ARI hosted about 50 industry leaders at its annual Energy Fleet Forum held recently at the Westchase Marriott in Houston, Texas.

The day-long session featured a keynote presentation offered by Colin Dover, senior director of SAP's Platform and Analytics Center for Excellence. Dover discussed the latest innovations in fleet-related technology and how the advances will affect fleets working in the energy, gas and oil sectors.

Additional sessions focused on energy fleet bench-marking, alternative fuels, maintenance, cost-reduction strategies, as well as licensing and compliance. Reducing maintenance costs and managing fuel spend were among the biggest challenges faced by energy fleets.

The bench-marking session followed the morning keynote and highlighted an analysis of data gathered by a pre-forum survey that was sent to all invitees, as well as information gathered from client interviews and ARI's own fleet database. The survey focused on policies and procedures, and covered everything from fleet administration, upfitting, maintenance, fuel use, violations, accidents and repairs, driver's policies, and telematics.

An analysis of the responses revealed that the biggest challenge facing energy fleets is reducing maintenance costs. Other top concerns included managing fuel spend, the development and enforcement of a driver policy, data integrity and reporting issues, and fleet right-sizing.

The day also included four breakout sessions and opportunities for networking among attendees.