Collision Repair 16#4

Page 41

Currency Of Trust

GLOBAL VIEW

IBIS 2017 shines a spotlight on social media, global politics and international consolidation By Mike Davey A panel discussion at IBIS 2017 looked into the ongoing process of consolidation on a global scale. From left: moderator Jason Mosely of IBIS; Steve Leal, President and CEO of Fix Auto World; Steve Grimshaw, CEO of Caliber Collision Centers and Ayhan Dayoglu, CEO of Auto King.

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early 400 of the world’s leading collision repair industry influencers gathered at the Melia Castilla in Madrid, Spain for the 2017 IBIS Global Summit. Collision Repair magazine is the exclusive Canadian Media Partner for IBIS. Themed “The Currency of Trust,” IBIS 2017 launched with keynote speaker Alex Hunter, the expert behind the social media strategy of Virgin Group. Hunter highlighted the drastic changes in the business landscape over the last five years. He warned attendees not to get so swept up by exciting new technologies that they forget their customers are human beings. “We can all do more competitively,” he said. “The landscape has changed in the last five years; there is so much more noise, so many more competitors, so the challenge has got so much harder. Social media has given everybody a very loud voice, so we have to work harder to rise above it and connect with the right person and, more importantly,

hear them when they try to connect with us.” Hunter said that traditional marketing is increasingly losing its effectiveness with modern consumers. Technology allows customers to evaluate brands much more effectively than in the past, and social media puts them in a

A particular challenge at these levels of growth is maintaining the company culture. position to communicate directly with companies. The upside to this is that customers who are pleased with services will go online and promote the services on their own. Thomas Lake, Senior Analyst, Political Risk for BMI Research, also took the stage

on the first day of IBIS, describing 2017 as “an eventful year so far for major economies.” Lake’s session, “World of Worries: The Global Political Landscape,” discussed recent political events in Europe and increasing polarization in terms of politics. Looking to North America, Thomas said the biggest area of concern is the Trump presidency. He outlined what he sees as the four most likely scenarios: Trump stays in power, Trump resigns, Trump is impeached or Trump is removed from power. Laurence Vivet-Ract is the CEO of Southern Europe for Innovation Group, a company offering operational support to insurers, brokers, fleet managers and OEMs. Vivet-Ract’s session focused on private equity and the collision repair industry. Private equity and new players are bringing disruption to the industry, according to Vivet-Ract, but she also noted that this brings new opportunities, especially for those who embrace change and new technology. August 2017  collision Repair  41


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Collision Repair 16#4 by Media Matters - Issuu