How auto retailers drive efficiency with process automation

Tim Rose00:00

Good afternoon and welcome. I'm Tim Rose, editor of AM, and thank you for tuning in to our first AM webinar of 2024, on automated business processes, with our sponsor FlowForma. To share their insights, let's welcome our experts: Dermot Sweeney, process automation expert at FlowForma, and Danny Chaplin, managing director. Dermot, I'll admit I was in the dark about process automation and its role in automotive. For a start, what is meant by process automation, and what are the key principles behind it?

Dermot Sweeney00:55

Thanks, Tim, and great to be here with Danny. Digital process automation could be described as using digital technology to automate processes and optimize workflows. FlowForma is a digital process automation tool: we digitize and automate manual sets of tasks, whether paper-based or manual digital tasks. We do it with a no-code tool that uses business logic, so there's no development at all, and uniquely the solution sits on SharePoint Online, so you hold all of your data, which matters from a GDPR perspective.

Dermot Sweeney01:48

Forrester has been examining digital process automation trends, and there are significant drivers for 2024 that interest the C-suite and departmental leaders. Improved customer experience is one, and that's extremely important in automotive, where the dealership is the unique selling point. Worker productivity is another: just last week a dealer principal told me how hard it was to replace service engineers who leave, so it's about empowering people to work smarter with the best tools. And cost reduction, finding savings through productivity.

Dermot Sweeney02:56

We're also of the opinion that optimization isn't just for one person, it's for everybody in the company. Danny, any thoughts?

Danny Chaplin03:07

You can achieve pretty much any automation process: eliminating mundane repetitive tasks, eradicating errors and poor decisions, and integrating existing systems to provide a single pane of glass, streamlining the whole process.

Tim Rose03:32

Let's ask our first poll question: what are your top drivers for process automation in 2024? By far the biggest response was all of the above, but the biggest single response was improved employee productivity, followed by improved customer experience. So it wins for the business and wins for the customer.

Dermot Sweeney04:15

We see that employee retention is extremely important to leadership. They've invested so much time in training their teams, and they want to retain those people because they're the talent of the future. We really help with that.

Tim Rose04:38

What other industry sectors have been using process automation extensively?

Dermot Sweeney04:48

It's gathering pace in multiple sectors, and we work with household names; the NHS uses FlowForma. Forrester research shows a large share of businesses are implementing DPA now or in the next 12 months, so it's front of mind for leadership. We have over 300,000 users worldwide, across hospitals, universities, construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, logistics and financial services: organizations with strong governance and high expectations. In theory any process can be digitized and automated, but we're paying careful attention to automotive. We think there's a real need for our solution here, and we're honing our services for the sector.

Tim Rose05:51

Within automotive, is there a particular role in dealer groups that wants to progress this, and where do people start?

Dermot Sweeney06:04

It could start with the leadership team, the managing director or the C-suite, thinking strategically: how do we retain our staff for the next 36 months, increase productivity, improve our survey scores and create the customer experience that earns a lifetime customer, and stay competitive. That's always supported by department leads: a head of finance focused on operational costs, a head of IT removing spend on disparate applications, a head of HR with onboarding problems, an operations manager with oversight of the whole business, or a head of servicing. Finance, IT, HR, operations and servicing are strong places to start, get a foothold and expand outward.

Tim Rose07:51

Can you give some examples of processes dealers might improve through automation, and the benefits?

Dermot Sweeney08:02

Absolutely. That's one of the reasons Danny is here: he brings 20 years of experience seeing these problems firsthand and now helps dealerships with digital process automation. Danny, do you want to kick that off?

Danny Chaplin08:16

Daily checks for health and safety, check sheets for manufacturer tools: are the ramps safe to use, has the wheel alignment had its annual calibration, is it running the latest update the manufacturer requires? Those can be missed. Then building management and maintenance, like damage on site or smashed windows; alarm and fire tests, if you're still on a manual logbook; and CCTV checks, are the cameras working and not blocked by cobwebs, branches or flags on the forecourt triggering false alerts, which can affect your insurance. All of these can be automated to ensure compliance and protect against litigation.

Danny Chaplin09:30

Another big one we're seeing is pre-service recall checks. Using digital process automation to check the manufacturer systems for service recalls, enhancements and software updates means no potential issue is overlooked, for vehicles on sale and those due a service. It improves the customer experience by addressing issues before they become a problem, and it opens up additional revenue streams. Pre-service recall checks aren't just a necessary task, they're an opportunity for growth. There's also WIP archiving, if there's no solution in place, and digitizing job cards.

Dermot Sweeney10:40

In sales, dealerships are physical sites with an online element too, so adding and removing cars from the website and checking that stock lines up with the DMS is a process. For larger groups with multiple sites there's stock transfer: knowing where stock is at any time and what the transfers cost. There's authorized cost, and recording sales of a particular model with an incentive attached, so there's an audited digital trail and you can reclaim that bonus.

Dermot Sweeney11:47

HR is a great starting point: onboarding and offboarding employees, resource authorization when you need a new service engineer, employee eligibility checks such as right to work in the UK, training and driving licence checks. In finance, invoice prep: are you charging for everything you should on that bill? It all adds up, in time saved and in capturing the value you've created.

Dermot Sweeney13:05

With these processes standardized across dealerships, you get a more uniform approach, you're more efficient, and staff can move around more readily because they know the working practices.

Tim Rose13:30

That occurred to me with large groups: people move between branches and can land in a new role knowing exactly what to use and expect, and hit the ground running.

Dermot Sweeney13:55

Absolutely, and problems become solvable at scale. If we're all using the same systems the same way and I solve a problem in a London dealership, that solution applies to the dealerships across the rest of the country. You scale up your efficiencies.

Tim Rose14:27

Another poll question: where are most of your process challenges currently? The top answer was all of the above again, but the top single areas were sales and servicing and after-sales, with sales just over a quarter. Plenty of scope within the business.

Tim Rose15:29

One benefit that strikes me is transparency and compliance with all the regulatory constraints on modern franchise dealers.

Dermot Sweeney15:55

Danny, you informed me about this more than anyone: the post-sales warranty process, and the need for each step to be done exactly the way the manufacturer requires.

Danny Chaplin16:22

Depending on the manufacturer, there are on-site warranty audits, and revenue can be pulled if it's incorrect. The margin for error is slim, and warranty can be expensive. There's the customer experience too: a car booked in for a service turns out to need a recall repair, but the parts are on back order, so the customer has to come back a week later, and their NPS survey may downgrade the business. Removing that margin for error gives a better customer experience, captures the pre-service and warranty work, recovers missed revenue, and frees the service advisor for the soft touches with the client.

Dermot Sweeney18:00

Another one is the loan audit: digital audit trails attached to vehicles loaned to prospective buyers, which governance in the industry requires. We can provide oversight and an auditable trail of data to protect dealerships. What we find in the sector is lots of individual applications, so it's hard to collect the data and see what's happening in key processes; you might not know about a problem until it's too late. Digital process automation collects real-time information, so you can identify problems and bottlenecks early. We also have a new analytics tool built into the solution, so you don't need Power BI, and again it's no-code, a tool for citizen developers.

Tim Rose19:57

You've been working with a few major franchise dealer groups already, Jacksons Channel Islands and Peter Vardy. How did that come about, and what have you learned?

Danny Chaplin20:16

One example was replacing legacy systems with a solution that's customizable and scalable: automating time-consuming mundane tasks, and removing the risk of one employee holding the intellectual property, such as a self-developed Access database or Excel spreadsheet nobody else knows how to look after. Standardizing processes, invoice approvals, and a single pane of glass to prep for board meetings, instead of pulling together lots of systems. And with a lot of mergers and acquisitions in automotive at the moment, it helps head office reduce costs, scale, provide consistency and spot growth opportunities with real-time data.

Dermot Sweeney21:57

One of our major partners has digitized and automated 500 processes, and they're just getting started. Think about the impact: they can analyze their business in real time, see what's working and where the bottlenecks are, and where to invest. We're surfacing the data and empowering much better decision making. The solution is cloud-based, scalable and incredibly simple to implement.

Tim Rose23:16

Before implementation, another poll: what results would you like to achieve from automating processes? The top response is eliminating time-consuming tasks, the bane of everyone's life, with a vote for improving process visibility as well.

Dermot Sweeney24:02

People in dealerships wear multiple hats. It can be highly skilled, well-paid employees doing low-value tasks like copying data from one spreadsheet to another, when they should be adding much greater value to the business. How do we eliminate that and capture more value from our skilled people?

Tim Rose24:47

You talk about a no-code solution, but do we need teams of IT experts coming in to make this work?

Dermot Sweeney25:05

Categorically no. Once you decide to implement, you go through two days of virtual training followed by consultancy sessions, and at the end your first two processes are digitized, so you're up and running within four to six weeks. We map the entire process out with you, and our customer success team hand-holds you at every step; well over 100 partners are benefiting from that today.

Dermot Sweeney26:35

There are two approaches. Self-drive: you have team members with the capability, time and enthusiasm, and you want to digitize in-house as part of your technology stack, with our training and ongoing support. That's what happens 90% of the time. Or chauffeur-driven: you don't feel you have the time or technical capability and want more support. We provide templated HR and finance processes, advisory services, analytics and dashboards, and process build, done by FlowForma or by Danny.

Danny Chaplin29:01

I can help build out the processes you need, with integrations to your dealer management systems and other third parties, infrastructure if you need it, and ongoing support. Between FlowForma and me, it can be a full turnkey solution.

Dermot Sweeney29:28

Dealerships tell us their technology stack creeps up: another app, another platform. FlowForma helps simplify things, because we can eliminate some of your existing applications and avoid future investments, as those can be done in FlowForma. That's an instant return on investment.

Tim Rose30:50

How would a dealer group measure success, and how quickly will they see results?

Dermot Sweeney31:11

Leadership has three priorities. First, business growth: with your processes digitized in the first four to six weeks, you capture real-time information, not a daily data dump, so you can see what's performing well and what to fix. Second, employee retention: young people expect the best tools, and they can shape their own processes. It's also HR: performance reviews, timely onboarding, making sure people have the skills and qualifications, such as electrification, and a record of that. You should see tangible benefits, such as lower staff turnover.

Danny Chaplin34:17

Ideally FlowForma helps you simplify your technology stack, collect information to gain insights, digitize in-house, invest in the right technologies, and standardize processes across all your dealerships, with instant access to reports for strategic decision making.

Danny Chaplin34:50

Across a lot of automotive brands, bonuses are paid on positive NPS satisfaction surveys, potentially £80 to £100 per survey. Think how many cars go through a service or the workshop daily; that soon adds up. And it's about retaining the customer, so they keep coming back and see you as their trusted automotive provider rather than having a car delivered to the house.

Dermot Sweeney35:43

And on technology spend: if an application isn't effective, is clunky or gives you no visibility on the data, there's a good chance it can be done in FlowForma, expense management or HR for example. We can eliminate existing costs, remove future investments, and sit over existing platforms to push and pull data. I've spoken with dealerships where management reports take multiple days to pull together. That's an instant ROI.

Tim Rose37:44

It isn't a job-done situation, is it? You mentioned a client who's already worked on 500 processes, and that's just the start.

Dermot Sweeney38:05

The only constant is change, and the rate of change in automotive will continue. There is a simple starting point: you don't need to map every process, which we call boiling the sea. Start with two or three, then rinse and repeat, building up to 10, 20, 30 processes. A no-code solution is much easier to maintain than a coded one, because it's just business logic: anyone can tweak it, and there's no bespoke development, so it's very cost-effective to keep up with change.

Danny Chaplin39:51

It's very scalable. Any process you want to digitize, there's no limit; it's not like buying an off-the-shelf product, it's customizable.

Dermot Sweeney40:14

FlowForma was established in 2013, the first mover in the market with a no-code solution, and we've supported our partners for 11 years. With this partnership, partners who want to self-drive can, and those who want ongoing support get Danny's 20 years of automotive experience.

Tim Rose41:12

Some audience questions, though we might go over by a few minutes. Do staff need to be retrained to use your systems?

Dermot Sweeney41:27

You'll need some training: two days of virtual training followed by six consultancy sessions, about four to six weeks in total, and by the end you'll have digitized two small-to-medium, impactful processes to build your confidence. After that we provide advisory services or process build support. We have a large customer success team that works out your roadmap, the training and support you need, and your goals.

Tim Rose42:30

We have third-party suppliers that need to access and input into our processes. Is this possible with FlowForma?

Danny Chaplin42:46

It depends on the third party, but technologies like APIs, ODBC and SFTP are commonly used to pass data to and from them, so we can definitely look at integration. It's based on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online, so that integration is there natively, and I'm happy to discuss any third-party integration.

Dermot Sweeney43:22

If a system has a REST API, as the majority do, including well-known DMSs, we can push and pull data from it as part of your processes. And if you don't have an on-site IT technician to do that work, that's why Danny is part of this: he has years of experience with integrations and APIs around the popular automotive solutions.

Tim Rose44:04

Similar questions: do you integrate with DMSs, and what technology does it use? Did you say Office 365?

Dermot Sweeney44:17

Yes, it's a Microsoft 365 cloud-based solution that sits on your SharePoint Online tenant, so we don't store any of your data, and it's GDPR compliant.

Danny Chaplin44:38

Due diligence sometimes gets missed when someone in a dealership buys a product that turns out not to be compliant. This is GDPR compliant because it's maintained in your own Microsoft 365 environment, with UK support and hosting from FlowForma and ISO 27001 accreditation, which you should look for in any SaaS provider.

Tim Rose45:12

Do you have experience automating processes that involve the manufacturers' systems, or is it better to focus on local processes?

Dermot Sweeney45:28

As a starting point, find quick wins so you have success quickly. In parallel, identify the more challenging processes, map and understand the integrations, and plan that work. It's case by case, but we have years of experience doing it, and Danny has worked with major partners with exactly these challenges.

Tim Rose46:45

Final question, as we've gone a bit over time: why is now the right time?

Dermot Sweeney46:51

Think about the changes in the sector in the last 12 months and the last quarter. It's becoming much more competitive. The dealership experience, the service and the trust with customers are what set you apart, and we want to provide the underlying structures to make that as efficient as possible, so your business is exceptionally competitive.

Tim Rose47:46

We've come to the end of our time. Thanks to FlowForma and to Dermot and Danny for sharing their expertise, and thank you for joining us.