Pictured:  Ashley Sowerby

Derbyshire-based Chevin Fleet Solutions are proudly celebrating 21 years in business. Since the company was founded on 1st September 1990, Chevin has played a major role in revolutionising the fleet management industry, and today stands apart from other software businesses, maintaining over 1.3 million vehicles across the globe. Most notably, Chevin created the first ever web-based fleet management solution, FleetWave, unveiled in 2001.

Chevin is the only international fleet management technology and consultancy provider, serving public, private and non-government organisations. With bases in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, North America and Australia, and a customer base stretching over 30 countries, Chevin's global operations and ability to deliver results are unmatched.

Founder and managing director Ashley Sowerby reflects: "When I started Chevin, I gave myself the goal of bringing quality software solutions to the fleet industry, something I feel we've more than achieved in the past two decades. After the initial start-up, business quickly began to grow as organisations realised the financial and operational benefits of fleet management software.

"There are two key highlights for me since starting the business. The first was the creation of FleetWave. At the time, fleet management processes were either paper or desktop based, so to harness the emerging power of the internet was a huge technological leap forward. The second is standing outside the UN building in New York prior to a presentation that the team had been invited to give. It was a big moment for us, and I remember thinking that we had come a long way from my first home-office in Belper."

"FleetWave and its sister product, RoadBASE, form the backbone of our business so we continually invest in researching and developing them in-line with customer feedback. In fact, a key factor to our success is our ability to listen to our customers, and having worked closely with organisations over the past 21 years we understand their everyday challenges and recognise what they need from our technology."

"Whilst many fleet management software companies have emerged over our lifetime, there are only a handful that have survived. Unlike other providers, we have achieved true longevity as our solutions are custom built for each customer. We have always remained true to our core competence of fleet management software, and have always developed flexible solutions that adapt to client needs.

"People expect so much more out of technology today, and thankfully we've been able to build a team that keeps producing advancements that are keeping us one step ahead of the competition," concludes Sowerby.

Chevin is now looking to build on the success of the past 21 years through continued expansion and new product launches. The business is looking for new headquarters that will be better suited to its needs and the size of its work force; and has hinted that research and development programmes are expected to come to fruition before the end of 2011, leading to the launch of yet more ground breaking solutions.