HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -

CDK Global recently pinpointed the impact artificial intelligence (AI) is having on dealerships.

According to a study by the retail technology company, approximately 68% of dealerships believe adoption of AI has had a positive impact on their businesses, stemming from an increasing amount of data created by dealers, manufacturers and vehicles.

AI technologies can provide significant and measurable benefits across other industries.

In a separate survey by McKinsey & Company, 63% of respondents reported revenue increases due to the use of AI applications with average gains of around 10%.

Within automotive retail, CDK Global said AI can be used to solve some of today’s biggest dealer challenges, including:

— Addressing employee and skills shortages by replacing resource-intensive tasks and augmenting employee skills

— Attracting customers by looking at existing sales and service profiles and determining their propensity to buy

— Retaining existing service customers through proactive and personalized service and by better predicting potential vehicle issues.

CDK’s Artificial Intelligence in Automotive Retail Report highlighted the use of AI tools in automotive retail and the optimism for the benefits it will provide dealerships in the future. Some of the major findings included:

— Dealers are familiar with artificial intelligence (75%), with 40% feeling extremely or very familiar with the topic.

— Dealerships are already using AI or plan to do so within the next three to five years (68%).

— Dealers who don’t use AI today, but plan to in the future, anticipate positive outcomes (56%).

— Only 2% of the respondents said that they didn’t see their dealership using AI-based applications in the future.

CDK Global chief product and technology officer Mahesh Shah highlighted that automotive retail is investing in AI and is already seeing the benefits.

Whether a dealership is currently using AI or plan to, Shah pointed out that nearly all the respondents believe AI will be an integral part of dealership operations.

“Today’s world is undoubtedly data driven, and every transaction that happens between the dealers, manufacturers and consumers is an essential data source that can be used to build more simple and convenient buying and ownership experiences,” Shah said in a news release. “For this to happen, we must come together as an industry to exchange data in a fast, reliable and secure way through platforms that are built on modern, cloud-based architectures.

“The results of our research are encouraging and tell us dealers are excited about the possibilities of AI and how it will help them meet their financial and customer satisfaction goals,” Shah went on to say.

The CDK Global Artificial Intelligence in Automotive Retail Report was conducted in October among a national sample of 243 dealership department heads and executives.

The interviews were conducted online by CDK Research & Insights across a representative mix of roles, location, departments and sales volume.

To view the full report, go to this website.