forecourttech December 20

forecourttech
IFSF CONFERENCE 2020 REVIEW
This year, the annual IFSF conference took place
entirely online, uniting delegates from across the globe to
discover, discuss and develop new ideas, strategies and
approaches in a changing and challenging landscape.
Spanning four days and with a diverse and immersive
programme, the event attracted key decision makers and
representatives from across the forecourt sector.
The main theme of the conference was consumer experience,
spearheaded by this year’s esteemed keynote,
Steven Van Belleghem, who joined us on the first day to
kick off proceedings with his talk entitled ‘The Offer You
Can’t Refuse. Customer Experience in 2021 and Beyond’.
Steven delved into the evolving world of technology and its
impact on customer experience and expectation, placing
the responsibility on companies to play an active role
in their customers’ life journey. Steven explained that a
combination of automation, being a partner in consumers’
lives and solving actual social issues will be the guiding
principles for the successful business of the next decade.
Kicking off day 2, Greg McAuliffe, Head of IT at Certas
Retail Energy, continued with the theme of consumer experience,
focusing on unmanned forecourts. He started to explore
the conference of sub-theme, APIs driving speed to
market, looking at the importance of standardisation from a
retailing perspective. Peter Van Nauw, Director of Systems
and Payments from Dover Fuelling Systems, followed up
and complemented this theme unravelling how recent
developments in digital transformation, IoT and artificial
intelligence converge with consumer experience needs
and demands for frictionless, contactless and mobile transactions
at the forecourt. He discussed how optimizing the
basic needs of fuel management, dispenser health, and
overall forecourt health are essential in delivering a reliable
and frictionless transaction with all customers. To further
enhance this notion, Peter examined how API’s and standardisation
support the time-to-market for new consumer
value propositions.
As the API theme was developed, Matthieu Codron from
Be:Mo (Better Mobility) a wholly owned subsidiary of Total,
expanded further on the need for standardised API interfaces,
to drive the progress of their work, connecting the
dots between mobility ecosystems and energy services.
IFSF were delighted to be able to share with Matthieu and
the other speakers the importance of standardised APIs in
all areas of Fuel Retailing, plus a hand on guided tour of
the openretailing.org gitlab platform developed jointly by
IFSF & their partners at Conexxus.
Whilst the current climate and circumstances were impossible
to ignore, the pandemic and ensuing repercussions
on the industry did not override the overarching theme of
customer experience, with the focus on delivering efficiency,
speed and cohesion seamlessly through technological
advances and trading standards. This approach was culminated
in Friday’s talk by Mark Wohltmann entitled “Flexibility!
The key requirement in times of ever faster changing
consumer expectations”. Mark explained the importance
of flexibility, from products and services to furniture and
branding to technology and systems. Further accelerated
by the impact of Covid. Mark provided fascinating examples
of how retailers have demonstrated best practice
and what it takes to use technology to win the battle for
customer experience.
The conference incorporated an engaging mix of speaker
sessions and panel discussions, with members of the IFSF
board offering their expertise throughout as session chairs
and panellists. Despite the social distancing restrictions
and shift online, the team worked hard to facilitate strong
communication lines between delegates, speakers and
panellists, providing continuous opportunities for questions
and further discussion. The conference materials are all
available free to access and watch on the IFSF website at
the convenience of those who were unable to attend the
original dates. What we were ultimately extremely proud
of is the way both delegates and speakers have adapted
to the ‘new normal’ to continue to deliver excellence at our
flagship event.
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