Meeting the Challenges of a Changing Automotive Market: Interview with Joshua Bunyan

At PinewoodTechnologies Asia-Pacific,JoshuaBunyan managesinternal and customer projects. Joshua is passionate about striving to provideexceptional customer service, always looking for ways to improve the services Pinewooddelivers to its customers.

Outside of work, Joshua isextremely passionate about rugby. Having played rugby for 15 years, Joshuabelieves in the strong relationships one can build through sports, along with abit of healthy competition. Currently based in Hong Kong, Joshua is more thanexcited about the Rugby World Cup being hosted in Japan this year, and can’twait to get his hands on some game tickets.

In this deeply insightfulchat with us, Joshua talks about the challenges of a changing automotivemarket, the value of great customer service and how an LMS helps in thisregard.

In today'sinformation-driven world of the informed consumer, how important is it for theseller (in your case, car dealers) to have systems which enable them to provideexceptional customer service?

It is true that the consumers aremore well-informed about their buying options now than ever before. It istherefore of vital importance that our customers know when and how to engagewith “their customers” in- line with their decision-making cycle, whetherthat’s to buy a new car or to service their existing vehicles.

Using a management system suchas Pinewood DMS helps dealers through the use of automated contact plans andreminders. This helps them engage with customers looking to replace theirvehicle or those in need of a service or routine checkup, thus improving thecustomers’ experience.

How does learn-tech,specifically the Learning Management System, help in this regard?

As with any system, itseffectiveness is only as good as those using it. UpsideLMS has helped us todevelop a platform through which we can administer learning content remotely. Thishelps both, with onboarding as well as continual growthof our users, as our platform evolves and develops to meet the challenges of achanging automotive market, always providing new tools to improve ourcustomers’ performance.

Being based out of the UKand having dealers (learners) in APAC, you have a vantage point to assess thedifferences and similarities in the level of technology adoption andpenetration at the workplace. What's your assessment?

Ofcourse there are differences in the level of technology adoption acrossdifferent markets as well as across different brands. This ultimately depends onmarket forces, which can be affected by wider economic conditions of differentmarkets and the demographics each car brand targets.

Forinstance, a high volume brand dealer is more likely to adopt technology whichhelps to make the running of their service department more efficient so theycan increase their volume of work, as each job will have less profit than itwould at a luxury brand. A luxury brand may adopt functionality as it enablesthem to provide exceptional customer service to ensure repeat visits, as theircustomer base is relatively small to a volume brand and retention is vital.

Havingsaid that, what we always try to do at Pinewood Technologies is to encouragecustomers to fully adopt the technology. After all, every business can benefitfrom exceptional customer service and efficiency in operations. An increase inwork volume doesn’t need to have an adverse effect on customer satisfaction. Aswe have a view across multiple markets and brands, we can help our customerbase to take lessons from these markets and brands and apply them to theirbusinesses through better adoption of technology, to drive their businessperformance.