In this exclusive CanadianSME Small Business Magazine interview, Alice Reimer, CEO of Fillip Fleet, offers an inside look at how fintech and digital transformation are revolutionizing fuel and fleet expense management for small and medium-sized businesses. A celebrated entrepreneur and industry leader, Alice draws on her experience scaling SaaS companies, advising future founders, and championing women’s access to capital—sharing practical insights to help SMBs optimize operations, embrace technology, and navigate the next era of smart fleet solutions.
Alice Reimer is an accomplished technology entrepreneur and dedicated community leader with a track record of building high-impact companies and supporting the next generation of founders. She is currently the CEO of Fillip Fleet, a fintech company at the forefront of digitizing fuel and fleet expense management, and serves as an advisor at Creative Destruction Lab Rockies.
Fillip offers a modern fuel card solution with AI fraud protection and purchase controls. How does this technology specifically benefit small and medium-sized businesses in managing their fleet expenses?
For SMBs, even small leaks in fleet spending can make a big difference to their bottom line. Fuel fraud alone can quietly drain 5 to 10 percent of annual budgets, and without proper controls, those costs remain buried in everyday spending.
Owners don’t have time to manually verify every transaction, and by the time statements arrive – often weeks later – it’s too late.
That’s where Fillip comes in. Fillip is a fleet platform that goes beyond payments. It gives business leaders a single system to manage their team, track compliance, stay on top of maintenance, and keep finances seamlessly connected.
Most card programs stop at basic limits, which are rigid and ineffective. With Fillip, owners can decide when, where, and what each driver can purchase – keeping spending power aligned with the ebbs and flows of their operations.
On top of that, Fillip’s AI fraud protection provides intelligent oversight 24/7. By learning fueling patterns, vehicle specs, and utilization, our system detects unusual behavior and flags it instantly. Instead of discovering issues weeks later, owners get alerts in the moment and can act right away.
Your platform boasts instant digital card delivery. Can you share an example of how these features have helped an SMB improve their operational efficiency?
We work with many businesses that have distributed teams, seasonal workforces, or complex project cycles. The ability to issue digital cards is a game changer.
Just the other day, a new customer shared that “[they] don’t see their employees enough to use physical cards and [they] worry it would be too much to manage”. That’s exactly it – plastic and paper create an administrative burden they simply don’t have time for. This is a problem we solve every day.
I’ll share another example from a long-time customer, Joel Patan of Patan Heating and Air. He was bogged down by reimbursements and the time wasted on managing cards. When he switched to Fillip, he shared this experience with us:
“I just hired my new Ops Manager. I typed their info into the app, and they had the digital fleet card on their phone within minutes. They could get on the road immediately. It saved so much time.”
That’s the essence of operational efficiency. It’s about eliminating downtime and empowering your team to be productive from the moment they’re hired. By turning a process that used to take days into one that takes minutes, we give business owners like Joel a real, tangible advantage.
Fillip emphasizes its acceptance “everywhere Visa is accepted” across Canada. How does this wide acceptance network benefit SMBs with diverse geographical operations?
Time is money for SMBs, and traditional fuel cards tend to waste both. Drivers get locked into a closed network, which can mean detours, wasted fuel, and unnecessary frustration. With Fillip, they can stop at the nearest station (anywhere Visa is accepted) and get back on the road in minutes.
For SMBs with diverse geographical operations, that flexibility is essential. Closed networks don’t always have reliable coverage, so businesses end up reimbursing employees or juggling multiple programs – what one customer coined “a bouquet of fuel cards.” Fillip provides one card that works everywhere, ensuring access isn’t an issue.
Operating on the Visa network also enables us to partner with stations and provide exclusive rebates and discounts to Fillip Fleet customers.
It’s flexibility without compromise, giving SMBs both convenience and savings.
With the rising importance of data in business decisions, how does Fillip’s reporting and analytics capabilities help SMBs gain insights into their fleet operations and fuel consumption?
Data is the foundation for better business decisions, and fleets are no exception. For many SMBs, this data is buried in paper receipts or isolated across multiple systems. Fleets are used to receiving an invoice, paying the amount and moving on. So much is left on the table.
Fillip captures a deeper level of fleet expense data – and brings it together in a way business leaders can act on.
First, we automate the digital capture of every transaction detail – location, time, volume, cost per litre, odometer reading – and present it in a single, real-time dashboard. Our ready-to-use reports turn this raw data into insights that help owners and managers quickly spot overspending, track fuel efficiency, and identify unusual activity without manual effort.
We also integrate with leading telematics platforms, such as GeoTab and Samsara, merging real-time transaction data with live vehicle operations. This unified view gives managers immediate insight – from spotting drops in fuel economy to verifying a vehicle’s location at the time of purchase or identifying underperforming assets.
Instead of piecing data together later, they can act on real-time insights to cut costs and improve fleet performance.
As we conclude, what advice would you offer to SMB owners looking to optimize their fleet management and fuel expenses? How do you see the future of fleet technology evolving?
My first piece of advice for SMB owners is simple: go digital. We’ve all felt the pain of manual, paper-based processes. They’re not only slow and cumbersome – they leave you flying blind when it matters most. Digitizing your fuel, maintenance and fleet management processes is the only way to see what’s actually happening in your business.
Second, don’t just collect data – make it work for you. Receipts and driver logs on their own don’t enable effective decision-making. You need tools that turn information into insights you can act on, so you can cut waste, manage costs, and maximize your team’s uptime.
Looking ahead, this is exactly where fleet technology is going: digital, connected, and predictive. Fleets will increasingly rely on systems that talk to each other in real time. And this will pave the way for bigger shifts like the energy transition and autonomous vehicles. The future of fleet management will be smarter, more sustainable, and more cost-effective – and the businesses that embrace technology early will have the advantage.
Disclaimer:
CanadianSME Small Business Magazine publishes this interview. The views and opinions expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official position of CanadianSME. This interview is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or business advice.
This card is issued by Digital Commerce Bank under license from *Visa Int./Digital Commerce Bank, Licensed User. Cette carte est émise par Digital Commerce Bank sous licence de *Visa Int./Digital Commerce Bank, Licensed User.
