Backed by significant financial investment from ALD International, the Development Centre is located near ALD Automotive’s current UK headquarters as well as the location of its new head office, which will open in December.

Developing solutions primarily to meet the needs of the UK fleet market, the team’s focus is to create scalable solutions that can be adapted for international key accounts, local markets and white-label partner groups.

The new centre is headed up by IT Director Derek Barker and already has a 60-strong development team, including testers, in place.

ALD said the investment clearly signals its intention to innovate and stay at the forefront of technology, not only within the UK but also across the entire group.

A number of projects are being worked on simultaneously – including the development of a group‐wide telematics platform – and the centre has already seen an acceleration in the development of key projects.

The new Development Centre will also help build on the company’s Smart Mobility programme, which provides a consultancy service to ensure that businesses operate the optimum travel solution.

Derek Barker, IT director, said: “We’re extremely excited about our plans here. Rather than buying off-the-shelf products like other leasing firms, we pride ourselves on developing our own in-house solutions that are designed to meet our exact needs and optimise our services to customers. The new Centre will build on this work and improve efficiencies across the business, benefiting all of our products and transforming the services we can offer our customers.”

“We’re really looking forward to seeing the feedback from our customers when the full range of products we’re developing goes live – just part of our ongoing list of developments.”