February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021 AFTERMARKET 21 Above: TechMan’s GMS offers users a range of options www.aftermarketonline.net 5. Review the process The work does not stop after you have made decisions on how to improve your workshop admin or track efficiencies of technicians. Today’s fix can soon become tomorrow’s pain. Having a process in place to stay on top of change can be crucial. Partnering with forward- thinking businesses that can do some of this thinking for you can also provide a huge advantage. Technology With all this in mind, TechMan have been busy behind the scenes in 2020 looking at ways in which workshops can use technology to achieve some of these goals and give back some of this lost time. Web bookings direct to diary: TechMan customers have seen web bookings double during the COVID-19 pandemic. Users can apply a widget to their existing website/social media page that offers configurable time slots for any type of labour to be allocated direct to their diary in real-time. This negates the need to make a booking in the diary from an online inquiry, and consumers will even receive a notification to confirm their booking. Integrated parts catalogues: Our integrated catalogue from LKQ Euro Car Parts allows users to look up parts direct from within a job and view costs, RRP and stock availability at their local branch. Once added to a job card, an electronic order will be fired off to their local branch, removing the need to pick up the phone and place an order. Initial feedback from TechMan users have reported upwards of an hour per day saved in time spent on the phone speaking with suppliers. Real time tracking of technician performance: With time being the only real commodity for workshops, who wouldn’t want to know how long their techs are spending on jobs? Once thought of as a main dealer attitude, more and more independents are now heavily focused on how long a job is taking to complete against the time they have allocated a technician to do it. With TechMan’s technician efficiency feature, techs log on and off jobs in real time, calculating how long they have spent on the job and alerting the front of house if the job over-runs. This feature produces unparalleled information on where time is lost or gained within a workshop allowing the businesses to make real time decisions and understand which jobs are profitable and which are not. Paperless workshops with electronic job cards, service sheets and advisory reminders: Paper job cards have been compared to a data graveyard by industry experts. Over two thirds of TechMan users are opting to go paperless and are giving their technicians a tablet. This allows techs to take images and video and even record advisory follow up dates on pre-defined service or checks sheets. OE service schedules can also be filled out electronically, negating the need to print or download them from data providers. Techs can also view OE data from Haynes Pro next to the vehicle where they require it, rather than queuing up around an office or MOT station PC. Tech data: TechMan’s newest release has seen the ultimate source of vehicle technical data from Haynes Pro made available to all users in the TechMan platform, whether they are front-of-house, or technicians with tablets. There is no need to purchase multiple licenses either. This could single-handedly be the biggest time and cost saving feature introduced in 2020 for all TechMan users. Understanding To understand how businesses have used a new GMS to see profits skyrocket or just take away the daily pain of running a garage, make an enquiry with TechMan. Taking a 20 minute tour of the software could really be the difference to a fast start to in 2021. Independents are now heavily focused on how long a job is taking ”