Collaboration: the action of working with someone to produce something.
May 2019 saw the very first IBIS Africa take place at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg. Very much a nascent market for IBIS, we worked collaboratively with our regional media partner Auto Refinisher and our partners Axalta and Solera Audatex to shape the agenda and develop the attendee list.
Innovation and integration was the overarching theme back in 2019. It was all about leveraging the latest available technologies to help improve, grow and enhance the customer experience in all sectors of the regional automotive collision repair industry.
So, what’s happened over the last 12 months and where are we now?
Well, the headline news is that IBIS Africa is returning on Thursday 23 July as a live online simulcast. Click here to find out more.
Behind the scenes, we’ve taken stock of our 2019 delegates’ feedback. We’ve looked at what they liked, what they thought could be done better and what topics they’d like us to cover next.
This has been a process that’s played out collaboratively with Auto Refinisher and our partners. One word in this previous sentence reflects the essence of what chimed with us the most as a result of our research – COLLABORATION.
For us all, everything points to a need now more than ever for all parts of the African aftermarket to work together.
From last year, we now know the key to a sustainable and profitable future is technological and operational innovation. That’s great, but each silo of our industry can’t get there by itself. It’s only by sharing information, learning from each other and taking inspiration from what’s happening in overseas markets that we’ll succeed. Simply put, we must collaborate.
The agenda items we’ve selected will give delegates the market insight, the external perspective and practical knowhow to help them collaborate more effectively to create a stronger regional industry. These include:
- Vehicle salvage: the spotlight will be on the new code of practice that’s been introduced in the UK market to regulate and manage what happens to a vehicle once it reaches its sell by date. Of what does it consist? How have things changed? What does the new operating environment look like? How can the African market learn from the UK’s experience?
- Market overview: an expert analyst from IBIS’ new global market information partner GiPA will give a comprehensive update on the South African collision repair market
- New technology: consolidating on what was discussed and learnt at IBIS Africa 2019, we’ll delve deeper into how technology will play a key role in the way service providers, insurers and end customers communicate with each other
- Preparing the next generation of industry professionals: throughout the past year, IBIS has posed the question at each regional event of how we encourage youngsters to take up a career in our industry. The interest from our audiences on this topic and the input from our young colleagues have bowled us over. We’ll continue our discovery in Johannesburg
As Henry Ford said: ‘Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success’. Let’s stay true to this as we continue together to build the IBIS Africa community.