Did you see AutoBI in Automotive Management?

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Single source of data will aid your decision-making

Data is the lifeblood of the automotive sector. That’s why it’s critical to be able to capture and analyse it effectively.

Only by doing so can you truly understand how your business is performing and make the necessary improvements. The challenge is that it can take hours to find and look at the data properly in order to gain this business intelligence.

Given their deep industry expertise, the team at AutoBI understands this problem and has developed an effective solution.

The Hub is a state-of-the-art business intelligence dashboard that provides motor retailers with a comprehensive analytics suite that delivers instant efficiencies and long-term improvement in business performance.

“One of the biggest challenges retailers face is reporting and knowing where the business is at any given time,” said AutoBI director Jonathan Sharman. “Because it’s a very time-consuming process, we wanted to automate everything and have one single source of truth that makes the information more easily accessible.”

Powered by Microsoft PowerBI, The Hub seamlessly provides near real-time updates on the key information dealers need to know about all aspects of the business from sales, service and parts to finance and customer relationship management. It’s also secure, scalable and affordable.

The Hub provides four main commercial advantages. It saves the retailer time, enables them to make better decisions, helps to motivate team members and to be more proactive.

By using The Hub, teams have all the information and KPIs they need at their fingertips presented in an easy-to-understand and visually engaging way, with the option to drill down further into the data.

This does away with the need to run reports every morning or being overwhelmed with endless spreadsheets.

It also enables retailers to review important data and see how different areas of their business are performing in real time. Because there is one single source of truth the information can be easily shared with the key stakeholders and it minimises the potential for human error in report writing and data collation. It also frees up team members to focus on more value-added parts of the business such as customer service.

By looking at this key information, teams can see how they are performing, creating healthy competition between branches, brands and employees. For example, when technicians can see their productivity and efficiency they know how close they are to triggering bonus payments or achieving their longer-term goals.

With near real-time updates, problems are also spotted more quickly, enabling management to swiftly and proactively take steps to avoid or mitigate any upcoming problems, such as dealing with a lack of service bookings or deciding what to do with obsolete parts stock.

The consistent feedback from users is that it saves at least a couple of hours on each job.

“By having something that tells you in real time where you need to improve, you can make small tweaks and changes in a matter of hours to ensure that you maximise revenue opportunities for those departments,” said Sharman.

“In retailers, there are many people whose job it is to look after customers, help sell vehicles, service or parts and a large amount oft heir time is taken up trying to get that information. But, by using our dashboard, they can gain that time back.”

The Hub also enables you to quickly spot key trends specific to your operation. For instance, there may be a particular vehicle type that’s selling well across your sites or a specific repair that’s being requested more than others.

By quickly identifying such trends, you can invest in the appropriate stock, parts, support and customer communications. This will ensure you’re prepared when enquiries come in as well as help you boost customer satisfaction and retention.  

One client that has reaped the benefits of using an AutoBI dashboard is Soper of Lincoln.

The family-owned business, with more than 100 employees, that represents BMW and Mini, wanted to tie together all of its data sources into one single reference point, making it easier for teams to drive real-time decision-making.

Working with the retailer, AutoBI quickly developed and implemented a dynamic aftersales dashboard. It has dramatically reduced the time taken by teams to access the information needed to make key business decisions or tackle problems such as missed sales opportunities or potential cashflow challenges.

The dashboard also displays updated key information for the service and parts departments, enabling technicians to see how much they are completing versus their internal targets and last year’s performance. The business can also view invoicing targets and work, costings and videos done for vehicle health checks, providing a powerful visual reminder of the tasks at hand. It can help with people development, highlighting successes and areas for improvement.

“The AutoBI automotive experts understand the data, where it comes from and what you can do with it,” said managing director Andrew Tullie.“What’s more, they present it dynamically with simple ways to drill down into the detail – it’s like delivering the most engaging and important content we need on demand.”

In addition to its dashboard, AutoBI provides a tailored consultancy service to retailers, groups and OEMs looking to maximise their data and business intelligence. Currently, it supports major brands including BMW, Citroën, Ford, Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot and Vauxhall.

Because members of the AutoBI team are all automotive experts who have worked in the industry, they understand the pressures retailers and manufacturers are under and the common challenges they face. This enables AutoBI to quickly customise its service to meet your needs.

“Our USP is our wealth of experience both from an operational and systems standpoint,” said Sharman. “We understand how the industry works, what to look for and what we need to do to help retailers improve.”

It has never been more important to have clear and accurate picture of how your business is performing. By using AutoBI’s innovative business intelligence dashboard or consultancy services, you can transform your business’ performance and efficiency overnight.

For more information about how AutoBI can help you, call 01522 711111 or email hello@autobi.co.uk