Alphabet hosts ‘Ride and Drive’ day for Konica Minolta to choose new fleet cars

Alphabet has held an event with customer Konica Minolta to help its 250 field service engineers find new company vehicles.

The test day, which was held at the Mini plant in Oxford, saw 13 Konica Minolta engineers trial a range of vehicles to help the company select its new, cost effective and environmentally friendly fleet. The event was part of a full company car policy review to ensure fleet vehicles meet employees’ individual driving needs. 

To ensure the correct business decision is made, Konica Minolta selected engineers from all over the UK to be involved, with the main objective of the event being for employees to trial a new range of alternative vehicles.

Alphabet currently supplies Konica Minolta’s field service engineers with Ford Mondeo and Ford Focus models. With the business expanding into the provision of fully managed IT solutions, and aiming to grow its sales force and engineer team, the time was right to reassess its business travel needs and help reduce fleet costs and ultimately lower its carbon footprint even further.

With Konica Minolta’s service engineers spending a large portion of their working days travelling in cars, whilst providing technical customer support, their input in the next steps of the fleet decision process was crucial.

Michael Cope, compensation and benefits manager at Konica Minolta explained: “In the past, our service engineers have been supplied with a vehicle rather than being offered a choice. By inviting a wide group of employees who cover a range of mileages and destinations, we hope to meet all driving needs, as well as reducing fleet costs and instilling a sense of pride throughout the team.”

David Bushnell, e-Mobility consultant at Alphabet, said: “Our team is focused on proactively supporting the customer journey for Konica Minolta to ensure that their business travel needs are matched with the most efficient mode of transport, based on mileage and destination. Rather than decisions being made autonomously, the test drive aimed to enhance customer engagement and collaboration. The event was a great opportunity for us to work in partnership with Konica Minolta to make sure its employees are getting the most out of their vehicles.”