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vehicle datalogs coming through to our CRM, that gives this team the information they need to help the customer.” Let’s get started. So here we are, first thing on a Friday, logged in with the team, and there is a list of people who have a problem. Neil explained the process: “The CRM filters down by brand and by support request. Then, individual brand teams will be working through the requests.” There were a number of requests ready to be actioned. Mainly, this was the kind of thing you would expect, with familiar UK place names. However, bear in mind Opus IVS also have other offices globally, including one in Australia, and there is often some overlap there, so some down- under. “Any that trickle overnight from Australia will be mopped up in the morning by the UK team as well,” explained Neil. R emote support; it is a concept most of you will be familiar with. You encounter a problem in the workshop that has gotten you utterly flummoxed. Luckily, you subscribe to, for example, Opus IVS 360. So, you reach out for some support, and they provide it. If it works for you lot, surely it can work for the magazine, right? We thought it would, so thanks to the miracle of technology, we side- stepped the travel restrictions and discipline of social distancing to spend a day with Opus IVS in Oxford, while never actually leaving the Aftermarket office. Neil LePine, Head of Sales and Marketing was our virtual guide: “In Oxford, we have around 100 people, of whom 40 are factory-trained, Master-Technicians. They are based in brand-specific teams, and help our customers fix cars. There are obviously a number of ways in which they do that. The first point of contact is often via our diagnostic products. Our customers will be running through a diagnostic process and will invariably get to a stage where they will look to call on one of our experts for help.” Those of you with longer memories will recall the company has grown out of Autologic. Neil observed: “Originally we were Autologic, formed in 1999 and we were providing vehicle diagnostic solutions all the way through, and we still are today. In 2017 we were acquired by Opus Group, which is a Swedish, publicly listed, global vehicle inspection business with most of the customer footprint in the U.S.A. In November 2019, we formally created Opus IVS by uniting the expertise and technology of five businesses; Drew Technologies, Autologic, Farsight, 48 AFTERMARKET SEPTEMBER 2020 DAY IN THE LIFE www.aftermarketonline.net OPUS IVS: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Above: OPUS IVS FORD RAP 4 Aftermarket walks through a day, technologically speaking, with Opus IVS to find out how the company is helping garages stay one-step ahead Bluelink and AutoEnginuity to develop innovative solutions for more than 50,000 workshops around the world.” Cases Back to the present day though, and Neil explained what to expect for the hours ahead: “We go through in the region of 550-600 vehicle cases a day. A case is automatically created when a customer sends us a support request from their diagnostic device or our mobile app and this is logged to the vehicle VIN. The case is created on our CRM which forms a workflow through to our Opus IVS 360 team. Our technicians open the case on our CRM and can view all the symptoms entered by the customer along with a full diagnostic health report of the vehicle. “If there is a complex programming routine that maybe needs tweaking or something, we have got a dedicated team for that as well. Through the