Innovation Award Profile: Hunter Engineering 1708-T Online Alignment Guide
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Q: What makes this product innovative?
A: For us, what makes [the Online Alignment Guide] innovative is making it digital. Taking this book that's been successful for a long time and making it digital allows us to put it in our HunterNet 2 Customer Portal so it's all in one place. It's very, very easy to use once it is digital. If you're a service writer and you have a customer standing right in front of you, now [it's] fully searchable, so you can quickly find the vehicle that they're working with.
It's got a clickable table of contents, so, again, you're not fumbling around in the book trying to service the vehicle, and it really gives them the solution they need immediately with an online offering. Also, since it is in our customer portal, they can have a couple of tabs up and, paired with our inspection results page, they can see both the diagnosis... and the solution for that vehicle immediately right at their fingertips.
Q: What was the inspiration behind creating this product?
A: As I mentioned, this has been in book form for a very long time... and that has been very successful. The inspiration was really just to build on that success and give our customers a digital offering, and also, the other side of that is [that] even though it's digital, we have really kept the look and feel of the original book. Again, you get the benefit of it being searchable and easy to get to (it's never lost), paired with the fact that there's no learning curve with it. It's got the same look and feel, [technicians] know how to read it and how to interpret it immediately.
Q: How will this product improve the lives of technicians and shop owners?
A: One big way is it's always up-to-date. As soon as we get the specifications for alignment, [which] tells you what the vehicle needs to have done to get it back within factory specifications, we update this book online. That's going to allow the shop owners and service writers to identify a solution for more vehicles and ultimately for the driving public itself. They're going to have their vehicles more up-to-date or always able to be worked on and quickly find the solution for them.
Q: What has the feedback been like from technicians who have purchased this alignment guide?
A: One quick point, HunterNet in general, our customer portal, is actually included with all Hunter equipment owners. So a beautiful part about it is it's totally free. The feedback is definitely positive. In fact, we've added three other equipment guides very similar to this due to its success. For my side, we're looking at metrics as well, [and] this is one of our top customer portal pages as far as views go. It's not just anecdotal. We know that people are using it and having a great experience because of it.
Q: Is there anything else that our readers should know?
A: The guide itself, again, is based on the book version. It comes out in the same timeframe every six months. You can make sure to keep up-to-date on it. As far as HunterNet in general, it's a platform we're constantly developing. We'll continue to get more tools like this and make the experience great and informative for both shop owners and technicians alike.
To view the full interview, visit VehicleServicePros.com/55042003
