ALLDATA stays on the forefront of changing technologies

Jan. 1, 2020
The slope of technology is accelerating, says ALLDATA President Jeff Lagges, and the company is working to make sure information for today’s shops and distributors is in easy to access, consumable means.

LAS VEGAS — The slope of technology is accelerating, says ALLDATA President Jeff Lagges, and the company is working to make sure information for today’s shops and distributors is in easy to access, consumable means.

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Lagges says there are five areas in which technology is changing, making what ALLDATA does more important to get the information to the end user. The areas are OEM data becoming a commodity, telematics, mobility, social media and big data.

For years, the company has worked to get OEM data to the end users, and following the passage of Right to Repair in Massachusetts, the company is looking into new ways to make that data functional to set it apart from others who now have access.

“And rightfully so. It’s going to be a benefit to the overall market,” Lagges says. “The more information they provide the better, because they’re the authority on the way the vehicle should be repair.”

For example, Lagges says diagnostic charts are a key piece to doing drivability service, and mastering how to take the data and put it into a format that can be linked to a vehicle to enable a better diagnostic process. The OEMs are making it easier to the get content.

Tying it into diagnostic tools is key in this, and is another area Lagges notes. He says ALLDATA went through something similar when it compiled the information and had to create a platform to distribute the information. This could be changing, as scan tools and hardware changes.

“If you look at the J-2534 protocols, the different wireless applications you can connect to the car, the fact that the technology itself, whether it’s a tablet or a phone or whatever it might be, can interconnect with that, it changes the landscape completely,” he states. “The technician won’t be required to buy a proprietary scan tool. They will continue to try to add value to that scan tool, to that piece of hardware, but I think they all understand that’s evolving and moving, and mobile is going to be the way to get there.”

He compares this to how people used to have to go to a music store to buy a CD for one song. But now, all of that hardware is gone, and it’s game changing. He has seen this first-hand, as a technician in the early 1980s with on-board computers.

Two other areas Lagges addresses are social media, which ALLDATA is using to network technicians both to receive the information and add value to it, and big data, or using cloud computing.

As they move to the cloud, Lagges says all of the information from appointment through repair and invoicing will be digitized, and companies, not just large ones, can mine that data.

“It’ll be at the fingertip of a local mom and pop shop,” Lagges says.  

All of these technologies combine to keep ALLDATA moving in the direction of where these changes are going.

“We’re well on this journey,” he adds. “I think the next evolution for us is to say how do we start capturing it, how do we start analyzing it.”

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About the Author

Tschanen Brandyberry

Tschanen Brandyberry is Special Projects Editor for the UBM Americas – Automotive Group, moving into the position following roles as managing editor of Motor Age and associate editor of Aftermarket Business World. She joined the Automotive Group in 2006 after working in editing and writing positions at The Morning Journal in Lorain, Ohio, and The Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in addition to public relations agency experience. Tschanen is a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

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