From data to knowledge: KM implementation in the UK car retail industry

The car manufacturing industry has embraced the concept of Knowledge Management (KM) embedding systematic approaches to find, understand, and use knowledge to achieve organisational objectives, reducing time and expense of trial and error, reinvention and duplication. However, when considering KM in the car retail trade there is a dearth of research, which this paper attempts to address. The retail motor industry relies on the delivery of a consistent sales process, however the increasingly complex new car sales programmes operated by vehicle manufacturers make it extremely difficult for sales staff to interpret the data quickly. This impacts on customer experience and increases the risk of expensive errors to the business, resulting in poor, inaccurate and untimely performance information. To overcome this problem a well-known car retail franchise and a reputable UK university formed a knowledge transfer partnership to design, build and implement an enterprise information system based on KM principles. This paper outlines the initial stages of this project. Consideration is awarded to requirements analysis, data quality, system planning decisions and prototype development. Key milestones of system design and development will be highlighted and a working prototype demonstration will form part of the conference presentation. This paper highlights the challenges and successes associated with KM implementation in the car retail trade. Perspectives from individuals, teams, management and across the organisation supply chain form part of the research methodology (investigative adopting a qualitative approach). Key issues with the current system are identified and three solutions for system development are proposed.