Latest / Auto Collabs / Solutions You Didn't Know You Need with Tony Vigiletti and Shane Bell

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Solutions You Didn't Know You Need with Tony Vigiletti and Shane Bell · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  One minute and 30 seconds. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Ah, you just missed getting over 90 seconds, Paul World record was coming in. It wasn't even validated. I, I can- The world, world record.
• 0:16
  He was just balancing a bottle on his head- It was... of, uh, of- Just- Well, 'cause I don't know if you guys know this about Paul, but Paul is particular, and he's even particular about his water.
• 0:27
  Actually, more particular about his water than most other [laughs] things. I, I'm curious. You, you drink that posh water? Tell me more. You, do you drink posh water? He, he, he drinks fancy water from a can.
• 0:38
  Oh, there's still water here. There's still water. Actually, this is, this is a company called Open Water, and the, the water comes in these aluminum cans.
• 0:45
  And the reason I got onto this is because we visited Magnolia, the Magnolia Silos in Austin, and they had these really cool waters in, like, the place we rented. And I was like, "I love this company."
• 0:55
  Like, the whole packaging is great, so now- The packaging is great... here at the studio- It is... I, I found them and now this is just cool water, and it's refillable.
• 1:03
  And it's aluminum And now we have water only for $5 a bottle. No, it's not that much. [laughs] It's like a $1.20 for this thing. And if you f- Okay...
• 1:10
  and if it was in a plastic water bottle, people would just take it and throw it away.
• 1:14
  But we have bottle fillers here at the office, so you get the feel of the fancy wa- people, literally, clients come back, "Hey, do you have that fancy water?" Legit. It's nice.
• 1:20
  And if I can have someone feel that way- I love it. And drinking out of it, like, it stays colder longer if you've had it in the fridge or anything, so- You know what I think is interesting about this? Kudos... water.
• 1:29
  Not only are we mostly made up of it- [laughs]... it's all over the place. And someone took... Now somebody somewhere was like, "We should get into water," and then they got backhanded. You know that Batman meme?
• 1:40
  They're like, "You idiot. Everyone's in water." You know? And they were like, "But what if we put it in an aluminum can?" Yeah.
• 1:48
  I remember when people, like, when they started selling bottled water and there was a little bit of, like, an outrage. Like, who would pay for bottled water? Just think of- Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:56
  But here's the thing- Like, that, at one point, that was the dumbest idea ever... dumbest idea ever. Which shows you can actually reinvent, you can innovate inside of something that might seem saturated to others.
• 2:07
  Like, there's people that see opportunity, there's people that don't. Oh. I'm thinking about our guest for today. Guys. I see where you're going. That's unbelievable.
• 2:14
  The fact that we got from balancing a water can on a head to there- And, and what you don't understand if you're listening or watching the show, is that when we start an intro, we just start an intro.
• 2:26
  [laughs] Just no- Like, there's no grand coordination. All right, I'll do this- No coordination... then you do that.
• 2:30
  Literally, I started balancing this on my head, and at some point somebody hit record and they started talking, so I knew we started. Nathan is now a somebody. It was perfect. We should bring Nathan in- It was perfect...
• 2:38
  for a brief second- Yes... to see how he feels about being called somebody. [laughs] Somebody out there. Oh. It's fine. There he is. Somebody. It's fine. It's fine. [laughs] Somebody. Oh, man.
• 2:49
  Well, hey, uh, we've got a couple somebodies that, uh, all of that conversation wrapped up into beautifully and nicely, uh, hopefully from, uh, Michael Cirillo.
• 2:59
  We've got Tony Viglietti and Shane Bell with Connection, and we're just excited to share this conversation with you that we, uh, get to have with them. So, enjoy the conversation. [upbeat music] All right.
• 3:13
  Here we are with Shane and Tony from Connection. Um, I love conversations where I don't really know a lot about our guests, because I have no idea what's coming down the pipe.
• 3:23
  Gentlemen, thanks for joining us today on Auto Collabs. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us. Okay.
• 3:29
  So, um, let, let me ask you this Tony, and Shane, you're right behind him, 'cause this is a question we love to ask on everybody, 'cause on the show we like to get the, get the details on the person.
• 3:37
  Sha- Tony, how did you end up in the auto industry to begin with? Ah, wow. So back in 2011, I was working at a local bank in Detroit.
• 3:47
  Um, position, well, it kind of went away and, uh, I was finishing up my MBA and, um, there was a, a... One of the partners in my class, um, had a connection at GM and so I started working at OnStar in 2011.
• 4:01
  It, it, uh, completely... Living in Detroit my whole life, uh, you know, I'm the only one in my family who didn't work in the auto industry. But, uh, fa- thought I was [laughs]... not missing out, so.
• 4:10
  Wait, you said you were the only one who didn't work in the auto industry at the time? In my family, yeah. Yeah. Who- Really?
• 4:16
  What are some of the other, what are the some of the other roles that your family fills in the auto industry? Uh, they were either engineers, um, some worked at the factory.
• 4:24
  Um, my dad, uh, actually grew up, uh, with the rental car industry. Uh, he had a company here in, [coughs] excuse me, uh, in Michigan. So I grew up in the, the rental car industry and then transitioned over to GM. Wow.
• 4:37
  Huh. That's... I mean, I've got a question, but we're gonna go to Shane first. I know what question you have, but... [laughs] I got a question about something you said in there, but we're gonna go to Shane.
• 4:45
  Shane, what, uh, how'd you get your start in the old auto industry? Yeah. Um, I mean, so I've worked in software for many years, and then I kind of just stumbled upon, um,
• 4:57
  a, a provider in the, you know, the retail automotive space. And then I had a mentor that, you know, worked for Toyota for many years in both, you know, the retail side, the rental side.
• 5:09
  Um, and, uh, yeah, I, I know f- far more about, uh, you know, all of the programs, depending on the brand, than I ever thought that I would. Um, and I, I'm just stuck. So, yeah. All right.
• 5:25
  So Tony, now you got, now you got my question. All right. You got my question. So back in 2011- [laughs]... which isn't that too terribly long ago, but still. You were with OnStar- Yep... in 2011.
• 5:40
  [laughs] Talk to me about OnStar in 2011, because OnStar in 2011 was... I remember, actually, I started selling cars in 2009, and in 2011, OnStar was still, like, sometimes you'd press the button and it'd work.
• 5:54
  Sometimes you'd press the button and it wouldn't work. [laughs] And sometimes you just didn't even know why you wanted to press the button at all. [laughs] Right? Like, what was it like in the...
• 6:03
  I mean, that wasn't absolute, like, dead set early. You know, it was like, I think it was, like, mid-2000s that OnStar kind of hit the scene.
• 6:10
  But what was it like kind of being a part of the early S-The start of, like, connected technology inside vehicles Yeah, that was actually really the, the exciting part, is, you know, once I got into kind of, uh, the position I was in was kind of a sales operations type role, um, but as, you know, I kinda got more in, in depth of what OnStar was, um, got really invested about the technology side of it.
• 6:32
  So I've, I kinda stayed on the technology side with the fleet, you know, um, vehicle data. Um, I was part of a lot of cool things.
• 6:39
  Like, we got to, you know, we were building, uh, in-vehicle applications, we were building, you know, selling data out to, you know, third parties to, you know, manage their fleets.
• 6:46
  And so, you know, it was kind of a lot of different programs that we were kind of building there, um, which is actually how I met Connection.
• 6:52
  Um, when I was at GM, I was building a fleet product, uh, you know, using the embedded OnStar telematics to kinda manage your, you know, landscapers, florists, delivery drivers. Um,
• 7:03
  you know, without using devices, how do you track those vehicles? How do you know whether, you know, if they're speeding?
• 7:07
  How do you know if, you know, where, where the cars are, um, if they're being, you know, driven out, you know, outside of hours, um, you know, all that information.
• 7:13
  So, uh, we were actually building one at GM, uh, to have it, you know, branded as GM, and, uh, we realized that we probably couldn't build the software side, uh, on our own.
• 7:22
  So, um, we went out to, to suppliers, and that's where we met Connection. And, uh- Wow... years later, I came full circle, and I, uh, decided to, you know, join the team and, and help grow. There you go. Very cool.
• 7:34
  There you go. That's, like, I'm [sighs]
• 7:38
  I'm just imagining being in some of these meetings, like, "All right, we could either build this on our own or we could go find some software people out there that know what they're doing," right? Yeah.
• 7:46
  Like, that, it's a tough go building a car, and building technology to meet it, and understanding the customer demand, and doing all the R&D around, like, how does this technology work? Is it gonna work for customers?
• 7:59
  Exactly.
• 7:59
  Where did you see, like, the biggest gap that, that you feel like customers were asking for along the way, going, "Hey, we don't have access to this, but we need that," or like, "This is a, a gap in the industry," um, that were solved, like, with particular, uh, features as they were coming out?
• 8:15
  Yeah, that's actually kinda the unique piece, um, is, is the customers that we were selling to didn't know they needed this solution, right? And so- Hmm...
• 8:23
  it's something that we, we see a lot- That always makes it easy to sell. Exactly, right?
• 8:27
  [laughs] It's, uh, no one, they don't know what telematics are, and then you're like, "Oh, by the way, we can also manage your vehicle with the telematics."
• 8:32
  And, you know, it's, it's, it's a very different, you know, sales pitch, I guess, right? Mm-hmm. Um, so there was a lot of education.
• 8:38
  And we knew that, you know, even though customers, there was a need, because we know, you know, the Coca-Colas of the world, they, they have these solutions. Yeah. Fleet, right, fleet customers get it right away.
• 8:47
  Yeah, you're right. But the, you know, your small business owner who has five or six trucks doesn't see themselves as a fleet owner, right? Mm-hmm. Sure.
• 8:53
  They just see themselves as that just, that's the car that I need to do to, to, you know, get either transportation or do the job. Um, but you never really view it as a fleet.
• 9:02
  And, you know, you're not gonna hire a fleet manager to, you know, kinda oversee your operations when you're only running a couple trucks.
• 9:08
  Uh, so it was kind of, uh, we were solving a need that they don't know they needed. Um, and so, you know, it was kind of a, um, it was kind of the hassle, right? And so- Yeah... it was definitely interesting.
• 9:19
  Um, you know, we had the program, I think, for a couple years. It was called, uh, Commercial Link. Um, it was based on, you know, like, the Connection platform that we have today.
• 9:28
  Uh, and then over there is when we transitioned to building OnTrack for GM, which is kind of the base of our mobility platform now. Yeah.
• 9:36
  Now, Shane, you're working with, you, you were telling us beforehand that you're working with a lot of the larger groups that Connection is integrated with, and through OnTrack, and all that.
• 9:45
  How, uh, like, how have you seen that change over the last couple years in, like, the dealers or the OEM communicating with the customer about all of these advanced technologies?
• 9:58
  Because it, it is, it's, like, it's definitely something new.
• 10:02
  You know, we've been connected through devices back since, you know, the, the late '90s really was when, like, the big connectivity started coming in through all of our devices.
• 10:11
  But telematics are still fairly new as, like, educating a customer, and a dealer, and, and everybody what's possible.
• 10:19
  W- how are you seeing that education map, um, to results and to, like, uh, good customer loyalty, and all of that? Yeah. I mean, I feel like, you know, we're starting to see more and more, um, across, like, several OEMs.
• 10:35
  Like, for example, like Toyota and Lexus are very good at sort of marketing, like, the whole connectivity thing and, like, kind of selling it to the customer, and, like, whether it be, like, an app or, like, hey, you can unlock your, you know, you can use your phone as your key, and, like, things like that.
• 10:52
  Um, I mean, I feel like certain brands are a little bit more sophisticated than others in kind of being creative in how they sell it, um, you know, to the consumer.
• 11:03
  Um, but yeah, for sure, I mean, it, it's becoming more and more popular. I'm, I'm not, I don't really see groups sort of selling the whole, like, telematics thing yet.
• 11:15
  Um, but definitely I, I feel like OEMs are starting to kinda hop on that, uh, on that trend, so.
• 11:22
  What are the, what are the, like, you know, you're, you're obviously on, in touch with a lot of people, like, on the ground as the account exec.
• 11:29
  What do you see as, like, the biggest, the biggest need or request, you know, the biggest use cases where, where people are really leaning into it and really seeing some, you know, positive results? Yeah.
• 11:41
  Um, so I mean, like, like, me myself, like, I mean, I drove, uh, Audis for a few years, and, um, right now I don't have one, but I definitely enjoyed the whole, like, being able to unlock, like, use my phone as a key is a really good example.
• 11:59
  Um, and even- That sounds so good. Yeah, it's- I can't wait. I can't wait to get that feature. Now, I just saw- Yeah... what was it?
• 12:04
  Uh, the Hyundai commercial that just featured it on their new, like, return to work commercial, and I was like, "Oh, I want that so bad." Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 12:12
  And there's a Genesis commercial that I keep seeing, um, where they unlock the car in the commercial with a phoneAnd I'm, I'm like, that's so genius, you know?
• 12:23
  Um, and it, it, it can get as granular as, like, even knowing whether or not you left a window rolled down, um, is another really good example. So it, it, there's some really cool stuff going on for sure. Amazing.
• 12:38
  There's, there's no better feature in Michigan than the, uh, remote start. When you land a plane, [laughs] or you...
• 12:43
  And, uh, you can use your phone and, you know, remote start your car so it's nice and toasty when you get there. It's, it's perfect in January. Yeah. Oh, I live in- Yeah... upstate New York. I love that feature.
• 12:51
  Yeah, exactly. [laughs] As soon as you get in the parking lot- You guys obviously-... you're like, "Start the car. Start the car." [laughs] Yeah. Right. Absolutely. You guys have, uh, obviously see a lot of data.
• 12:58
  Are you seeing increased adoption a- across customers in using the telematics that you're connected to?
• 13:05
  Like, I know you deal with a lot of rental and fleet and stuff like that, but are consumers adopting this as it's, as it's available by the OEMs and the dealers? Yeah.
• 13:14
  They're, they're adopting it and they're expecting it. That's, that's part of it as well- Right...
• 13:17
  you know, is that a lot of OEMs weren't at, you know, anywhere near the, the take rate of, you know, implementing these telematics into the cars, um, that, you know, GM was.
• 13:26
  Um, now you're seeing almost every OEM, you know, they're, they're getting, uh, the above 70% type, you know, connectivity. So they're, they're starting to really adapt it. And again, customers are expecting it, so. Wow.
• 13:38
  Yeah, I think that that's key because, like, when you go through everything else, you just ex- like, I mean, Paul, Paul knows how I feel about if you don't accept Apple Pay at a place, right? [laughs] Oh, yeah.
• 13:49
  Like, I get a full... It's bad, right? [laughs] Um, and so you just expect these technologies to be integrated into everything.
• 13:57
  And so I think customers are expecting that with their vehicle ownership or with their, like, even their service process or their rental process.
• 14:05
  Now, uh, Shane, you were saying like, "I'm not seeing dealers educate their customers on this." Have you, have you seen any do that or do that well?
• 14:13
  Or is there, like, is there a new expectation or need for us as, for the dealer network to be working to educate their customers, not just post-sale?
• 14:23
  'Cause you see, like, that's why, like, a lot of these OEMs are getting these high 70% connection, connectivity downloads and things like that because- Oh...
• 14:30
  the dealer is selling the car, then supporting that, um, play into the market. But, uh, do you see a need for dealers to do pre-education on some of these, uh, items? Yeah.
• 14:41
  Um, I mean, I, I mean, I work with probably I'd say roughly 50 of the top automotive groups in the US.
• 14:50
  And right now I can say honestly that I don't see, uh, at the group level that they're sort of leveraging the telematics and kind of, like, selling that. Or, and there's a multitude of ways that they could be doing that.
• 15:05
  Um, I'm- Yeah, give us some of those examples actually because- Yeah. Like-... I think that might help s- unlock some people's thinking, like, "Oh, I could do that, and I don't." So give me some. Yeah.
• 15:15
  Um, I, I think it should really come from the OEM educating the group on how to do that. Um, I mean, the, there... I wanna be careful what I say. [laughs] Oh, okay. [laughs] Yeah. I got it. Yeah.
• 15:31
  I'm kind of careful what I say. But I mean- Understood... it, it, it could be as, as easy as, you know, uh, like the OEM, like, how, how they're doing it, like selling it.
• 15:41
  Like, oh, like you can use the whole, y- your phone as a key and like, uh, you know, monitor fuel and stuff like that from your device. Um, I mean, like, I, I lost my phone. Like, I'm just being candid right now.
• 15:55
  I lost my phone, and it was, like, my whole world, uh, was in there, and so I had to get a new one. And so I think that, like,
• 16:05
  think- pushing things to mobile and, like, things being, like, in apps is very forward-thinking, and I think that the OEMs are doing a really good job.
• 16:14
  I think that maybe they could work a little bit more closely with, you know, maybe the Asperys and the AutoNations of the world and kind of push a little bit more of that initiative.
• 16:24
  And there are probably, I wou- I would think that there are certain markets where adoption or importance of these features is just way higher.
• 16:33
  When you get closer to urban or tech sa- you know, technologically advanced, like, areas that have a lot of tech- Mm-hmm... a lot of young professionals, it seems like those areas even more so start leaning in- Sure...
• 16:43
  on those. Where some rural environments, it'd be like a kind of a nice to have. But, but like you said, like you, you drove an Audi, which was your first exposure to the keyless- Mm-hmm...
• 16:51
  you know, using your phone to open your door. Um, there's just a lot fewer Audis in the country, you know? [laughs] Right. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause there's no Audi dealers. Yeah, yeah. [laughs] Yeah.
• 17:01
  And, and telematics, like, Tony, we've talked a little bit, you know, we had a webinar last week, but telema- telematics is a, is not just about, like, the app that the consumer uses, but also what dealers have access to- Yeah...
• 17:13
  in, like, you know, because telematics, like you said, with OnStar, like, a lot of the origination came in fleet management and understanding where your fleets are, what they're doing, how much gas is in them, all of that.
• 17:25
  Um, how can dealers right now be leveraging, like, all of these telematics in, in their daily operations? Yeah. So, and they're, they're actually doing it today, right? So with our p- platform that we have right now, um,
• 17:39
  when you, you know, you take the car out, we know what the ex- exact mileage is. You know, you're not having someone write it down on a piece of paper. You're not having someone fat-fingering things, changing miles.
• 17:47
  Um, also, you know, like when you return a rental car, right? They look at kind of the needle and say, "All right. You know, we're gonna charge you this much."
• 17:53
  And with, with our system, with the telematics from the car, we know exactly the car left with 20 gallons. It came back with 18 gallons. Do you wanna charge that customer the two gallons, or do you wanna waive it?
• 18:02
  You know, it, it gives the dealership ownership. Um, the, gives them the, at least the information of how they can, you know, of, of, of how they can manage that customer. So- Mm-hmm...
• 18:12
  you know, if there's damage on it- Yeah. If there's miles on it, um, fuel level, tire pressure.
• 18:18
  You know, if the car's in an accident, they can find that information out, um, without having to, you know, reach out to the customer directly.
• 18:23
  So there's a lot of information that, um, the vehicles can tell the dealership to kind of, you know, 'cause-E- w- the, either way you look at it, right, the, the dealership loaner cars or their fleet, it's still a fleet.
• 18:32
  So same type of use case that your commercial, you know, rental operators have.
• 18:37
  Um, a- and, you know, the data just helps, again, give the, give the dealership the information, and they can then decide how they'll proceed. Right. And I, I kinda wanna jump in. So- Yeah...
• 18:48
  like, with service and maintenance, I think, is a really good space to where they could sort of push, uh,
• 18:56
  you know, like, a push notification, whether it be, like, I, you know, like, the Toyota 1 app or, like, the Lexus, I think they're calling it the Monogram app or something like that, um, to kind of drive, um, dealership-based service versus them going to, say, like, you know, I don't even know, like Pep Boys or whatever.
• 19:17
  Um, you know, like, saying, like, "Hey," like, "it looks like you're at however many miles." Like, "It's time to check in with your service advisor."
• 19:26
  And then it, it would be a really white glove experience if they could, um- That's the, that's, that's huge. Yeah. Because we've always had to do it based on time. Yeah. Right? And mileage.
• 19:35
  Like three months after service- That's true... four months after service. Oh, no, no, no. You're getting, like, within 100 miles of what you need. Yeah, exactly. I would use that. Yeah.
• 19:43
  [laughs] I would use that the most. So would I. [laughs] I forget all the time. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's huge. That's huge. Yeah. Um- And that, that drives retention as well, right?
• 19:52
  Because if I get a, a postcard in, in the mail, like you said, right, every three or four months saying, "Hey, maybe you need an oil change." Um- Maybe.
• 19:58
  Or I get a message saying, "Tony, your car told us you need an oil change. Come on in and we'll, you know, here's, you know, schedule online." Right? Have the availability to book right on my phone when I get the email.
• 20:08
  Or, or- Yeah... your car told us another, you need an oil change. Should we drop off one of our loaners to you tomorrow or Thursday? Absolutely.
• 20:16
  We can't wait to pick up your vehicle and bring it in and get it serviced- Yes or no, right... while you have one of our cars. [laughs] My clients- Come on now, talk about retention...
• 20:23
  they save, save these secrets, Kyle. [laughs] Save the secrets. No, that's good. I mean, look, retention and customer loyalty are, are, uh, at a necessity. They're at an all-time high.
• 20:34
  So whether it be an ownership experience or a service experience or anything like that, connected car allows for that.
• 20:41
  And, uh, so obviously Connection and, and some of the manufacturers that are, uh, connected into those tools are, are doing that.
• 20:48
  Um, and I'm sure, like, if people wanna find you, uh, Tony, Shane, you guys are all over the LinkedIn and all that. And- Yeah... uh, can go to Connection, is it.com? Uh, connectiontd.com. Connectiontd.com. Awesome.
• 21:02
  And, uh, yeah. Would love, uh, and if anyone wants to connect with them, please do.
• 21:07
  Um, but Tony, Shane, it's been fun getting to know you guys, getting to know, like, what's out there in the world of telematics, and really appreciate you joining us, uh, here on Auto Labs. [upbeat music] Pleasure.
• 21:17
  See you guys on the road there. Thanks for having us. Now let's up the ante. Oh, yeah. And see if we can do a open glass of water. Okay. For the whole outro.
• 21:36
  Oh. Michael now has an open glass of water balanced on his head, and Kyle has a hat balanced on his head. I can't move my mouth. But, like, upside down. It's not that... It, it was more fancy than what you said.
• 21:50
  You were like, "Ah, just a hat," you know, 'cause you put a hat upside down on your head. It was upside down. Hey, look, here's the thing. When, when I think about the evolution of tech- technology in automotive,
• 22:00
  there's so many times where technology precedes, uh, like, what customers are ready for. Oh, yeah. And I think that automotive is, is a lotta times ahead. We're actually experiencing a lot of this right now, right?
• 22:12
  With EVs, where the education has to come alongside the technology.
• 22:17
  So I love how Tony was talking about, like, "Hey, we're building OnStar," and part of that was actually educating the customer that this is something they could use and potentially will actually feel the need for.
• 22:27
  And I mean, now, you think about now, w- if, if you didn't have some level of connection with your car, with an app or, you know, like, the, the, the connected ideas of whether it be, you know, being just connected to simply to the navigation.
• 22:41
  Right. Yeah. It, it, it would, it's something that we just can't even fathom, you know? P- this is what I love. Like, you think about Steve Jobs. He's been on my mind a lot today for some reason.
• 22:51
  We talked about him in our team meeting this morning. I think about Steve Jobs. He goes... I better take this off. But I'm impressed with myself.
• 22:59
  He goes, "Hey, here, here's the marketing pitch to customer, general customer. You can put 2,500 songs in your pocket." You know what they were probably saying internally?
• 23:11
  "We are going to inject a data collection device in the pocket of every human being on planet Earth." [laughs] And then just a few years later, "We're gonna know where they go, where they go consistently.
• 23:23
  Oh, they go to Kroger three times a week after 5:00 PM," ba, ba, ba. And people are afraid that Facebook's listening.
• 23:28
  Where, listening, where I'm going with this is then a few years later, they're like, "Hey, automakers, you know what'd be cool is if we, um, injected that same data collection device and interfaced it with your vehicle."
• 23:41
  Ooh. Ah. Got 'em. Ah. Right, right, right. Travel diagnostics. Travel diagnostics, driving habits. You, you look at the Progressive app. Yep.
• 23:49
  It, it can tell when you've opened your phone while the car's moving, and it'll be like, "We perceive that you were on your phone while driving." Big problem. And I think about that in terms of, of this conversation.
• 24:01
  You know, these guys- Does it do that? Yeah, the Progressive app. Yeah. Asking for a friend. It, it detects when you've unlocked your phone- Asking for a friend. [laughs]... while the car's moving.
• 24:10
  All of this to say- Oh, man...
• 24:11
  like, you know, he's talking about fleet and how business owners, you know, maybe with five or six trucks, don't think of them, themselves as owning a fleet, and the telematics and all of these different layers of connectivity, and he was really there in the beginning.
• 24:24
  And my, my whole summation of this point is the other day, I'm visiting a client five hours from me.
• 24:30
  I drive old Tessie, the Tesla, down.And, uh, myself and my, my, uh, partner, business partner that I'm with are, get curious. So we subscribe to Auto Pi- Full Autopilot, and that sucker drove us home- Right...
• 24:45
  and we were freaked out for the first five minutes, and oh, so shocking how comfortable we got during that drive with this thing driving itself. Interesting.
• 24:56
  All this to say, you know, Tony's seen the beginning with OnStar. I have to believe there were brains back then going, "Wait until you see the level of connectivity that this is the catalyst for in the future."
• 25:09
  Without a doubt. Shoot. Well, look, we hope that y- this conversation... [laughs] Now he's putting the water back on his head. You know, Michael, I l- avoided the whole t- And now Kyle's putting his hat upside down.
• 25:23
  Listen, [laughs] sometimes I wonder. I wonder about my decisions and who I do business with and who I get on podcasts with. [laughs] And this is one of those moments.
• 25:33
  But regardless, I hope we got you thinking a little more broadly about what's going on and how you can lean in to meeting the customers where they're at and not, uh, not assuming they know what they should be doing.
• 25:42
  But educate them. Walk them there. I'm gonna try to walk Kyle and Michael Cirillo over to the, uh, urgent care as soon as we're off this podcast.
• 25:50
  So on behalf of Kyle Poulsier, Michael Cirillo, and myself, thank you so much for joining us on Auto Collapse.
• 25:58
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• 26:12
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 26:21
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collapse. Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.