Staff: Looking to the next generation

Patrick McGillycuddy, Skoda head of fleet, talks about looking ahead to the next generation.

Looking ahead is what any good business does to develop and thrive. And this applies to fleet and transport as much as it does to a car maker.

One way of looking ahead is to look at younger generations. At the risk of generalisation, the majority of managers in businesses – myself included – are from ‘generation X’. Generation X is the group of people born between the 60s and early 80s. We’re a group that witnessed the introduction of the PC, the mobile phone and the internet.

However, to know what our businesses need to do in future – be that knowing what our customers will want, or how our staff will operate – we should look to the next generation.

This next generation – Generation Y – is already starting to be employed. They’re the group born in the late 80s through to the early 2000s. Unlike Gen X, Gen Y have always had the internet, smart phones and, rather than PCs, they’re much more at home with a tablet.

The two groups are like the difference between keyboards and touchscreens. Both are just as capable of working with a computer, it’s just a different way of doing things.

The question for employers, and in this case transport managers, and the motor industry is how do we appeal to this new generation.

From the car manufacturer’s point of view, and if you’ll forgive the plug, we’re working to make sure that our cars will be as connected as possible because that’s what Generation Y expects. It’s something you’ll see with the new Fabia and the new Superb in the not too distant future. Gen Y isn’t ever offline and that means cars need to be online as much as possible. Yes, safety measures will need to be in place to ensure drivers aren’t distracted while at the wheel, but that still leaves a lot of possibilities for technology to be developed that will help a connected car and connected driver get to their destination more easily, efficiently and safely.

Its technology in this area from car manufacturers and external developers that begins to converge with the transport managers needs.

Today even simple vehicle tracking is often a hard sell to employees, but it’s likely Gen Y will accept it as the norm because they recognise the advantages that come with such systems.