Are you too busy to become more efficient?

When Autofinity’s CEO Andy Whitehair met with transformation expert Kerry Thompson, founder of business consultancy Akeno, to discuss the challenges facing automotive retailers and manufacturers, they discovered a common theme: businesses are too busy to become more efficient.

For Autofinity, whose ViHUB platform aggregates vehicle data to provide one pool of rich and accurate information and automates updates integrating multiple systems, it’s about deploying the right tech to achieve efficiencies whilst for Akeno, it’s about people and processes to deliver operational efficiency.

With clients often recognising the problem and loving the transformation proposed, the issue is often the perceived time to implement the solution which is then kicked into the long grass.

Kerry Thompson: “It’s about being ambition rich but time poor. The challenge is how you get from interesting conversations where everything is resonating to action, adding value and seeing these projects come to life.”

Dealers are also grappling with cost and margin constraints including wider economic challenges and soaring wage bills with the increased National Insurance contributions which often means senior managers will consider new solutions once the pressures ease. However, the immediacy of the sector see senior leaders and managers forever caught in the never-ending demands of ‘this week, this month or this quarter’.

Andy Whitehair: “The frustration for me is that we’re here help you out of the woods.

“The instinct is to get your head down and focus on the job in hand and often that’s what you’re being pressured to do by senior management but being smart and working smart means we might be trying to grind more efficiency out of an inefficient organisation or structure or process. Therefore, we might have to lift our heads up and think some of this needs to change.”

For example, one of the services provided by Autofinity is undertaking a systems audit to identify unnecessary and duplicate applications which are often at work particularly in large groups where acquisitions have taken place. Once a group has visibility and transparency, it becomes easier to implement the change.

Likewise, Akeno’s skillset is identifying a group’s transformation requirements and setting down a strategy with achievable goals.

Kerry Thompson: “It’s the ultimate win-win – make more money and save money but it’s that initial getting it across the line.”

Both Autofinity and Akeno’s philosophy is to operate as an extension of a dealer group’s team so effectively there’s no heavy lifting for senior managers. The weight of implementation whether that’s tech (Autofinity) or operational processes (Akeno), is undertaken by external experts who operate very much as a part of the group’s business.

One of Akeno's approach is to ‘squeeze the business’ and see what comes out of the bottom in terms of issues and opportunities. Understanding the strengths of a business is just as important as identifying the weaknesses so it can be replicated and improved upon.

For Autofinity, efficiencies can be realised with integration and enabling systems to communicate which will do away with much of the mundane data transfer and double keying.

Andy Whitehair: “Usually, the data doesn’t flow through a business but stumbles. It doesn’t need to, it can be automated.”

“I understand the frustration around tech. Tech has always promised so much and often underdelivered but it is my belief that it is the business transformation and implementation of the tech that’s usually failed.”

With people rapidly becoming the biggest cost for a business, more automation frees up employees’ time enabling them to focus on the areas which can’t be automated or are more complex to manage.

Kerry Thompson: “One of my first questions is what’s the top two or three things that keeps you up at night? It’s getting them out on the table and getting real clarity on what those things are and how to tackle them.”

But having the autonomy to undertake the task in hand is crucial to achieving the end goal, she added: “I’m genuinely motivated to make a difference.”