Business 12 www.aftermarketonline.net JULY/AUGUST 2025 Steering your business through the digital maze Repairify Innovations director Martin Brown highlights the efficiencies and challenges of garage digitisation Over the past few years, we’ve seen a clear shift from paperbased systems to digital solutions. This development is being driven by suppliers, software providers, and vehicle manufacturers pushing digital options. The new digital tools are seen as providing faster turnarounds, clearer reporting, and unprecedented access to the wealth of data embedded in modern vehicles. The potential is there, but in the automotive sector, the challenge comes in the adoption of digital because processes are ingrained and businesses need to adapt to change while also integrating these ‘new’ technologies into their daily operations. These systems are an asset; we have the ability to churn out a vast number of reports that range from revenue per technician, job turnaround times and MOT conversions. These reports are designed for management teams to review and aid in the efficient running of the business, whether it is a one-site or multi-site operation and are not usually intended for those on the workshop floor. However, all this data can just become a jumble of numbers unless it can help in the decision-making process; it just becomes clutter and worthless information. This is why it is still important to use the human element (seeing what is actually taking place on the floor and talking to technicians) to counterbalance the digital system because a human eye can witness what is actually happening and decisions can be made based on experience rather than rafting through a load of data and graphs to make it. With digitisation comes the word accessibility. It refers to customers checking their booking online. However, for businesses, it means a different thing. We see that accessibility is not all it is cracked up to be for independent workshops. This is because they are often stuck behind paywalls, multiple logins, and locked-down manufacturer systems, so their technicians and management teams find that getting hold of the correct ECU data for a 2020 BMW, for example, can feel like trying to hack into MI5. It is why the ‘right to repair’ campaign is vital, because if garages can’t properly access technical data and diagnostics, how can they compete fairly with the main dealers who have access to more data and can repair vehicles that the aftermarket may not be able to do? Alongside accessibility, digital tools speed up processes, but only if they are integrated correctly and businesses do not take the short-term view on them rather than being able to understand the benefits the systems bring to calibration and diagnostic work as the number of jobs continues to grow over time. We know digital systems support the workshop, but they do not run it. As an industry, we know that the best tools are the ones that help technicians perform the job faster and better without getting in the way. This means quick access to information and reports that help with business decisions and employing systems that work in step with the workshop. If providers give businesses these three things, they will be happy to go digital, but what they don’t want is more complexity, cost and clutter because they will push back to send the message ‘we don’t want this system’. The best tools help technicians do jobs faster and better without getting in the way Photo: Steve Johnson / Pexels
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=