Key findings from the Industry Pulse Analysis on Fleet, Mobility and Transportation recovery

When will business return to normal? This is just one of the questions asked in a new report by Geotab. The Fleet, Transportation and Mobility Industry Pulse Analysis (Vol. 1) provides a closer look into the operations and recovery of 18 specific industries, governments and associations relevant to the transportation and mobility sector.

With every industry experiencing varied impacts as a result of COVID-19, this summary provides business, operational and financial insights from bellwether organizations representing industries such as airline, construction and healthcare.

Geotab’s Fleet, Transportation and Mobility Industry Pulse Analysis can be accessed here.

Read the report

Companies are adapting through new safety measures

Across the different industry sectors, a common trend was that business and governments have responded to the pandemic by adapting their practices. To keep employees and customers safe, companies have introduced measures such as halting company travel, implementing new safety and cleaning protocols and providing personal protective equipment.

Key findings from the report

Among those surveyed, the majority are back to business in Fleet and Mobility. Although there is a definite impact to operations, many expressed that their company will weather the storm.

• 80% of the Fleet and Mobility ecosystem are back at work full time and 90% believe their company will survive, although they face major income loss.
• 42.3% of respondents felt that COVID-19 had a significant impact on the customer base they serve, with 10.5% having significant impacts to their revenue during this time.
• Almost 80% of respondents believe that business will return back to normal by Q4 of 2020 or Q1 of 2021.
• 51% of respondents said it was unknown at this time if they would have additional reduction in workforce in the next six months.

Another key takeaway from the Industry Pulse Analysis is that Fleet and Mobility customers expect advice and innovation from their suppliers, even more than discounts.

Tracking recovery to identify national and local needs

Given the lasting economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, for many industries full recovery could take many months or even years. The analysis aids in identifying needs and concerns for various industries and governments on both a national and local level. Through this summary, businesses across the globe will gain insight into how their particular industry segment is rebounding, what trends are occurring and how their company may be directly impacted.

“Using insights from bellwether businesses across our ecosystem allowed us to not only relay the impacts of COVID-19 that we are hearing about to the greater business population, but also to analyze those impacts and dissect key takeaways from them,” said Sherry Calkins, VP of Strategic Partners at Geotab. “For instance, with many industries facing a loss in revenue, cost cutting measures are inevitable for the 2020-2021 year, and from that we can gather that fleet utilization and effective asset management is all the more critical.”

Neil Cawse, CEO at Geotab, said about the report: “This analysis summarizes the current heartbeat of the fleet, transportation and mobility sectors in order to help grasp the direct impact of COVID-19, not only from an operational standpoint but also from a financial and business lens. As a leader in integrated telematics technologies, Geotab has a robust ecosystem of collaborative partners and customers from a vast array of industries, because of this we have a unique and favourable position to consult with a variety of businesses in order to analyze the impact to each industry and understand the diverse needs from each segment of customers in the current landscape.”

Conclusion

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Geotab has been committed to supporting fleets and businesses with relevant data insights, such as the Commercial Transportation Recovery Dashboard, to help enable informed, data-driven decisions as they navigate the initial impacts of COVID-19. This analysis extends one step further by collecting relevant and valuable insights directly from businesses to help support the greater business community and understand diverse industry needs. Geotab will be following up Volume 1 of the Industry Pulse Analysis with additional updated reports.