Running a modern dealership is hectic. There’s no other word for it! You are working in a retail environment with multiple departments, teams and stock items. Dealerships have internal and manufacturer targets to achieve, and we're betting you have a mountain of data coming in.
Many dealerships have internal processes to help them manage their data. Many dealerships will have a mixed approach to data. For example, some reports may be automated and the rest run manually by staff. While you might feel this is working well for the time being, there is always potential for improvement and growing efficiencies across your business.
If you know your processes could be more efficient, at what point should you think about taking the next step and acquiring a business intelligence solution? This is a question many automotive dealers ask themselves. We’ve compiled some questions below which might help you decide if it might be the right time to look for a BI solution.
Think about your automotive business and its various departments. Now, think about the quantity of reports being ran manually every day. You’ll likely think of different reports for your sales and aftersales departments. Imagine how many minutes each of your staff spends running reports each week, month and year. Is this a number you’re happy with? If you could give your team that time back, where else could they focus their time?
Your time is too precious to waste on manual reporting. This out-dated process is a drain on you and your staff and often is at risk of human error. While the odd, bespoke manual report can be very useful, it should not be the default method of gathering data in your modern automotive business.
If you rely on manual data, you are at risk of missing valuable insights. For example, if the member of stuff who usually runs your reports is away from the office, will you need to wait for their return to get your information? We have seen dealerships miss key targets and due to a lack of real-time data.
If there is any delay in getting data, it is definitely time to think about investigating in a Business Intelligence solution to automate this for you. This will give you consistent insights and combine multiple data sources so you can see everything in one place.
You’ll likely have heard the phrase “one version of the truth” used before. It is one of the fundamental pillars in data science. However, it is very hard to deliver without the use of a business intelligence solution. If different members of your team download their own version of reports, the truth can become skewed by various filters, leading to confusion across the business.
Once reports are exported to a spreadsheet, they are open to manipulation by the reader. Sometimes this is a great thing. Using filters and pivot tables can enable you to see trends you may have struggled to see before. However, when senior management relies on individual departments to deliver reports, the idea that reports can be filtered or edited becomes more of a negative than a positive.
Structuring and automating your reporting through the creation of dashboards can remove this risk. If your staff have access to the exact same reports, it means everyone is working from the same page.
If you are struggling to get transparency across various departments at a head office level, an automotive business intelligence solution like ours will solve this issue. The data is pulled automatically from the source and presented back to you in a clear manner. Data validation ensures you’re looking at correct information every time. No more debates!
It can be almost impossible to utilize all your data effectively if it is being manually run. If different subsets of data live on various spreadsheets, you will waste time collating everything together instead of doing something to fix what the data is alerting you to.
Data is only beneficial to a business if it tells a story. You need to be able to see what’s happening across your business on a daily level and spot any opportunities. These direct insights should be dispatched to the relevant teams so solutions or updates can be put in place asap.
If you are waiting for end of month report packs to be created to learn of opportunities or losses, it’s already too late. The retail environment is dynamic, always shifting as sales results change. If you want actionable insights at your fingertips every day, then a business intelligence solution is a must.
Here at RWA Automotive, we deliver reports straight to your inbox daily at a time of your choosing. Through access to our portal, you can dive deeper into your analytics whenever you need to. Track performance easily over time and against your KPIs.
This question might seem like a no-brainer! What manager doesn’t want their team to perform to their absolute best? A business intelligence tool can play a major role here and help you curate and drive a culture of performance.
For example, your service department can become more efficient by targeting VHC metrics. Focusing on actionable data will develop a culture of performance but identify additional areas for improvement within the workshop.
We know that every unused hour in a workshop affects your bottom line. Insights like this are invaluable when working against challenging targets. Compiling this information manually though is a time intensive task. Scale this up across your entire business and the result will be significant.
These are just a few questions to help identify if an automotive BI tool could be useful for your business. Remember, your data is only useful if you can use it. Otherwise, we’re just collecting numbers.
We meet a lot of dealerships who are happy with their internal processes. However, many are now looking to take the next step and unlock their business potential. Automotive dealers have access to so much information, but need assistance to make it actionable.
If you are interested in learning more about our automotive BI solutions, contact us for a non-obligatory chat. We’d love to talk with you about all things data and see where we can help your business. If you’re not ready to chat just yet please explore our solution pages to learn more.
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