As we sit in 2023, we chat with Holman UK’s MD, Nick Caller, who reflects on 2022 and talks about what’s in store for the business in 2023.

2022 saw Holman rebrand – bringing the global business together under one name and vision. Are you pleased with how it has gone?

Yes, it’s been fantastic. 2022 has been a big year for us, and the rebrand has tremendously affected that. Considering the size of our global organisation, it was an ambitious project to navigate the global rebrand in about six months, but we managed it.

It’s been a positive experience to take a step closer to the collective Holman vision of driving what’s right for our customers. Team collaboration is better, our goals are aligned, and we can all lean in behind that one vision which benefits our customers.

We also won Leasing Company of the Year at the Fleet Awards and brought on a number of new customers from a broad spectrum of industries, resulting in a busy but excellent year for the team.

 

2022 has been quite a challenging year for many businesses across the UK. How has Holman found it?

From an internal team perspective, managing hybrid working, cost of living, and the knock-on effect on staff retention and attraction continues to be a real focus. As a business, we have had to adapt and flex to support our team best, and the team have done exactly that and will continue to as the environment in which we work continues to evolve.

On the external front, there have been challenges typical for fleet management, from getting vehicles into workshops, controlling spending and managing an already stretched supply chain. However, last year showed that when something doesn’t go to plan, our team are on hand to act swiftly, identify the root cause and put a fix into action to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Our transparent model means we raise our hands to our customers immediately, but with a solution in the works to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Overall I’m incredibly proud of how we all came together over the last year, supported each other and worked tirelessly to drive continuous improvement whilst always keeping sight of the end result -how to best serve our customers.

 

What is EV demand looking like?

Although this remains front and centre of the discussion, I think EV adoption for more commercial-driven fleets remains challenging. Customers are becoming more informed about their choices but still need more options. When coupled with energy prices, infrastructure and range anxiety, it remains work in progress and while we’re committed to the path forward, there are many challenges that, as an industry, we are still trying to answer.

Learn about sustainable fleeet options

 

What’s in store for Holman this year, and how will you cope with the external factors affecting the industry?

This year is going to be an exciting time for Holman. We will significantly elevate our investment in the UK business and see the ‘one Holman’ approach come to life next year. Of course, issues affecting our industry, like Supply Chain disruption, affect us and, in turn, our customers’ but by leveraging our global resources and market presence, we can support them as one team and mitigate the impact of those issues on our customers.

Transparency and trust remain top of our customer’s agenda, and our model and services anchor around that. Our customers also expect flexibility and they want to work with partners to help them reduce their overall costs across vehicle funding and fleet management.

I see a growing demand, over the next 12 months for orgainsations running fleets to heighten the expectation on their partners to not only embrace transparency and flexibility but provide recommendations utlising the data available to justify decision-making and share knowledge between parties. As a result, those who can’t provide that insight will find it harder to stay competitive and relevant.

At Holman, our solutions are built on transparency, trust and flexibility but we won’t stand still, I’m incredibly excited about 2023. It’ll be a landmark year of innovation and change for us here at Holman. We will increase investment in the business and create new opportunities for our employees that will, in turn, benefit our customers by driving what’s right for them.