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But Why Change Anything at All? Repairers and insurers have made good profi ts over
the years, so why is there a need to do anything dif- ferently?
What would Henry Ford or Steve Jobs think about this type of thinking? They did not accept the status quo as the way of the future and changed the world because of their foresight, ingenuity and willingness to fi nd a way to do it better. If Henry Ford wanted to improve the mode of transport by tweaking the existing model a little, he would have tried to fi nd and train faster horses. No, he changed the game and we all have him to thank for making the change he did. Most importantly, he understood that he needed to drive change, rather than seek approval, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” – Henry Ford. There are times when we ask, and there are times when we do. Now is the time to lead and drive the evolutionary change. And Steve Jobs? He didn’t want to make a better phone, he invented the ‘iPhone,’ three existing tech- nologies in one – the mobile phone, mobile internet/ email and the iPod all in one. He didn’t make a small change to a product, he revolutionized industries. Every now and then, industries are in need of whole- sale change if they are to enter their next phase of growth and development. Not small tweaks or adjust- ments, but real game-changing innovation. The colli- sion, insurance and parts industries are at this critical point, and we are in this together. They are not mutu- ally exclusive, in fact the performance of one directly affects the others. Trying to change one part without the support of the others is not going to achieve the desired outcome.
AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • March-April 2018
Of course, it is easier to do nothing and hide be- hind the need to act or invest, or to believe that the demand for our products and services and historical profi ts will grow at the same pace we have experi- enced in the past. Then you have the market leaders who want things to stay exactly the way they are and prescribe to the philosophy that if it is not broken, there is nothing to fi x, so why change? Sure, this is an option for those that wish to take this path. Let me remind you of industry leaders that took this view – Xerox, Kodak, Blackberry, Motorola, Er- icson, Nokia, Sony Walkman. All household names and leaders in their segment only 10 to 15 years ago. I asked my children (17 and 15 years old) what they knew about these companies a couple of weeks ago. I got this response: “What is a Xerox machine?” and “Are you serious? You used to load a CD into a por- table player and listen to it on the go? What about if you wanted to listen to different artists and share the playlist with your friends?” We will look back at the changes over the next 10 years as a time where our industries changed. We will see new industries and sub-industries develop,
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