Why the Future of Shop Management Is Connected, Intelligent and Built for Your Shop

Running a single-location shop means keeping a lot of moving parts straight—usually with a small team and no back office to hand things off to.

• Customers need appointments.
• Vehicles need to be managed.
• Technicians need to know what they're working on next.
• Parts need finding and ordering.
• Jobs need invoicing.
• Payments need taking.

Most of that runs through one or two people at the counter, on top of everything else the day brings. All of it needs to keep moving when the shop is at its busiest.

Some shops run all of this on paper and a whiteboard. Others have software handling parts of it. However your shop runs today, what makes the difference is how much of it works together.

When appointments are written down somewhere the rest of the team can't see, the parts catalog sits outside the system, or inventory isn't tied to the repair order, valuable time is lost to manual work and switching between systems just to get everyday work done.

The future of shop management needs to be simpler. It needs to connect more of the business in one place, use technology such as AI where it can make a practical difference, and give shops the flexibility to add more as their needs change.

This is the thinking behind Autowork.

One system for more of the shop

Autowork is Klipboard's cloud-based shop management platform designed for single-location aftermarket auto service centers and independent repair shops.

Rather than treating different areas of the shop as separate processes, Autowork brings more of the everyday operation together. Appointments, repair orders, customers, vehicles, parts, inventory, tires and invoices can all be managed within one platform.

This matters because the value of connected shop management is making everyday work easier.

• A customer calls about their vehicle. The information your team needs is there.
• A job requires parts. Your team can check parts, supplier prices and availability andbplace an order without leaving Autowork.
• The shop gets busy. Appointments, repair orders and technician allocation can be managed with a clearer view of what's happening and what needs to be done next.
• A job is complete. The process can move through invoicing and payment without introducing another disconnected step.

It's about helping every area of the shop work together rather than a collection of separate processes.

Bringing the shop and parts closer together

For many shops, finding and ordering parts is a fundamental part of the working day, but it can also interrupt the job when teams have to move between different processes, websites or systems to find the right part, check availability and place an order.

Autowork brings parts catalog access, supplier pricing and availability, ordering, goods receipt and inventory management closer to the rest of the shop process. The catalog is entirely native, rather than a third-party tool your team logs into separately, which means fitment and pricing stay in one place while the job is being built.

The same principle applies to tires.

Tire businesses can manage tire information, inventory, quotes and fitted pricing alongside wider service, maintenance and repair work.

Instead of treating parts and tires as separate from shop management, Autowork brings them into the same everyday working environment.

Putting AI to work on real jobs

AI is increasingly becoming part of business software. But for a busy shop, the important question is whether AI actually helps somebody get something done.

This is the approach we're taking with Autowork.

Practical AI is built into the platform to help make everyday tasks quicker and easier. For example, Autowork's AI-assisted scheduling capability helps identify suitable appointment opportunities without somebody having to manually work through the shop schedule.

It's a focused use of AI, and that's exactly the point. Saving somebody time on a repetitive task makes a significant impact during a busy working day.

Start with what you need. Add more when you need it.

A shop shouldn't have to buy every piece of software it might eventually need on day one. Equally, as the business grows, it shouldn't have to start again with another provider every time it wants to do something new.

This is where Autowork's connection to Klipboard's wider range of automotive solutions becomes particularly important. Businesses can start with the capabilities they need today and add connected Klipboard solutions as their requirements grow.

As your business grows, that could mean:

• Adding eCommerce capabilities to support customers online.
• Connecting payments through Klipboard Money.
• Using other Klipboard automotive solutions to support different areas of the business.

The benefitis simple: Nothing you don't need. More when you do.‍

For a shop that's tired of bolting on another disconnected tool everytime something changes, this creates a different approach to technology. Rather than continually adding unrelated systems from different providers, the business has the flexibility to extend what it can do through Klipboard.

Built around the way automotive businesses actually work

Shop management software needs to reflect what happens in the real world, from the moment a customer gets in touch through to completing the work, ordering the necessary parts, raising the invoice and taking payment.

Autowork draws on Klipboard's extensive experience across the automotive aftermarket to bring those everyday requirements together in a modern cloud-based platform. It comes from decades of building software for tire and service businesses, not from a generic platform adapted for automotive.

It's designed to be straight forward to set up, learn and use, with less to configure compared to a system built to run a network of locations.

• For an independent shop, that means having the tools needed to manage more of the business in one place.
• For a tire dealer, it means being able to manage tire sales and fitting alongside wider service and repair work.
• And for a shop moving off paper or a legacy system, it means a straightforward move without a long transition.

A more connected future for shop management

Shops need technology that helps them keep customers, vehicles, jobs, technicians, parts and payments moving, particularly when the shop is busy.

This is where we believe shop management is heading: more connected, increasingly intelligent and built around the everyday realities of running the shop.

Autowork has been created with this future in mind.

One shop management system for more of your business. Practical AI that makes everyday work easier. And the flexibility to add more connected capabilities when you need them.

Discover Autowork and see how it could help you run more of your shop in one place.

Explore Autowork