July 26, 2017—Mitchell announced its commitment to support an open, no-cost data platform as the basis for its product portfolio.
As the industry is facing global changes in automotive technology and increased vehicle complexity, Mitchell said that innovation will require improved access and data sharing.
"Mitchell understands that industry participants have had access to their own data, and the ability to share it with their trading partners, at their discretion for more than twenty years," the company wrote.
Mitchell said it will continue to support industry standards—both EMS and BMS implementations. The company said this support provide the industry with more time to absorb the change without breaking productions systems, but it will also deliver the open data without toll charges.
"Mitchell participated in the CIC Task Force assembled to study the issues related to data sharing," said Jack Rozint, vice president of repair sales and service at Mitchell. "We support the choice to migrate from EMS to BMS. Our cloud platform supports both EMS and BMS.
"Further, we agree with the Task Force that CIECA and other industry stakeholders have established a precedent that facilitates bi-directional data exchange in a free and open marketplace.
"Finally, we believe that any third party that restricts or prevents industry stakeholders from accessing or using the data will adversely impact the industry. At Mitchell, we're committed to enabling our customers to benefit from open data platforms with best-in-class applications and services."
Mitchell confirms several key points related to its support of an open, no-cost data platform:
- BMS is superior technology to EMS. The BMS data standards are more modern and offer more flexibility in implementation and enhanced security over EMS.
- Mitchell is a leader in BMS implementation. Mitchell is a leading participant among the Information Providers in CIECA and has been since its inception. Mitchell has supported BMS for the past 12 years and will continue to do so.
- Mitchell has no plans to obsolesce its EMS implementation at this time. There are more than one hundred applications and services that utilize EMS. Many of these applications are mission critical to repair and claims workflow, and bring substantial benefits to industry participants. Mitchell will not disrupt our customers businesses by eliminating EMS access before many of these application providers are ready to utilize BMS.
- No tolls, no lock box on data. Mitchell will implement BMS with its collision repair customers in a manner in which the user maintains control of its own data and may share its data with its chosen trading partners without restrictions and without per-transaction tolls.
