Infomedia : Sky’s the limit with cloud EPC

05/15/2017 | 05:59 am

By Jonathan Rubinsztein | CEO of Infomedia. 

The Infomedia team celebrated a very important win recently. We proudly announced that after a global competitive tender,Infomedia was selected to be a technology partner to Nissan Motor Company.

We signed an exclusive agreement with Nissan to supply ourMicrocat Electronic Parts Catalog software (EPC) to Nissan's global dealership network.

Nissan's General Manager of Global Service Engineering, Mr. Shigeru Narita, said: 'We are very excited to have selected Infomedia as our partner. We believe that they have the best technology, people and organisation for our global rollout, and we look forward to implementing their EPC throughout our business to drive the business change needed to get us onto a world leading platform.'

We think some of the reasons our customers select Infomedia are:

• Established global operations - Ability to deliver a localised EPC in 29 languages, to over 180 countries, and provide regional support in 16 languages.
• Trusted Partner - Simple, all-inclusive business model.
• Fast, accurate and intuitive EPC - Easy to learn, easy to use EPC.
• Solution for the entire Parts Supply Chain - Capabilities to extend parts selling beyond the Dealer to Collision and Trade customers.
• Technology leadership - Industry leading SaaS infrastructure that supports 150,000 users.

In terms of our technology leadership, we have the ability to replace their legacy system with a next-generation cloud-based EPC, with automated data updates and 'always on' infrastructure.

Some automakers like Nissan, have established a clear direction for their cloud strategy, backed by a deep understanding that cloud is a powerful enabler for innovation and brand growth. For other automakers, the clock is ticking, as the rate of vehicle technology change increases and customer attitudes towards dealership service evolve.

Cloud-based technology offers automakers and dealerships new capabilities to not only improve employee productivity, but limitless potential to improve customer service and satisfaction.

My view is that new consumer and competitive requirements are creating a perfect storm that will place even more importance for dealerships to adopt cloud applications.

Next generation technology - easy, with no fuss

Here at Infomedia, we were the first to have a 100% online, commercially released EPC. So why do we believe in cloud so strongly? Because we can remove the hassle, risk and cost associated with fixed dealership technology.

My philosophy is: systems and processes should only be implemented if they reduce the complexity of a process, reduce cost, and speed things up - and that's exactly what cloud technology does.

For a busy parts counter at a dealership, removing the need to install, update and manage catalogue data means more time can be spent with the customer. Our Microcat software provides affordable technology with an always on, always up-to-date solution that allows dealerships to focus on business growth.

For automakers, cloud technology empowers hassle-free data updates with self-serve tools that publish parts pricing information in real-time. Our automaker customers tell me this is a very powerful and big competitive advantage for them.

Increasing business agility for the fast-paced world

When I speak with our key OEM customers, I hear a common story: dealerships are under constant pressure from aftermarket competitors. Customer expectations are evolving, and I believe cloud technology and comparable retail experiences are playing a key part in defining those new customer expectations; eBay and Amazon make it so simple!

To customers, fast delivery times are a standard expectation - the sooner the part is delivered to the workshop, the faster the customer can pick up their car. Therefore, ordering the right repair part, the first time, is crucial for a dealership's parts department. This is where I believe cloud EPCs like Microcat have the advantage. Faster cycle times in this industry means a tangible impact on customer satisfaction and profitability, and cloud technology is the enabler.

With cloud-based applications, users have more business agility and flexibility. This is backed by a study from Harvard Business Review, where 64% of respondents reported that the use of cloud has increased their organisation's agility. Cloud applications mean instant access to information, better customer experience and potential for harnessing actionable insights in real-time.

Flexibility to work anytime, anywhere

Being someone who is constantly travelling and on the move, it's imperative for me to be able to work remotely, as and when I like. All my files, data, information and detail is stored online in the cloud. I don't need to be tied to a single computer or laptop, and I can switch between multiple devices.

Our cloud applications also bring this freedom of movement to dealership staff - we empower them to go beyond the parts counter and be innovative with their sales strategies. A cloud EPC can easily be used on location by field staff when selling parts to collision and mechanical trade customers.

Exposing the dealership catalogue information to trade customers is also made easy by using cloud applications. Self-service and digital transformation of the sales process can mean a gigantic leap in dealership efficiency, and we are seeing increased interest in our Trade EPCs by OEMs who want to transform their retail parts environment.

Collaboration & insights

Not only do we build great cloud applications, but we are also fearless adopters of cloud technology for our internal organisation. One of the most challenging things about leading a global company is consistency. We might have multiple office locations around the world, but we are 'One Infomedia', and the cloud enables us to collaborate seamlessly.

With all data and information being stored centrally, and available 24/7, it's much easier to communicate, collaborate and draw insights.

I believe collaboration is an area of opportunity for automakers and dealerships. During the past year, I have seen many examples of vehicle and customer data being stored on automaker network silos. However, dealerships will not capitalise on this information until OEMs invest in cloud applications.

Our Microcat EPC platform is designed to scale, and we implement a large volume of local parts information at country level. This not only assists dealerships with more relevant and faster sales transactions, but it also creates potential for OEMs to use analytics via the cloud to monitor and improve supply chain processes.

The cloud and its silver lining

These reasons are precisely why Nissan has chosen to implement our cloud-based Microcat EPC to their global dealership network. With automatic online updates, dealerships will have access to the latest automaker parts data, right at their fingertips, 24/7.

Having easy and instant access to accurate parts information means Parts Managers also have greater insight and control. They are more agile, and are empowered to act on the information and implement actions in a shorter turnaround time. This benefit extends to Nissan's customers, who will be able to get their car repaired in a timelier manner.

We're delighted to have Nissan onboard, and we're confident that our technological innovations will continue to reinvent their parts operations into the future.

Given the significant opportunities presented by cloud technology, I expect more OEMs to adopt cloud-based EPCs to keep up with fundamental shift in user experiences, customer expectations and competitive pressures.

Jonathan Rubinsztein BCom (Hons), MBA, FAICD
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Managing Director

Jonathan Rubinsztein commenced his appointment as CEO & Managing Director on the Board of Infomedia in March 2016. Mr Rubinsztein has a proven track record of leading high performance teams in the technology sector.

How Amazon Killed The Department Store, In Five Charts

by Tyler Durden

The following five charts demonstrate how Amazon has taken  on retail - one of the most venerable sectors of the US economy, one which employs nearly 16 million workers... and won.

No growth in department stores in the past decade:

Department stores vs Internet shopping total sales:

And annual growth, or lack thereof...

At the current pace, online sales will surpass total General Merchandise sales in the next 2-3 years.

Finally, the market cap of Amazon alone is more than 8 times the entire US department store index.

 

Face-to-face contact improves our health

Courtesy Bill Gross - idea labs 

Susan Pinker gave a great talk showing how different parts of your brain light up with human contact, but only face-to-face contact and interaction engaged the brain that way. 

Passively watching a video didn’t do the same thing.

 She studied a small village in Sardinia where the population has an above-average number of centinarians, male and female, which she attributes in part to the constant/close personal interactions of the villagers.

She showed this graph of staying alive:

Social integration and close relationships topped the list, even above smoking, drinking, exercise, being overweight, and clean air! 

She said that genes account for 25% of the variance in longevity, and lifestyle accounts for 75%. 

She said that women live longer than men because they are more likely to prioritize close, in-person friendships. 

She urged people to “build your village, it’s actually a matter of life and death.”

(Checkout www.bbg.business) 

Airbus wants to test autonomous flying cars sometime this year

 

French aerospace giant Airbus wants to have an autonomous car in the air by the end of the year, according to the group’s chief executive, Tom Enders.

Airbus claims the autonomous flying car will alleviate traffic problems in major cities and could reduce infrastructure budgets for city planners, who won’t have to worry about bridges, traffic lights, or concrete roads.

See also: Well, of course, Larry Page invested in two flying car startups

“One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground, now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground,” said Enders at the DLD tech conference in Munich. “We are in an experimentation phase, we take this development very seriously,”

Airbus formed the Urban Air Mobility division last year, to start work on a prototype flying car. It hopes to test this by the end of the year, but Enders said it would most likely be 2020 before any commuters hop into a flying car.

Flying cars aren’t choppers

The company also plans to build a semi-autonomous flying car, so the whole project isn’t gutted if regulations say a driver must be able to control the vehicle.

Airbus has a new business plan for the flying cars, not at all like its commercial helicopters, which are sold at a price only few can afford. It wants to develop an Uber-like app for the flying cars, where commuters can rent the autonomous vehicle for a single ride.

Interestingly, Uber also wants to have a service for flying cars, using Airbus’ concept.

The flying car reality might only be a few years away, but with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) already struggling to regulate the drone market, it might be an intense fight to allow humans inside autonomous flying vehicles.

CATEGORIES: TRANSPORT

TAGS: AIRBUS, AUTONOMOUS, DRIVERLESS, FEATURED, FLYING CARS, FUTURE TECH, TOP

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Will AI lead to fewer jobs ? Good or bad for business?

 

I’ve been asked many times recently to comment on how the rise of AI will impact the jobs and the economy, particularly in customer service and contact centers. I’ve seen wildly differing forecasts, from the dire predictions of Elon Musk to the optimistic predictions of Accenture. According to Forrester’s recently released ‘The Future of Jobs’ report, robots will take 24.7 million jobs by 2027, but create 14.9 million new jobs in the same period. There is no doubt that AI will impact jobs globally more than any other technology in our lifetime. The key question is “what should we do about it?”

The answers depend on your point of view and whether you’re a government leader, a business leader or a worker thinking about your own future. Should we tax robots, as Bill Gates suggests? Should we adopt universal basic income as Musk suggests? “Ultimately,” said Musk, “I think there will need to be some sort of improved symbiosis with digital superintelligence, but that’s a pretty involved discussion.”

There are huge societal questions that I won’t attempt to answer here. Instead, I tend to approach the topic of AI and jobs in the same way that I approach the question “how do you eat an elephant?” (Answer: one bite at a time). There are several near-term challenges and opportunities for businesses, and the best thing that business leaders can do is understand what those are.

While some see a bleak future, I see a future where AI and machine learning will create new categories of work, and amplify human intelligence. Computers bring incredible processing power and memory, and can mine vast amounts of information in a short period of time, while humans bring the emotional intelligence and problem-solving skills to handle unexpected or uncommon situations. In the next few years, I see AI becoming integral to the productivity of the workforce. 

Understand and embrace the changes

As leaders think about how AI will impact their businesses in the next few years, there are several key questions they should consider:

1. How can AI (specifically chatbots) reduce labor costs and improve customer experience? 
2. What can businesses do to reduce the risk of automation on the workforce?
3. What new jobs can be created because of automation?
4. What are the macro-economic global ramifications of further automation?

One of the most obvious areas that AI will impact jobs in the next few years is in customer service and sales, especially in the contact center. Chatbots have the potential to help businesses significantly cut labor costs, which increases profits, but has a human impact. Improvements in AI have enabled chatbots to create effective automated responses that helps businesses generate sales and boost consumer satisfaction. According to a study by Oracle, nearly 80 percent businesses have already implemented, or are planning to adopt, AI as a customer service solution by 2020. 

According to McKinsey, 29 percent of customer service 36 percent of sales representative positions in the US could be automated through chatbots and other tech. BI Intelligence estimates that equates to savings of $23 billion annually in customer service salaries, and $15 billion annually in sales salaries. 

Those are compelling numbers, and it’s clear why so many companies are exploring this. Because of advances in AI, businesses can use artificially intelligent chatbots as virtual agents that replicate the effectiveness of their best human agents. This has the potential to reduce customer frustration and wait times. 

However, it is essential to remember chatbots are still an outward facing extension of the brand, and even though they are not human, consumer expectations around their performance will be high. Moreover, a robot does not have the empathy to handle a frustrated customer, or the creativity to drum up a solution to a particularly unique issue. These uniquely human capabilities shouldn’t be underestimated – they’re essential to the workforce of the future, particularly the customer experience of the future. And if companies are incentivized to invest in the platform development and training to empower humans and machines to work together, automation can be less of a risk, and more an opportunity.

What should businesses think about?

• Which types of jobs are most easily automated and what level of human involvement will be needed after you do so?
• What kinds of jobs that are possible when a human has access to incredible processing power? Prepare to develop and train your employees for those jobs.
• How do chatbots differ, and what are the requirements for business?
• How can we design conversations using AI? Right now the focus is just on the call, and that’s where it ends. How can we re-think the experience across all touchpoints? 
• How can we use AI to anticipate what the customer needs and do it on their behalf?

Bots have the power to create, not just destroy jobs. In the near future AI and chatbots will free human workers from many repetitive, mundane tasks. This will cost some jobs but it will also create new positions – some not even invented yet. (Think stables and blacksmiths vs. parking garages and mechanics a hundred years ago.) 

Let’s take a contact center today and consider how it might evolve for tomorrow. Today, there’s little distinction between someone designing conversations vs. handling customer queries, but in the near future, many of the routine activity that agents handle will go away. In the next few years, I believe that 80 percent of contact center operations will be automated. The other 20 percent will be highly paid customer service jobs, including agents with the capability to train machines to become smarter. The agent of future will be more educated, more sophisticated and apply principles of psychology to handle high-value, complex conversations with customers

This will have a greater impact on countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, India and the Philippines, which have a much higher population of contact center agents than the United States. I envision something similar to what happened in the 90s when all the maintenance work started moving there. Over time, those jobs transitioned into actual development, and now many of the largest software companies including Adobe and Microsoft create new products there. 

Automation will affect every industry, but the vital role of humans working behind the veil of AI should not be underestimated. The notion of fully autonomous AI is still a thing of fantasy for now. For the foreseeable future, businesses will need humans to teach machines to work smarter, and bridge the gap where AI falls short – particularly when it comes to the complexities of human emotion.  Human labor remains a key component of the AI loop, and as we’ve seen with just about every other major technological advancement, some jobs will be lost but many more will be created to fit this new reality. 

Written by

PV KannanCEO at [24]7 Inc.

Self Driving trucks - the pleasure and the pain

 

Self-driving trucks are no longer the future. They are the present. They are here! 

There will be a reduction of accidents of the road. In 2012 in the US, 330,000 large trucks were involved in crashes that killed nearly 4,000 people, most of them in passenger cars. About 90 percent of those were caused by driver error.  Robot trucks will kill far fewer people, if any, because machines don’t get tired or distracted. Machines don’t look at phones instead of the road. Machines don’t drink alcohol or do any kind of drugs or involve any number of things that somehow contribute to the total number of accidents every year involving trucks.

 

Robot trucks also don’t need salaries. No more need for health insurance either. Self-driving trucks will also never need to stop to rest, for any reason. Routes will take less time to complete.

BUT!!!!!

What does this mean for the 3.5 million truck drivers in America? Will they have jobs ? What will this mean to the local economies dependent on truckers and he othe 5.2 million people employed in the industry. (Insurance , Restaurants, Diners , Motels etc)

Add the development of the hypeloop being able to deliver freight from NY to LA in under 4 hours, and you have an interesting cocktail of cataclysmic unemployment and decimation of industries and in turn small towns dependent on their custom. . 

 

 

Will these small rural towns close and people move to the cities and find jobs there?

One further important detail to consider is that truck drivers are well-paid. They provide a middle class income of about $40,000 per year. That’s higher than 46% of all tax filers. Truck driving is just about the last job in the country to provide a solid middle class salary without requiring a post-secondary degree.

 

If we look at the big national picture, we are potentially looking at well over 10 million American workers and their families whose incomes depend entirely or at least partially on the incomes of truck drivers, who are, by the way, extremely well paid and a major contributor to the Tax System! 

 

The replacement of truckers is inevitable. It is not a matter of “if”, it’s only a matter of “when.”  No one should be asking what we’re going to do when computers take our jobs.  We should all be asking what we get to do once freed from them. 

 

Partial source Huffington Post and Bob Pritchard