The Challenges
Despite a longstanding record of growth and strong brand presence in Belgium, the Jean-Michel Martin Group's gross profit margin began to decline in recent years.
The Jean-Martin Michel Group worked mainly with accounting data in the context of relationships with importers and general reporting. This does not of course make it possible to have an overview of the company, given that non-accounting data also constitutes a crucial factor, especially when the issue is to identify the core problem with profitability.
Finding a Solution
Finance Director Thierry Kin was searching for a way to clearly identify the reasons for the decline in the gross profit margin. In this context, while attending a conference organized by Carya, BMW’s IT service provider, he met Luc Cos, Director of TARGIT Automotive. The Finance Director of the Jean-Michel Martin Group describes how their relationship got off the ground: “Initially I felt the tool was too complex for us. But Luc Cos redoubled his efforts with figures from other BMW dealerships. And we were fortunate to be sponsored by BMW, in a manner of speaking. That’s how we started working together.”
Implementation
Given that Carya, BMW’s official computer program provider, was already working with TARGIT, the business intelligence (BI) tool was implemented smoothly. In fact, the Jean-Michel Martin Group was able to take advantage of the experience acquired by other BMW dealerships. Any problems that had arisen and been resolved with these other dealerships helped with the implementation of this easy-to-use solution, particularly by focusing on presales, including invoice tracking.
In Practice
Previously, the Jean-Michel Martin Group was based on BMW reporting. This is quarterly reporting for analysis purposes, but the resulting analysis is not really current because a report like this takes four months. This means in effect that no decision can be made before six months.
Thanks to TARGIT’s unique solution, today it is possible to identify within one or two weeks if any changes have been made to action plans and following decisions taken. The responsiveness and ease of use of automatic reporting mean that crucial information can be obtained while focusing on other problems.
“The TARGIT solution has enabled us to obtain non-accounting data automatically, which means that we can anticipate events and make targeted improvements,” explains Thierry Kin, Finance Director of the group.
Thanks to the IT decision-support solution provided by TARGIT, the Jean-Michel Martin Group has achieved real gains in time and money. By improving profitability, the group can invest in new projects. “If you don’t invest on a continuous basis, sooner or later you get swallowed up by a competitor,” Thierry Kin explains.
TARGIT's BI tool has made it possible for the group to identify new KPIs that positively influence profitability.
Collaboration
Encouraged by this first success, TARGIT and the Jean-Michel Martin Group are working even more closely together and thereby creating a situation that benefits everybody. TARGIT uses all this data to create a sort of dashboard where all the dealerships analyze their sales, presales, etc. The Jean-Michel Martin Group dreams of full reporting – a dream that is now coming true thanks to TARGIT.
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