and with private
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companies, Keolis has a track record of turning constraints into opportunities. Says Bernard Tabary: “Many of our principals come to us with a certain vision of their city, their area. Mobility is an essential tool in managing this territory. So we sit down with them to analyse all aspects of the issue. And we try to propose solutions that are highly adapted to the given situation, creating win/wins in mobility for the public sector, the private sector, and the end users. One of our strengths is that we’re not fanatics for this or that solution, or mode of travel. We’re perfectly willing and able to look at all options, and manage and combine them to the best possible effect.” For Keolis, “the challenge is to be a comprehensive integrator, providing solutions for all possible situations always with the comfort and security of the passengers as our main concern.” To which Bernard Tabary adds: “In the foreseeable future, mobility will be an ever more central concern. The desire to move around will be even more intense and universal than it already is today. People will increasingly want to communicate with each other, with the easy fluidity that current travel options already promise.”
Cycling in Paris Bernard Tabary practises the intermodal mobility that he preaches in his hometown of Paris. He often cycles and regularly jogs in the city. Of course he uses his car, but he’ll also take public transport. Tabary, a native Parisian, is a graduate of Rouen Business School. He spent 17 years working for the Bolloré Group, holding various management positions in the transport and logistics divisions, in Europe, the US and Australia/New Zealand, and then as director of the Group’s Europe-Africa lines. In 2000, he went on to become managing director of the environmental department at Plastic Omnium, the automotive supplier. He joined Keolis in 2005. Tabary’s expertise on all kinds of transport modes, and his international experience combine to make him an informed observer of mobility solutions. His main frames of reference: Scandinavia, where he senses a truly global vision, and intelligent policies. And also Germany, which combines expertise and experience in the fields of safety, efficiency and integration, all helping to optimise networks.
Respecting the environment Respect for the environment is a Group-wide reality for Keolis, with car-sharing in Lille, hybrid buses in Copenhagen, bicycle networks in several major cities, energy recovery on German trams, biofuel in France and Scandinavia, and on and on. These are but a few examples of ‘clean’ transportation. Reducing the carbon footprint is one of the Group’s main priorities.
Business Solutions Either directly or indirectly, companies are funders and users of transport networks. It’s Keolis’s job to design and implement mobility plans to fit their needs. “We’re working together with these companies, analysing the mobility of their employees. We’re offering a range of adapted, differentiated solutions to their issues.” In France, a subsidiary called EFFIA carries out the audits and takes care of the implementation. We’ll discuss this further in our next issue.
Keolis in facts and figures > Shareholders: SNCF: 56.5%, Kebexa: 40.7% (Holding consisting of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, AXA Private Equity and the Pragma fund), management and employees of the Group: 2, 8%. > 50,150 employees, including 30,720 in France and 19,430 abroad. > 2.5 billion passengers transported. > 4.1 billion euros in turnover in 2010, of which 55% in France, 20% in the UK, 10% in Scandinavia, etc. > Annual growth rate of over 12%.
First steps in China In Australia, Keolis operates the world’s largest tram network. It also runs the trains in the southwestern suburbs of Washington DC. And manages the Lyon metro, the Stockholm bus service, German railways, the tram in Nottingham, etc. Keolis truly is a global, indispensable player. Keolis is present and active in 12 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the UK, and the US). “We’re quite consciously limiting ourselves to this number. We do not want to be present in 20 or 30 countries too suddenly. We’d rather develop solutions in countries with legal environments favourable to a transparent and easily graspable transport policy”, Bernard Tabary explains. Hence the recent acquisition by Keolis of an American company specialised in transporting disabled persons, a field that is just as much a part of the core business of Keolis, which is present in the US states of California, Florida and Virginia, with a total workforce of 1.300 employees. But what about the Chinese market? “We’re following it closely. And we’re taking note of the fact that intermodality is a priority in the second five-year plan”. Enough for Keolis to be challenged into a larger presence in China? Whatever the future may bring, Keolis took a first step on the Chinese market in 2011 by taking charge of intermodality in the city of Wuhan. The goal: to optimise - for this city of 11 million - an integrated transport system that includes buses, trolleys, subways, ferries, bicycles and a future suburban transport network! Thierry Degives
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industry
Peugeot Mu
Peugeot Mu is now ready for B2B For Peugeot, 2012 will be the year in which it develops mobility solutions aimed specifically at the B2B market - and implements them. After building up experience and expertise in the B2C market across eight European countries, the manufacturer now wants to speed up the corporate side of the business through pilot projects with major European clients. To discuss this strategy, we met up with Coralie Henry Poppe and Sylvain Delmas of Peugeot’s Mobility Services Development department at the Avenue de la Grande Armée in Paris.
Coralie Henry Poppe and Sylvain Demas: “With Peugeot Mu Professional, the idea is to say: “TCO + Mu = TCM”: the Total Cost of Ownership + Mu = Total Cost of Mobility. “
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u By Peugeot was initially developed as a mobility offer aimed at the individual consumer. “But we already have corporate customers for it”, says Coralie Poppe. “Company directors with company credit cards using the online booking tool, or employees using the services offered by Mu and are being reimbursed for them by their company. And we also have had inquiries into Mu by fleet managers from several countries.” Pilot Projects “To help mature our range of offers, we’ve chosen to work on pilot projects with some large international accounts.
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It’s thanks to these projects that we can really test the product, and if need be, modify it. We’ve had positive feedback on Mu ever since we unveiled it at the Peugeot Fleet Forum in Madrid, last autumn. So there is a real interest out there.”“Currently, Mu is present on eight different markets. But we’re sensing a far-reaching interest in the concept, even via our own staff, who are present in global markets like China and Latin America. It’s Mu’s mission to provide mobility solutions wherever there are issues with traffic congestion. One offer, several levels On the basis of these offers, we have developed a system of mobility audits, in collaboration with LeasePlan Consultancy Services. The idea is to draw up an inventory of travel as it occurs in a company, and then to suggest alternatives or improvements. This analysis is also one of cost, and includes a strategy for ‘rightsizing’ any given fleet as well as analysing traffic movements (intersite and commuter), expense notes and typical aspects of company cars. The analysis has three dimensions: cost, driver satisfaction and environmental impact. The audit is two-tiered. The first step is about researching and gathering all data relevant to employee mobil-
Mapping of a mobility audit (Velizy)
by the manufacturer on commercial budget. These two offers are already on the market. Peugeot is also developing new Mu professional offers to come on the market.
2. Mu Professional Service
The Mu Credit Card will give access to different mobility solutions.
ity. Often, these data already exist, but are fragmented over several departments - HR, accounting, purchasing, etc. Depending on company size, one or two consultants will interview key people. End result of the analysis will be a review, and a ‘map’ of the trajectories that together compose the company’s actual mobility.
1. Mu Welcome Credit The first step towards a new mobility is Mu Welcome Credit, a product designed for employees who need to choose a company vehicle. If they opt for a Peugeot, they will receive a credit at the opening of a Mu personal account that will provide them with the opportunity to rent any Peugeot from a range of vehicles, be they cars, scooters, bicycles, vans or even accessories. This is a clear benefit for the employee, provided
A second stage is the possibility for a company to open a Mu professional account. Employees can either use a vehicle from the car pool or lease another vehicle, only for professional use. These vehicles are always kept overnight at the dealership. Mu Professional Service enables for booking via the internet, allowing for smooth management and easy billing. This business service provides companies with the opportunity to partially replace their fleet of pool vehicles. This scheme could even include a service that would allow these vehicles to be delivered straight to the company where the employee is based.Mu Personal CreditThe third level is credit taken by the company for individual employees who need to travel for business - or pleasure. Mu Personal Credit is an exception to the rule stating: ‘One vehicle per person, allowing multiple vehicles to be combined according to need. Because the system needs to be flexible! Hence you could also conceive of a leasing contract that could be paid for by using Mu Personal Credit. For the idea is to offer an integrated range of mobility solutions, according to this formula: “TCO + Mu = TCM”. In other words: Total Cost of Ownership plus Mu equals Total Cost of Mobility. This offer adds fluidity to mobility, especially considering the
wide variety of modes of transport. This also allows for the integration of electric vehicles, like the iOn. We are currently in talks with the tax authorities to clarify the fiscal treatment of this formula.
3. Mu Open Access In this formula, the Mu fleet is available in a single company or even in an entire business park. Depending on the relevant mobility policy, the fleet consists of bicycles, scooters, electric cars and cars with classic combustion engines. Mu Open Access is handy for managing reservations, use and billing. More to come? It goes without saying that the right partnerships are crucial in dealing with mobility concepts. We experimented an offer of Train+Scooter service with SNCF at Paris Montparnasse train station for two month in september – october 2011. We are also in relationship with different companies and partners to co-develop mobility offers And this year we will also consolidate the networks we’ve built up in the eight countries where Mu is available: France, Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Caroline Thonnon
Mu account? A personal account that allows you to save, to manage and to spend mobility units, for example to rent a car, a bicycle, a scooter or an accessorie (roof top, GPS…) from the network when there’s need for another one.
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industry
Carel Bal, ALD Automotive Benelux
“ Mobility is in ALD’s DNA” Carel Bal is ALD Automotive’s General Manager for the Benelux countries. But the Dutchman is also in charge of the international group’s new mobility projects. As such, his vision is truly global.
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LD Netherlands and ALD Belgium are the test labs for the entire ALD Group, when it comes to new mobility schemes. “Right here is where we’re witnessing the most interesting developments”, says Carel Bal, General Manager ALD Benelux. There are several reasons for this. One. Businesses are cutting back on office space. We’re seeing offices able to accommodate only 60% of their employees. This is part of trend called the New World of Work, which is particularly strong in the Netherlands. A large number of employees is no longer able to work at an office desk. These people need alternatives, either by working from home or at third places. For this, they need the right equipment. All of that impacts their mobility needs. In these changed times, some employees will no longer get a company car. Car sharing and car pooling are on the rise. Two. Advances in technology are opening up more possibilities. In the Netherlands, it’s quite easy now to make a reservation and pay for your train ticket via the leasing company. In Belgium, the current voucher system will soon be replaced by electronic payment. Three. Another important factor are the changing trends in work ethics. Generations Y and Z, now prominent in urban settings and in specific IT and consultancy niches, have quite noticeably different views on mobility. They view ownership of a car as less important than the correct use of a car. Four. Several European governments stimulate the downsizing of car fleets by fiscally targeting CO2 emissions. The Dutch and Belgian governments have been very clear on this. That’s the reason why there are so many hybrid vehicles on the roads in the Netherlands, more than in any other European country.
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Carel Bal: “The leasing industry will change more in the coming five years than it has in the last 20 years.”
These four trends are already prevalent in the Benelux countries, but will also become more prominent in other countries. This is why the ALD holding’s Mobility Steering Group is very interested in the developments in the Benelux. Internal communication is key ”A year ago, we drew up a local strategic plan. This internally produced plan takes into account all of these trends. Its goal is to prepare our company, and our staff, for the future. For example, we’ve produced a video for our employees to highlight the changes within our industry. For an organisation like ours, it’s crucial to have everyone on the same page. We need to mobilise our people. That’s how we fire up the motivation and the desire to look for solutions.” How important is Smart Mobility Management for a lease company? Carel Bal: “Any lease company will need to understand the trends of today, and anticipate those of tomorrow. There will be much demand for advice, for organisational and conceptual support for clients. Simply providing services will evolve into adding value for clients. For example, the expertise of combining dif-
In Belgium and the Netherlands, ALD Automotive is offering 7 Wheel Lease as one of its mobility solutions: a car plus a scooter.
ferent modes of transport and producing mobility solutions that the client had not even considered.” “In the Netherlands, we’re already noticing a trend towards leaner lease contracts. Fewer people than before are getting company cars. The Dutch market is quite mature, and even shrank by 3% last year. This impacts the future of our leasing business. Of course, the Netherlands have always had their share of mobility issues. But the market is showing signs of transformation. Key concepts in the Netherlands these days are multimodality and the New World of Work… To which extent is it up to the lease company to be the ‘integrator’ of mobility services? Does this include the office, communications, transport? C.Bal: “In principle, everything is possible. But you should offer services that are commensurate to your core competences. We realise that the leasing industry will change more in the coming five years than it has in the last 20 years. And even if we can’t predict everything, it’s important for us to ground our thinking in the future, not the past. And to develop a strategy, even if it needs constant updating. I do believe we will become a provider of a range of services, even an integrator of different modes of transport. Cars, car sharing, train, taxi - all of this linked in real time, via the latest technology. It’s essential that we’ll be able to respond to individual mobility needs.” But who is developing this technology? If I may speak from personal experience: in several European countries, it’s still difficult to find a taxi that accepts credit cards. C.Bal: “Yes, that’s right. There still are many blank spots. But if you look at the chain of mobility options, from park and ride to train and taxi… it’s all perfectly possible. Even setting up a credit note. The smartphone will play a crucial role. As soon as we’ll be able to make payments via our smartphone, then a lot more options will become available: booking, organising, paying - everything will become more flexible.” Are you already seeing those changes with your clients? In other words, are you following the needs of your clients, or anticipating on them? C.Bal: “I think we’re one of the trendsetters on the market. Which is not to say that we’re seeing a large turnover. But the future of mobility is in our DNA, and we’re passing it on to our clients. Is is really necessary for employees to travel? Finding an answer to that question is also part of ALD’s mobility vision.”
Companies are talking more and more about mobility budgets instead of car budgets. That is less simple than in sounds, isn’t it? C.Bal: “That’s right. If you offer a range of mobility options within a single budget, you’re talking about a mobility budget. This covers both corporate and private use of company vehicles, and the combination with other modes of transport. This is a very complex matter, which is the only negative of this concept. Because once you’ve mastered the complexity, you’re miles ahead of your competitors.” What kind of services are we talking about in the concept of a mobility budget? C.Bal: “Managing the total budget. And facilitating that budget via credit card. Everything needs to be taken into account, from Finance to HR. This implies that mobility will be managed more and more by HR. Following the crisis of 2008, fleets tended to fall under the responsibility of the purchasing department. Now, we see that mobility projects are starting to become one of the tasks of HR managers, who determine the policies for compensations and benefits.” What’s the next big step to get mobility management to really take off? C.Bal: “In the long term, the real trigger is the demographic evolution. In the short term, it’s the exorbitant rise in fuel prices.” Caroline Thonnon
ALD and mobility: fast facts >A LD 7 Wheel Lease in Belgium and the Netherlands, adding Piaggio scooters to the contract. >A LD Rail Mobility in the Netherlands, via an integrated service attached to the fuel card, and ALD Railease in Belgium, on a voucher system. >A LD Parking in the Netherlands. >A LD Sharing in Paris (also being developed in the Benelux)
WATCH THE VIDEO ALD Automotive has produced a video in 2010 for their employees to highlight the changes within the profession. QR Code Directions: 1. Open a ‘barcode scanner’ application on your Smartphone 2. Point your phones camera at the code and scan 3. The code will bring you to a mobile site where you can find out more information right from your smartphone
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industry
Chretien van der Aa, Polycom Benelux
“ Video-communication will become commonplace” Polycom, the industry leader in unified collaboration solutions, plays an essential role in the Smart Mobility Management Concept. Companies are more and more looking for solutions that enable their geographically dispersed workforces to communicate and collaborate effectively and productively over distances.
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sing Polycom telepresence, video, voice solutions and services, people connect and collaborate from their desktops, meeting rooms, class rooms, and mobile settings. We asked Benelux Country Manager Chretien van der Aa to explain the benefits of high quality video communications, using just such a Polycom system for the Brussels/Amsterdam link-up.
“The next working generation will be used to having video-meetings with their friends on tablets and other devices. Companies will use these things to attract new talent,” Chretien van der Aa.
What sort of products do you supply, and how do these bring added value to customers ? Chretien van der Aa: Typical voice products do form a part of our business, but most of our business comes from videoassociated products and the infrastructure which makes all this happen. We provide image and sound quality, and in a visual communication there is a lot of technology under the surface, such as the camera automatically detecting who is speaking and zooming onto that person, who then appears ‘full screen’. From this voice-only device we obviously moved on to enabling participants to see each other. The newer version of this visual communication technology includes touch-screens in a video room, so there is no more long dialling process. We are in particular making it easier and easier for users to start using visual communication. Does this mean that any employee or manager would be able to use this without asking an IT person to sort it out for him? C. van der Aa: Absolutely. If you make something which is too difficult to use, people simply won’t use it. A company’s team may be in talks with many customers and prospects so making it easy, making it cheaper and enabling people to use their time more efficiently can have a substantial impact on a company. As an added bonus, using these systems helps to reduce carbon emissions. I want to emphasise just how important the voice element is. If my picture goes blank, that is not a disaster – but if all you can see is a talking head but you can’t hear what it’s saying – it is! So we ensure that we have full stereo HD voice. Just as the camera follows the person speaking, the microphones ‘follow’ them around the room if they walk about,
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About Polycom Polycom is a leader in unified voice communications and now employs around 3,000 persons. The company has an extensive presence in the United States, as well as in around twenty five other countries. In Europe Polycom is present in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UK. Worldwide turnover is in excess of one billion dollars (figures from 2010). The company invests more than 110 million Euros in R&D each year. More than 400,000 companies are using the services and solutions of Polycom. “ The more accessible it is, the more companies and individuals will start using it.”
transmitting the sound from the appropriate speaker. So you get the feeling that you really are meeting the person at the other end.
further dimension, which is video. These systems work just as well for a company with three locations and twenty employees, as for a blue chip company.
What about return on investment? C. van der Aa: Well let’s take the example of three people using a company car to drive from A to B on a regular basis. This means paying for fuel, paying for insurance, and having employees use their time for driving a car rather than working for the company. It is just more or less accepted that people receive a salary for just sitting in a car – yet when you factor in all of these ‘hidden’ costs, they can add up to quite a lot. But if you invest just forty thousand Euros in getting these same people out of their cars and into a working mode, suddenly you have a strong business case. There is hardly any reason to say –‘well I’m not going to invest in that’. Leasing companies also see these opportunities. We work with a global leasing company which is willing to provide the equipment to clients who do not want to pay the upfront cost.
Do you see yourselves as being involved in the New World of Work? C. van der Aa: Yes, because although the large television screens which are used in typical meeting rooms will always be more comfortable to use than tablets, especially when a number of people or numerous locations are involved, the same meeting can be held when some of the participants are using an iPad or tablet. So it is all about mobility and accessibility to data. In reality, a mix and match solution involving various sorts of hardware will come to be more common, and as a result the entry costs will be lower and lower.
How many employees are necessary to make it an interesting solution? And how can I be sure, if I buy into this, that I can talk to anyone outside my own company? C. van der Aa: Well it isn’t common yet, so there are still a lot of opportunities and the endpoint still represents quite a sum of money. But the answer is, it doesn’t matter how many people there are. What matters is how you use it and what you are going to change in your business process. One factor is that while video-conferencing is primarily used within a company at the moment, it will start to move to external use too, inter-company use. I will use the example of doctors who work in more than one hospital. Using HD video images, a doctor can be physically in one hospital and carry out a biopsy in another. And adding pictures to the voice improves this process. The communications process is critical to us all in our work. Nobody is going to refuse to use the phone or fax, or the e-mail. These are taken for granted, and what we are doing is optimising this remote communication network by adding a
You presumably have partners? C. van der Aa: Yes, Microsoft for various types of software development for example, and major telecommunications operators such as Belgacom in Belgium, who provide customers with connectivity. Then we have smaller partners which come from audio-visual backgrounds. And we have partners who are involved in specific segments, such as the public sector and governments. Are there opportunities in an economic crisis such as the current one? C. van der Aa : Well companies certainly have to rethink their strategies in these situations. They have to look at other markets and other business possibilities, even if you don’t want to fly to customers every other week, you still can do business using our technologies for a relatively small outlay. Another parallel – twenty years ago websites didn’t exist, but now everybody has one, because people realised they could do business in a different way. I am convinced that this type of communications solution will become commonplace too. Tim Harrup
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industry
Jan Dezutter, Interroute
Making video universal Interoute communications is making it easier for companies to communicate both internally, and with the various other companies with which they interact. Jan Dezutter explains what his company does and how he sees video-communications moving forwards.
Jan Dezutter sees videocommunication use extending within and between companies.
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here is no doubt that following the relatively recent communications revolution which now means that almost everyone has a mobile telephone, visual communication is about to play a much more central role in our lives. Interoute is generally accepted to be Europe’s largest next generation network, covering all of the EU with 55,000 km of cable fibre. The network is connected to data services which offer cloud services. Jan Dezutter, Sales Director Benelux: “Companies which choose to use Interoute do so because we offer an integrated information technology platform. There are three pillars to this: unified connectivity, such as the possibility for a company to build private networks. Once they have built these they can
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opt for the second pillar, which is unified communications services. The third pillar is unified computing which starts with datacenter infrastructure services (a power, a ping, a pipe and a data-centre security) right up to a complete cloud offering where we can either offer the customer the possibility to build their own virtualised servers on our infrastructure, or with the aid of our expertise, build their own clouds. Companies also ask us to manage dedicated services. Who are your main clients? Jan Dezutter: We are active in mid-sized to large companies. At a European level, Deutsche Post and Rentokil are two well known references. On the more specifically video side, we have a client called Thrombogenics, active in bio-technology. They recently became a customer for both network services and video. We are able to deliver the bandwidth, the network and the video all together, this is one of our value propositions. Tell us more about the video offering. Jan Dezutter: Well you need of course the hardware, and your bandwidth needs to be dimensioned so that the quality is guaranteed. But our focus is to make sure that the videoconferencing equipment is used in the perfect meeting environment. This is very important – small things like colour, the way the light plays in the room, because we want to give the
The ‘single screen device’ brings videoconferencing within reach of all. Tandberg Cisco is a partner in the hardware area, along with Polycom and Lifesize.
customer the ultimate experience, as though the people involved were talking face to face. We have built a complete service suite around this, so that customers can have ‘managed video’ if this is what they want. This is a growing trend both amongst our customers and in general within the market. People are moving away from purchasing the hardware and networks separately, towards buying a package which includes services so that they can demonstrate internally within their own companies that there is a return in investment. We can supply video coaches to make sure the customer makes best use of the video equipment, and understands all of the circumstances in which it can be used. Is video always used an in-house use within a single company? Jan Dezutter: No, we are able to use our cloud to build connections. These outside entities are by definition not on the customer’s network – they may be using the internet or have their own private networks. So we have built a bridge functionality out of our cloud, connecting all of these different entities and enable them to video-communicate with each other. We can even offer what we call butler or secretary services, where our people will make the first call to the users, making sure the camera is right, the lighting is right, and then set the meeting in motion by introducing the various participants to each other. We can even take the meeting notes if required, and capture the whole of the videoconference which is then offered in the form of a stream. As I said before, we try to ensure that the use of the system by a customer increases, and if we are monitoring usage for him, we will ask why it isn’t being used this week as much as it was last week… Education and adoption is a
very important part of having videoconferencing successfully installed. How will this industry move forwards? Jan Dezutter: Inter-company use is certainly one way in which progress will be made, but on top of this, video will start to be used by everybody, not just the privileged few at the top of a company. I believe that we will move to a situation where people will ‘video’ each other in the same way that they phone each other now. The importance of being able to see each other when communicating is demonstrated by the fact that 55% of communication is non-verbal – body language etc. I think that the next big thing will not necessarily be from a technological perspective, but from a day-to-day perspective. This suggests that not all video-communication will be done from a specific room. Jan Dezutter: That is absolutely right. This can also be done from a desktop using a screen and camera connected to a PC. We call this a single screen device. It is incredibly simple both to install (within a couple of minutes) and to use, with a touch-screen command pad at the side. This also provides high quality images and it enables you to load your active directory into the system and then scroll down and connect to the person you want to se. This can also be connected to a videoconference taking place in dedicated rooms, so that not everybody has to physically move to the designated videoconference suite. It is great for people who are on the move and on the road a lot. You can be in a location somewhere in Europe and join in with a videoconference between two suites in Europe and the USA… Tim harrup
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