Breadth and depth of product and service is the Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions mantra and it has taken the company to an 18% rise in customers and a 33% increase in fleet size year-on-year

Cars, vans, trucks and specialist plant equipment combine with blended finance to give fleet decision-makers access to a comprehensive range of funding and fleet management solutions for all needs.

Hitachi introduced ‘Rant & Rave’ in late 2018 to capture customer feedback in a real-time online tool.

The open and transparent feedback has, says the company, helped to “transform” the way it understands and engages with customers.

“Our goal is to bring the customer to all areas of the business, driving a customer-centric culture and customer-focused decision-making,” it says.

CustomerFirst was launched in January 2019 with four key components: Brilliant Basics to establish solid foundations; Learning & Development to create experts; Rant & Rave customer feedback; and, Simply Thank You to support service recovery and complaint handling.

Improvements have been made across the business, including faster call handling and fewer abandoned calls, a 20% reduction in complaints thanks to one-to-one coaching on the ‘language of service’ and faster order processing.

Hitachi is pushing ahead with electric vehicles (EVs), practicing what it preaches by revamping its own company car policy with a higher allowance to encourage uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles. 

It is also the funding partner for Optimise Prime, the UK’s largest trial of EVs, and is developing new funding solutions, such as wrapping all the costs of EV leasing, including charging, into the monthly rate, and evaluating gross pay trade-ups for employees.

In 2018, Hitachi formed dedicated teams to use connected data to optimise asset utilisation; last year it extended the initiative to pull live data including breakdown, accident management and telematics to give immediate feedback to enable cost-avoidance decisions can be taken.

The subsequent cost savings revealed in the entry underline the value Hitachi constantly seeks to offer to its fleet partners.

Finalists: Alphabet (GB), Arval UK, Free2Move Lease, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, LeasePlan UK, Zenith

Award sponsored by: SalesMaster