Ford’s fleet customers have had an increasing urge to shift to greener vehicle technologies. The customers purchase many vehicles after one year and they approximately take up 30 percent of Ford’s vehicle dealership (Reich et al., 2015). The main challenge is pinpointing the better vehicle option for the drivers involved. The other challenge is to financially justify the pricy initial investment costs resulting from utilizing fuel-efficient technologies. The solution developed was a combination of tools that start with easy-to-use calculators, which would slowly transform to accurate full-fleet optimization tools. The calculator would be used to compare the green vehicle technologies. Ford merged with Azure Dynamics to create an emission and fuel cost calculator that would respond to the frequent questions from the fleet customers (Reich et al., 2015). The fleet customers ask standard questions such as the extent to which the electric version is environmentally friendly, how much their organization will be saving up for fuel, and whether the vehicles’ emission is the same.
The release of the initial version of the calculators made Ford and Azure Dynamics understand the customers and their suggestions of the areas that could be improved. They realized that the customers were keen on comparing a wide range of technologies. Following the customers’ suggestions, they increased the calculator capacity by including flex-fuel, compressed natural gas, and plug-in hybrids (Reich et al., 2015). The fuel cost calculator was well developed for interactions with the consumers. The fuel cost calculator was implemented in Excel and specifically developed to allow customers to compare and contrast different vehicles. The calculator allowed the customers to compare two vehicles in terms of the fuel type, fuel price, and the power grid composition of electric vehicles. The calculator can produce a report to compare the cost and sustainability of the different vehicles.
The solution developed has many benefits to the fleet customers. The customers are now able to have solid discussions revolving around the rising green vehicle technology. The new technology produces statements that could be used to explain and justify investments in more sustainable vehicles. The main challenge of identifying the better vehicle option for each driver was solved because the new technology allows customers to see the type of drivers that could gain more advantages from driving an electric or hybrid vehicle (Reich et al., 2015). There are also the emissions and fuel-cost calculator done in batch mode. They are utilized by customers who have a fleet of more than 1000 vehicles. Organizations operate a large number of vehicles, and with the new emerging technology, they are in a good position to improve the sustainability sector. Sustainability is rapidly becoming significant because of the increasing population and the economic development in countries. The current vehicles technologies allow users to select vehicles from various options for reducing the car’s emissions.
The current Ford fleet purchase planner makes it possible for analysis and assessments that were time-consuming and labor-intensive for organizations to conduct. The innovative technology has brought about an analytical system that pinpoints the most cost-efficient vehicle for each driver in a fleet (Reich et al., 2015). Moreover, it enables the customers to identify the most cost-effective car to hit the sustainability target set by the customers. The Ford fleet purchase planner is one of the most outstanding solutions that use data and analytics to help consumers and the natural surroundings. The customers can make informed decisions and financially account for the pricy initial investment costs resulting from adopting fuel-efficient technologies without having any issues.
Reference
Reich, D., Winkler, S. L., Klampfl, E., & Olson, N. (2015). Ford uses analytics to help fleet customers buy more sustainable vehicles. Interfaces, 45(6), 543-553. Web.