Vehicle tracking devices could be the edge over competitors. Investing in them enables oil marketing companies keep track of cargo to ensure timely delivery of products and services, reports AMBROSE NNAJI. To check products diversion and other unethical practices, oil marketing firms have been advised to adopt trackers to monitor their fuel trucks.An aviation expert, Adewale Sanni, gave this advice at the Total Nigeria Plc Africa Customers Week, in Lagos.Sanni, the Country Station Manager of Lufthansa, who spoke on the theme: Aviation Fuelling ChallengesSpecial Focus on Nigerian Market, said automated trucking on haulage was in line with international best practices.This, he said, is to standardise and regulate the process of transportation of petroleum through tracking of trucks using available best practices in the aviation industry.He said: Tracking system should be embraced; fuel haulage should be tracked at any time through an App. We are still doing manual tracking rather than automated. Airlines are the lifeblood of the aviation market. When airlines succeed and prosper, the rest of the markets prosper.Over the past decade, as the global economy has improved, airlines have grown in profitability, matured in terms of employing better capacity management and cost controls years, he added.Sanni said in airline business, passenger travel has continued to grow above the long-term 10-year average of 5.5 per cent, adding that the latest Economic Performance of the airlines industry report, from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), showed a slight cooling in passenger demand.In 2018, demand measured in revenue per kilometer grew by 6.5 per cent, down from 8.0 per cent growth in 2017. IATA expects passenger demands to drop to 6.0 per cent growth in 2019. Capacity measured in available seat kilometers rose by 6.0 per cent in 2018 compared to 6.6 per cent in 2017, with predictions for 5.8 per cent growth in 2019.Passenger load factors have therefore continued their slight upward trend from 81.5 per cent in 2017 to 81.9 per cent in 2018 and are forecast to reach 82.1 per cent in 2019, he stated.Sanni, nevertheless, admonished oil marketing companies to embrace automated invoicing system approach in the aviation industry than invoicing manually.He urged the companies to consider international best practices on automated invoicing system, adding that it would help to fast-trace payment process.Read Also:Total Nigeria to drive growth with solar businessSanni advised Total to embrace the model and get the App to commence on automated invoicing to reduce manual invoicing. You have the resources and facility because thats what we should be promoting in the aviation industry, he insisted.Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi urged Total downstream to be more strategic and goal driven toward customers satisfaction and to always put customers first at the front their business.Sanusi made a presentation on Operational Excellence in Airline Operation-A Focus on Customer Centricity. He commended the management of Total Nigeria Plc for their effective customer service delivery, adding that true customer-centric organisations identify their most valuable customers and ensure their satisfaction.In order to do this, organisations gather customer data from multiple sources and channels and target their most profitable customers with relevant offers at the right time.Customer-centric is an approach to doing business that focuses on providing a positive customer experience both at the point of sale and after the sale in order to drive profit and gain competitive advantage, which Total is doing to us. Another potential benefit of a customer-centric business strategy is that it can increase customer satisfaction.Also, Managing Director, Total Nigeria Plc, Imrane Barry, commended the aviation operators for surviving the business in spite of huge challenges in the industry. He said the Africa Customers Week became necessary to appreciate stakeholders and valued customers for consistence patronage. According to him, Total is the only International Oil Company in the downstream sector in Nigeria because the group firmly believes in the country. We believe in Africa.
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