Summit Fleet is part of the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, with a majority owned shareholding by Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company (SMAS). With a fleet size of more than 640,000 vehicles and a growing presence in many countries, it is one of the top 10 fleet management and leasing organisations in the world.

Summit Fleet, which was established in 1997, currently manages more than 500 fleet clients in a wide range of industries, including corporate and community groups, health groups and local government bodies in Australia.

The company has credited the Miles software platform from Sofico for helping with its success. In 2005, Summit Fleet went to market via a tender process to replace its existing fleet management system which had been in place since 1997. Following a comprehensive review process that included three other vendors, Sofico was selected as the most suitable ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) partner for Summit Fleet.

Summit Fleet’s general manager David Clinch said: “Miles forms the backbone of our business. Most other systems throughout our business are heavily integrated or at least rely heavily on the outputs created by Miles. It is definitely seen as our most critical technology solution,” he added.

The company went live with Miles in 2006 with 3,500 vehicles on its books. Since then, Summit Fleet’s business volume has almost tripled, a growth rate in line with that of Sofico’s software systems, which now manage more than one million vehicles worldwide.

“Since implementing Miles we’ve increased our ability to adapt to changing market conditions. We can better manage our customers’ vehicle fleet requirements utilising automation and less human interaction,” added David Clinch.

“Our ability to consume and analyse data from various sources has been invaluable in providing meaningful reporting to our customers. This has contributed to our success by increasing our apparent value, not only as a supplier, but as a trusted advisor to our customers,” he added.

Gémar Hompes, managing director of Sofico, commented: “We are delighted to be instrumental in helping Summit Fleet achieve its milestone of 10,000 vehicle contracts. We look forward to the next 10,000 with equal anticipation.”