LAS VEGAS — Mitchell 1 in the last year has gotten serious about mobile and its new tagline of being “In your shop, at your side.”
And unveiling new updates and enhancements for a trio of its offerings — ProDemand, Manager SE and Social CRM — makes that message even clearer, says Ben Johnson, director of product management.
“We’re not going to replace a technician, but we can augment them,” he notes.
And they’re doing that by optimizing websites for mobile viewing, enhancing 1Search features and bringing review notifications into SocialCRM.
“In the new system, you log in, identify the vehicle and it takes you into the 1Search screen,” Johnson explains. “Before you even start typing, we’ll show you information on this vehicle. You may not type anything in, you may see, ‘Oh, this is what I was looking for.’”
Johnson says seeing real symptoms from Mitchell 1’s database can save time on diagnosing problems, because technicians won’t be focused on the first option, such as it might be a code but what is the underlying cause.
The results are broken into OE results and SureTrack real life information. After that, technicians can dive into diagrams, specs and other tips.
“This directly relates to the technician’s efficiency and his confidence,” Johnson says.
Beyond this, Mitchell 1 introduced ProDemand Mobile, which is a mobile-optimized version of the ProDemand website, not an app. It fits all of the information on the tablet’s screen at the best level, and rotates as the tablet is rotated.
On the management side, Johnson explains that the new Mobile ManagerPro is the new way for shop managers and service advisors to get vehicle information into the shop’s management system. VIN and license plate decoding enable service writers to seamlessly populate vehicle details in a matter of seconds, without writing anything by hand. The data collected on repair orders, estimates and digital multi-point inspections automatically shows up in Manager SE without any additional effort.
“It extends Manager SE’s function onto the tablet, so what we say is throw away your clipboards,” Johnson says. He adds that by the time the service advisors walks back into the shop with the customer, the information already is populated and the estimate ready.
And while the advisor is talking the customer, Mitchell’s updates to its SocialCRM come into play. Johnson says the tighter integration with Manger SE allows for reviews to be pushed to the shop directly, showing up in near real-time. It also ties in reviews with customer profiles so that an advisor can talk about the customer’s last experience, either thanking them or working to correct a past problem.
“That helps us develop a better customer relationship,” Johnson says.
