Bridging the Digital Gap in Automotive
Jonathan Stotts
Senior PR & Communications Manager
The automotive industry is said to be on the brink of change. In fact, it has been at the cusp of change throughout history. This year’s consistent talk and implementation of AI into most of the world’s technology is no different. AI has been in the automotive industry for a long time.
Even still, there remains a digital gap in automotive, a break in the digitalization of some aspects of the industry. That leads to the common misconception and concern that, beyond anything else, there’s a real risk to some companies.
In the 2023 Automotive Highlights Webinar published by Anyline, a group of industry stars hold a conversation that’s quite important. It focuses heavily on the gap that remains in this industry. Marc Babin, the Creative Director at Anyline, Christian Plainchner, the CPO of Anyline, Anudar Hanibal, the Managing Director of Carve8 & 1886 Ventures, and Zach Olson, the Founder & CEO of Treads, come together to discuss the unique aspects of this concern.
The Digital Gap
Marc, leading the conversation, offers a good starting point for exploring this disruptive gap, asking, “As a result of this disruptive nature, do you find that your side of the industry is more open to digitalization, like the world we live in, with what you’re doing now? Is it more open, and are people more open to digitalization, or is there still a gap between what’s being utilized and what’s available?”
Anudar shares that, from her perspective in her daily work, the technology is already there. “Even five or six years ago, where we started piloting a subscription model where customers could open and close with keyless entry, and with telematics and stopping the car without human interaction, and just taking pictures of a damaged car for a report.” All of this technology has already been there.
Even though the technology to digitalize, including moving towards a digital platform and subscription model, is very much present, there are still many organizations that have not embraced it. There are some dealerships that lack a functional website. “Customers are not in the showroom anymore,” and that means that if the dealership isn’t digital, it’s missing out, and that’s going to cost them dearly, she notes.
Filling the Gap on the Consumer Side: Delivering to Customers
Christian shares an interesting perspective on going to the consumer, stating, “It’s really interesting when you take a step back and try and dissect it all because there’s a glaring gap in the auto maintenance and auto service side because you have a lot of incumbents or legacy businesses. And when you start thinking about how these incumbents in the market can start quickly adopting cutting edge technology, they have barriers of entry of their own, like legacy software and systems,” He continues, “They tend to lack in some way.” They often don’t want to rock the boat when something has been working for them for many years.
However, that creates an opportunity for startups to come in and develop this technology and bring it to market faster. Christian continues, “But the beautiful thing here is when this happens in the marketplace, that creates a unique opportunity for incumbents and startups to go through this collaboration process where big companies have to ask themselves – Do we build this technology, or do we buy it? Meaning, you go out and acquire it or create some type of strategic partnership.”
Digitalizing for the future is critical and not always something that dealerships or other organizations are willing to easily take on. As noted by Zach in the webinar, “What type of experience are we trying to really deliver to the end user?… Start with the end goal and backfill from there, as it will give you a much clearer picture.”
From there, organizations can make better decisions on how and when to incorporate digital solutions to meet customer goals and continue to manage expectations.
