The Insight – How to pick a supply partner

Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019

The key to running an efficient vehicle fleet is having a supply chain that is both transparent and agile, emphasises Jason Chamberlain, sales and marketing director at ARI.

We are all being tasked to do more with less while still providing high levels of return and real value to our businesses.

With light commercial vehicles regarded as revenue-generating assets, it is more important than ever to surround yourself with experts that understand your business and your objectives.

The supply chain you use could be vast and varied or consolidated, but the goal remains the same: bring efficiency, cost control and value to your business.

Your fleet make-up, including your vehicle types, funding method, regions of delivery and more, will dictate your requirements and allow you to develop a clear understanding of what is needed to support your business objectives, and your own.

However, you must also factor in the time it takes to manage the supply chain and the number of management information portals you may have as they may dilute your ability to correlate data easily and delay your ability to make informed decisions.

So, if you have identified that you require support from third parties, and you understand your requirements, how do you ensure those partners are agile and transparent?

Ask the pertinent questions, visit the operation, speak to those delivering the service, and ask to talk to those receiving it. It sounds simple, but it can be a considerable investment of your time, and without it you are reliant on purchasing something written by a marketing department and not the ability, experience and value of the people and the organisation.

So, in an ideal world, when looking for a supplier, you want them to be transparent with every aspect of pricing, willing to invest the time in understanding your business and your objectives, and agile enough to match their service delivery to your needs – all while taking data feeds from various locations to give you a single view of your fleet and maximising the value to the business.

It’s fair to say that this is a tough ask, but it’s something companies such as ARI deliver every day.

For more information on ARI visit www.arifleet.co.uk

The Insight is produced in association with

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