CDK Global completes proposal phase of its Dealer Tech competition for universities

27 January 2021. CDK Global, Inc (Nasdaq, CDK), a provider in automotive dealership software found in over 30,000 retail locations across the world, has completed the proposal phase of its CDK Dealer Tech competition with 18 successful entries from the six participating universities.

The Dealer Tech – University Automotive Technology Competition, launched in September 2020 to nurture future talent, foster innovation to help advance automotive retail and provide first-hand experience of modern industry challenges. Students from Bath, Exeter, Buckingham, Warwick, Surrey and Southampton have all taken part and CDK Global has received successful entries from every university in this first stage.

For the proposal phase, students were tasked with developing a technology product idea to help car dealers improve their offerings in today’s digitised world, responding to the impact of Covid-19 and consumer demands. The 18 teams have targeted a variety of industry challenges with their entries, ranging from how dealers engage with customers, understanding customer behaviour and personalisation to increasing efficiencies throughout the buying and ownership journey.

Many of the proposed solutions take inspiration from successful innovations in other industries such as retail and adapt these to fit the automotive setting. Although each team has tackled a different challenge, there is a clear trend across the board, as rich data collection, real-time updates and personalisation are key features in the majority of the entries.
The teams now progress to the idea development phase of the competition with the teams asked to present in their university finals in April 2021, before a national final in May 2021.

The judging requires a 15-minute presentation from each team, which can include a product demo, with judges including the CDK Global senior leadership team, Tim Rose, editor of AM and Julia Muir, CEO of Gaia Innovation. The winning team will be awarded the grand prize of £10,000, with the winning team from each university also receiving £3,000.

Joaquim Croca, Vice President, Commercial at CDK Global said: “We have seen such a high standard of entries in this first phase of the Dealer Tech competition and we cannot wait to see how these ideas develop further throughout the next four months. It’s great to see young talent coming up with innovative ways to solve some of the biggest challenges we are facing as an industry, and the fact that this competition is bringing students together during what is a particularly difficult time for them makes it all the more worthwhile. We hope that the competition will continue to develop their creative, business and technical skills and perhaps even inspire them to pursue a career in the automotive sector.”
Find out more about the competition at http://www.cdkglobal.co.uk/dealertech/

About CDK Global

With more than $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (Nasdaq: CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 30,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process from targeted digital advertising and marketing campaigns to the sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair, and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com. For more information about CDK Global in the UK, visit www.cdkglobal.co.uk.