4 steps in the AI journey for the aftermarket

As the automotive aftermarket looks to leverage artificial intelligence in its operations, an advisory firm working with the industry outlined four steps businesses need to take for successful implementation.

During the MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers Vision Conference, Neury Freitas, Partner at Roland Berger, emphasized the complexity and strategic importance of AI in the auto care sector.

While cautioning against the belief that AI can be a quick solution, he outlined a structured approach to integrating AI during the session, Profitable Deployment of AI in the Automotive Aftermarket, based on insights from MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers 2024 Landmark Study.

“We don’t think that AI is something simple,” Freitas stated. “I’m not going to use ChatGPT or any other tool and then [expect] to get the benefits right away. We see AI as a journey.”

Freitas broke down this journey into four major steps, beginning with the critical setup: Getting the setup phase done successfully. This initial stage requires creating policies that define the parameters of AI usage within the company.

“If you do not have policies, please go and tackle that right now,” he urged. This includes assessing what guardrails need to be in place, what can be done, what can’t be done, who has access and who doesn’t.

“This is very important,” Freitas emphasized.

Following the setup phase, he recommended a three to six-week period, during which a task force assesses the company’s readiness and real needs.

“The real needs is something very, very important because some of the companies started implementing AI use cases without really knowing why they were doing that,” he noted, adding that someone had the money and decided to do something with AI without thinking it through.

“The idea here is to go and map the pain points of your customers, the pain points you have mapped, the use case that can help you solve those pain points,” Frietas said. “And in doing so, you will have a deeper understanding.”

Freitas stressed the importance of creating and prioritizing proof of concepts, urging attendees not to skip this step.

“Spend the time, spend the money to really go and implement the use case you’re thinking of in a controlled environment and see if you get the benefits you are looking for,” he advised.

He further urged companies to start with achievable goals, such as improving demand forecasting.

The final stage involves testing it out and making sure you’re getting the benefits you’re looking for.

Bottom line, Frietas observed: Get started now.

“If you are not a company implementing [AI, then] you will not be competitive,” he said. “So by using AI in the right way, we believe you will have a faster time to market, you’ll be able to have an improved market share, or you’ll be able to protect your market share. And then you will be more competitive.”