Interviews
22 aoû 18

TFM's Ed Stanistreet confirms the role of the FMO in mobility

When Toyota Fleet Management’s CEO Ed Stanistreet was asked if there’s still a role for the FMO (leasing company) in a mobility ecosystem, his short answer was: “Yes, otherwise we’re doing something wrong.” TFM is one of the largest Australian leasing companies, managing well over 100,000 vehicles in a 700,000 vehicle market. The (global) Toyota group splits up between product delivery (the cars & the technology, supported by research) and service delivery (connected, finance, data, leasing).

A decade of evolution

People tend to forget that the FMO, explains Ed, has been reinventing itself much more often than people expect. When leasing started to become mainstream, the leasing provider was simply a “vendor” delivering a service. This has evolved throughout time; the leasing provider became the client’s trusted financier (focus on new financial products), their trusted fleet manager (services outside of the asset delivery), their fleet advisor (best practice sharing, telematics, insurance advice) and will now become the client’s mobility manager. There’s a natural evolution and the FMO is prepared to access the next level.

Unique position

One of the reasons why lease providers are well positioned to play a role in a mobility environment, is the architecture of their operations. FMO systems consolidate information about the automotive market, driver behaviour, client-company behaviour, fleet management behaviour, logistics and financial information. The perfect data mix to provide for (ultra) short term rental, sharing, pooling and other mobility solutions.

15 minutes to 15 years

Even with mobility solutions being put forward as the ultimate corporate fleet goal, Ed is convinced that the traditional product line hasn’t reached its peak yet. The Australian market has been growing 6% to 7% annually and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Ed reminds us that the car sharing market is also essentially a potential client for the FMO.

In terms of evolution of products and services, Ed foresees some short-term changes that the lease provider will have to incorporate

  • Rather than a singleuse vehicle, the next generation of cars and leasing contracts will have a more widespread use.
  • The duration of a lease will need to be more flexible, from 15 minutes to 15 years
  • The vehicles will driving where the mobility supplier wants the cars to drive, introducing a variable location factor into contracts that are traditionally station based (home or office).

The FMO has entered a next phase of evolution, but is ready for it!

The data used for this article were retrieved from Ed Stanistreet's presentation during Connector's M15 Mobility forum in Sydney, July 26th 2018

Authored by: Yves Helven