JUNE 2023 AFTERMARKET 43 and which helps with work scheduling and minimising technician downtime.” “Digital parts ordering through GMS solutions provides you with 24/7 access to products at suppliers, whilst providing another way to improve efficiency. This has the effect of freeing up the phone lines for customers, ensures greater availability for them use when booking their vehicles in.” Prepare and manage Commenting on how a garage management system can help keep things running smoothly in a busy workshop, Nathan Fothergill, Autowork Online Sales Manager at MAM Software said: “During a busy week, a garage can be a revolving door for vehicles requiring repairs and MOTs. Multiple staff working different jobs, accumulating different paperwork, countless customers have to be continually informed of their job status and how much this will all cost. It is quite easy for this environment to become chaotic, even unmanageable at times. “Autowork Online is the fully-featured, cloud-based garage management package, which includes all the features required for the end-to-end running of your garage or workshop business. Every aspect of the dayto-day running of your business, from estimate to invoice can be managed using the one solution, without the need for additional third-party products. At the core of Autowork Online are three key foundations: Organisation, efficiency and work recovery. For instance, Autowork Online has an intuitive SMS feature. Removing the need for numerous phone calls with the ability to send many automated procedures.” Nathan continued: “A great way to utilise SMS messaging is the deferred work feature. Many garages will quote customers for jobs and if the customer chooses not to purchase, the job is often disregarded or lost among piles of paperwork. Deferred work can store the job for a later date and can be linked to SMS to contact the customer in the future, this is completely automated with enhanced scheduling functionality, freeing up staff and often recovering otherwise lost work.” Users are able to be aware of how their business is running at all times thanks to the latest Autowork Online development, the KPI Dashboard. Nathan noted: “When the workplace is so busy you just don’t have the time to sit through reports and analyse the data, the KPI dashboard can give you everything you need to know at a glance. This shows up to six different key performance indicators from total jobs invoiced to average labour per job. It simplifies and streamlines whilst freeing up your time to work on other jobs.” Another accompaniment to Autowork Online is Teamview, MAM Software’s paperless job card and technician’s activity add-on. Nathan said: “TeamView could be the answer to reducing the amount of paper around the garage as it moves essential processes online. It is full of features that can maximise productivity including job status updates, an electronic vehicle health check and a damage inspection module that stores all vital information you need to know about the job in hand.” Nathan added: “A company’s success relies on taking the right tools to do the job. A garage cannot determine how busy it is, but it can take the necessary steps to prepare and manage the chaos. Autowork Online is the right tool to do this.” Structured working practices According to Ray Dilsons, Managing Director of Garage Hive, it has never been more important for independents to operate efficiently: “It all starts with structured working practices. With the right foundations in place we’re able to generate reliable data about your business, and that’s essential for ambitious garage owners that wish to maximise performance, boost sales and improve customer retention. By monitoring the data, garage owners can analyse workflows and pinpoint where efficiencies can be made and implement them with a raft powerful productivity-enhancing features within Garage Hive.” Garage Hive recently announced a partnership with online payment provider Pay360, thanks to which garages can send payment requests to customers via SMS text or email, which they can use to securely pay online. Garage Hive user Alex Lindley, Director of Lindleys Autocentres, observed: “What this means in practice within any busy garage, will be reduced bottlenecks as customers wait around to pay along with less work for the garage applying these payments back into the accounts later. All that reduced admin actually frees up more time for front of house staff to check customers are happy and build the relationships that keep them coming back.” Ray added: “Garage management is more than just work input and output though, it’s a mindset that is shared by hundreds of like-minded garage owners within the Garage Hive community. The unique network inspires collective learning through shared best-practice and is actively helping to drive-up industry standards. Thanks to the continued development of Garage Hive’s management tools and unparalleled peer support within the community, users aren’t shy of celebrating business performance improvements with each other.” Productivity and turnover Leo Freebairn, National Sales Manager at TechMan, said: “Garage management systems have come a long way. The latest systems are cloud-based, making it easier for businesses to keep track of their operations. Additionally, these systems are paperless, which means that job cards and electronic vehicle health checks (EVHCs) can be completed electronically. “With real-time data available too, businesses can monitor their operations and identify areas for improvement. This means that businesses can reduce downtime, improve productivity, and increase turnover. Via electronic job cards and EVHCs, businesses can also provide customers with a detailed breakdown of the work that has been done on their vehicle, as well as receiving updates on the progress of their vehicle and be alerted when it is ready for collection.” Commenting on their experience using the TechMan system, CCM Operations Manager Tina Drayson added: “Being digital and embracing new technologies has allowed us, as a business, to be able to track and measure data that enables us to be more efficient, improve productivity, generate more turnover, provide a better customer experience, and have better consistency across all of our sites.” www.aftermarketonline.net There are solutions in the market to suit garages at all stages of their digitalisation journey ”
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