The Market We Serve: Lessons for Other Companies


Reynolds and Reynolds is a billion dollar software and information services company that has served automotive retailing since 1927, when we first developed standardized accounting forms and processes for Chevrolet dealerships across the U.S. Today, the Reynolds brand accounts for the largest installed product base of software and information technology in automobile dealerships and the strongest market position in the industry. Reynolds serves more than 20,000 automotive retailers, every car company in North America, and delivers consulting to automotive retailers in 20 countries worldwide.

Reynolds' leadership is built on deep automotive industry experience, technological knowledge, and the unique ability to bring both together to change how our customers do business, creating value and competitive advantage for them in serving their customers. The value and competitive advantage that make our customers repeat customers is found in connecting, combining, and delivering information in new ways; ways that enable automotive retailers to manage their businesses more profitably and to serve consumers more consistently - whether within the four walls of the dealership or across the expanse of the World Wide Web.

In North America, automotive retailing is a $1.7 trillion market. With more than 25,000 new car franchised retailers, 55,000 used car retailers, 22,000 sport and recreational vehicle shops, and 53,000 collision repair shops, that marketplace generates 22 percent of all retail activity and pays more than 19 percent of all sales tax in the U.S. It is a market that encompasses dozens of players, dozens of mega-processes, and billions of transactions - richly complex and poorly connected.

The typical automobile dealer manages on average 2.3 different franchises and several distinct businesses under one roof: new and used vehicles, parts and service, sales and leasing, insurance and financing, rental cars, and increasingly, after market accessories, sports apparel, and upscale caf 's. Each area is information rich. Yet, automotive retailing, too, often is still characterized by islands of information and separate business operations within dealerships - different information systems and processes, different franchise reporting requirements, and disjointed, scattered touch points with consumers. Although Electronic Data Interchange has been around since the 1960s, less than 5 percent of the entire automotive value chain is connected. The opportunity to bridge the islands of information - to connect the dots of automotive retailing - is the opportunity to create unprecedented value for businesses and benefit for consumers.

We can serve that market as it exists today - delivering value, certainly - or we can invent the future of automotive retailing with our customers, creating extraordinary value by connecting the dots of automotive retailing. We've chosen to lead the transformation in automotive retailing and invent the future with our customers. For any business, building sustainable, profitable customer relationships - and making every customer a repeat customer - requires inventing the future.




The CTO Handbook. The Indispensable Technology Leadership Resource for Chief Technology Officers
The CTO Handbook/Job Manual: A Wealth of Reference Material and Thought Leadership on What Every Manager Needs to Know to Lead Their Technology Team
ISBN: 1587623676
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 213

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