tion that is aggregated in a central location could be managed for the benefit of the entire industry,” says Tagliapietra. “From the other perspective, the repairers and insurance companies could gain a better understanding of the best way to repair a car, by gleaning information from OEMS and other re- pair shops who encountered similar issues.” In his proposal, the data storage would be man- aged free of charge to those that supply it, like re- pairers, parts providers, and others. Those accessing it would pay a licensing fee to the non-profit. An issue that could be an obstacle to the informa- tion supply chain is the fact that a vehicle owner may not want their collision information disclosed. But, in the age of vehicle automation, consumer privacy around car repairs is already being compromised. It is also for the safety and protection of the buyer of a vehicle that they should be able to know about the repair history of a vehicle. Thinking about other possibilities, vehicle data could also be tied into oth- er databases, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s VIN recall database, law en- forcement information, or global databases. Beyond that, Tagliapietra says the marketplace will work out the details, but imagines the non-prof- it income could be used to develop training and ed- ucation programs free to the information providers, awareness campaigns, recall database information, and more, that can benefit everyone. Ultimately, he sees that the consumer also benefits. “Today, without data you can’t successfully run your business, so this could be a better way to do it,” he says. “Other industries already run similar mod- els, like that of the Property Loss Research Bureau (known as the PLRB) who provide a 25-year span of property historical insurance data to insurance com- panies, who write policies insuring that property.” “The industry has served us well as a company and me in my profession,” he says. “I want the in- dustry to be successful. A concept like this allows it to thrive. In the future, everyone will come to realize it’s all about the data.

Pete Tagliapietra, is the Founder and Employee Owner of NuGen IT Inc., located in Lenexa, KS. His knowledge base and insight into the various industry market segments comes primarily from his many years of employment in collision repair,

property and casualty insurance management and as a senior executive for a prominent automotive aftermarket information provider. Throughout his career, he has also been active in several industry associations including I-CAR, VICA, CIECA, CIC and most recently with SCRS. Tagliapietra is currently in a leadership role at NuGen IT

and directly involved with the design of a new generation of software workflow tools for the collision repair and property and casualty insurance industries. He leads the development of business information tools that bring the various industry segments together to function in more collaborative ways.

AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • January-February 2019

was able to see all your driver’s regular routes, and able to see who your customer is and what you are selling to them. That is the power of data and why it needs security.” Technology changed the way everything is done in the automotive world. It has made many things so much easier. We are headed for a future that is mak- ing what used to happen in years, happen in months. “What was once a labor intensive job of estimating a collision repair is now replaced with photos of dam- age, that triggers measurements by reaching back to data on previous crashes, and an accurate prediction of what it will take to fix that vehicle, all before the vehicle has left the scene of the accident,” says Ianter- no. “Five to 10 years ago, no one would have thought about that possibility.”

“And, who would have thought today you can drive a car over a ‘mat’ with sensors that can figure out what the damage is under the vehicle that you can’t see? Collision repair shops now have ‘computer tech’ job descriptions for their team. These employees don’t sit and program, they run data-driven diagnostics. AI and virtual reality hasn’t played a role yet, but it will. What is unimaginable is being developed today.”

AI and virtual reality hasn’t played a role yet, but it will.

What is unimaginable is being developed today.

“The important thing to recognize about data, when- ever we sign onto something new, a system, we sign over some rights of privacy to use the features. It can’t be avoided, but knowing this is important,” he says. Securing your data is an important aspect of secur- ing your business value. “Your financial data, books, personnel information, general business data, cus- tomer database, inventory, competitive edge, products and services pricing and volume, this is all data that needs secure protection.”

Securing Data from Two Types of Loss The first kind of data loss is accidental. Your hard

drive crashes, a computer is stolen, a file is corrupt and won’t open. Or worst case, your facility is hit with an extreme weather event (hurricane or tornado) or a fire. Once disaster strikes, you can’t go back, and fully recreating your data is near impossible. “People tend to ignore or assume data is safe,” says Ianterno. “It makes good business sense to have a loss preven- tion plan. People tend to ignore back-ups, such as cloud solutions or software solutions. For under $100 you can secure a single PC, and not do anything else.”

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