St. Louis, Missouri — January 19, 2017 — Everyone benefits from an open and level playing field when industry service providers and product suppliers are able to innovate by using industry-generated data, according to Mike Hawkins, Vice President of Business Development for Enterprise Holdings, the company that owns the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand.
Enterprise has recently introduced ARMS Business Solutions (ABS), a comprehensive system that merges its Automated Rental Management System (ARMS), CynCast and Performance Gateway products.
“We firmly believe models that create barriers to vehicle and repair data could be detrimental to the industry,” said Hawkins.
Enterprise created ARMS in 1994 to help insurers simplify the process of managing replacement rental cars. Once a claim is filed and a rental reservation created, the system automatically transmits all pertinent information to a local Enterprise branch office. From there, adjusters can monitor the repair status of a customer’s vehicle. According to Enterprise, this often leads to a shorter rental length and ultimately rental-cost containment. The company received a patent and trademark for the system in 2007 from the US Patent and Trademark Office, reflecting the significant investment Enterprise made to develop ARMS.
Enterprise Holdings acquired CynCast in 2011 after partnering with them for many years to make the replacement rental process more seamless by eliminating manual updates. This acquisition also enhanced communication with local collision centres that repair damaged vehicles in Enterprise Holdings’ U.S. fleet, as well as those operated by the company’s affiliate, Enterprise Fleet Management.
Three years later, Performance Gateway was acquired by Enterprise to further enhance workflow efficiencies and improve communication between industry suppliers, insurers, repairers and vehicle owners.
A statement from Enterprise says ABS is a comprehensive platform that leverages the company’s long-term experience with partner integrations and allows insurance companies, collision repair centres, suppliers and vehicle owners to access relevant data, regardless of technological preferences.
This, in turn, enables industry partners to effectively and efficiently manage networks, workflow, communication and performance across a complex multifaceted claims process. Furthermore, the ABS system helps protect insurance companies, collision repair centre and fleet owners by converting their information from EMS (Estimate Management Standard) to a more secure protocol, BMS (Business Message Suite).
“Our investments have been extensive. However, rather than seeking additional access fees, we have created systems that help the industry reduce length of rental, improve communication and lower claims handling expenses,” said Hawkins. “Transportation needs are changing and our ability to receive essential information at the outset of a claim through ABS is critical to meeting industry and consumer needs.”
Hawkins stressed that Enterprise intends to keep collaborating and partnering with businesses that believe in open technology platforms and provide services that help advance the collision repair and claims industries.
“Because we own and repair the world’s largest fleet of new vehicles, we are keenly aware of global changes in automotive technology and its increasing complexity,” he said. “We believe that industry constituents will need more innovative solutions based on access to data–especially during a period of transformation in vehicle technology.”
In addition to providing access to critical data at no cost, industry partners can work with Enterprise to purchase customized reporting services and software through ABS.
“There is growing concern that some data providers are beginning to focus on ways to monetize or restrict access to critical data and even actually charge a fee for access to it,” said Hawkins.
ABS’ approach, on the other hand, enables collision repair centres, insurance companies and fleet owners to remain in control of their data for the long term.
“We support solutions that enhance processes, reduce cycle time, increase shop capacity and help control costs for our business partners and ourselves,” said Hawkins.
