About ATFC
The Automobile and Touring Club of Finland (ATFC, Autoliitto) has acted on behalf of motorists and safe, well-functioning roads since 1919. The group includes AL-palvelut Oy, which provides the roadside assistance services that many vehicle manufacturers offer their customers: when a journey is cut short by a technical fault, or a vehicle is damaged so badly that it is no longer roadworthy, a towing vehicle, road service or taxi is sent to help on the spot.
ATFC manages roadside assistance on behalf of over 30 car brands, motorcycle brands, finance companies and other customers. AL-palvelut Oy also runs ATFC’s general road service and the assistance for ATFC Plus members.
Challenge
A geographically widespread customer base that now drives on European roads places high demands on the tools and systems of the service centres. The workload varies markedly with the weather and the season: callouts arrive through the system far more often on a cold winter day than in warm summer weather. Assistance is dispatched on the basis of location data, quickly and from as nearby as possible — it can come as a surprise to a driver that a message sent from an Italian mountain road is answered in Finland.
The newest car models have some kind of SOS button as standard for contacting service centres. With the connected car, car makers now require fully digital management of service callouts from every actor in the service chain.
Solution
The key operative tool of AL-palvelut Oy, the Assistance ERP system, was developed in partnership with Cirit in 2013 to support the daily work of the service centres. Cirit helped ATFC to design, develop and maintain the web-based system, and further development has been ongoing and active ever since.
The ERP makes service centre activities more predictable, consistent and streamlined, and each process is recorded in a format that is easy to review. Ilkka Lehtinen, Chief Development Officer:
“When first developing the system in 2013, technological solutions were created that were ahead of their time and could be regarded as daring. However, the decisions made then are now bearing fruit and the system has been connected to a Europe-wide network.”
Results
ATFC has given positive feedback on the ERP development project. Lehtinen credits Cirit for helping ATFC in the right way and completing the project flexibly and efficiently. Because the service centre employees took an active part in developing the ERP, they were delighted with the end product.
The system’s revamp was not expected to feed directly into a higher profit margin; Lehtinen regards it as a key step towards lightening employees’ workloads.
“To us as an organization, the key issue has not been taking care of things for a euro or two less; the best outcome of the project has been an effective tool that makes the everyday work of our employees easier.”