What to consider in times of transformation

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The automotive aftermarket — and the automotive industry as a whole — is going through significant transformation.

Greater electronic components and sensors are pushing through change while hybrid and battery electric vehicles are bringing potential upheaval to the sector as a whole.

For the aftermarket, preparing for such change can be a monumental task. At the Collision Conference in Toronto, a technology conference drawing in professionals from all sorts of industries, attendees heard from Sheila Jordan, senior vice president of chief digital technology officer at Honeywell. She gave advice on leading digital transformation.

For her, there are four things that need to come together. At the top of the list was not implementing technology for technology’s sake.

“You have to make sure you are involving the processes, simplifying the processes — you don’t want to automate a bad process because then you’ve just thrown some of the company’s money away,” she said during her session, Influencing and Leading Digital Transformation.

You also have to think about data and its role in your business. Without it, your transformation can only take you so far.

“I think data is the currency of digital transformation. It’s kind of all about the data,” Jordan said.

A shop or jobber store manager will need data to run the business effectively. Data can open up insights into how the business is running and where changes need to be made. “They want to understand what their bookings are. They want to know where their order forecast is. They want to know where their inventory is,” she said.

Data provides a different kind of AI: Actionable insights.

“How can I see where the inventory is in one region? How can I take a different action if my revenue was down in one place? How do I think about order forecasting differently?” Jordan said of the actions managers can take when they have more data.

And don’t forget about the people. You have to guide and bring them along through the transformation.

“When those four things come together, you really will deliver a creative value to the organization — significant value,” Jordan said.