It’s estimated that more than 40 percent of technicians use their smart phones during their workday for work-related purposes. It could be anything from using a search engine to find the root cause of a vehicle issue, checking online video for a how-to segment on vehicle repair or reading technician forums for answers to a particular vehicle problem.
And why wouldn’t they?! It’s small, fast, and most technicians have their phones on them 24 hours a day anyway. It just makes sense. It also makes sense that we’re finally getting to a point where the content available to technicians is pulling closer to the power of the technology.
Applications already exist for battery testing and vibration and harmonics testing with smart phones, with many more in the works. Technicians are embracing the uses, volunteering their devices to help diagnose and fix vehicles faster. It’s an intuitive, natural go-to for many technicians and a sign of the continued lifestyle shift toward mobile devices.
The biggest barrier actually exists not with using smart phone applications, but with older technicians adopting smart phones and leaving their flip phones behind.
What this means is that aftermarket companies, ourselves included, need to look at how to incorporate a technician’s smartphone into many of the tests they run throughout the day. The smartphone is highly unlikely to replace a full diagnostic tool, but plenty of apps and hardware are available for light duty scan and diagnostics.
We recently released the Smart Battery Tester and app, which performs a number of battery tests and uses an Android or iOS device to display results. Relying on the power of the smart device allows us to keep costs down while offering a more feature-packed tool than competitors at a lower price point.
You already own the important hardware, our job is to help you take advantage of it. Some automotive manufacturers are testing out augmented reality to assist with repairs and diagnosis.
The real test continues to be what the OEMs decide to do, and we’ve seen over the last decade an increase in OE apps, including for electric vehicles. Your customers can unlock their doors, locate and start their vehicles from their smartphones. Once they get home, vehicle telematics systems can tell them fuel level, tire pressure, oil life and more via a single app.
It won’t be long until they expect the same level of information combined with their vehicle repairs, and technology in our smart devices, scan tools and vehicles are allowing that content to be shared. When a customer if kept informed and updated throughout the repair process you continue to strengthen your relationship and create a customer for life.
What are you seeing in the shop, from a customer and technology standpoint?
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