ARI Best in Fleet 2017 — A Focus on the Future

“Having optics into everything that is going on is critical. We can’t ignore the future. We want to be a consistent force in a world of disruption.” — Carl Ortell, CEO

By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor

ARI — best known as the world’s largest privately held fleet management company — hosted its 2nd annual Best in Fleet Conference in Miami last week, with over 150 fleet executives in attendance.

One of the highlights of the meeting was an overview of the extensive business portfolio of Holman Enterprises, ARI’s parent, presented by Carl Ortell, the CEO of Holman Enterprises.

These include ARI, of course, along with the strong position in auto retailing, consumer finance, property and casualty insurance, truck upfitting, auto and truck parts distribution, and venture capital.

Holman’s realm, said Ortell, is the “car business itself, from retail to fleet and everything in between. There’s never been a time that it has been more interesting or fun to be involved in the industry than right now. We’re 6,300 people and we are juiced up.”

The company has 36 dealer franchises in eight states, in the luxury, ultra luxury, and high-end mass market — 17 brands in all. “We want to be the best automotive retailer in the world. We’re not about becoming the biggest,” said Ortell. “Retail is in our blood,” noting that it was the foundation of the 93-year old company, which is still family owned.

Holman is also in insurance, providing insurance to retail customers, plus customized insurance and risk management solutions to commercial clients. Holman represents a dozen of the largest insurance companies. “One of the biggest challenges for insurance companies is commercial fleet. It’s the biggest loss ratio they have. We’re planning to help them come to our fleet customers with different solutions. Where we can rank drivers, for instance, and drive down costs,” says Ortell.

Additionally, Holman is involved in retail consumer finance for auto lending, Steward Financial Services. Holman’s Auto Truck Group is one of the leading work truck upfitters, building 40,000 new trucks each year. Holman Parts Distribution supplies original equipment and aftermarket powertrain products. More recently, the company has formed Holman New Ventures, an activity which includes investment in an automotive oriented venture fund.

The startups that Holman is involved in include connected car, ride sharing, ride-hailing, and electric vehicles, among others. It has formed a joint venture with Cox Automotive, called Flexdrive, which requires only a credit card to get a car for as little as a week, and shift to another at the end, or renew for longer periods.

Chris Conroy, President and CEO of Holman Business Services and ARI noted that all these activities were important because the “The days of just being a provider of fleet management services are long gone. Companies want a proactive approach from their suppliers. They say, ‘tell me what I should be looking at.’ Our total focus is entirely on optimizing TCO.”

That proactive approach includes putting advances in Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning, to work generating predictive analytics — all with the aim of harnessing Big Data and incorporating the results in an accessible easy-to-use interface. Most recently, this is exemplified by the launch of a pilot program for ARI’s Alexa app, which uses Amazon’s voice-driven virtual personal assistant, allowing users to speak to Alexa and receive voice output.

The conference wasn’t just about the future developments, however. Two compelling case histories were presented. Mastec Advanced Technologies, a division of Mastec, which has a fleet of 3,100 ARI-managed vehicles worked with ARI and Geotab to convert to an advanced telematics system in a very short time. Mastec is a leader in commercial and consumer cable and communication installations. XTO Energy, an Exxon/Mobil subsidiary, told the conference that with ARI they have been able to achieve fuel and maintenance savings of six to nine percent per year.

The lessons in these examples, Chris Conroy said, were that “We see ourselves helping our customers get better at what they do. It isn’t just about the tactical things we do, it is what information we can give back to them that can make a better organization. We turn the vast amount of data and information that is out there into actionable information. We take complex information and turn it into something that’s quickly and easily accessible and allows a customer to say, ‘that is something I need to take action on.’ ”

In closing, Carl Ortell noted that “several fleet managers have suggested that it is hard to articulate to their senior management the scale of our organization and what we actually bring to the table. I’m available to visit to talk to your senior management about Holman. We’re investing in our customers. We have to do the things that matter over the next three to five years to align our services to meet your strategic goals. Having optics into everything that is going on is critical. We can’t ignore the future. We want to be a consistent force in a world of disruption.”

The post ARI Best in Fleet 2017 — A Focus on the Future appeared first on Fleet Management Weekly.

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