Volkswagen Group UK has achieved efficiency gains of 10% throughout its dealer network operation within six months of implementing franchise performance management platform Loop.

The Loop implementation goes across all Group functions, including Volkswagen Financial Services, cars, commercial vehicles, aftersales and finance operations within its 800-strong retailer network.

The software incorporates action planning, centralising data, facilitating collaboration and driving KPI performance improvements.

It also helps provide visibility of performance and opportunities in other areas of the business, such as aftersales and used sales, while the semiconductor shortage impacts new car availability.

Matt Bishop, network insight manager at Volkswagen Group UK, said: “Across the Volkswagen Group UK network, from head office through to field and retailer teams, users comment on the simplicity of the Loop system and how easy and clear it is to find what they are looking for.

“Loop has given us a 10% improvement in efficiency and performance across Volkswagen Group UK, time savings, and a more standardised way of working and reporting.”

Loop enables VW Group UK to share data and KPIs at every level of the Group’s hierarchy, from HQ to dealer management, giving all users a single, open and transparent view of performance.

It also provides a combination of tools for HQ, field teams and dealers to improve performance across the business, such as balanced scorecards to highlight operational inefficiencies and action centre dashboards to drive behaviours directly linked to KPIs.

Simon Porri, managing director of Loop, added: “Managing data and business intelligence in an organisation of this scale is a huge challenge and without confidence in performance data, decision-making is guesswork for everyone involved.

“Our partnership is already reaping benefits for Volkswagen Group UK who have an abundance of data which we streamlined and converted into clear data insights and KPIs to help people at all levels make decisions quickly to improve business performance.”

Software-driven transformation is expected to help connectivity-embracing OEMs in automotive gain 9% higher market share on average than their peers.

A report from the Capgemini Research Institute, ‘Next Destination: Software — How automotive OEMs can harness the potential of software-driven transformation,’ highlights how software-driven transformation is expected to deliver benefits for automotive OEMs in the next five years, such as such as improving productivity up to 40%, reducing costs by 37%, and improving customer satisfaction by 23%.

Last year, Volkswagen AG confirmed its intention to implement an agency model for the sale of battery electric vehicles of the brands Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Skoda, Audi and Cupra.