Here, we ask Kevern Thompson, Commercial Manager, CAPS how supply chain partnerships have evolved in recent years and how the platform is helping to develop trust within the sector.
Can you explain how the approach to partnerships has changed both during and since Covid-19?
Whilst the pandemic seems a distant memory, we should be thankful that our industry was tested in the areas of true relationships. Whilst there are some that capitalised on the poor misfortune of others, it did and still does feel like the majority wants to create a stronger bond throughout the industry’s supply chain.
What is driving that change, and how do you see supply chain partnerships evolving in the coming years?
It is not just the pandemic that has provided a need for a stronger future collaboration; there are many challenges that continue to galvanise us by securing long-term relations, such as Brexit, the semi-conductor crisis (albeit part of the pandemic legacy) and the issues facing parts manufacture in Ukraine. These have all shown how fragile we are as an industry and the single point failure we suffer from when we operate from narrow supply chain availability. It seems that all are now having to look at global solutions where technology is playing a big part in accessing these partner-services.
What makes a good supply chain partner?
Supply chain is both incoming and outbound support. Those who identify as incoming ie work provision, have had to reduce the amount of control that their networks could precure parts from. Category of parts and sourcing options have all become part of future strategies, as vehicles were simply stagnating in the repair process causing increased claim costs. Parts and services have had to digitise to compete with the larger organisations. This element has meant that transparency and speed to deliver a service can overrule price in many cases, as the commodity price is often negligible when looking at the overall claim cost.
How is CAPS working with partners to ensure a smoother motor claims journey?
We continue to make available the CAPS platform for all to connect and communicate with each other, and the reason we re-platformed CAPS (V3) was to facilitate greater communication amongst the supply chain. Some system providers are at different development stages in how they can utilise the current and future facilitation that CAPS V3 can provide. Unfortunately, there are some that continue to control communication by limiting connectivity, which continues to strangle the open connectivity that the industry needs to constantly remain agile.
Can you give us an insight into how CAPS benefits the industry both in terms of customer service and profitability?
Customer service can be viewed in many differing aspects. In our community of connected client-services, insurers and work providers as well as bodyshops, parts and system providers are all customers. As previously stated, we continue to keep growing connections so all benefit from open connectivity. Driver owners benefit as they are kept updated no matter where they connect within the supply chain, sharing the same information – “The single version of the truth.”
How can CAPS ease the sometimes-fraught relationship between repairers and insurers?
By using the correct systems and connectivity to support automated communications, and by reducing the need for manual-resource driven communications via telephone, emails and manual updates. This helps both insurer and bodyshop to become more efficient. The quality of data and communication in addition to the speed of updates when using CAPS removes friction created in an analogue-manual process. Automation means everybody wins.
What are the other traditional bottlenecks within motor claims, and how does CAPS work to alleviate them?
This is an area that we rely on our National Advisory Council to provide direction. They meet each quarter to discuss the frictional pain points within the industry and how best we can solve some of the problems. There is an even split between insurer/work providers, bodyshops and supply chain partners, meaning CAPS benefits from each sector viewpoint. Parts has been the topic for some time and we now have a focus on improving the transfer of documents and imagery throughout the connected community to remove some of the frictional process currently in operation today due to legacy systems and/or behaviour.
How are new technologies such as EVs and ADAS amplifying the need for effective supply chain partners?
Transparency, identification, equipment, training and knowledge are all key to planning a repair. The old adage still remains: Poor planning will lead to increased costs and delays. The latest BSI 10125 edition addresses the above in its revision. Being a member of the drafting panel, we wanted to ensure there was a blend of technology and repair process to firstly improve quality of repair and secondly ensure anyone repairing a vehicle is aware of the necessary requirements prior to repair start.
Fundamental to all partnerships is trust: have you seen a gradual mindset shift in this area, particularly with regard transparency and data sharing?
This has been the biggest shift I have seen personally in my 38-year-career, in part due to a number of milestones and social acceptance for digitisation that have taken place: the progressive social acceptance of the internet of things (IOT), use of mobile devices, and varied options on differing available communication styles. The introduction of GDPR in 2018 provided the boundaries and limitations of what businesses could do with data, and how and where they store data whilst reminding everyone of their responsibilities. Unfortunately, there are still some within our industry that continue to ignore safety and security of data management, which can damage trust and credibility for those within our Industry trying to develop to a better long-term position.
What are the key competitive advantages that can be gained from establishing good supply chain partnerships?
Digital connectivity can bring efficiencies to all connected parties by removing the manual resource driven processes. Speed of communictaion is also where businesses see competitive advantage. An area that we’ve seen develop is the increased requests for more businesses to develop their digital strategy, utilise and consume a wider array of data fields and how they use the data for analytics. This is an area that we’ve seen across the entire CAPS community.
We’ve also seen an increased demand by insurers and work providers asking for the names of bodyshops who are CAPS connected, and bodyshops wanting to know which insurers use CAPS, with all parties clearly benefitting from the automated communication and the efficiencies gained by using The CAPS Common Platform.
