Alex Crane-Robinson of Webfleet on data, downtime, and using AI to its potential

Alex Crane-Robinson, Regional Director UK and Ireland at Webfleet

Meet Alex Crane-Robinson, Regional Director UK & Ireland at Webfleet. Joining in October 2025, he’s brought more than 20 years of experience working across fleet management, SaaS and IoT.

With fleet technology evolving so quickly, below Alex explains why it’s a really interesting time to be in the industry. Businesses have access to more data than ever before, and the opportunity is now to make this information easier to understand and, more importantly, easier to act on.

This is a big part of what interests him about Webfleet – the opportunity to help fleets use technology to improve efficiency, safety and the way they operate day to day.

 

Telematics has moved a long way beyond simply showing fleet managers where their vehicles are. What do you think the next generation of fleet management technology will allow operators to do that they cannot easily do today?

Fleets already generate huge volumes of information. The challenge is that fleet managers can’t spend their days analysing every data point, looking through dashboards or figuring out what the data is telling them and where they need to act.

The next generation of technology will increasingly do this heavy lifting. Advanced analytics will be able to bring together data from vehicles, drivers and other assets, recognise patterns and anomalies, put performance into context and help fleet managers understand where they can make the biggest difference.

We’re already starting to see that shift with tools such as Fleet Insights, which brings performance trends and peer benchmarking together to give fleet managers a better picture of how their operation is performing and where there may be room for improvement.

The next step is technology becoming even more proactive. Instead of simply telling you that fuel consumption has risen, for example, or a vehicle is developing a problem, it will help explain why it’s happening, how significant it is and what you should do.

I think this is where the real opportunity lies – moving from simply having more data to making it much easier to understand and act on.

 

How has the role of the fleet manager changed as telematics platforms have become more sophisticated, and what skills will fleet professionals increasingly need over the next five years?

The role has certainly become much more strategic.

Fleet managers have always had to understand vehicles and operations, but they’re increasingly being asked to manage a much wider range of issues, from cost, safety and compliance to sustainability, electrification, driver wellbeing and business productivity.

Technology can take away some of the manual work involved in managing all of this, but it also means the fleet manager has access to more information than ever before.

AI should make it easier to get the answers they need from increasingly complex data so they won’t need to become data experts. The skill will be knowing what questions to ask, understanding what the answers mean for the fleet and making better business decisions with the insights generated.

 

Where do you see AI delivering the biggest tangible benefit to fleet managers today and where will the biggest gains come next?

One of the biggest benefits today is that it makes fleet data much easier to use.

In the past, getting an answer to a fairly straightforward question could mean finding the right report, applying filters, exporting data and then working out what it all means. Now you can ask a question in everyday language and get an answer based on your fleet data in seconds.

That’s what we’re doing with Webfleet Fleet Advisor. Fleet managers can ask questions about things such as mileage, fuel consumption, driver performance or emissions without having to dig through reports. It makes useful information much quicker and easier to access, even for people who aren’t data specialists.

Looking ahead, AI is set to make fleet management platforms more proactive. Instead of waiting for someone to ask a question, the technology will increasingly be able to spot changes or potential issues, explain what they could mean and help fleet managers understand what to look at next.

 

How is fleet software moving from reactive to proactive, identifying costs, maintenance, or safety needs, for example?

AI is already helping fleet managers spot issues earlier, instead of just telling them what’s happened.

If technology picks up on changes in vehicle health data that could signal a problem, for instance, fleets can plan maintenance instead of suddenly having to deal with a vehicle off the road.

Similarly, if data highlights risky driving patterns, managers can step in and offer training before incidents occur.

Webfleet’s Fleet Insights helps managers see how their fleet is performing, where there may be gaps and how they compare with similar operations. They can then use Fleet Advisor to investigate in more detail. AI-powered recommendations are also being introduced to help explain likely causes and suggest what steps could have the biggest impact.

So instead of spending so much time looking for problems, fleet managers can spend more time doing something about them.

 

What are the latest things Webfleet is doing that will benefit fleet managers and move the industry forward?

Fleet Insights is an important part of what we’re doing at the moment, particularly in helping fleets get more value from the data they already have. Combined with Fleet Advisor, it’s about making it easier to see where performance could improve, understand what’s behind it and decide what to do next.

But that’s only one area we’re developing. Asset Management 360 will bring vehicles, trailers, equipment and other powered and non-powered assets together in one platform. For operators managing lots of different types of assets, this should make it easier to see where everything is and how it’s being used.

We’re continuing to develop areas such as predictive maintenance, driver management and coaching, compliance and video telematics.

The common thread across all of this is making increasingly sophisticated technology easier for fleet managers to use and helping them understand what the data means and what they should do.

• As platforms become increasingly proactive, the potential lies in spotting problems earlier, identifying where performance can improve and reducing the time spent searching for answers. For Alex Crane-Robinson of Webfleet, the next phase of fleet technology is therefore not simply about greater sophistication, but helping operators make faster, better-informed decisions across cost, safety, maintenance and productivity.

Read part two to ask: Where is your fleet wasting money? Start with this advice from Webfleet’s Alex Crane-Robinson.

Similar Stories

Back to blog