At the recent iFLEX show held May 13-15, Steve Barram, CEO of Integrated Services, Inc. was asked to speak on “Technology Trends Affecting Fast Lubes – Road to Survival or Perdition?” Below is an excellent summary written by NOLN that effectively captured the heart of the presentation.

“Steve Barram, CEO of Integrated Services Inc., asked iFLEX attendees to always consider how dynamic, new technologies in the auto industry impact person-to-person relationships.

‘Whether you apply technology or not, trust in your business is really foundational,’ he said.

The technology neighborhood that Barram described is interconnected. It’s telematic information, once restricted to the OBD-II port, being unleashed through connected vehicle technology and carried through new 5G network infrastructure.

It means electric vehicles’ disruption of the traditional gas and diesel-engine vehicle market is far off (around 2050 for significant change, Barram said), but now is the right time to consider how quick lubes can service those cars.

Barram took a speed course through the biggest tech issues in the automotive industries, from data ownership battles to the rise of car-sharing and Tesla’s dealer-less model.

He asked viewers to consider tech advances for which rules aren’t yet fully made, like the ethics of artificial intelligence creation and what biases might be embedded within. Or how data ownership might be more murky when the models of vehicle ownership change.

‘Data sovereignty,’ Barram said. ‘That’s the emerging battlefield.’

He encouraged viewers to research the topics within the vein of how issues might affect their business. The trust issue should be resolved by how quick lubes use new tech.”

Questions? Contact your ISI salesperson at 800.922.3099 or visit us at ints.com.

Used by permission from NOLN 10 Missions Media.