How Grouptyre uses ClicData to track sales for their team and clients

Grouptyre is the largest independent tire wholesaler in the UK. To differentiate itself and dominate the market, Grouptyre offers a wide range of services to its customers, including data analysis and dashboards. When Grouptyre execs were looking for a low-maintenance BI tool for themselves and their customers, they chose ClicData.

Find out how they now use ClicData for their internal reporting and how they get more value for their customers.

Can you give a brief description of your company?

Originally formed as a buying group, Grouptyre (UK) Ltd is made up of ten independent member wholesalers across the country; since then, we have evolved into a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Having recently celebrated our 25th anniversary, we have the strength and buying power of a national organization, but with expert local knowledge and service levels provided by its ten members.

We purchase from Europe and the Far East and supply to tire retailers and wholesalers across the UK. In a nutshell—that’s who we are, and that’s what we do.

However, we also provide our customers with a wide range of services to help them sell more, including training, support, a personal business development manager, and of course, data analysis with dashboards.

Can you introduce yourself?

My role comes after-sales. When we bring a new customer on board, my team and I ensure a smooth transition and look after all the value-added tools that we provide to them. We help them access the data, training materials, and anything else that might help them in their business.

There are a few companies that do the same things as we do, but our USP is the service we provide afterward. The idea is to provide customers with a coherent package and keep supporting them afterward.

Why did you need a BI solution?

We didn’t have a specific reporting package in place, and everything that we reported on was in a basic format. We wanted a solution that was easy to implement and effective for our customer base. It was a difficult task as there are huge variations in technology within the tire industry, with major players taking on new technology quickly. It can be more problematic for some of the smaller independents who don’t necessarily have the time or dedicated resources to do what’s required.

We wanted to find something that would provide a service to them without completely ripping up the rulebook and saying, “This is a completely new way of doing things.” I also wanted to find something that wasn’t going to be a full-time job also and was simple to implement across the customer base.

ClicData was perfect for that. Once the initial setup is complete, it just runs itself with the occasional tweak from time to time.

Since we brought it on board, it’s developed to be a very effective tool, and we are using it in more extensive ways than we originally thought we would.

How did the use of ClicData evolve?

Initially, the goal was to be able to show basic units of turnover in a chart, and that’s it.

Since then, we have plugged it into other applications we use. Before using ClicData, we were running SQL queries. Now everything is automated.

Now, we just push the data to datasets which are then pushed automatically into dashboards. You open a browser, you open the dashboard you want to see, and you’ve got an answer to your question within a matter of seconds. So now anybody can log in and see the information they need at the click of a button.

Did you know that ClicData could do more than what you originally chose it for?

No, it was definitely just a “This is the problem we’ve got at this moment in time, and this will answer it” decision.

There wasn’t really a plan of “Right. In six months, we would like to be able to do this; in 12 months, we must be able to do that.” When a problem comes up, we find a solution within ClicData to solve it.

And like most things, even though there were comprehensive resources to help us, as a user guide, it’s not until you have a problem you need to solve that you work out how to solve it. So, most of the learning and training has come as we have used the product.

What solution did you use before ClicData? Why didn’t it work?

We used Excel. The main issue was the size of the datasets. We do monthly reports, which obviously increase in size as the year goes on. So, by the time we get to, say, October, the file size is huge.

And it’s also just the monotony of it. If you are producing the same reports for five or ten customers, you are doing the same things over and over again. Now we just have one huge dataset, and each dashboard controls the information needed for each specific customer. So, we have a personal solution for each of them.

What made you choose ClicData over other solutions at the time?

I was tasked with trying to find something that worked for us. ClicData worked and offered exactly what we needed.

How was the ClicData setup process for you?

It was a big learning curve to start with, but I think part of it was because we never had anything like it previously. We went from Excel to a data platform. We received some help from your support team with the initial setup, which was very beneficial to us.

Now, I only need to ask for support if it’s something I’ve not come across before. But now, nine times out of 10, I can answer the question myself. Once I got my head around how the data set needs to look, how to make the connections, etc., it was quite intuitive for me.

ClicData is now helping you resolve multiple-use cases. Which departments use ClicData at Grouptyre?

It’s mostly sales and IT. Other departments do look at it, but it’s primarily a sales support tool. It was always intended to be used as a sales tool for the sales team. It allows us to check turnover, performance, and all other sales information. We have also used it to deliver a small suite of internal tools for information that previously would have been found across a number of spreadsheets and documents—and pulled it all into one place.

How is ClicData used by your network?

It’s part of our offering to customers. Every single customer has a dashboard, or a variant of a dashboard if they wish.

We also provide a standard templated dashboard, and we explain to them how to brand it with their logos and corporate colors. Some of them really get involved and jump on board with it. It gives us the flexibility to do both.

How did your customers react at first?

There was a fair bit of pushback because it was a new way of reporting, and it was a change in how we were doing things. In the beginning, we sent out dashboards and Excel spreadsheets, too, because people were used to being able to drill down into a spreadsheet. But over time, that’s faded away.

Today, it’s part of our standard offering. Customers don’t use the Excel spreadsheet anymore; they just do everything with the dashboards.

Do you have KPIs or metrics to share with us that reflect ClicData’s impact on your business?

No, I don’t have KPIs, but we have a lot of feedback from those customers who engage with technologies, and they absolutely love it:

“We absolutely love the dashboards”

“There is nobody else in our industry that does this.”

So, it really makes us stand out from everybody else.

How does ClicData meet your expectations every day?

I was looking for a low-maintenance tool, and ClicData is that. We have no issue with ClicData, and it’s not the kind of data platform that needs to be looked at or fixed every single day. Unless we need something new, once it is set up, everything runs by itself.

In terms of support, I’ve found the level of support is pretty good. There might be some times when support is offline, and you might wait for a couple of hours to get an answer, but that only happens occasionally.

Would you recommend ClicData?

Yes, definitely. Once you get over that initial learning curve—which will be the same for any kind of advanced technology—then it works well. ClicData definitely made a difference for us, so I recommend it.

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