Case Studies Sonic Automotive's Mobile BI Transformation with MicroStrategy

Edit This Case Study Record

	Sonic Automotive's Mobile BI Transformation with MicroStrategy

Sonic Automotive's Mobile BI Transformation with MicroStrategy

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries	Automotive
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Fleet Management Predictive Maintenance Remote Asset Management
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, needed to ensure that executives and management had 24-7 access to daily business tracking metrics via a mobile platform. The company aimed to achieve mobility by investing heavily in Apple mobile technology, deploying iPads and iPhones to the executive team, regional management, and dealership management. In March 2010, Sonic began identifying potential partners to assist with the development of mobile apps that would enable their business processes and provide a platform to bring mobile business intelligence and reporting to the leadership. After a failed pilot with another provider, Sonic reached out to MicroStrategy to explore the potential benefits of mobile apps. Read More
About Customer	Sonic Automotive, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, N.C., and is one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers. Founded in 1997 with five dealerships, Sonic now owns over 100 dealership franchises and 20 collision repair centers across 15 states. The company sells around 30 brands of cars and light trucks. Sonic is committed to ensuring that its executives and management have 24-7 access to daily business tracking metrics via a mobile platform, which led to their investment in Apple mobile technology and the development of mobile apps to enhance their business processes. Read More
Solution	MicroStrategy stepped in and conducted a Mobile QuickStrike, a short consulting engagement, for Sonic Automotive. This was the first step in what has become a strong mobile BI initiative across Sonic. MicroStrategy produced superior versions of the previous provider’s reports and developed a brand new iPad app for Sonic. Today, MicroStrategy has replaced the mobile reporting solution and Microsoft BI tools that were in place at Sonic. The iPad app built for Sonic focuses on an overarching view of business performance that touches on internal sales, service, finance, and insurance as well as external market data. This app is used daily by top executives and others to keep tabs on the performance of Sonic-owned auto dealerships. The app provides a scorecard for each dealership with insight into sales effectiveness across automotive brands, product categories, and geographic regions. It also provides information on each dealership’s compliance with corporate Playbooks. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Fleet Management

Predictive Maintenance

Remote Asset Management

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, needed to ensure that executives and management had 24-7 access to daily business tracking metrics via a mobile platform. The company aimed to achieve mobility by investing heavily in Apple mobile technology, deploying iPads and iPhones to the executive team, regional management, and dealership management. In March 2010, Sonic began identifying potential partners to assist with the development of mobile apps that would enable their business processes and provide a platform to bring mobile business intelligence and reporting to the leadership. After a failed pilot with another provider, Sonic reached out to MicroStrategy to explore the potential benefits of mobile apps.

About Customer

Sonic Automotive, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, N.C., and is one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers. Founded in 1997 with five dealerships, Sonic now owns over 100 dealership franchises and 20 collision repair centers across 15 states. The company sells around 30 brands of cars and light trucks. Sonic is committed to ensuring that its executives and management have 24-7 access to daily business tracking metrics via a mobile platform, which led to their investment in Apple mobile technology and the development of mobile apps to enhance their business processes.

Solution

MicroStrategy stepped in and conducted a Mobile QuickStrike, a short consulting engagement, for Sonic Automotive. This was the first step in what has become a strong mobile BI initiative across Sonic. MicroStrategy produced superior versions of the previous provider’s reports and developed a brand new iPad app for Sonic. Today, MicroStrategy has replaced the mobile reporting solution and Microsoft BI tools that were in place at Sonic. The iPad app built for Sonic focuses on an overarching view of business performance that touches on internal sales, service, finance, and insurance as well as external market data. This app is used daily by top executives and others to keep tabs on the performance of Sonic-owned auto dealerships. The app provides a scorecard for each dealership with insight into sales effectiveness across automotive brands, product categories, and geographic regions. It also provides information on each dealership’s compliance with corporate Playbooks.

Impact #1	The Sonic Executive Team and Regional Leadership use the iPad app to conduct monthly financial reviews and compare performance against that of other dealerships across regions.
Impact #2	With this app, Sonic replaces large binders of spreadsheets and saves significant time by eliminating the need to perform manual analysis of the data.
Impact #3	Executives, including the VP of Operations, CFO, President, CIO, SVP/Controller, and VP of Corporate Accounting, leverage the app to analyze daily operating costs and month-to-date results compared to forecasts and previous months.

Impact #1

The Sonic Executive Team and Regional Leadership use the iPad app to conduct monthly financial reviews and compare performance against that of other dealerships across regions.

Impact #2

With this app, Sonic replaces large binders of spreadsheets and saves significant time by eliminating the need to perform manual analysis of the data.

Impact #3

Executives, including the VP of Operations, CFO, President, CIO, SVP/Controller, and VP of Corporate Accounting, leverage the app to analyze daily operating costs and month-to-date results compared to forecasts and previous months.

Benefit #1	Sonic owns over 100 dealership franchises and 20 collision repair centers across 15 states.
Benefit #2	The app is used daily by top executives to evaluate sales performance at its 100+ dealerships in 26 major U.S. metropolitan markets.

Benefit #1

Sonic owns over 100 dealership franchises and 20 collision repair centers across 15 states.

Benefit #2

The app is used daily by top executives to evaluate sales performance at its 100+ dealerships in 26 major U.S. metropolitan markets.

Download PDF Version

Overview

Sonic Automotive's Mobile BI Transformation with MicroStrategy

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit