Fleet Platforms and Payments: Better Together
In today’s rapidly evolving fleet industry, there are an impressive number of companies that have developed platforms that enhance fleet management through advanced devices, software tools, and analytics. These innovations have improved the safety, efficiency, and reliability of fleets of all sizes. Increasingly, these platforms are adding a new dimension of functionality to their platforms: payments.
The progression towards embedded finance is a logical step for the fleet industry. Many of the functions that these platforms track and optimize end in a payment. Whether it’s for fuel, repairs, tolls, or supplies, managing payments presents a valuable opportunity for fleets to streamline their operational costs. For fleet management platforms, incorporating these capabilities is a strategic move to increase client loyalty, improve customer experience, and generate revenue.
Card + Ledger = Competitive Advantage
So how can fleet management platforms start offering this value-added service? The first step in embedding finance in a fleet platform is to launch a card program. This involves enabling customers to request physical or virtual cards directly through the fleet platform. These cards can be distributed to drivers and employees or used for vendor payments. Collaborating with an issuer processor capable of managing these programs is essential. The good news is, the integration process can be streamlined with a good program manager, making it a seamless addition to the platform.
For successful integration, fleet platforms need to evolve their mindset to include accounting functions. This approach aligns with trends in AP Automation and Expense Management, where accounting is at the core of their service. The addition of payments is a natural extension, so these segments have seen rapid growth in the proliferation of embedded finance solutions.
Several fleet market leaders are discovering the benefits of centering their services around payments. This strategy has helped dramatically increase the value and functionality of the platform to their customers.
Launching a card program creates a new revenue stream through interchange fees generated by card transactions. This is an invaluable advantage that impacts margins and total cost of ownership. All things being equal, a fleet platform with a card program will show better economics than one without. And that’s a competitive advantage.
Incorporating an accounting framework into a fleet management platform is not a big deal. But finding one that is flexible enough to meet each individual company’s specific needs is. Partnering with an issuer processor that brings along a state-of-the-art ledger capability enables unparalleled innovation in the fleet platform space. All manner of incentives, pre-negotiated rates, rewards and more are all on the table and can be executed with ease.
Embedded Finance in Fleet: Happening Now
The current market conditions are exceptionally conducive to the adoption of embedded finance in the fleet ecosystem. So much is changing–from technology, to network connectivity, to transaction data detail–that an increasing number of fleet solution providers are taking the necessary steps to embed capabilities into their services and workflows. Both providers and customers benefit from increased integration of critical functionality and improved economics.
Highnote is positioned as the ideal partner for payments solutions in the fleet industry. Only Highnote brings the cutting-edge technology, advanced ledger capability, and responsive program management that supports all fleet use cases. Fleet platforms require the flexibility in spend controls, account funding, and compliance support that only Highnote can provide.
Whether you are a fleet management information system, a fleet management company, or a specialized service provider in the fleet ecosystem, talk to us about how to build industry-leading payments into your offerings.