BYD UK has begun a rollout of a connected workshop solution that it expects to bring significant efficiency gains for its car dealers’ aftersales teams.
It follows a successful multi-month trial across its franchised network, in live workshop operations, with the solution which BYD’s aftersales team developed in partnership with Autotech Connect.
The trial found that technical information searches that previously took 20 to 30 minutes are now reduced to seconds or minutes at the most, and AI-supported reporting has reduced the task to about five minutes per report.
It also now provides hands-free remote support for BYD network technicians that has enabled some repairs to be completed several hours faster, even days quicker in some instances.
Autotech Connect with BYD’s own aftersales team and the dealers involved in the trial to refine the solution, with a particular focus on removing the everyday inefficiencies that affect workshop productivity and vehicle downtime.
The solution combines RealWear hands-free headsets, Wideum remote support technology and FieldPal.ai’s AI-assisted reporting and knowledge lookup platform, technologies which form part of Autotech Connect’s wider connected workshop offering.
Glyn Hopkin BYD was one of the franchisees involved in the pilot. Service Manager Richard Slimming said the project began around six months ago with a “complete blank sheet of paper” and a simple question from Autotech Connect: how can we save you time?
Efficient warranty admin
Warranty administration quickly emerged as one opportunity. The process evolved into a structured digital warranty submission bringing the required information and supporting photographs into one document, with mandatory fields helping to prevent incomplete submissions.
“The document completion is saving us time as well as reducing the backwards and forwards with warranty,” said Slimming. “The system is set up so it won’t let you complete the write-up if it isn’t complete – you can’t skip the mandatory fields or photographs.”
Feedback from the wider BYD dealer network has reinforced the importance of this. One aftersales team highlighted the challenge of ensuring technicians capture all the information required to support a warranty claim, and the financial implications when a claim is subsequently rejected. Having the process structured in one place, they said, should give both teams and individuals greater confidence that the required evidence has been captured before a claim is submitted.
Master technician Russell Clark at Glyn Hopkin BYD said another major benefit is reducing the time technicians spend searching for information.
“The data lookup capability that the AI solution offers is fantastic,” Clark said. “Instead of spending half an hour looking for a technical bulletin, you can ask the solution if there is a bulletin relating to a particular subject and it will find it for you.”
In one example, Clark spent around 20 minutes locating the instructions needed to remove a door panel – compared with just five minutes to physically remove it. With the AI-supported knowledge platform, the relevant procedure can instead be surfaced directly from the available technical documentation.
Better service for BYD owners
For Maurizio Pisano, BYD’s head of aftersales for the UK, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, the project forms part of a wider focus on ensuring BYD’s aftersales infrastructure continues to evolve alongside the rapid growth of the brand.
“Our growth has been phenomenal, but everything we do has the customer at the forefront. Customer care is extremely important to us and, in partnership with Autotech Connect, we wanted to design a state-of-the-art technical solution that would support that journey by reducing vehicle downtime and helping our retailers diagnose and repair vehicles quickly,” said Pisano.
He added: “We investigated the market because we wanted a partner who shared our vision and had the capability to help us develop what we were looking to achieve,” continues Maurizio. “Autotech Connect was the right fit because of the team’s experience, their understanding of aftersales and their knowledge of the automotive industry. That has enabled us to develop something specifically around BYD and the needs of our network.”
The BYD project reflects the wider approach Autotech Connect has developed since the brand launched three years ago, of combining automotive expertise with specialist hardware and software to address practical challenges facing the aftermarket. Autotech Connect works with technology providers including RealWear, Wideum and FieldPal.ai as part of its wider offering, applying its automotive understanding to determine where technology can make a meaningful difference to workshop operations.
Solving geniune problems
“We’ve spent the last three years looking at where technology can make a meaningful difference to automotive businesses and working closely with specialist hardware and software providers to turn that technology into practical solutions,” said Darren Dowling, client services director at Autotech Connect. “What we bring is the automotive understanding. We know the pressures workshops and aftersales teams are operating under, while our technology partners bring specialist expertise in their respective fields. It means we can bring the two together and, importantly, test and refine solutions in real automotive environments before they are deployed more widely.
“For us, it has never been about introducing technology simply because it is available. It has to solve a genuine problem, work for the people using it every day and demonstrate a tangible benefit.
“That is why the trial and feedback process is so important. With BYD, Maurizio and his team had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve, while its retailer network gave us invaluable insight into the day-to-day requirements. The results of the trial demonstrate what can be achieved when you combine that automotive knowledge with the right technology and develop it around the people who are actually going to use it.”
Technician response has also strengthened as the trial has progressed. While some were initially sceptical, Pisano says the reaction became increasingly positive once they experienced the technology first-hand, with some describing it as a “game changer”.
For Pisano, the rollout is the next stage rather than the conclusion. “We’ve got some really exciting plans to take this further.
“This is just the start of a really good project, and it’s only going to get bigger.”