WEX Wrap-Up: November 2015

Another exciting month in the world of global payments, and as we enter the holiday season, we are excited to share with you the latest from WEX business lines, including WEX Travel, WEX Fleet, and Evolution1.

WEX Fleet

We would be remiss to mention WEX Fleet without announcing the line’s biggest news in November—the launch of WEX Fleet ClearView. Fleet Clearview is an intuitive cloud-based platform that provides fleet customers with an integrated, dynamic view of fleet-related activities and expenses to do the following:

• Review activity for cost-saving opportunities, and gain a clearer picture of fleet performance, efficiency gains and total cost of ownership.
• Receive actionable insights to more proactively manage asset performance and expenses in an effort to reduce inappropriate spending and card abuse, all while optimizing business decisions.
• Streamline fleet operations to eliminate time-consuming manual calculations while operating efficiently, effectively and securely.

Learn more about ClearView.

Latest Insights from the WEX Fleet Team

• Significant Support for Truckers and Trucking, Poll Finds: Contrary to the light in which truckers are shown in the media and movies, Americans see truckers in quite the favorable light—higher than both rail and air travel. The poll found that Americans believe truckers are less likely to make unsafe maneuvers than drivers, and that the term “hard-working” comes to mind as one of the best terms to describe truckers. Learn more in Americans Like Trucking.
• Beyond Fuel Savings: Commonly, telematics are used to reduce fuel waste and improve cost savings, but did you know there are other benefits? Safety, improved visibility in repair schedules, better performance and heightened accountability are all highlighted in the article Overlooked Financial Benefits of Fleet Telematics.
• How to Effectively Use Fleet Data: Getting the right data at the right time is great, but for new fleet managers, the key is learning to use the loads of data generated by telematics. Get the primer on how to best use data to take charge of driving, improve environmental impact, and more in the WEX Fleet article, How to Effectively Use Daily Fleet Data Reports.
• Four Steps to Create a Mentorship Program: Getting newly licensed drivers personally involved and recognized as part of your organization helps to improve both recruiting and long term retention. Learn more about the importance of and first steps in creating a mentorship program here.

WEX Index: October Gas Prices Continue to Tumble

The national average fell more than 10 cents per gallon in the past 30 days reaching $2.19 per gallon. This is nearly 80 cents per gallon less than last year. Nine states currently have an average price less than $2.00 per gallon, with South Carolina in the lead at a price of $1.84.

WEX Travel

Among the top news highlights at WEX Travel this month were WEX’s newest agreement with Vessix Inc. to simplify payments for fixed-base operators, or FBOs, and WEX’s relationship with Grasp Technologies to provide virtual cards for GraspPAY.

• Travel Sharing Here to Stay: According to research from the CWT Travel Management Institute, twice as many of travelers born between 1980 and the mid-2000s have used sharing services for business travel. From cars to jets to room rentals, the experience that comes from sharing is all part of the experience for millennials and other travelers. Learn more in the article, Why Travel Sharing Services are Here to Stay.
• Skift Forum Shares Trends: Skift has been providing the latest in travel and hospitality technology news since 2013, and the second annual Skift Forum highlighted what’s on the horizon for travel brands. Learn more in Top Takeaways from Skift Forum.
• Mike Carlo Highlights Travel Trends: Mike Carlo, head of Travel Solutions, talked virtual cards, mobile payments, the sharing economy, big data, social media, and more in a recent interview. Read the interview here.
• Travel Apps and the Generational Divide: The mobile phone has revolutionized the way that we connect with each other, the way that we make payments, and the way that we travel. But who’s using what app to meet their business travel needs? WEX Travel highlighted the generational gaps in travel app awareness and use here.

Evolution1 and Healthcare Trends Institute

Adding to WEX’s move into the healthcare payments market, our acquisition of Benaissance, a leading provider of integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies and services for healthcare premium billing, payment and workflow management, was completed this November. Benaissance will complement Evolution1’s business unit and fit into the company. Read more from the press release.

• Successful Benefits Communication: Whether Employer or benefit plan, ensuring timely, informative communication about benefits options can help the employer to save money and the employee to make the most of his or her plan.
• Healthy Wealth: In this age of consumer-driven health care (CDH) and defined contribution, HSA Contributions for building retirement savings is expanding rapidly. As individuals assume more responsibility for managing their health-care benefits, alternative opportunities for financial independence are gaining traction. In this webcast you will learn about the benefits of adding HSAs to your retirement plan along with a panelist of experts sharing industry trends and success stories.
• Voluntary Benefits becoming More Attractive Globally: There is a growing global opportunity in the voluntary benefits marketplace that has expanded rapidly over the past several years in the U.S. and is now extending to other countries as well. With the globalization of businesses, more options must exist to reach each.
• Health Reform and Student Coverage: With changes in health reform, students are seeing changes to plans. What used to be simple—colleges offer low-cost insurance to students, students signed up for insurance—became complex, and the price has risen over the past five years.

News at WEX

Among the news of acquisitions, partnerships and other agreements, we would like to congratulate our WEX Australia Business Unit for its recognition by the Customer Service Institute of Australia as the 2015 Victorian Winner of the Service Excellence in a Contact Centre under 100 employees category, and the runner up in the National Award.

We would also like to announce a new CFO at WEX, Roberto Simon, to be appointed late February 2016. Steve Elder, WEX’s current chief financial officer, will remain with WEX to assume the newly created position of senior vice president, investor relations.

Follow WEX on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep up with all the latest news in corporate payments.