Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019 - F36

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

PUTTING OWNERS FIRST

Dealers, OEMs must make vehicle service a rewarding experience for customers

espite continued annual
declines in new-vehicle
sales, more than 272
million cars and light
trucks are on the road in the United
States. Ownership journeys - and
the aftersales and aftermarket
processes that support them -
remain overdue for reimagination
and investment by automakers and
their dealer partners.
The latest innovations in marketing,
STEVEN P.
digital retailing, finance and insurance
SILVER
technology, and mobility services
make headlines. Yet aftersales
GUEST
generate 20 percent of revenue, and
COLUMNIST
about 50 percent of profits, for car
companies' dealerships.
Other indicators of the importance of aftersales: About 23 million
vehicles were recalled last year in campaigns not related to Takata
airbags. Warranty claims reduce OEM revenues by about 3.3 percent.
And three-fourths of vehicle owners say they would pay a flat monthly
fee for "invisible" effortless service, including such conveniences as
vehicle pickup and drop-off at home.
Automotive enterprises continue to juggle too many aftersales
processes, systems and applications that were designed for another era.
Most of them don't work together when automakers, dealers and
vehicle owners attempt to engage across channels.
This failure is especially disruptive as vehicle technology becomes
more complex and owner connectivity more ubiquitous - along with a
proliferation of factory recalls, service campaigns and warranty events.
Customer interactions, dealer visits, repairs, claims and
reimbursements grow, but budgets and headcount remain static or
decrease.

Aftersales, not afterthought
Many OEMs and dealers are meeting minimum obligations to keep
federal regulators and company lawyers satisfied. But is our industry
truly all in on delivering Amazon-, Google- or Apple-easy ownership
experiences and returns that are as exceptional as our vehicles?
We should no longer treat these capabilities as aspirational. Here's
what the industry needs to ask itself:
When every movement, word or action in our vehicle shopping
journeys has been digitized as we move from anonymous visitor to
engaged shopper, are we applying the same real-time observation,
insight and engagement for vehicle owners and their connected
journeys?
When vehicle software can be regularly enhanced with over-the-air
updates, are we applying the same kind of innovations to make other
aspects of vehicle ownership effortless, continuously creating new
value for owners and users, from delivery until scrappage?
When every vehicle and user is "addressable," leaving an intelligent,
actionable data wake, are we unlocking this data to make vehicle
operation, support and maintenance effortless, while keeping

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OCTOBER 2019

consumers and privacy regulators happy?
Ownership and aftersales events must be managed and
operationalized at scale. Innovations in process automation and data
management make transformation practical in weeks and months,
often with clicks and gestures rather than code.

Road to digital transformation
But the people, processes, systems and data needed to achieve these
transformations are often disconnected across a highly complex
automotive ecosystem. Automotive enterprises must take a twopronged approach to deliver effortless ownership experiences.
That means connecting processes and their systems and data to
reduce blind and rough spots in owner and vehicle engagement, use
and quality, to enable action and mitigate financial risk. It also means
streamlining and automating decisions, actions and work flows for
intelligent and transparent processes, engagement and reporting - no
matter how complex the vehicle or customer issue.
How does this get done? Digital transformation of ownership
journeys and aftersales processes has five pragmatic steps that every
automotive enterprise should already be taking:
 Focus on ownership journeys, not just processes, channels, events
or tasks.
 Avoid false silos that treat customer service, warranty and recall
transformation as standalone efforts.
 Focus on owner- and business-specific outcomes for each journey.
 Demonstrate value one journey at a time.
 Transform at scale.
With this approach, automakers and dealers can scale proactive and
relevant owner communications, engagement, vehicle service, issue
remediation, claims, recovery and reporting. This creates seamless
ownership experiences and minimally disruptive warranty and recall
events that reduce customer and dealer interruption, friction and cost.
The highest customer value is generated from delighting guests who
encounter issues. With this approach, automotive enterprises can
transform ownership journeys, issues and interruptions into customer
delight and economic value as well.
Ultimately, this is what it means to put owners first - this time for real. 
Steven P. Silver is global industry market leader for manufacturing,
automotive and high tech at Pegasystems Inc., a software provider in
Cambridge, Mass.

Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019