I-Corps: Commercialization of SaaS for Automotive Dealership Service

该项目涉及重要的行业、消费者和社会需求。首先，由于企业社会责任运动的兴起、具有不同需求和习惯的新一代消费者的出现以及新车特许经销商商业模式的变化，该项目对汽车行业的巨大需求做出了回应。其次，汽车行业的消费者将从这个项目中受益匪浅。通过与经销商直接合作，为车主提供一个平台，当他们需要维修他们的车辆时，这个项目提出的创新承诺为客户提供更好的用户体验和更低的价格。该团队面临的最大障碍是挑战消费者根深蒂固的观念，即经销商既昂贵又不可信。在获得汽车服务方面，车主没有太多值得信赖的选择。经销商将大量资金投入到无效的营销中。令人震惊的是，美国经销商仍然依靠陈旧的方法来管理他们的服务和零件业务。这项拟议中的技术使喜欢这项技术但不熟悉如何使用它的服务经理能够使用这项技术，从而增强了美国汽车行业的竞争优势。第三，也是最后一点，拟议的项目活动为社会提供了直接的利益。作为创业和创新努力的一部分，加州州立大学洛杉矶分校商业与经济学院和工程、计算机科学与技术学院的成员聚集在一起，该项目将通过大学开发的技术商业化，为贫困群体的成员提供一个参与学术创业过程的机会。通过NSF I-Corp团队计划，这个I-Corps团队将能够通过客户发现继续学习，并从我们的区域节点计划中进行的访谈中进一步学习。提出的技术可以被制造商授权的经销商使用。与目标合作伙伴和客户交谈将使团队能够进一步开发面向消费者的演示以及经销商门户演示，这两者都将被完善和调整，以反映对客户需求的见解。该团队最初的重点将放在洛杉矶大都市区的经销商上，因为那里有大量的汽车和特许汽车经销商。除了洛杉矶，团队成员还将安排在其他拥有大量车主和特许经销商的大都市地区旅行和采访潜在客户和经销商。这些地区包括：拉斯维加斯、亚特兰大、德克萨斯、宾夕法尼亚、纽约和佛罗里达。在项目结束时，通过访谈，团队希望能够实现其目标，即完成一个面向消费者的演示，并提供一个相关的经销商门户后端，该后端可用于吸引潜在客户和潜在经销商；最终使所提议的技术商业化。

This project addresses significant industry, consumer, and social needs. First, this project responds to perceived large needs in the automotive industry that result from the rise of the corporate social responsibility movement, the emergence of a new generation of consumers with different demands and habits, and a change in the business model of franchised new-car dealerships. Second, consumers in the automotive industry stand to benefit tremendously from this project. By partnering directly with dealerships and providing a platform for car owners to use when they need to service their vehicles, the innovation proposed in this project holds the promise to provide both a better user experience and lower prices for the customer. The team's biggest hurdle is challenging consumers' ingrained pre-conceived notion that dealerships are expensive and untrustworthy. Car owners do not have many trustworthy choices when it comes to obtaining auto service. Dealerships are pouring a tremendous amount of funding into marketing that is ineffective. It is shocking that U.S. dealerships still rely on archaic methods to manage their service and parts operations. The proposed technology enhances the competitive advantage of the U.S. automotive industry by making the technology accessible to service managers who like the technology but are unfamiliar with how to use it. Third and finally, the proposed project activities provide direct benefits to society. As part of the entrepreneurship and innovation efforts that bring together members of the College of Business and Economics and the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at Cal State L.A., this project will provide a an opportunity for members of underprivileged groups to participate in the process of academic entrepreneurship through the commercialization of technology developed at the university.Through the NSF I-Corp Teams Program this I-Corps team will be able to continue its learning through customer discovery and further its learning from interviews that were conducted during our Regional Node program. The proposed technology can be used by manufacturer-authorized dealerships. Speaking with the target partners and customers will allow the team to further develop the consumer facing demo as well as the dealership portal demo, both of which will be refined and adjusted to reflect the insights regarding customer needs. The team's initial focus will be on dealerships in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, due to its large concentration of vehicles and franchised car dealerships. Besides Los Angeles, the team members will also arrange to travel and interview potential customers and dealerships in other metropolitan areas with a high population of car owners and franchised dealerships. These areas include: Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida. By the end of the program, through the interviews the team expects to be able to reach its goal of completing a consumer facing demo with a correlating dealer portal backend that can be used to onboard potential customers and prospective dealerships; ultimately leading to commercializing the proposed technology.