Jury duty for Fleet Europe Awards is “great learning opportunity”
BMW Welt in Munich was the spectacular setting for this year's Fleet Europe Awards Jury meeting, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. “We had a fair process, and we've selected clear winners”, says Jury president Michiel Alferink (Athlon).
Under the auspices of Mr. Alferink, 16 Jury members judged the presentations of candidates from 12 companies. They competed for the titles of Global Fleet Manager of the Year and European Fleet Manager of the Year, as well as for awards in the categories Safety, Innovation and Mobility.
The Jury members represented various parts of the fleet industry, from lease and fleet management companies over OEMs and telematics providers to major fleet customers. The companies submitting projects for their consideration were Siemens, SAP, Unilever, NCR, Heineken, PepsiCo, ADP, Microsoft, Merck, Vestas, Novartis and Accenture.
For Mr. Alferink and his fellow Jury members, the final tally of the votes was the end of a process that started in February. “We had monthly calls, and selected from the strong and varied number of submissions the final list of candidates that came to present their case in München. For me, it was the second time on the Jury; the experience helps presiding over the Jury, even if as president I am merely acting as first among equals”.
Comparing last year's entries to this year's, did Mr. Alferink and his fellow Jury members notice any trends in the nature of the submissions? “It's very clear that the transition from fleet management to mobility management is becoming generalised, and that the impact of telematics and data is growing. Extrapolating from those trends, I predict that the first hints we got this year of companies preparing for the impact of WLTP and IFRS will become a big issue from next year”.
Jury duty is long, hard work, but it is also rewarding, says Mr. Alferink: “The Jury members come from different parts of the industry, but they share a commitment to making fair and balanced judgments. We all manage to think outside the box of our own companies and their interests. And we're also a nice group of people, so the work is fun”.
“But my motivation for accepting the presidency of the Jury is also that this is a great learning opportunity. Not only do we get to hear how international fleets are dealing with the issues of the day, the Jury members also get an insight into how their colleagues are thinking about those issues by the questions they pose”.
The awards will be handed out in the evening of December 6th in Estoril (Portugal) during the closing ceremony of the Fleet Europe Summit 2017. “At the ceremony, we of course won't have the time go delve deep into each winner's project; but I hope their wins will prove inspirational to others to put forward their candidacy for next year's Awards”; says Mr. Alferink.
More info on the Fleet Europe Summit and how to register.
Images: Fleet Europe
