It's not sci-fi: Hawaiian dealership group lets robots do the data-entry work

Imagine a tiny army of software "robots" that perform mundane and repetitive data-entry tasks for dealership employees — actions such as inputting online sales leads or determining the value of trade-ins.

While that may sound far-fetched, it's a reality at the nine stores owned by Servco Pacific on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai. (Servco also owns 19 stores in Australia.)

Since early 2022, the stores have been using an advanced technology called robotic process automation that automates the manual transfer of data, said Brandon Kamigaki, auto retail product manager at Servco.

"Our employees used to come to work in the morning and review and input leads and type vehicle information into valuation tools, then send a price back to the customer," Kamigaki said.

"But now the robots do all that work," he added. "And they can create a valuation and send it back to the customer in about 15 minutes, rather than having the customer wait until the next morning when employees come to work."

Furthermore, robotic process automation significantly reduces data-entry errors, he said.

Robotic process automation helps eliminate what Kamigaki and his colleagues call "swivel-chairing," which occurs when employees input information into one system, then swivel their chairs to input the data again into another system because the two are not integrated and can't communicate with each other.

"It takes about five minutes to manually input a lead and around 10 minutes to valuate a vehicle," Kamigaki said. "So if you spread that time savings per lead across all nine stores, RPA saves us a lot of time."

In turn, that allows employees to focus on more value-added tasks and decision-making, which can boost their overall productivity and efficiency. Robotic process automation also raises employee morale, engagement and job satisfaction, and even increases a store's profitability, said Tausif Islam, director of data visualization, analytics and automation at Servco.

But doesn't automation eventually lead to employees losing their jobs?

"No, it enhances their jobs," Kamigaki said. "They're not stuck behind a computer, typing in redundant data and swivel-chairing, so they have more time to contact customers and close deals."

Moreover, the bots value cars by using a matrix of data developed in-house. This enables them to create fair and transparent valuations that reflect specific nuances in the local used-car market, as opposed to employees using values developed by third-party valuation services, then taking time to adjust them to reflect local factors.

"Vendors have their place, but their systems can't always do everything that we want," Kamigaki said.

Servco, which sold 17,731 new cars and 6,032 used cars in 2022 at its Hawaiian stores, started reviewing robotic process automation solutions in 2021. The cost can vary greatly, depending on factors such as the scope of the project, the complexity of the processes being automated and the number of bots deployed, Islam said.

"The cost can range from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on the scale of the project and technology used," he said.

But it's best to start with a small pilot project, such as automating a single repetitive task. That can help demonstrate the technology's benefits and secure buy-in from key stakeholders, he said.

"Start small, do a lot of testing and get small wins before tackling larger projects," Islam said. "One of our first automation projects involved a report that saved a department a few hundred labor hours every year."

Another option: Partner with a knowledgeable vendor or consultant. Servco did that initially, but now is developing its own automation platform, utilizing cloud tooling, Islam said.

"This should allow us to deploy automation solutions cheaply and at scale," he said.

Overall, using robotic process automation — as well as forming a team of software engineers who develop technology for streamlining processes — underscores the auto group's emphasis on innovation.

"We've adopted a lean, agile and growth-oriented mindset that encourages us to try new things," Kamigaki said. "Our RPA initiative really highlights this.

"Our goal is to help front-line employees focus more on customers instead of sitting in front of computers and swivel-chairing."