Volkswagen Group UK set to transform Business Intelligence for their UK retailer network with River Software’s ‘Loop’ platform

Volkswagen Group UK has awarded River Software a three-year contract to implement Loop, a business performance management platform which will support their 600-strong retailer network with actionable data insight.

Loop will share data and KPIs at every level of the Volkswagen Group hierarchy, from HQ to dealer management, giving all users a single, open and transparent view of performance – a crucial requirement at a time of rapid change for the industry. The contract covers all Volkswagen Group UK brands plus Volkswagen Financial Services, spanning cars, commercial vehicles, after-sales and finance.

Loop will also provide a combination of tools for HQ, field teams and dealers to improve performance across the business, such as balanced scorecards to highlight operational inefficiencies and action centre dashboards to drive behaviours directly linked to KPIs.

With a mission to streamline the existing various business performance tools across the Group, the Loop platform will enable Volkswagen Group UK to consolidate efforts whilst benefitting from the cost-effectiveness of a single supplier for all brands.

"We have been impressed by the Loop platform from the start and are delighted that River Software has successfully navigated the tender process" explained Matt Bishop (Network Insight Manager at Volkswagen Group UK). "We are pleased to be partnering with River and are looking forward to starting work".

Simon Porri, Managing Director of BI at River Software adds: “Managing data and business intelligence in an organisation of this scale is a huge challenge and without confidence in performance data, decision-making is guesswork for everyone involved. Our partnership with Volkswagen Group UK will help provide clarity and data insights to help people at all levels make decisions quickly to improve business performance.

“We are all enormously excited to work with the Group on this transformation journey”.

The Volkswagen Group, with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group comprises twelve brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN. The passenger car portfolio ranges from small cars all the way to luxury-class vehicles. Ducati offers motorcycles. In the light and heavy commercial vehicles sector, the products range from pick-ups to buses and heavy trucks. Every weekday, 662.600 employees around the globe produce on average 40,000 vehicles, are involved in vehicle-related services or work in other areas of business. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

In 2020, the total number of vehicles delivered to customers by the Group globally was 9.31 million (2019: 10.97 million). Group sales revenue in 2020 totalled EUR 222.9 billion (2019: EUR 252.6 billion). Earnings after tax in fiscal year 2020 amounted to EUR 8.8 billion (2019: EUR 14.0 billion).

Committed to becoming CO2 balance sheet neutral by 2050, The Volkswagen Group is investing €35bn into electrification over the next 5 years with over 70 all electric vehicles planned to be in the market by 2030.

Volkswagen Group United Kingdom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, and is the importer of Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA cars as well as Volkswagen passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The company directly employs approximately 1,000 people in the UK, and approximately 25,000 more are employed in the retail networks, logistics operations and with Financial Services.

In 2020 the Group registered 360,450 cars, achieving a market share of 22.1%, plus a further 32,500 vans and pick-ups, through our network of over 600 retailers – confirming Volkswagen Group as the clear UK number one.

Loop is a business performance management tool purpose-built for automotive manufacturers and franchise networks. The tool is designed to help organisations unlock business insights, assign actions and empower your people to proactively improve KPI performance. The Loop platform is built by in-house developers at River Software Ltd, a software development company founded in 2002. The company’s mission is to help organisations get more from their people, their sales channels and their data.