Can you tell us briefly about your
company ShiftMobility?
SHIFTMobility's all-in-one platform
for the automotive industry was designed from the ground up to vertically
integrate manufacturers, distributors and repair centres to make their
businesses smarter, faster, and more agile. SHIFTMobility innovations in
business-to-business commerce, for example, accelerates products to market for
distributors over mobile devices. As a result, you can reach your buyers
anywhere and at anytime in seconds. With the new W3C standards for connected
cars, SHIFTMobility is also in a position to deliver rapid connectivity with
in-vehicle devices and infotainment systems.
In essence it means it reduces delays
and improves efficiency?
Yes. Imagine an auto part being
manufactured in one location and stocked at other places for
distribution. Now, when a car is brought into a dealer or a repair shop
for either maintenance or when something breaks down, the symptoms need to be
diagnosed, parts need to be researched and ordered, hopefully you get the right
one to replace otherwise you need to return it back to the distributor, and
re-oder the right one. All this leads to delays for the customer. You obviously
want your customers to be happy but you cannot deliver a good experience with
broken systems.
SHIFTMobility's all-in-one platform
and smart applications instantly connect a car with specific repairs and
diagnostic services, this includes accessing instant part and labour
information, you can also quickly locate the preferred brand and the right part
with your nearest distributor who can deliver it fast. Now you have more
time to spend on other vehicles or your next customer.
For example, in the US as well as
here perhaps, just to quote for a job it takes at least 20 to 30 minutes. But
with our app, you can do it in just 30 seconds. So you are all of a sudden
finding the time savings to be a huge advantage and that's encouraging.
That's the sort of efficiency that people get excited about with our
solutions.
In the developed countries like the
US and in Europe, ShiftMobility seems to have a great future but what about in
India where jobs are done in more traditional ways?
The primary challenge facing Indian
part manufacturers seems to be the time it takes them to reach their target
markets in Asia, Europe and US with their legacy EDI systems and B2B
infrastructure. One of the main reasons is that their product data is not
standards compliant and the markets may have shifted by the time their products
finally reach there. For example, US distributors will not be able to sell
their products with paper catalogues and it would cost them a lot more to
enable it for commerce. We launched ‘VroomBox’ for ACMA members at the
AutoMechanika event. Using this mobile cloud based application,
manufacturers can create ACES and PIES compliant files within minutes. The
catalog is mobile optimised for ease of view and use. The images are
optimised for faster delivery on the mobile device. Once the catalogue is
published, distributors in our network can sell these parts anywhere and
anytime. The manufacturers were very excited with what they could finally see
themselves realize with VroomBox.
So have you made a beginning in
India?
Yes, as I said, we just launched
VroomBox for Indian Part Manufacturers. We shall be offering this app to
all the manufacturers through ACMA. A lot of manufacturers at the Automechanika
seminar event were intrigued by this offering and were keen to get into the
programme. We shall be engaging them soon.
Why be a part of this Automechanika
show, why not an Auto Expo, which is much larger in size and stature?
Automechanika events are capable of
bringing people together in an effective way. They are targeted and
provides an avenue to meet the right people. It is more personal yet big
enough to meet lots of people!
Is the business model of
ShiftMobility unique or are there similar offerings from companies globally?
SHIFTMobility is the only company
bringing aftermarket manufacturers, distributors, and repair shops on to a
common platform. We are also the only company to offer branded mobile
apps for all their clients.
Are you a car person or a software
person? Tell us briefly about yourself.
I am a software person who happens to
love cars and have fun tinkering innovations. The automotive industry is
going through a wave of rapid transformation, there is a lot more to it than
what we could talk and demonstrate today given the limited time. It
suffices to say, cars are becoming smarter. You would be able drive an
autonomous and connected car soon. Aftermarket needs to follow suit and
shift to mobility using modern technology and platform.