Fleet Managers looking to invest in telematics technology are often making the same mistake: focusing on features before they have properly defined the business problems they are trying to solve.
That was one of the key messages delivered by Yolande McLean, General Manager Partner Enablement at AutoGuru, and Chris Martin, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering – APAC at Geotab, during a keynote session at the AfMA Summit on using artificial intelligence to develop stronger fleet business cases.
According to Martin, many fleet projects begin with a discussion about technology when they should start with a discussion about business outcomes.
“It’s really important to make sure you don’t do this out of order,” said Martin. “Identifying those business problems is critical. You can’t solution without knowing those problems properly and also having validated them.”
The presentation walked attendees through a structured process that used AI tools to identify stakeholders, understand strategic priorities, brainstorm business challenges, validate problems, evaluate solutions and ultimately generate an executive-level business case.
While the technology demonstrated impressive capabilities, both presenters emphasised that the process starts with understanding what the organisation is trying to achieve.
The Problem with Feature-Led Procurement
Martin said fleet suppliers are frequently asked to respond to procurement documents that specify particular features without clearly articulating the underlying problem.
“From personal experience as a vendor, we often get asked to demonstrate ROI or say we need this feature in our business,” he explained. “It often shows up in RFPs or RFQs which are very, very specific.”
The risk, according to Martin, is that fleets can unintentionally limit the solutions available to them.
“That can really hinder a vendor being able to give you a solution that addresses that problem,” he said. “Make sure you document those business problems well, but also communicate that through to your procurement process.”
Rather than asking for a specific technology capability, Martin encouraged Fleet Managers to clearly define the operational challenge and allow suppliers to recommend the most appropriate solution.
Start with Stakeholders
McLean argued that the first step in any fleet technology project should be identifying and engaging stakeholders. Before discussing telematics, AI or business cases, organisations need to understand who will be impacted and what matters most to them.
“Why do we want a stakeholder-led business case?” McLean asked attendees. “Why engage stakeholders at the beginning of the journey?”
She explained that projects developed in isolation often encounter resistance because people hear about them through informal channels and begin speculating about what the changes might mean.
“Engaging stakeholders, giving them the opportunity to engage with their teams and take them on the change journey, is going to minimise the risk of your business case being undermined, but also increase the chance of it being approved.”
AI can help identify potential stakeholder groups and their likely concerns, she said, but it cannot replace the conversations required to understand the realities of a business.
“AI is not omnipotent. It doesn’t know the nuances of your business. It doesn’t know the personalities in your business.”
Solving the Right Problems
Once stakeholders have been identified and strategic priorities understood, McLean recommends focusing on the operational issues that matter most.
The workshop used AI to organise brainstorming outputs into categories such as safety, financial performance, utilisation, compliance and downtime. Participants then prioritised those issues based on frequency, severity and the ability to predict or detect them.
The objective was to ensure any future investment was targeting genuine business challenges rather than implementing technology for technology’s sake.
“We now have stakeholders, we have their strategic priorities, we understand the business problems they’re wanting to solve,” McLean said.
“They’ve undertaken that brainstorming exercise with you, they have buy-in, they’re invested, they want that business case to be approved.”
Only after those steps were completed did the session move on to identifying telematics solutions.
Don’t Lock Yourself Into Yesterday’s Technology
Martin warned Fleet Managers against assuming there is only one way to solve a problem. Using safety as an example, he explained that many organisations immediately think of driver scorecards when discussing collision reduction.
“It’s very easy to say safety scorecards, that’s the way to solve that problem,” Martin said. “And it does work.”
However, newer technologies such as predictive analytics and AI-driven risk detection may provide alternative approaches.
“If you take the first answer of a safety scorecard as the feature we need, you’re potentially limiting yourself in terms of getting some of the better technology or getting a different way to solve that problem.”
The same principle applies across fuel management, utilisation, maintenance, compliance and driver safety initiatives. Technology should be selected because it addresses a business problem, not because it appears on a specification sheet.
AI Can Accelerate the Process
The session demonstrated how AI can significantly reduce the time required to develop a business case. Tasks that previously required multiple workshops and days of manual analysis can now be completed in minutes.
“In the good old days of mind mapping and process mapping, you would chuck all of those post-it notes up on a whiteboard, then you’d try and order them into categories,” McLean said.
“That would have taken hours, if not days, of effort in an old-school brainstorming session and prioritisation session. It takes next to no time to do that in AI.”
Yet both presenters repeatedly stressed that AI should support decision-making rather than replace it.
“If you do that in isolation, you are not undertaking change management,” McLean warned. “You risk alienating your stakeholders, alienating your driver base, and then you are not able to either get it approved or successfully implement.”
Focus on Outcomes
For Martin, the lesson is simple. Fleet managers should stop asking what features they want and start asking what problems they need to solve.
Only then can they accurately assess technology options, build a compelling business case and deliver measurable outcomes.
By combining stakeholder engagement, clear problem definition and AI-assisted analysis, fleets can move beyond feature checklists and focus on the operational, financial and safety improvements that justify investment in the first place.
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