The Internet is for more than Fantasy Football

NEW ORLEANS — The majority of today’s repair shops have a computer hooked up to the Internet somewhere in the shop. Many even offer their customers WiFi in the waiting areas.

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But not all shops use the Internet in their bays (let alone all of them), and they could be missing out on an easy way to make technicians’ workflows smoother. Gary Hixson with Mitchell 1 on Wednesday morning shared tips for today’s shop owners in his presentation,  “Advantages of Internet Access in the Repair Shop to Increase Productivity.”

Hixson says some owners might still view the Internet as a potential distraction for their technicians. In reality, he says there are many benefits previously not available to shops, like going into a forum and sharing information on vehicle problems. He used examples like iATN and ProDemand as good sources for vehicle repair information.

Those sources were one of three key points in his presentation, the second being problems that have risen during the past 20 years, including the volume of information and the complexity of vehicles.

Hixson also focused on how information delivery methods have evolved from books to electronic means — computers, CDs, DVDs, what he refers to as “Internet 1.0” and “Internet 2.0” and tablets.

Using the Internet in these manners will help technicians gather resources to problem-solve today’s ever-changing vehicle problems.

“It used to be all problems were mechanical. But now with the amount of computers that are in vehicles today, problems are mechanical, but they’re also software problems and electrical problems,” Hixson explains. “Just being able to figure those issue out and being able share information with your peers on the Internet can be a really useful tool.”

He adds that with the sheer volume of information available, if you don’t embrace these new resources, you will be limited in types of repairs you can perform in  your shop.

“Having access to all the information, allows you to repair a wide variety of vehicles. Other than I just know Hondas and I just work on Hondas and that’s all I know because the vehicles are so complex. You can really expand your scope,” he says.

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