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News>>Guarantee customer satisfaction by taking a long-term approach towards industry changes
December 20, 2017

Guarantee customer satisfaction by taking a long-term approach towards industry changes

The bodyshop and insurance industries have been kept extremely busy throughout 2017, most notably in the latter half of the year when significant changes have been felt.

In addition to the evolution of day-to-day operations, both industries have to deal with the looming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation. They also have to consider the increasingly complex range of models being introduced and the change to vehicle salvage codes brought into effect in October 2017.

Taking these factors into account and recognising that the introduction of the new codes would require updates for both insurers and bodyshops, we identified this as the ideal time to release the latest iteration of our vehicle damage assessment and estimate solution, Audaenterprisegold 4.0 (AEG 4.0).

Ensuring that our customers have the very latest software, in order to properly understand and use the updated salvage codes, was a priority. Because the impact of these would necessitate the update of all systems, which is not an overnight fix, we decided to work with the insurance and repair community in January 2017, nine months before the introduction of AEG 4.0. By listening to our customers at every stage of the process, we have ensured the appropriate updates were implemented into the new software, rather than having speculative updates that weren’t based on actual customer concerns.

This release, one of our largest and most complex, was the result of us adopting an ‘Agile’ approach towards software development. This uses a set of values and principles that underpin continuous improvement through close customer collaboration at every stage. By adopting this method, we are able to respond quickly to our customers’ needs, allowing for the development and launch of new products to the market at a faster rate.

With the increasing complexity of new models making it more crucial than ever to obtain accurate, right first time estimates, AEG 4.0 has been designed to accept a wider range of models and options into the software than ever before. This gives our customers access to the widest vehicle data coverage available.

With an increasing number of new models comes a wide range of derivatives. To illustrate this, the number of new vehicle specs added to our software every 12 months has increased threefold, from 400 to 1200 over the last four years.

The ability to correctly capture the correct vehicle information has made this increase in capacity a necessity. The inclusion of this additional vehicle data is the only way to ensure that the overall initial damage assessment is correct first time. To complement this growing library, we have launched a range of new functionalities into AEG 4.0.

One of these is providing multi-user access to data. This ensures communications between all parties is seamless, streamlining the estimation and repair process. Key-to-key time is also minimised, ultimately improving customer satisfaction.

Increasingly complicated vehicle design also raises the possibility of damage being more than cosmetic. As a result, we have re-developed our damage capture technology, allowing insurers and bodyshops to pinpoint exactly where the damage is and any resulting knock-on effects.

Thanks to a new cost calculation and parts composition tool, coupled with 2D and 3D visualisation of the vehicle damage and impact area, the software provides consistent and quick estimations, ensuring full visibility of costs and labour time.

The upgrade also features an additional vehicle valuation service. Users can access a new subset of fields which, when completed, provide bodyshops with a full, industry-leading vehicle valuation from cap hpi. This not only allows bodyshops to quickly identify any potential total losses, but also ensures a faster and more accurate valuation before any repair costs are calculated.

Prioritising AEG 4.0 in early 2017 has enabled us to already roll-out additional new features since launching in October, which has further aided in cost calculation. Having a long-term launch strategy and staggering the roll out has enabled us to consult with customers on necessary tweaks, while future-proofing the technology to plan for further updates. These will be easier to implement, with a view to the process becoming fully automated.

Data will also be available through our on-demand service, providing flexible, instant access when needed. This will be facilitated through the continuing migration of data from legacy systems to the cloud, illustrating how we’re innovating for the future. This not only refers to further iterations of Audaenterprisegold but our readiness for ever-stringent data laws and compliance.

Preparing repairers and insurers fully for current and future changes was behind our decision to launch AEG 4.0 in a timely manner to our customers, reflecting our approach towards ensuring absolute customer satisfaction.