Partner Article

Experienced Tech CFO joins fleet green-tech leader, Lightfoot

Lightfoot, the trail-blazing, in-cab, driver fleet coaching technology and rewards platform, has announced the appointment of experienced tech business Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Neil Warman, as the Devon-based green-tech company’s new CFO.

Having previously held positions as CFO at the UK’s largest electronic ticket machine supplier, Ticketer, and at loan management software provider Nostrum Group, Neil’s Software as a Service (SaaS) experience, wedded to his business consulting expertise from his time at Arthur Andersen, is seen as key to realising Lightfoot’s future development as a SaaS business, widening its offer to fleets in the UK and beyond.

Neil’s appointment follows Volpi Capital’s investment in Lightfoot last year. Its investment
is enabling the business to advance R&D and new product development, which is focused on providing ICE and EV fleets with solutions that reduce costs and environmental impact, empowering businesses to hit their ESG and Net Zero targets faster.

Commenting on joining Lightfoot, Neil Warman said: “Lightfoot is a disruptive business to the core and has carved itself a market-leading position by doing things differently. It has grown rapidly over the past five years, and has taken its driver-first, in-cab, real-time driver coaching and reward technology to a mass market used by major UK businesses including Tesco and Asda; reducing their CO2 emissions by thousands of tonnes each year.

“As the world moves towards Net Zero targets, more and more businesses and their CFOs are realising that action today is the key to a better tomorrow. Growing pressure to hit ESG, CSR, sustainability, and health and safety targets are high on the corporate board agenda, and this is where Lightfoot’s technology - added to its ability to enable decarbonisation today - is generating major traction in the boardrooms of businesses with fleets across the UK.”

Neil Warman adds: “The uncomfortable truth is that although few fleets are in a position to go fully electric due to concerns over costs, loss of lifetime value on existing vehicles, and worries about available charging infrastructure and range, CFOs and boards need to be making a significant, positive difference to their carbon footprints today. We all have an obligation to the environment, to employees and our families, and to our customers. Doing nothing but waiting for EVs to be more affordable and scalable is not an option. That’s where decarbonising existing ICE fleets is so important. It is the greatest area of immediate gain, and it’s exactly what Lightfoot’s technology delivers.”

Proven to cut CO2 and fuel use by up to 15%, Lightfoot’s driver-first approach engages and enables drivers to transform the way they drive for the benefit of the planet and for themselves. Through reward in return for smoother, safer driving, the individual wins, and companies hit their decarbonisation targets sooner. Effective in both ICE vehicles and EVs, Lightfoot enables vehicles to travel further on one tank or one charge, all through positive driver engagement, rewards, and in-cab coaching.

Lightfoot also reduces at-fault accidents by up to 40%, and wear and tear costs by as much as 45%. It’s this rich combination of benefits and savings that is causing CFOs and CEOs to sit up, take notice, and take action.

Commenting on Lightfoot as a business, Neil Warman added: “Lightfoot has an amazing culture. It’s one of the things that drew me to the business. We see all our staff as stakeholders in the business and as evangelists, which is why our recent move to Winslade Park just outside Exeter is so important. We believe firmly in attracting and retaining the best people to the business and Winslade Park enables us to do that, thanks to its convenient location just off the M5, amazing facilities, and room for expansion.

“Looking to the future, it will be our people that help us grow rapidly in the UK, before pushing into new markets, so we need to take care of our staff and reward them in the right way. It will be Lightfoot’s team of disruptive innovators that enable us to build scalable SaaS solutions, which will integrate with in-vehicle infotainment systems, giving us solutions for both legacy ICE vehicles and new EVs through cloud-connected technology. I look forward to playing my part in making this happen, using my experience of scaling-up SaaS businesses to accelerate Lightfoot’s development in existing and new markets.”

Rupert Lyon Taylor, Chief Executive Officer at Lightfoot, welcomed Neil Warman to the business, saying: “Neil’s background as a senior CFO brings a vital insight to the driving forces that lie behind decisions made at the highest levels within businesses. Increasingly, ESG and CSR lie at the centre of capital asset and enabling technology investment decisions, so a growing part of our role is to show how Lightfoot delivers to that agenda on multiple levels, helping fleet managers and directors make a compelling case to CFOs and their boards.”

Rupert added: “As we look to take our sector-leading technology to wider markets in new and different ways, Neil’s background in scaling fast-growth businesses and taking SaaS businesses to the next level will prove a huge asset. Our future lies with organisations that recognise the key role that the decarbonisation of fleets has to play in achieving Net Zero targets, and the role that driver engagement will have in enabling electric vehicles to reach their full potential. With Neil on board, we have every confidence that we will realise these goals, while expanding our market penetration domestically and internationally.”

Pioneering a new standard and way of measuring efficient driving, Lightfoot’s technology has been developed in partnership with leading driver-behaviour experts at the University of Bath. It uses advanced, real-time engine analytics which take account of different factors such as load and road gradient to provide live, in-cab coaching, helping drivers improve both efficiency and safety, and rewarding them for being better.

Radically different to anything else available on the market, Lightfoot’s in-vehicle dashboard-mounted device works hand-in-hand with the Lightfoot reward app. This shows where drivers rank in leagues and rewards those hitting the target Elite Driver level by unlocking access to a host of prize draws. This includes The Drivers’ Lottery, where drivers can win up to £200 each week and have a one-in-ten chance of winning cash prizes. As a result, Lightfoot’s fleet management solutions have transformed the concept of fleet driver engagement, which has been shown to directly improve driver safety and performance.

Today, Lightfoot regularly achieves driver engagement levels in excess of 60%, which compares favourably with conventional telematics that struggle to achieve engagement levels higher than 5%.

By creating a driver-first approach, aided by Lightfoot’s ‘always-on’ visual and audible driver coaching and nudge psychology, drivers intuitively become more aware of their driving style, helping them to be less aggressive, smoother, and safer drivers. This not only helps to reduce overall costs but allows businesses to meet their occupational road risk management and fleet compliance obligations.

A verbal end of journey score, based on their driving performance, reinforces good habits and links to the driver app where those achieving and maintaining Lightfoot’s Elite Driver status can unlock access to prize draws and The Drivers’ Lottery.

Considered revolutionary in the fleet management and telematics worlds, Lightfoot’s disruptive approach to reducing accidents has been adopted by some of the largest companies in the market, including Virgin Media, Tesco, Asda, Dixons Carphone, and South West Water.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Charley .