The Adoption Of Connected-Car Technologies By BMW: An Essay Analysis.

Analyse the various steps that are taken by BMW regarding the adoption of the connected-car technologies.

Benefits of Connected-Car Technologies to the Automotive Industry

Connected car technologies are related to the ways by which the cars can be connected to the internet and the local area network which is wireless in nature. These types of cars allow the users to share the internet access with the other devices both outside and inside the car. The cars are fitted with various special technologies that tap into the wireless LAN or the internet and they further provide benefits to the drivers. The first connected car features were introduced to the market by General Motors in the year 1996 (Brown, 2015). The connected car technology provides many different benefits to the automotive industry, which are described as follows,

The productivity of the cars is increased and the time taken to complete specific tasks will also decrease. The optimization of live route related features help the users to take the shortest route which helps in decreasing their travel time. The consumers of the company are mainly from the high income group who have high value of their time. The decrease in time taken can help BMW in increasing the customer base (Dhall & Solanki, 2017). The efficiency of the drivers is also increased with the help of new technologies that are installed in the cars. The rate of accidents has decreased after the introduction of modern technologies in the cars. The consumers of BMW will be affected by the increased efficiency of drivers which can further increase the safety levels (Thierer & Hagemann, 2015). The alerts that are raised by the various technologies installed in the cars will help in keeping regular health checks of the systems. The features that are provided by the connected car technologies of BMW are the analysis of tire pressure, information related to fuel consumption. These help in increasing the safety of the drivers and keeping regular check of the vehicles (Dressler, 2015). The various features that are installed in the connected cars help the organization in maintaining the data related to the mileage provided and the fuel consumption. This can help BMW in making necessary changes in their features so that they can maintain long-term customer relationships. The data that is maintained by BMW with the help these modern technologies ensures that the yearly savings of the company are maximized and the company can further invest in higher levels of technologies. This can help the organization in gaining competitive advantage in the market (Joo, Lee & Park, 2015).

BMW's use of Connected-Car Technologies

The preference of the consumers towards digital and connected car related services have increase in the recent years. This growth of preference of the connected cars is likely to increase far more in the coming years. BMW has been established in the year 1916 and has developed a different market base with its various product offerings under its two other brands Mini and Rolls-Royce. BMW can further increase its consumers and create long-term relationships with them by providing more advanced technologies in their cars (Jörling & Paluch, 2017). The demand for modern technologies has put immense pressure on the premium car manufacturing organizations like BMW to increase their services and offerings. The various benefits that are provided by the connected car technologies can further help BMW in increasing its revenues in the market (Matsumura & Kirk, 2018). The cars are filled with features that can help the drivers to increase the safety related features. The demands for these services are increasing on a continuous basis and this opportunity can be taken by BMW to increase its revenues and improve customer relationships. Long-term and loyal customers can further in the sustainability of the company in the market (Khurram et al., 2016).

The six major components of ERP systems are human resources, customer relationship management, business intelligence, supply chain management, inventory management system and financial management. The components that can help BMW to increase its technological levels are, business intelligence, financial management system, customer relationship management system and supply chain management system (Lu et al., 2014).

Business intelligence – This concept is new to the various organizations. The concept is used by the organizations in the modern business environment. This component is mainly related to the attempts of the organizations to create decision-making process which is data-driven in nature. This component of the ERP system collects the data and further analyses the data that is collected from the consumers and the various organizational systems (Yu, Zhou & Shi, 2015). The data collected by the ERP systems help in providing insights to the business processes. The insights are then delivered in reports. The good system of reporting is an important feature of the Business Intelligence component. This helps the organization in taking decisions regarding the implementation of different processes (Nkenyereye & Jang, 2016). The report can consist of data in different tables or in visual format. The visual reporting technique is however much more effective as compared to the report that is provided by numbers. This component holds high importance for BMW as the company is able to collect data related to the preferences of the customers and the effectiveness of the features that are provided in the cars (Makhrojan et al., 2015). This component can further help the organization in improving the technologies so that they can develop the new technological features within their factories (Porter & Heppelmann, 2015). The partnership with the technology related service providers of BMW will also improve with the improvement of this component. The organization can use real-time data that is acquired from the various systems to make long-term partnerships with the organizations like Google and Apple (News, Inventions, Developments | Innovation at BMW.com., 2018).

Components of ERP Systems that Can Help BMW Increase Its Technological Level

Financial management – This component mainly deals with the data that is collected from the other ERP components. The various business processes involve the usage of money in many forms, which increases the importance of this component in the entire organization. The major financial transactions of the companies are related to payments provided to the employees, payments related to the shipping of goods and other functions of the organization as well (Maung, Aye & Win, 2017). The financial management component therefore needs to work with all the other components of the organization. This component helps in storing and analysing the financial data which include the accounts receivable, accounts payable, budgets, costs and forecasts (Schneider & Wolfsmantel, 2016). This component further helps in revealing the insights related to the investments and spending of the organizations. This information can be used by the company to make changes in their processes which lower the profits (Jung & Jung, 2015). The business organizations can increase their profits with the help of this component. BMW can use this component to analyse the investments that are required for the successful implementation of the modern technologies. The increase in investment can help in exploring the partnerships that are made with the technology provider companies (Shelly, 2015). The expertise of the in-house employees can also be increased with the help of training provided to them. The company needs to increase its investment on these modern technologies which can help them to increase the loyal customers and to strengthen its partnerships. The financial management component can therefore help BMW in planning the investments that is needs to make on modern technologies (Vyas Viral, Choksi & Potdar, 2017). 

Supply chain management system – The supply chain management system is another major component of ERP. The organizations need to develop an efficient system of supply chain management. This is one of the major components of the entire ERP related systems of the organizations (Shim, 2016). The organizations need the best features related to supply chain management. The best features related to SCM can optimize the supply chain of the organizations. This mainly deals with the collection of real-time data which helps in keeping check of the supply chain and the various activities related to the supply chain. The real-time data helps the organizations in maintaining their operations easily (Correa et al., 2017). The component also helps in making predictive analysis of the supply chain activities. The SCM activities therefore help the companies in the process of demand planning. The organizations can therefore plan the production with respect to the demands of the customers (Strandberg, Olovsson & Jonsson, 2018). BMW needs to improve the supply chain activities so that the demands of the customers can be fulfilled faster. The partnerships of BMW with the technology providers will also improve with the help of an effective supply chain. The technology providers are the suppliers of BMW and making long-term relationships with them can help in fulfilling the demands of the consumers in an effective way (Barazandeh et al., 2016).

Business Intelligence

Customer relationship management – The management of customers is the major priority of the various organizations. A business organization cannot survive in the industry without the customers. The customer relationship management is a major ERP component and helps in keeping track of the customer preferences. The data that is collected by the various organizations help them in understanding the needs and demands. The insights that are gained from the CRM component helps the companies in optimizing their sales and marketing related efforts. The major use of CRM is related to the tracking of the history of the customers (Swan, 2015). The data that is collected by the organization helps in suggesting the additional purchases with the help of upselling and cross-selling. The data can be further used by the company understand the customers and providing them with the desired products. BMW can use the customer data to understand the needs and desires (Dowling, Maalsen & Kent, 2018). This will further lead to the effective partnerships with the technology provider companies. The customers of BMW are of the high income group and the company can use their data to understand the demands of the premium car market. The organization can then plan for the in-house operations or source the products from the technology providing organizations (Youn, Chen & Dazzi, 2017). The customer relationship management system is therefore an important component of the entire ERP system of BMW. The analysis of this component can help the organization in developing the partnerships. 

The industry related to Connected Cars have provided various opportunities to the premium organizations like BMW. The potential related to the development of the organizations in this industry is unlimited. The demands for smart features have increased in a huge way in the recent times (Kang, 2016). The premium customers of the organization are now demanding much more technological facilities as compared to the previous times. The organization can enhance the security and safety related features that are already provided to the customers. The preventative maintenance related features are also important for the various premium customers of the organization (Swan, 2015). The real-time diagnostic features of the vehicles can be developed further so that the customers can get updates related to health checks of the cars. The security related features can be further improved so that the cars and the systems can be kept safe from the hackers. The intensity of cyber threats has increased and hence the security measures need to be improved (Attias, 2017). The apps that help in avoiding collision can be developed to help provide high levels of safety to the customers. The driver safety related apps help in alerting the drivers when they are entering dangerous areas. The navigation related features that are provided in the smart cars are of major importance to the customers (Schneider & Wolfsmantel, 2016). The music apps will further help in attracting various group of customers who belong to different age groups. These services can be provided by the organization with the help of the technology providing organizations which are the partners of BMW. The autonomous or the smart vehicles and their technologies however need to gain the confidence of the customers. This will help in the advancement of the technologies and the successful operations of BMW as well (Porter & Heppelmann, 2015). 

Financial Management

The various modern technologies are helpful in increasing the revenue of BMW and further creating a loyal customer base. The connected car industry has huge growth potential which can be used by a premium organization like BMW (Westerman, Bonnet & McAfee, 2014). The premium customer base of the organization can be helpful in increasing the profitability of the organization in the automobile industry. The competition of the company in this industry are not the other organizations like Audi, Land Rover and Jaguar. The increasing demands of modern technologies has been the major concern for BMW and its operations in the industry (Shelly, 2015). BMW can therefore improve its position in the market and maintain its loyal customer base by providing the modern technologies to its customers. 

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