Is size everything - when choosing a Fleet Risk Management provider?

When is size relevant?  Does it influence service quality?  Is an economy of scale always a benefit? Can you equate value to the size of a supplier?  Does size affect service flexibility? The answers to these questions will depend on your experience, attitude to business risk, your priorities and fleet strategy. 

There are undoubtedly pros and cons whatever the size of a supplier and, of course, good and bad suppliers can come in all sizes but the reason for posing the question is to prompt some thought about what represents the most desirable features of a fleet risk management provider.

Features relating to size that may be relevant to a fleet will vary but generally speaking, the following factors may be important:

Flexible processes - The ability to ‘flex’ the rules for each client will vary according to the internal structure of the risk management provider as well as its size.  It is also true to say that bigger organisations are more unwieldy by the nature of their size and therefore less likely to be able to tailor their processes compared to smaller ones. 

Critical mass – Larger providers that have exceeded critical mass are more likely to have the resources to be able to spend more in areas such as marketing, whereas a small business will need more strict cost controls to remain competitive. The balancing factor here is that despite achieving critical mass, larger providers may address cost control by using more streamlined operational processes such as doing the same things more often to keep costs down (because the skills required are at a lower level). This may however result in an inflexible production-line mentality, which may only suit a proportion of fleets.

Service focus – smaller providers make quicker decisions and they have less bureaucracy in their management structure.  By contrast, these factors can frustrate a larger supplier’s desire to improve service, whilst smaller businesses can genuinely deliver a more tailored and responsive program.

Quality delivered – Larger providers have greater resources to gain quality accreditations, however, many fleets will struggle to equate a quality accreditation with actual quality delivered. Defining quality is difficult because it encompasses so many concepts; however, in simple terms it describes whether a service is ‘fit for purpose’. Whilst the rectification of complaints (due to quality issues)  may be quicker in a smaller supplier due to shorter reporting lines; quality as a guaranteed service feature belongs to neither small nor large suppliers.

Personalisation - By its nature, the feeling of whether you’ve received a ‘personal service’ will vary according to the consumer’s perception of what this concept actually means.  Everybody knows when they have and have not received it and sometimes it’s very subtle and yet still very meaningful.  Whilst all businesses strive to offer it and some succeed, the business environment in which it is most identifiable, prevalent and easy to enjoy – is in a smaller supplier.

Pricing – Due to size, many small providers may not have the buying power to achieve the margins achievable by larger businesses and this means the scope to offer more competitive pricing will usually fall in favour of the larger enterprises.  Economies of scale give options to bigger suppliers and by contrast they offer other different benefits to smaller suppliers such as those described above.

So the question is whether the size of a risk management provider would be a factor in your choice of supplier? Indeed, does size really matter? 

As a medium-sized risk provider, RVM Fleet Services tries to offer you all the advantages you could gain from dealing with one and yet, with none of the drawbacks of dealing with the other!  In other words, we can offer flexible, personalised, specialist and responsive services at prices you might only expect to be available from the biggest providers.

So, why not look at whether RVM might be a more perfect fit for you. 

Find out more about our unique benefits on www.rvmfleetservices.co.uk or contact us now to see how we can help you!