A dealer management systems provider has told delegates at the Australian Automotive Dealer Association Expo and Convention in Brisbane today that a ransomeware attack is the top data security issue they face in business.
According to Pentana Solutions product manager Paul Starkey in the 2021 financial year ransomware attacks cost Australasian businesses more than $33 billion, up 15% or $5 billion from the previous financial year.
He has just wrapped up a presentation at the AADA convention titled ‘Data is the new oil’ saying there are five key takeaways which he would like dealers to follow to protect their valuable data and their multimillion dollar businesses:
- Review permissions and accessibilities – passwords and two-factor authentication
- Determine data flow and potential leakages in the automotive ecosystem
- Implement business process – what sort of data should be captured?
- Engage with system provider – ask the hard questions
- Embrace a data driven approach.
Starkey says since joining Pentana Solutions in the late 1990s he has noticed a huge shift in business intelligence, particularly in the automotive distribution and retail sector.
“Your customer database is your most valuable tool and data left unrefined cannot be used to its full potential,” he says.
But Starkey also warned the dealers that they may not necessarily control the narrative of digital channels such as Facebook or WhatsApp. He says it’s important that dealers control the front end communication with customers using their digital showroom or online booking system.
“Privacy is going to get harder as consumers have more control over communication so it is important that the front end of your digital showroom is friendly enough to let people willingly share information with it,” Starkey says.
He notes chatbots are increasingly popular as a communication device with a younger audience such as millennials.
He also says the volume, velocity and variety of data captured needs to be considered as to how it affects the automotive ecosystem, especially as cars become more connected, and predictive servicing and automation sees the car communicating between the OEM and the dealership.
In his presentation Starkey also covered the role of a system provider and says it is important for dealers to ask if their vendor has a proper tiered back up redundancy data centres, in case there is a malfunction in one of them.
“You also need to check how often your data is backed up? Are you prepared for a future hack into your data system?
Starkey also the commercialisation of data has huge benefits for dealers and it can perform advanced supply chain analytics as well as more in depth reporting, right down to scoring and tracking a new or used salespersons performance on a daily basis in real time.
Used in the right way, Starkey says data can also provide a customer behavioural analysis through their full life cycle and allow dealerships to create highly targeted marketing campaigns which will provide a better return on investment.
