What Is the Innovator of the Year Award?
The Innovator of the Year award is awarded to the business that leverages innovation and technology to achieve business growth. It emphasizes the importance of adding value to customers, whether through products or services.
A business that wins Innovator of the Year can often be associated with increasing operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and environmental sustainability. The car industry keeps expanding and Westside Auto aims to introduce more innovative products and services to the market.
How We Did It
According to Luke Manion, Chief Digital Officer, “Westside is the first dealership in Australia to truly take customer contact and lead management seriously by operating their inbound lead centre 24 hours 7 days a week with real people.” This ensures that customers receive the same level of service, whether it is 3 a.m. or 3 p.m. A typical dealership will have 27% of their inquiries come in outside office hours and go unanswered. Hence, our system ensures that every lead receives a response and is given the option to begin the purchase process whenever it is most convenient for them, which is especially beneficial for shift or FIFO workers.
Therefore, Westside Auto is dedicated to innovation in all areas of operation, not just the products. Apart from this, the constant commitment to customer satisfaction, sustainability, strategic technological advances, responsiveness, agility, and forward-thinking leadership allows us to stay at the forefront of the car industry.
Our strategy helped us to use technology and data in a way that contributed to the development of how our people, processes, and technology view the digital world. Luke continued to say, “Westside Auto Wholesale is the largest single site used car dealership in Australia delivering on average over 1,000 retail cars per month and do so using only digital advertising. We do not do any traditional offline or outdoor media.”
We've taught our team to embrace all the advances of the modern world - technology is a tool that you need to use to your advantage, it is not something to shy away from!
Some of the new technology we've developed recently includes Westside's Photobooth with a new API interface to Cox Automotive for photo upload. Overall, this enables us to take photos of vehicles and upload these photos wirelessly and automatically in under 10 minutes. It allows us to shoot up to 70 vehicles a day, which equates to 1,750 photos, with no post-processing and minimal staff. This is only a small portion of what we can achieve with technology, and there is still much more to unlock. We look forward to discovering this as your innovator of the year.
Another reference is how we use technology to simplify our user experience as much as possible. Westside Auto is the only dealer website that allows clients to submit inquiries by text instead of traditional email or phone. Along with electronic document management, our solar project, which consists of 582 solar panels, has reduced 252 tonnes of carbon emissions and is on track to generate exponential savings in an expensive energy market by 2024. This is the type of forward-thinking leader that people need.
Why Is This Award Important to Us?
This award is a true reflection of Westside Auto’s dedication to the automotive industry. It showcases our dedication to technology and innovation. Furthermore, it emphasises that with the great team behind us, we can create outstanding automotive digital talent. We aim to encourage others to get involved and open the door for new talent, which we believe this award will give us the opportunity to do.
Other Awards Westside Auto Was Nominated for
While we took the crown as Innovator of the Year, we were shortlisted as finalists for three categories, namely:
- 2022 MTAWA Innovator of the Year
- 2022 MTAWA Automotive Women of the Year Finalist (Alara Syson, Client Contact Centre Manager)
- 2022 MTAWA Industry Recognition Award Finalist (Bob Fowler, Founder, Owner and DP)
What Does the Future Have in Store?
We believe we’ve done a stellar job at showcasing innovation throughout each stage of the business process, not just when it comes to the final product. From the time you step foot in our dealership till the minute you leave in your new wheels, you will witness our innovative design and implementation strategies, which is just what you should get from your innovator of the year!
If you’re looking to purchase a new car, you can contact us online at any time. Our award-winning team looks forward to helping you on this journey!
