Professionals in the field of automotive after-sales have to cope with an increasingly digitised ecosystem of vehicles, encapsulated by the notion of the “extended vehicle”, which follows hot on the heels of the “connected vehicle”. To help multi-brand technicians carry out their day-to-day work and safeguard the profitability of workshops, ACTIA is boosting its customer relations and investing in a “Customer Care” offer, with a comprehensive catalogue of services.
The primary goal of this catalogue of services is to make it easier to perform work on vehicles throughout their entire life span. It stems from a strong commitment to supporting multi-brand technicians and the upskilling process. Within ACTIA, these services are backed by significant investments along with a responsive, tailored organisation geared, above all, to giving all multi-brand technicians the skills they need to repair current and future vehicles.
The “extended vehicle” won’t grind to a stop in front of the workshop!
ACTIA is asking all multi-brand technicians to rise to the challenges of being able to handle every vehicle that shows up and guaranteeing customer loyalty.
1-The “extended vehicle” concept
The “extended vehicle” concept refers to an international standard that covers both the vehicle and its off-board servers. Off-board servers are a solution to the ever-increasing expectations of drivers in terms of safety, security and on-board comfort, as well as developments in information and communication technologies.
A modern vehicle is capable of producing 4 TB (terabytes) of data per day, the equivalent of 1,000 films. With huge amounts of data stored and exchanged on an off-board server, the “extended vehicle” provides a way of connecting the vehicle to its entire ecosystem, whilst guaranteeing data security, its technical management and interoperability for all stakeholders: manufacturers, insurers, automotive experts, inspection bodies and, of course, mechanics.
2- Vehicle “Diagnosticability”: a key productivity and sustainability issue for all workshops
The emergence of the “extended vehicle” brings with it the challenge of extended vehicle diagnostics. For straightforward maintenance work or to complete a manufacturing task, technicians need to be able to act at a deeper level and access the vehicle’s electronic core.
Specific technical operations such as ECU updates, reprogramming and downloading are now routine tasks for technicians, regardless of whether they belong to a network, and irrespective of their level of training.
These operations have a significant impact on workshops’ business. Therefore, the ability to accommodate all vehicles, even the most recent, is the challenge ACTIA has set itself, alongside the multi-brand technicians. Being able to maintain, diagnose and repair all vehicles and guarantee customer loyalty is a crucial issue, so that workshops not only break even but prosper.
The three pillars of ACTIA’s “Customer Care” offer
All automotive after-sales stakeholders share a set of common needs: to be supported, have access to vehicles and retain a high level of competitiveness. ACTIA’s “Customer Care” offer is based on three major themes: Assistance, Training and Expertise.
Therefore, the catalogue of services is structured around a strong desire to involve technicians in the process, to boost their autonomy, professional expertise and revenue.
1-Expertise
The “expertise” pillar is the most crucial for ACTIA’s “Customer Care” catalogue of services, as it aims to respond to the need for extended diagnostics within the workshop, whilst guaranteeing the transfer of skills to mechanics.
PRP-Diag (Passthru Remote Platform): manufacturer software in the workshop
To perform manufacturer operations, technicians must:
- Use as many manufacturer software applications as there are car brands in their garage, or
- Subcontract the operations to a specialist dealer for that car brand, or
- Worse still – turn away the customer’s car!
With the new PRP-Diag service by ACTIA, you can avoid wasting time or losing revenue. The service takes the form of a secure platform that connects multi-brand technicians to the ACTIA expert hotline and enables them to perform manufacturer diagnostic operations remotely.
It uses the ACTIA Passthru vehicle communication interface.
Whilst we’re on the subject… remember that ACTIA was the trailblazer of Passthru!
ACTIA launched its first Passthru VCI in 2007. At the time, it was the first equipment manufacturer to offer a communication interface compatible with the SAE J2534 standard.
In 2009, the Euro 5 standard required car manufacturers to provide information about technical repairs via their online portal for all independent workshops as well. This was the start of a whole new era for garages: work that previously had to be performed by certified garages could now be carried out directly by independent workshops.
Since then, ACTIA has been supporting mechanics with changes in electronic diagnostics and manufacturer operations, such as ECU reprogramming.
14,000 ACTIA Passthru VCIs are now installed in French workshops! In addition,ACTIA PRP-Diag is already being deployed by the major automotive equipment distributors.
It goes without saying that all mechanics who already have access to ACTIA Passthru can use PRP-Diag at no extra cost.
ACTIA has boosted the volume capacities of its Diagnostic Expert hotline, which already manages a community of over 13,000 members. Its team of multilingual experts is trained to handle the most challenging diagnostics-related issues in less than 4 hours, and in practice, we vastly outperform that target: 96% of tickets are resolved within 45 minutes!
Unlocking the Security Gateway
ACTIA provides access to vehicle ECUs locked by a Security Gateway using one of two methods:
- a quick, step-by-step procedure built into its multi-brand diagnostic tool;
- a procedure performed remotely by the Diagnostics Expert hotline.
2-Assistance
Being able to provide an ongoing service is a key factor when it comes to workshop profitability. ACTIA Assistance supports mechanics, helping them set up their equipment and solutions, and offers a unique service: standard exchange.
3-Training
ACTIA is also counting on new technologies to offer its customers other services via its “Customer Care” offer, with a strong focus on training. In particular, these services include e-learning modules created by a specialist team with solid experience in multimedia learning and webinars tailored to the needs reported by the ACTIA Expert Hotline. Other modules are also available as classroom training, with custom content.
ACTIA’s Customer Care: A supportive approach to prepare for changes affecting the entire profession
ACTIA’s “Customer Care” offer is backed by a responsive, tailored organisation. It is boosted by investments that put ACTIA in a position to meet both its technological and business goals.
1-ACTIA lays the groundwork and invests in this technician-focused approach
ACTIA has invested significantly in this dynamic organisation, for example by integrating IT and organisational resources, a multilingual hotline and an intensive training programme.
The team of trainers is made up of experts who work on vehicles in the workshop and tailor their teaching to trainees’ level of professional training, with the aim of helping them to improve their practice.
To ensure maximum flexibility, ACTIA has designed modular, customisable offers, to meet the wide variety of needs inherent to the profession.
Lastly, ACTIA is committed to delivering the highest standards consistently, by setting up a quality-based Service Level Agreement (SLA).
2- ACTIA Customer Care uses an efficient, secure digital ecosystem
ACTIA has mature digital know-how, enabling it to offer a secure cloud ecosystem. ACTIA has set up a organisation-wide cybersecurity management process, covering the entire scope and all interfaces. Since 2018, ACTIA has held certification for its Information Security Management System (ISMS) in accordance with the ISO 27001 standard.
The extended vehicle is poised to enter workshops. Providing the right level of support to the mechanics who make up its customer portfolio – from the big names down to the smallest workshops and from long-standing customers to newcomers, with their highly diverse skill levels in the area of electronic diagnostics – requires a lot of skilled juggling! That’s the challenge ACTIA has set itself.
Customer Care is the cornerstone that allows ACTIA to provide essential solutions to the transformation challenges facing the profession.
