Aftermarket June 2022

Above: The latest version of Autowork Online adds an improved electronic vehicle health check (eVHC) and damage inspection feature to Teamview I n a world where customers may be looking to keep their cars for longer, businesses will need to be organised to make the most of new opportunities and workloads, which is where a garage management system (GMS) comes in. Latest technology On how a garage management system can help keep a garage on top, TechMan’s Leo Freebairn commented: “With the cost of living rising sharply for consumers and businesses costs base increasing, it’s now more important than ever for workshops to embrace the latest technology to help them through these times. Many workshops will view a GMS as an unnecessary cost, merely an invoicing system or place where they hold digital records for customers. Smart workshops will view a GMS as an integral part of their business, a tool that helps them maximize opportunities based on measurable facts. These are the workshops that will grow and prosper long into the future, while others will suffocate in rising costs and poor efficiency.” Integral He continued: “With parts costs increasing, business rates creeping up and requests from employees for higher salaries, workshops have only a few ways to combat a loss on their bottom line. Becoming more efficient at what they do or increasing costs to consumers at a time when they are already being hit hard in the pocket, which could result in loss of business. Hail the new GMS; No longer a dull piece of software that allows you to simply print off an invoice, but a business management tool that can track and measure every aspect of your business. Allowing you 46 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2022 GARAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS www.aftermarketonline.net Garage management systems help businesses run more efficiently; Find out how you can work smarter via the latest technological tools to make vital decisions on internal processes, what work is the most profitable and how efficient technicians are.” On how it helps for the day-to-day running of a garage, Leo commented: “Today’s GMS is built by mapping the customer journey from start to finish, how many touches staff need to have on the job, what parts of the journey can be automated, how can we reduce a 10-step process to 3 or 4. By taking the Formula One pit stop approach to each job, shaving minutes or seconds from daily routines, a good GMS can produce huge uplifts in bottom line revenue over a month or a year. “ Leo added: “TechMan disrupted the stagnated GMS market over six years ago now with our groundbreaking approach to efficiencies, paperless workshops, electronic vehicle health check and audit trails for parts. Processes that were only available to the main dealer world. Hand holding the aftermarket through a digital transformation has been our mantra for many years and will continue for many to come. Hosting systems for a rapidly growing independent customer base, household names like the AA, Cazoo, or garage networks like the RAC, TechMan believes it has the best tools on the market to help workshops of any size futureproof their business.” Cost-effective On how a GMS can help a business, Anthony McAteer, Trading Director at LKQ Euro Car Parts commented: “Advances in vehicle technology mean that the day-to-day jobs of technicians are evolving constantly. As well as the changes we are seeing to the vehicles on the workshop floor, technology is also fundamentally changing the way garages do business at all stages of the process, whether it be by bringing in customers, scheduling jobs and ordering ORGANISING CHAOS?