Outsourcing is now an established practice among Irish businesses of all kinds who have recognised that there are situations where it is more practical and cost efficient to hand over the management of non-core activities to companies who specialise in such areas.

Firms whose drivers and vehicles are key to their service have to ensure that their customer service levels are as high as they can be. They also need to rely on their fleet operating to as close to maximum capacity as possible.

However, they will not necessarily want to deal with the minutae of arranging breakdown collections or scheduling vehicle services.

One of the benefits of working with fleet management firm Kearys Fleetplan is that the company is able to offer a uniquely independent approach to fleet management.

Based in Cork and backed by the resources of one of Ireland's largest motor groups, it is one of the few independently owned firms in Ireland and this independence is exercised to the benefit of its customers.

One of the most significant elements of Kearys Fleetplan's service is that it is not committed to offering vehicles from any particular marque or marques, which means that it can always offer customers the best solution for their specific requirements.

Location is another advantage. From its base in Cork the company provides a local and nationwide service that is unique in the industry . . . in fact, it is the only fleet management firm based outside Dublin, which is particularly appealing to customers based outside the capital.

Kearys Fleetplan looks after all aspects of fleet management from purchase to maintenance to resale, regardless of the model or size of fleet. Customers range from those with a handful of vehicles to those with hundreds.

Working with owner-managers, purchasing officers or financial controllers, the company can design a complete outsourced maintenance package . . . with fixed fleet cost . . . to suit all circumstances.

In order to minimise the financial exposure of its customers, Kearys Fleetplan takes on the residual and operational risk, providing 100 per cent financing and leaving existing credit capacity available for the customer's core business operations.

Off balance sheet financing can also be arranged and motoring expense schemes can be used to reduce taxation and BIK implications.

Another important aspect of fleet management is developing and maintaining driver skills. Given the massive financial and human costs of accidents, it is no surprise that fleet managers want as much information on duty of care compliance as possible, said DriverFocus managing director, Ron McNamara.

Earlier this year the company launched FleetFit, a new internet-based driver improvement service that enables fleet managers to reduce costs by accurately predicting which drivers are most likely to be involved in a road accident and then providing personalised training to help prevent such an outcome.

The patented program evaluates the cognitive abilities of drivers and is based on more than twenty years of research into mind development.

"While driving, cognitive skills are used to receive information from our environment, through our senses, " explained McNamara."

Drivers then mentally process this information to decide what action to take. Fleetfit can accurately measure information processing and improve it so that drivers will make faster, more accurate and better quality decisions while driving."

"Objective driver assessment combined with personalised training promotes safer driving behaviour, reduces accidents and saves lives, " he added. "It also supports the case for reducing fleet insurance premia at renewal time and demonstrates a corporate commitment to health & safety and corporate social responsibility (CSR)."

Fleet tracking technology has become a major money saving mechanism. These systems are suitable for all types of vehicle and use satellite tracking technology to pinpoint the location of each vehicle.

Fleet management is now one of the major applications of GPS or global positioning systems. Using this technology, real time as well as passive vehicle tracking is available to fleet owners and dispatchers, which has resulted in continuous growth in the use of GPS in order to ensure competency and security in transportation systems.

As well as saving the fleet management firm money that would otherwise have been spent on mobile phone calls between drivers and base, these systems can be used to map the most efficient routes to take between deliveries or collections, reducing fuel costs and environmental damage from engine emissions.

Because the location of every vehicle can be monitored all the time, managers can allocate jobs more accurately, leading to less down time and higher productivity.

While the obvious application for this technology is security . . . especially the ability to track down a stolen vehicle . . .

it also discourages drivers from deviating from agreed routes and timetables.

The fleet management GPS market is expected to grow steadily over the next few years. Research firm Research and Markets sees the next development in fleet management services as being the integration of sales terminals with the ability to take customer authorisation on site. This would enable dispatchers and employees to communicate and re-route product shipments based on customer approvals.