The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR), a leading automotive IT standards organization, announced late January that it has added cloud service provider Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to its membership. AWS helps provide purpose-built industry solutions to automakers, dealers and partner technology companies, serving as the preferred global cloud provider for many automotive-related companies focused on transforming their businesses, helping them to improve business-to-business integration, data management, and ultimately, more personalized customer journeys.
“AWS provides the most comprehensive suite of cloud offerings to help enable automakers to build applications that touch every point in the customer journey,” said Wendy Bauer, vice president and general manager, automotive and manufacturing at AWS. “AWS prides itself on working backwards to address customer challenges and we value STAR as a key industry group to help drive innovation to support automaker, dealer and automotive technology customers. The opportunity to innovate together and help contribute to standards will foster more efficient communication across the automotive landscape between automakers and the dealer network and drive a better experience for end consumers.”
“As automotive dealers race to comply with the changes to the Safeguards Rule, they need the assistance of trusted dealer information systems service providers like Amazon Web Services,” noted JP Garvey, owner of Garvey Auto Group and Chairman of STAR. “We are excited to collaborate and provide dealers and OEMs with the guidance and assistance necessary to support the demands on their compliance and security.”
“We continue to look for ways to help support the customer experience initiatives of our automotive-related customers and partners, helping to deliver curated pre- and post-sales experiences for the customer purchasing or servicing a vehicle,” said Thad Dungan, global head of automotive customer experience strategy at AWS. “We are focused on helping create a more frictionless experience for the dealer network in conducting business with its various automakers and suppliers. Our work with STAR and its membership will help promote and improve connected interoperability of tool sets and the use of customer data to improve the experience for a myriad of industry stakeholders. STAR and its membership are industry leaders in ushering in the next generation of experiences within the industry by helping define these core operational standards.”
