I joined Perficient, an end-to-end global consultancy, last December. Let me explain why. The Strategy & Consulting team I joined is full of incredibly talented professionals. Some have been with the company for over a decade, while others have recently joined. Many of these folks came from the industry/client side of the business, which brings unique perspectives that are difficult to come across. I was also impressed by all the work we’ve done in automotive and our company’s desire to make an even more significant impact in the industry.

And, so, here I stand, alongside my passionate colleagues. At the end of the day, our goal is to bring our deep industry experience and broad portfolio of technology and digital solutions to more of you, the automakers.

An Evolving Industry

Change and innovation in automotive are happening rapidly, creating many opportunities.

We believe that the key to a thriving automotive strategy is the ability to assess, optimize, innovate, execute, and scale efforts. That means reengineering automotive platforms to embrace new technologies, launching large-scale digital transformation projects, and expanding into self-driving cars, mobility services, or driving other new businesses.

The entire industry is challenged with a chip shortage and supply chain issues, which have significantly reduced the number of vehicles in production. That’s one of the reasons the shift to special ordering has become more prevalent. The leap toward ecommerce also creates new demand for improved customer experiences, such as simplifying the website shopping or purchasing process.

Mobility and electrification are also deep focus areas for automakers. Many position themselves as mobility companies and strive to understand what that means to consumers. Understanding the consumer journey and how to serve them in our mobile and technologically driven world is critical. In-vehicle data (i.e., telemetrics) gives OEMs the ability to understand more about the consumer and shopping journey than ever before, which will drive new customer experiences.

There are massive infrastructure changes underway for charging and the need for increased consumer education around electrification. There has been a major increase in electrified-only vehicle companies that have launched all around the globe, not to mention all the other charging, battery, and other EV-related companies.

Driving innovation and growth encapsulates the trends and priorities in automotive. Our experience makes us an excellent choice for a strategic digital transformation partner. We welcome your interest in learning how we can help support your never-ending journey to putting the customer first.

Coming Up

My next blog will highlight our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Center of Excellence offering, which helps automakers establish, guide, and support SEO best practices. As they face supply-side and chip challenges, the need for organic website traffic and leads is more important than ever.