Hybrid work increasing the need for automotive business intelligence

The shift towards hybrid work environments has increased the demand for information visibility across all dealerships. More employees and employers recognise the benefits of combining in-office and remote work.

Dealerships enjoy these advantages. However, to successfully develop an environment suitable for hybrid work, dealerships should integrate cloud-based automotive business intelligence software that enables them to adapt their workplace models.

What exactly is business intelligence in the automotive industry?

Many dealerships used to rely on outdated technology, such as spreadsheets. However, these systems didn't offer the insights and updates organisations needed to remain agile. In the process, management must consolidate spreadsheet data from multiple departments with varying data entry guidelines.

Automotive business intelligence allows you to collect and analyse all of the data across departments using a single access point. Business intelligence can be invaluable, but you must have the right automotive business intelligence solution to achieve the results you want.

If you're wondering what automotive BI software can do to facilitate hybrid work, the following are some specific benefits you'll see with the right solution.

Visibility across company-wide data

One key benefit of automotive business intelligence software is data transparency across every department. Using a regularly updated central business intelligence tool, you'll never be in the dark regarding how each department or individual performs. Your data will be visible and relevant, giving you a complete picture of the data you need.

With increased transparency also comes the ability to manage your entire inventory effectively. Accurate inventory tracking and delivery will help you limit shortages, product deterioration, and shipment delays. You'll always know the status of each vehicle and aftermarket product. This data is available on a single platform that you and your teams can access anytime and from anywhere.

Production of real-time daily reports

You also need daily access to real-time reports to ensure everyone on your team is up-to-date on your business's performance. The right automotive BI software will provide regular reports and in-depth car dealer analytics that give you clear insights into performance.

You can easily set up email reports for your entire team, ensuring everyone is on the same page. Whether at the dealership or at home, your sales and other departments' personnel will have access to the latest data and visual reports. You and your staff can then determine and communicate plans to further optimise performance and yield better results to meet your business goals.

Seamless integration between dealership departments

Cross-communication is integral for dealership departments. The right automotive business intelligence solution will connect all your departments in a seamless platform that ensures your teams are aligned. For example, communication functions enable owners and general managers to view team communication. At the same time, department managers stay up-to-date on key matters. Also, team members can stay informed on each deal.

A good tool will also allow for in-cell comments to enable efficient communications. These comments inform other team members of important information they need to know. Additionally, visual alerts can notify staff of any critical updates. This further ensures that everyone stays on top of things.
Without relying on spreadsheets from each department, each team can also see the most recent data sets across departments for optimal clarity and accuracy.

These advantages help ensure that your entire dealership is always aware of each department's status and performance.

Accountability across activity

In a hybrid work environment, dealership managers should also be able to ensure consistent accountability across all activities. You and your teams should never be uncertain about who made certain department changes and updates.

For instance, SalesLogs audit trails can keep track of activities and communication. Then you can determine who did what at any given point. This prevents blame games from breaking up your teams and pitting employees against each other. You can also use this feature to capture and track any changes to data entries. This saves you time determining who made the change. You can even conduct a complete audit trail of updates to data within a specific range. In a streamlined visual format, you'll see what data sets have changed for multiple users, categories, and deals.

The right software will also let you see all data updates for individual cells. This includes user changes, date, and time with comparisons to previous values. You can instantly revert to the original if your data contains any erroneous modifications.

How SalesLogs can help

To give your business what it needs to become hybrid work-capable, you need automotive business intelligence software that equips everyone across the company with consistently relevant data and accurate, in-depth insights into performance. Our innovative solution offers myriad features to give you and your staff the resources needed to align teams working remotely with on-premises employees. This allows for true synchronicity that keeps your dealership functioning as it should in the digital age.

At SalesLogs, we provide our customers with reliable business intelligence software to prepare them for the future. To learn more about our solution's capabilities, book a demo today.