“Data has great value. All you have to do is look at Google and Facebook, two companies that have no real product to sell. Yet, Facebook is worth $629 bil- lion and Google is worth $739 billion as of early Jan- uary 2019. That is $1.368 trillion for companies who mainly handle data,” says Hollingshead. As we inch towards blockchain solutions, someone will have to be the holder of information from the auto parts industry. In the future, an independent party may be needed as a conduit to distribute and watch over the data. That is yet to be determined. This data could be a key negotiat- ing tool for the industry’s future as an auto parts provider, as the industry owns billions of dollars in genuine OEM parts. “We have to trust somebody to distribute our infor- mation,” says Hollingshead. “It makes sense currently to put that trust in the yard management systems we utilize in our businesses. Yet, I also want to know what anyone I contract with is doing with my data. I know I probably can’t change it, but as the owner of the data, I believe I should know what is being done with it, if anything.”

Data has great value. All you have to do is look at Google and Facebook.

“As owners of salvage parts data, we should have protections and knowing what is being pulled and giv- en to third parties,” says Marks. “Being aware of what you are sharing. We need to be sure, as an industry, that no one is mining our collective data and writing us out of the industry. If a company I engage services from doesn’t acknowledge this is my data, and it is confidential in nature, that is a red flag. Adding con- tractual language that offers me recourse if my data is used inappropriately without my knowledge is all I am asking from my services providers as contracts are renewed.” “We need a gatekeeper,” suggest Hollingshead. “Who that will be is to be determined. All I want is to raise awareness for auto recyclers

and begin to think about the power of our industry related to its immense collective data. There are data sharks out there who manipulate and misuse data. Our value should be protected.”

Caryn Smith is the editor of Automotive Recycling magazine and has been covering the industry for over 20 years.

Editor’s Note: The thoughts and ideas herein are soley those of the contributors, not necessarily of the ARA.

AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • January-February 2019

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