Interview with Karolyn Hart
Tell us about Wireless Ronin and what you have to offer dealers.
We have a great system called RoninCast® for Automotive which is an interactive and non-interactive digital signage system. We've created a system for specifically for dealers and we've been working with dealers for twenty years doing interactive solutions.
What are some of the things that the digital signage system actually does? What does it look like? How big is it?
We are working with large, flat-screen, 46 inch commercial grade screens that are touch screens. You put them in your showroom experience or in service and maintenance. They are hi-res videos with media rich assets, beautiful, fun to interact with and what is really important is the amount of data that is coming into these systems.
What would be some of the interactive content that you would use on a showroom floor?
On the showroom, dealers are saying to us, "We have consumers coming in who are extremely well versed in the products and vehicles along with the features and the benefits. They come in and they want us to also tell them how that compares against a different brand and make."
If you don't have that answer immediately, you've broken that trust and they will go and purchase somewhere else where they do feel that trust. There were a couple of things that we know we needed to do for them. We knew it was going to come down to communication transparency.
It is really about getting that information there. Our system actually integrates with the DMS that is in the dealership and provides all that really important information right at their fingertips.
Let's go back to the service bay and what screens you would find there?
How many of us have gone into our dealer, we think we are going to spend $30 or $40 or however much, and $300 later, you are driving down the road going, "Did it really cost $300 to turn that little light off on my dashboard and what was that all about anyways?"
In our service experience, one of the things that we really want to do is right from the moment that you get into the service bay, it is to have that personal one on one communication. Drive into a service bay Welcome, Karolyn Hart. This is what you are getting done on your system today. Well, imagine now that I’m stepping out of my car and there is an e-learning module that is walking you through right there and helping you understand.
Now, when you are pulling out from the service that you had done on your car, you are feeling good about it because you understand the maintenance was important.
What do you see with the interactive systems as far as dealers saying we are going to let our sales people show the customers, or we are going to let the customers do it themselves? Is that a division that exists?
Not really, because I think the consumer wants it all. I take it back to when the VHS came out. People said, "That is it. We are never going to have movie theatres. Nobody is ever going to go to the movies any more."
What we have learned about the human being is that we are relational. We like to be with other people.. We don't want just technology that is going to cut them out.
What we want though is the option. I know that is what I demand. I want to be able to play with all of my gadgets, but I want to have a human body there and ask some questions as well.
BIO: Karolyn Hart is the Director of Business Development at Wireless Ronin Technologies focusing. She is the author of two whitepapers "A Automotive Dealer's Guide to Understanding Digital Signage" and "Automotive Digital Signage ROI: Driving Value to Your Business". She has spent the last decade working as a technical and marketing consultant for a variety of Fortune 500 companies.
EMAIL: khart@wirelessronin.com
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