The new generation of mobility companies is likely to see growing traction with drivers and fleets over the coming years, despite the pandemic hiatus.
Automotive technology solutions firm Epyx, which exhibited at this year’s Great British Fleet Event, said a wave of companies are entering the mobility market, delivering products such as car subscription services and car clubs to provide added flexibility for drivers and potentially cut costs too.
Marc Lees, business development director, added that Epyx had been watching the mobility market closely and was confident the path of expansion apparent before the pandemic was being resumed.
“In general terms, the growth of mobility has been interrupted by Covid-19 but it remains a strong concept that offers businesses useful solutions for specific applications. We believe that these services will find a high level of success over the coming years even if acceptance proves to be more gradual than might have been thought a few years ago.”
Epyx is also starting to work with the new mobility entrants to help them gain a digitalised approach to fleet service, maintenance and repair (SMR) that matches their own digital infrastructures.
Lees explained that these organisations are built on fast, accurate and efficient digital processes that benefit both themselves and their customers and are looking for similar methods from SMR suppliers.
He continued: “By and large, these are technology businesses that have created a high-quality digital infrastructure but don’t have core SMR capabilities.
“They see traditional SMR provision as relatively dated and instead want processes to help them handle the issue in a manner that is a cultural match with their general approach. We are starting to form relationships and have conversations about how we can help.”
But while the new mobility entrants resemble car hire fleets, Lees said it was a mistake to think of all of them as one single type of company, s their requirements are quite often more complex.
“Car clubs, for example, have an hourly rental model and widespread geographical distribution while with subscription services, there is the question of whether servicing should take place during or in-between long-term hires.
“There are also differences when it comes to their SMR preferences. Some are committed to franchise-dealer only models while others are much more open to the idea of independents.
“One common feature across all of these businesses is a real accent on keeping downtime to a minimum. These are businesses built on high asset utilisation and especially on processes that transparently allow customers to see when vehicles are available.
“All of this requires an innovative approach to SMR and we are having some interesting conversations around new ways of using technology such as our 1link Service Network platform. Currently, some of these businesses are using relatively ad hoc processes that are not a good fit for their needs but much more appropriate solutions are available.”
