The first Smart Mobility Institute milestone

No better location than the Diegem business park to hold the first Smart Mobility Institute (SMI); at the junction of road and air traffic, close to the Brussels ringway and the Belgian national airport, 13 international Fleet Managers attended the first SMI, organised by Nexus Communication in partnership with Sixt and Vaigo.

Inform first, explore afterwards

SMI’s objectives are all about sharing experiences in the design and implementation of mobility solutions. 3 short presentations initiated the topic: Allianz Technology’s Franz Fehlner kicked off by explaining what goals need to be achieved by implementing a mobility solution, Connector’s Yves Helven continued by showing the building blocks of a mobility program and Frost & Sullivan’s Hikmet Cakmak closed the first part of the day with detailed insights in the MaaS offering across the region.

The attendees were afterwards invited to participate in either of 3 workshops around the following topics

• What are the specs and tech requirements of MaaS?
• What is Total Cost of Mobility?
• What are the obstacles when implementing mobility solutions?

Lessons learnt

Out of the feedback from both workshops and the interactions between the participants, the following crucial elements emerged:

• Mobility is not just an alternative for the company car; it’s a much wider concept that complements the rewards and benefits strategy
• Flexibility is a true keyword; options need to be available for the Employees
• The employers are looking for a plug-and-play solution that include a simplification of back-office business processes
• There are 2 angles towards cost of mobility; initiatives that are driven by efficiency tend to stay cost neutral, whilst mobility managers, focusing on HR or talent attraction objectives, see the need to develop solutions that appeal to young talent beyond budget restrictions
• Isolated initiatives (i.e. by one company) will be less successful than solutions created by a club of peers

Starting blocks

The SMI will continue to be a platform for Fleet Managers to share experiences, learn and inspire; all participants and partners agreed to build upon the conclusions of the first session and formalise these into a roadmap for more Smart Mobility.