Automotive News Driver's Seat Interview: AI, automation & dealer efficiency take center stage

[Emma Hancock] Hi everyone welcome to a special edition of in the driver's seat today we're on location at NADA in New Orleans joining us is Chris Walsh president of Reynolds and Reynolds. During his 37-year career with the company Chris has held various leadership roles in business development, operations, quality control, sales, marketing, and support. With this wide range of experience and knowledge he has unique perspective on the challenges and the opportunities facing Automotive retailing. Chris welcome back to in the driver's seat.

[Chris Walsh] Thank you it's good to be back, Emma.

[EH] It's great to have you here. So, Chris, one of the big topics in our world is AI. How is that impacting your development strategy?

[CW] Well, when we when we really thought long and hard about it, we were kind of already in AI, but we felt like we needed to formalize it, and have it be something that's more prolific across all of our platforms. We really felt like we needed to have this unified data layer and that, you know we have the advantage of that the fact that we have so many customers and we've been around for so long, we've got all this transactional data that we have just collected and continued to kind of collect that is in our platforms. So, that's what goes in that unified data layer. And that's what Spark is pulling from – that unified data layer. So, as we get more transactions, more information, that can all get funneled into that layer and that way you know artificial intelligence is using data. So, the more data we put in there, the more different data we put in there the better it can perform for our customers. So, that was the whole premise of Spark: to have that unified data layer. We think that's the most important part of the platform for us.

[EH] I've been doing a little bit of investigating and you and I have talked about spark AI tools, and it's a really practical application of AI. We talk about AI a lot, but this is, you know, very specific. I've heard you describe the Spark AI tools similar to having a digital assistant, almost, and there's a great stat on your website. Something like: sales professionals waste over two hours a day on manual tasks that could be eliminated with these kinds of AI tools right?

[CW] Right.

[EH] Yeah, so, I mean there's so much energy at the show this year. What else have dealers been excited about at this year's show?

[CW] Well, I think it's, in some ways, it's the same thing they're always excited about: you know, "How can I do more with less or do more with the same?". In other words, "How can I go from 100 cars to 150 cars and not have to add more people?", "How can I do more work in service, but not have have to add more advisors?".  You know, "How am I going to be more efficient?", and so that's something that they've been really focused on; which really kind of ties into what we've been focused on for some time. It's something I refer to as "enhanced workflows". So, you think of a workflow – accounting is full of workflows. They're posting deals, they're handling accounts payable, you know, accounts receivable, they're managing the financials. How can we automate some of those things so that you can do more volume and not have to add staff? So your staff becomes more efficient and is focusing on higher level things. So I almost see the accounting office as being focused more on you know kind of expense and cash flow management you know organization so that's one in service you know. How can they do more repair orders with the same number of people? How can we make our technicians more efficient? How can we untether them from devices and give them the opportunity to do things from their phone?  Whether it's the vehicle walk around or texting with the customer, all things like that, I think is what dealers are focused on right now, and it just connects well with what we've been focused on.

[EH] Yeah. And it's certainly the theme – doing more with less, and it just makes so much sense to have these functions centralized.

[CW] Right.

[EH] Another area we've noticed dealers focused on this year is streamlining workflows. How is Reynolds helping in this area?

[CW] Well, I mean, number one, I think we're really focused on it. So, we have spent a lot of time – over the last couple years as our company has evolved – spending more time with our customers and understanding how they're using our products, what's working well for them, and really, understanding their business really well. How can we connect the way they run their business to the way that our software works so that they can use more of it and just give them more tools to do things easier and more effectively than they're doing it before? So if you think about a lot of the manual tasks that get done – I'll use an accounting office again, but it's throughout the dealership – how can we eliminate some of those things and automate some of those things? Sometimes it's automation. Sometimes it's leveraging AI so that they don't have to do all those types of things, and it does make them more efficient and effective.

[EH] Yeah. You and I were talking earlier about some of the acquisitions that that really help you with that – like TSD. It's really exciting, and it's all good news for dealers, isn't it?

[CW] Yeah. We're really excited about TSD, AGWS, AutoVision. We feel like we've done a couple things. We feel like we have some solutions that we didn't have before, because we had these new and emerging trends that were occurring in the business that we weren't being able to handle from a technology perspective. So having all those in our portfolio has been real important. TSD – as you mentioned – is the newest one from this year. So now we're into the vehicle rental loaner and mobility space, and we think there's an opportunity so we bought it, but we want to integrate it into our DMS. So – to go back to the workflow – think about an online service reservation. When you go to make an online service reservation to bring your vehicle in, it's not two different movements making that reservation and then getting the vehicle loaner; it's one integrated workflow that you do. So when the customer comes in there it's a lot easier for the adviser to get the customer checked in, to get the car in the stall, so a technician starts turning wrenches, and it's a much better experience for the consumer. Now you've got higher CSI scores and you keep them more engaged in fixed operations so that you get that revenue from fixed operations, but you also keep them in the fold to sell them a new car when that time comes. So, TSD we're really excited about. We're showing the integration at the show today. So we're excited about that. We're also showing the integration we have with AGWS. One of the things we learned when we bought AGWS was the pain that's involved with a customer bringing in a vehicle and exercising a vehicle service contract and all the work that the adviser has to do. It was very manual. It was very time consuming. So now we've completely integrated the claims processing part into the reception and service repair order part. So we're showing that at the show as well, and we're really excited about that.

[EH] That's so amazing. That's so exciting. Something else that is very exciting is the Reynolds Amplify Event. Looking ahead for this year, will you guys be hosting the Amplify event again? Tell us about it: Where is it?

[CW] Yeah, we are planning on hosting again. We love it. We love the opportunity to collaborate with, not just our customers, but with the industry because we have customers, we have prospective customers, we have some third parties. There are some industry people that attend. So we love the opportunity to collaborate and learn from everybody, and I think our customers like the opportunity to see what we're doing, and we even give them a little bit of a peek under the covers about what's coming that they can be looking forward to seeing. So, we are doing it again, and it will be in Dallas this year. So we're going to try to mix it up. It'll probably be in the West Coast the following year. So we can get some West Coast customers. So we really want to move it around the country so we have an opportunity to meet with as many of our customers and perspective customers as possible. So, Dallas. August. Mark your calendars. It's going to be hot, but we're really looking forward to it.

[EH] Well, I've heard it's a great event. How do I get a ticket?

[CW] Leave me an email. You've got one.

[EH] Okay. Chris, it's been so great having you with us today. One last question because we're at NADA: what have you seen at the show so far apart from the historic weather event in New Orleans – I don't know – is there anything else that you've seen at the show?

[CW] I'll be honest with you. This is the first time I've left our booth so I haven't walked around at all and seen everything, but walking over here – you know it's the same thing that happens every year – I walk around, and I'm just kind of blown away with the breadth of this industry and all the different things that it takes to run the industry. And how much technology is out there. But I will say the one thing I learned: I did not know that Automotive News – in August – is celebrating their 100th anniversary. So I was reading up a little bit about Automotive News. I think the Crain family bought it about 50 years ago, and so they've had it  for 50 years, and I think that's such a great milestone for you guys. You should be really proud of it. We're really blessed to have the opportunity to use your organization – your publication – to to keep up to date on everything that's going on. So I didn't know you guys were 100 years old. That's really cool.

[EH] Well thank you for that. Well, listen, I want to thank you again for being here today and we'll see you all next time from the driver's seat.