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Collision Repair gets a sneak peek inside Audatex with CEO Tony Aquila.
There has been a lot of buzz in the industry recently over the acquisition of the ADP Claims Group’s estimating platform by Solera.
Since the acquisition, the company has been renamed Audatex, and the organization now seems poised to change the way data is handled throughout the repair process.
Darryl Simmons, Publisher of Collision Repair magazine, had an opportunity at the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) to speak with Tony Aquila, Chairman and CEO of Audatex and discuss what the future holds for this company.
Darryl Simmons: Tony, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Let’s start at the beginning. You are an entrepreneur and have over 20 years experience in the industry.
Tony Aquila: Yes, that’s right. I started in the industry by owning and operating a number of body shops, rental car and tow operations. Through that experience I saw a need and started an auto refinishing products manufacturing company that I ultimately sold to PPG.
Then, in 1999, I started Ensera, a technology company in the San Francisco bay area. Ensera focused on business process automation for the physical damage claims process.
In 2001, the company was acquired by Mitchell International and they brought our team into their organization. I ultimately became Mitchell’s chief operating officer.
DS: That’s when you decided to acquire one of the estimating platform companies.
TA: That’s right. I left Mitchell in December of 2004 and started Solera with the intention of acquiring one of the three estimating platforms as part of my overall strategy and vision.
In the following weeks and months some of Mitchell’s other executives also left to join me.
DS: Was it at that point that you acquired the ADP Claims Group?
TA: We started talking to ADP in 2005. ADP was always my first choice because of its global platform and untapped potential.
We approached them with an offer at that time and we closed the deal early in 2006.
While we were in discussions with ADP we were also busy implementing the other parts of our strategy.
DS: You mentioned before that acquiring an estimating platform was part of the overall vision. What are the other parts?
TA: My vision is to create a company that will serve the industry fully. The vision rests on three legs.
The first leg is providing a technical estimating platform, the second is delivering shared services to collision repairers, insurers and other industry stakeholders, and the third is consulting.
DS: That’s a pretty broad mandate. Is there a unifying theme that ties it all together?
TA: There is. Our unifying theme in all three areas is to make use of the data that is captured throughout the process.
By analyzing this data and providing the information to our customers, they will be more efficient and able to make better decisions.
If you look at this issue from a historical perspective, one of the first problems you notice is that information that is acquired during the process is not used fully throughout the process.
DS: Could you provide an example?
TA: A clear example for shop operations is in the estimating process. Say an appraiser writes up a sheet on a car, and then the car goes to a shop that is part of a DRP program.
The shop has to spend 20 to 30 minutes to re-input that estimate. Audatex has introduced ClaimsElement to help combat this.
DS: How does ClaimsElement work?
TA: Simply put, it allows you to download the appraisal right into your Audatex estimating programs. It completely eliminates the need to re-input the information.
That’s a very simple example of one way we are making better use of the data gathered throughout the claims process to deliver productivity enhancement tools.
DS: If you had to sum up the goals of Audatex in one sentence what would it be?
TA: Putting the right information in the hands of stakeholders so they can use it to make better decisions. That’s the reason our company exists.
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