Forget the Technology - The Magic is in the Information

The technology examples I have described can produce amazing benefits for automotive retailers. But, ironically, the technology we provide might only be a third of the solution. The technology alone is not the magic - the magic comes from the information the technology delivers, the business change the technology creates, and the process reengineering and training within the business that leverages both the technology and the information.

Reynolds provides technologies and strategies that enable automotive retailers to think differently about the information in their business and to manage it differently; transforming information into knowledge and knowledge into insight about their business and their customers, the ones served today and the ones who will be served tomorrow.

Much of the magic in information is best tapped through the alchemy of CRM tools - the new frontier in thinking differently about customers and about information. These are the software and program applications that make it possible to individualize customer relationships, build customer loyalty, and make every customer a repeat customer - one customer at a time. CRM is about information that moves a business closer to individual customers and closer to understanding their individual needs and interests. It's also about tailoring a response, a product, a service. When CRM is done well, it's the difference between simply gathering customer data and actually applying knowledge about the customer in order to change the customer's experience, making it more positive, more personal, more specific to the brand and the retailer. The idea behind Customer Relationship Management is the newest trend based on the oldest concept: know your customers and know your market. Information technology helps automotive retailers apply a bedrock concept of business to business in the 21^st Century.

The art of Customer Relationship Management, of course, was first perfected half a century ago by the neighborhood merchant. Then, CRM was face-to-face with each customer, supplemented by dozens of interactions during the week - at school, in the neighborhoods, during worship - and every conversation provided input for the merchant so that the next time an individual was in the store, all of the dimensions of the relationship would come to bear. To do today what the merchant did 50 years ago requires enormously powerful technology and business processes to match. That's what Reynolds delivers to our customers - the technologies that enable customers to tap the information that already is part of their business but that is seldom captured, integrated, synthesized or used to grow the business. With CRM tools, we show them how the magic lies in the information.

And it works. Independent research concludes that automotive retailers implementing CRM in a comprehensive manner can gain double-digit percentage increases in revenue, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Our customers in automotive retailing - much like customers in countless other industries - are asking how best to reach consumers.

With CRM, automotive retailers gain the knowledge and the ability to reach out to individual consumers in unique, personalized ways, to meet their individual needs - whether the first visit to the dealership's Web site or an electronic service reminder after 60,000 miles. The point of CRM is to make the experience for the customer more personal, more positive, and a more specific reflection of the car brand or the dealership brand.

One of the better examples of CRM is automotive telematics, the wireless technology that allows real-time communications and location information between an automobile and an information system. Telematics technologies are capable of collecting and delivering real-time automotive diagnostic and location data across a wireless network that can change the way consumers think about how their car is serviced, maintained, and protected in case of an emergency or theft. It also can change the way automotive retailers think about serving consumers, because it provides a new business model - and new technology - to use in building customer loyalty and in making every customer a repeat customer.

One such telematics technology is provided by Networkcar, which is a Reynolds and Reynolds company. Through Networkcar's small, wireless device that plugs into the standard On Board Diagnostics II port, vehicle performance data and location information are collected continuously, communicated over a wireless network to an information system, and then delivered to the car owner over the Internet on a personalized, secure Web page. The consumer's dealership service department also simultaneously receives information about the vehicle's operation and potential trouble spots.

This device can be installed by an automotive retailer or service center and will plug into 80 million vehicles already on the road and virtually every new vehicle that is manufactured. Instantly, the market for telematics and its application is expanded exponentially from the 2 million (new) vehicles sold with the service factory-installed last year. Just as instantly, there is a new business model for automobile dealerships and service centers that creates a technological link - a tether - to consumers and their cars. Finally, there is an innovation that can ease the chore of maintenance and the worry of safety for millions of vehicle owners. This is technology indistinguishable from magic.

• For consumers there are no added behaviors required: no phone calls, no activation devices, nothing more than driving the way we've always driven.

• Second, the diagnostics can deliver an early warning of mechanical failure: oil pressure that is falling or a water pump that is operating at only 50 percent capacity. The notification and data are available instantly over the Web. With cell phones now offering web access, real-time information in the car takes on a whole new meaning. The diagnostics can also perform valid emissions testing accepted by state agencies without the time and hassle of waiting at a testing facility.

• Third, if something does go wrong, you'll have GPS-accurate location information (even if your car is stolen) for immediate assistance, as well as engine performance data to understand what led to the failure and required repair. And, it's likely you'll have a higher level of trust and confidence in your vehicle service department, because you will be viewing the same information about the car as the service technician.

• Finally, since the information is delivered through a secure, personal Web site, it changes how you can think about travel by car. A family member taking a long car trip? Visit your secure Web site and view a secure map of the car's progress and location. Your college-aged daughter needs service for the car while on campus? The dealer you trust at your local service department can check and verify the problem and the repair being made hundreds of miles away.

Telematics technology applied this way has the power to change how consumers view the automobile and how automobile retailers view using technology to serve customers. It is an example of a truly connected marketplace, delivered today.

The majority of consumers with a Networkcar device installed in their automobile are twice as likely to return to the dealer for service as those without the device. Good for the automobile retailer, who has an opportunity to build customer loyalty and to improve service department efficiency. Good for the consumer, who receives better, more timely service, and is more informed about the service.