The strategic procurement process typically involves a multifunctional team that unites the fleet manager together with representatives from other departments, such as procurement, sales administration, operations, HR, finance, and risk management. This cross-functional team often designates a “The guardian team,” who is responsible for controlling the flow of information and assets. When selecting a fleet supplier, the fleet manager needs to be the guardian based on category expertise to drive the best sourcing decision.
During the financial year, the procurement groups often work on multiple projects, strictly limited in time, which they can devote to understanding the complexities of fleet management. This is why a fleet manager is invaluable to a sourcing team. As a guardian, the fleet manager shares information with others on the procurement team helping to educate them about the fleet process, to facilitate appropriate analysis to make the best decision.
Benefits of a Multifunctional Team
Using a multifunctional team is the most efficient way of making a corporate sourcing decisions. А cross-functional team is a best corporate solution— because of its wider range of interests and perspectives – this knowledgeable system can provide a more comprehensive and thorough research of the fleet purchasing and supplier selection process.
A multifunctional team, comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders, needs a leader, ideally, someone who has the fleet expertise to drive the outcome of the process. The team leader should be someone who is facts-oriented, with a balanced perspective towards both cost and service. Similar to the guardian function, the best candidate to be the fleet sourcing team leader is the fleet manager by virtue of subject-matter expertise.
To be a successful team leader, the fleet manager must embrace the procurement process and avoid being defensive when past fleet decisions are critiqued. The quickest way to lose credibility with a procurement team is by too aggressively defending the incumbent supplier and not being open-minded to considering change. The fleet manager must also avoid being perceived by other members of the procurement team as being too “emotionally attached” and not engaging in fact-based deliberations. Ultimately, a team leader needs to bring everyone to a consensus decision that coalesces on the most appropriate sourcing strategy for the corporation.
Need for Fleet Expertise
During the RFP analysis, the fleet manager needs to articulate a pros and cons, fact-based discussion when analyzing sourcing options. The fleet manager must present the “fleet” perspective to strategic sourcing, since he or she is the most qualified person in the organization to understand the consequences of wrong-advised decisions.
A procurement group is very good at buying, but often doesn’t understand the subtleties involved in the service relationships between the corporate fleet department and its partner fleet suppliers. A fleet manager needs to persuasively articulate the nuances of a service relationship to others on the team. This requires a broad perspective of how procurement and supplier selection decisions impact the corporation as a whole since fleet is a key tool to implementing and fulfilling the corporate mission.
A common communication problem between fleet and procurement is that they do not speak the same “language.” To eliminate the misunderstandings, the fleet manager should translated fleet needs into procurement’s language (cost). There is a difficulty for the cross-functional team to fully understand the intricacies of fleet during the relatively short duration of the RFP process. When dealing with intangibles, such as service, quality, and innovation that a supplier can provide, a fleet manager should attempt to quantify these costs/savings and express them in price per distance or expenses per month.
Making a Balanced Decision
The ultimate fleet sourcing decision needs to be one that balances an economic solution with required service levels, while maintaining driver satisfaction, along with fulfilling the needs of other stakeholders. If the decision is to switch suppliers, it is important to quantify the cost to switch. This is the language that procurement understands.
