Better Ways To Operate
“One of the things we did moving forward–and Progressive allowed us to do this–was look at a number of business processes based on some best practice ideas that they shared with us,” Sanford says.
Out of that review grew the idea for the GPS integration, but for the most part it was Sanford & Hawley that came up with the main improvements, such as the use of the tablet. For instance, it was Wellspeak who created custom dashboards, or viewing displays, showing information that the Progressive software collected. It was just a matter of creating what staffers wanted to see and how they wanted to see it, he says.
Quicker Service
Sanford says the ability to sift through the database and get information and have it organized improves customer relations. It makes it easier to Sanford & Hawley to gather data should a customer want past records. It also reduces the amount of paperwork the dealer sends out.
“What used to take an hour now only takes a minute,” he says.
Implementing a new software system may appear to be a daunting task for many dealers, especially those with little sense of technology. Wellspeak says the implementation was actually the easiest part of the process. Progressive was able to keep and integrate all the processes and programs Sanford & Hawley already had into the software. Once the time arrived to actually begin using it, there was little that needed to be added or fixed.
On the night of the implementation, Wellspeak, Sanford, and a small team of coworkers assembled to complete the changeover. They all planned on working well past midnight, but were home by 10 p.m. that night.
A bigger challenge lay in educating workers the next day and in the coming weeks about the advantages and abilities of the new software. “We knew our old system forwards and backwards and moving to a new system was pretty traumatic for us in the early stages,” says Wellspeak. “Once they adapted, everything worked really well.”
The company says it plans to improve its network infrastructure and disaster recovery capabilities. The company also upgraded its routers and VoIP phone server in 2011.
And now, it says, it’s looking for even more ways to harness technology.
