How do we improve software consumption?

Driving value and efficiencies
Cox Automotive makes buying, selling, owning and using vehicles easier for everyone. Its comprehensive range of services and innovative digital solutions drive value and efficiencies for dealers, lenders, manufacturers and consumers at every stage of a vehicle’s lifecycle. Part of Cox Enterprises, a global leader in the communications and automotive industries, the Cox Automotive division delivers award-winning services to 40,000 vehicle dealerships across five continents, generating annual revenues of USD 6.5 billion.

Global cover
Cox Automotive operates some of the industry’s most respected brands, such as Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and Manheim. With each delivering bespoke services to meet diverse needs—such as operations, inventory, marketing, mobility, sales and service—the division’s IT ecosystem is huge, dispersed and complex, with disparate systems in use. This level of complexity motivated the need for a single, division-wide technology platform where accurate management information was easily accessible.

A solution for the long haul
“We selected ServiceNow because it’s very modular and customisable for very specific requirements,” explains Cox Automotive Software Compliance Manager, Sam Morrison. “It has a CMDB built in, and the Software Asset Management product seamlessly connects with our contracts database. It’s a cloud-based, agentless, turnkey solution that you can set up in no time, and its integrated workflows are far superior to other platforms. This was the solution we needed for the journey ahead.”

Maximising investment value
By customising just one ServiceNow module to access software data, Cox Automotive moved from zero to around 70% visibility of its assets with additional data centres being scanned, a huge improvement in its strategic position. The platform enabled the business to maximise the value of its investment, for example, by ensuring that all software that was entitled to, licensed or owned was being utilised. It also secured licensing and consumption data for its top six vendors. Cox Automotive is able to manage these vendors going forward in a more convenient format, automating processes, saving vital time and money.

Huge impact
“Having one centralised platform is huge,” says Sam Morrison. “We can accurately map usage data to our individual businesses—what we own, what we’re consuming, and calculate the costs impacts. By addressing specific issues or anomalies, such as unnecessary duplicate licences, significant savings and efficiencies can be achieved. For instance, analysing consumption and licensed data with a single vendor saved USD 150,000 in the first year of implementation by removing unused licenses at renewal—translate that across the business for each of our vendors over the long-term and the potential impact is huge.”