I wasn’t at the 2022 Australasian Fleet Management Conference, but from what I heard, the average age of the audience was 50 and the majority were male. Is this because everyone wants to be a Fleet Manager when they grow up?
I mean, yeah, sure. Why not? You drive lots of cars, go on supplier junkets and even get tickets to the odd corporate box at the footy. Which young 20 something wouldn’t include a role like this in their career planning?
At this stage of the article I’m guessing there are several responses from our loyal readers. It’s ok. I’m joking. No need to write to my editor.
Being a Fleet Manager in 2022 is a tough gig. There are so many challenges to deal with that not getting the cars you ordered within three months is probably the easiest one to deal with.
So, how do we share the knowledge and get the next generation into fleet management? I believe this was a question that Mace Hartley, Executive Director at AfMA, posed to the audience on day one of the fleet conference.
It’s probably a case of ‘build it, and they will come’. The three emerging trends in fleet management are technology, increasing costs and emissions. These challenges will require new thinking and different skills which will attract younger people to the industry from different backgrounds.
Vehicles will become electric and telematics will feed an endless stream of data to be analysed by artificial intelligence which will share the corrective actions back to the assets via IoT ecosystem. Young people will be attracted to this.
Employers will be looking for financial experience, project management skills and collaborators that can manage multiple stakeholders while pursuing change.
But don’t worry, they’ll still need someone for the IT help desk that knows that step one is – restart the computer.
