Technological advances in the business world have been nothing short of revolutionary. For instance, doing business today without a fax machine is unthinkable. Yet, despite broad leaps in technology, it is easy to grow accustomed to these advances just as quickly as they are developed. In doing so, we often fail to notice the arrival of new products in the marketplace, products that will greatly affect how business is conducted in the future.

When it comes to fleet management, this is no exception. An example is ePlan, the Lease Plan e-commerce tool slated for release this summer. This e-business resource has been designed in an exclusive partnership with IBM Global Services to increase the control a fleet manager has over his or her fleet by providing real-time access to comprehensive fleet data via the Internet.

"We're in a strategic partnership with Lease Plan to help them better serve existing and new clients through web enabling of mission-critical information for fleet managers," says John Claybrooks of IBM North America.

While Lease Plan admits it wasn't the first in the fleet management industry to develop an e-commerce system, it waited for a reason.

"We were never comfortable with the level of security that was available with Web servers," says Dave Bush, chief information officer for Lease Plan. "When IBM developed the AS400e server specifically for Internet protocol, we felt it was the secure and stable environment we were looking for to handle confidential client information on the Web."

An IBM AS400e server runs ePlan 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing 99.999 percent availability, or just five minutes of down time per year. This server features built-in encryption capabilities to keep valuable fleet information out of the wrong hands. As fleet managers are entering key driver information such as Social Security numbers and driving histories, keeping this information safe was a critical component in the design process of ePlan.  

"One of the main concerns with putting things on the Interne t is security," says Claybrooks. "IBM has the strongest security features available to protect mission-critical information."

To further protect clients, lease Plan has implemented a firewall that requires distinct user identification before access is granted. In addition, IBM will perform what it calls an "ethical hack" on the e-business site. An "ethical hack" means IBM purposely tries to break into the Lease Plan servers to locate weakness in programming or hardware, ultimately alerting Lease Plan to potential problems before they happen.

Here are a few features of this e-commerce system:

Immediate Access To Fleet Information

If a driver wants to talk about the color or options on a new vehicle he or she has already ordered, ePlan gives a fleet manager the ability to answer driver questions immediately. This can also help to minimize confusion with drivers. For instance, when a driver receives an order confirmation, sometimes it's mistaken as a confirmation that the vehicle is on its way to the dealer. With a direct link to account information via ePlan, a fleet manager can alert the driver of the mistake and provide a good estimate of when the vehicle will actually be delivered.

ePlan provides immediate access to fleet data, in real-time. There's no downloading process; it's all on screen. A fleet manager has information on every vehicle in the fleet, from the order date to the settlement of a vehicle, including financial and maintenance data.

"No one wants to wait for information to download to their computer," says Bush. "Especially someone in charge of a large and demanding fleet. Unfortunately, that is exactly what some fleet managers must do in order to receive updated fleet information such as the status of a vehicle on order."

If a copy of an original fleet document is needed, it can be found on another product called Images On The Web. Not only can the fleet manger print out a document that will look like the original, but he or she can send it directly to a driver via internal fax, reducing time spent distributing information to drivers. This e-commerce tool has been designed to free up a fleet manager's computer and provide a more efficient use of time.

Order Vehicles Right The First Time, Every Time

When specifying a vehicle, the ultimate goal is to create an order that manufacturers will process immediately. However, without updated information, this can be somewhat elusive, and very frustrating. With ePlan, the user has access to a standardized vehicle ordering process on the Internet. The e-commerce system receives weekly updates on vehicle specifications from all manufacturers, which means new vehicle orders will not only be submitted electronically, but will be automatically compliant with manufacturer specifications. The fleet manager can then track the production status daily and have a good estimate on how long it will take until the vehicle ships.

The main objective for ePlan is to become the preferred way for Lease Plan and its clients to distribute fleet information. By teaming up with IBM Global Services, Lease Plan expects to achieve this goal by following the strict IBM e-business guidelines of security, reliability and consistent content.

"With real-time access to account information, it is our belief that this e-commerce system will help a fleet manager work more effectively and efficiently," says Bush.