THE 100 millionth garage transaction through epyx’s 1link Service Network service, maintenance and repair platform has been recorded.
The 1link Service Network is used to enable 18,000 garages – franchise dealers, independent and fast-fits – to easily process jobs booked by company car, van and truck fleets totalling four million vehicles.
Usually, around 14,000 transactions are processed every day.
The platform was launched in 2000 and the 1link family of products has grown to include vehicle acquisition, vehicle remarketing and short term hire.
First e-commerce platform
Aditya Varadpande, Managing Director at epyx, said: “1link can lay claim to being the first e-commerce platform to become widely used not just in the garage sector but the motor industry as a whole.
“When it was launched, we quite often had to introduce garages and fleets not just to the platform but to the whole idea of using the internet at work. For some, we even helped to get them online.
“Its impact cannot be understated. Before 1link, booking and authorising a service or maintenance transaction between a major fleet and its suppliers involved endless phone calls and faxing and, even then, the rejection rate for the final invoice was very high.
“For some, a third of their invoices were being queried at any one time.
“Instead, our technology allowed the transaction to be agreed and authorised online in moments. The benefits for garages in terms of everything from not having to chase endless queried jobs through to massively improved cashflow cannot be underestimated.”
Continual development
Varapande said that 1link Service Network had been continually developed over time to take account of changing fleet and garage needs, as well as developments in technology.
“Today’s 1link Service Network fulfils essentially the same role as the launch product but has been continually refined and evolved to the point where it provides a degree of control that is unrivalled by any other method of handling service and maintenance.
“Looking to the future, there are a range of developments underway that will see us develop the platform still further – from the arrival of electric vehicles through to the connected car.”
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