app to serve people using one commercial kitchen and a couple of chefs. Cutting down on overhead it’s a potential game-changer in 2018 and beyond.” This is a clever idea, using your data to determine your restaurant habits in a marketplace, to then deter- mine a cuisine in demand, say burgers, to then plan for Uber Eats ghost kitchens. Then, to approach a local restaurateur to add that delivery burger brand to its operation. The restaurant adds revenue without expanding, and Uber Eats profits with a burger loca- tion on the app, without opening a restaurant. Yes, that is brilliant! But what does this have to do with automotive recycling?

What is Data to You? Let’s start with a definition. Wikipedia says data is in-

formation that has been translated into a form that is efficient for movement or processing. It may be in the form of text documents, images, audio clips, software programs, spreadsheets, or other types of data. Your data comes in many forms, says Ginny Whelan, Executive Director, ARA’s Educational Foundation. Whelan has been talking about data issues for the last ten years, seeing this trend coming. If you believe that you don’t have anything to protect, she advises, “think again. If your company is regulated by any govern- mental or other regulatory standards, for example,

AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • January-February 2019

your data is valuable. How do you handle credit card transactions, customer information, employee infor- mation. This is all data.” What is included in data: • Product information, including inventory purchas- es (vehicles), inventory, and source code

• Financial information, including market assess- ments and your company’s own financial records

• Customer data, including confidential informa- tion you hold on behalf of customers or clients

• Customer Sales Data • Employee Records • Credit Card Information • VIN Information • Price Structures • Purchasing Records

“Data is all around us,” says Fred Ianterno, Execu- tive Director of CIECA, which develops and promotes electronic communication standards that allow the Collision Industry to be more efficient. “Everything we do creates a data trail, from online financial trans- actions to Google searches.”

“Data is used to drive decisions. For instance, we all move from one place to another and businesses can track their drivers with GPS coordinates. That is a valu- able tool with many benefits, and that is data about your business. But, imagine if someone, a competitor,

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