New offering creates high-level business plans in minutes, empowers OEMs and dealers to more responsively plan against – and for – transformational market dynamics  

Urban Science today announced the launch of its new FinancialView business planning module, a powerful web-based financial analysis tool that helps automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their dealers enhance alignment and efficiency through online business planning workflows. Utilizing FinancialView’s existing (financial) data, which is leveraged by more dealers than any other business management solution, OEM- and dealer-level users can seamlessly make real-time adjustments to their financial strategies and roadmaps as industry dynamics continue to evolve; plan against critical variables impacting the industry; and compare actual performance to business plan targets, tracking progress and revealing areas for improvement along the way.

Evolving market conditions, regulatory changes and rapidly shifting consumer preferences – among other factors – often create uncertainty and opportunities for OEMs and dealers, leading them to tackle challenges and move toward capitalizing on new possibilities in silos. To effectively drive efficiency, profitability and competitiveness in the short and long terms, it is essential for OEMs to maintain real-time visibility and foster consistent business planning across their networks. Enterprises of all sizes must prioritize business planning to proactively — and oftentimes independently — mitigate risk, identify optimal financial moves and manage budgets in real time, driving a stronger competitive advantage.

Historically, OEMs used a cumbersome offline process for business planning, often relying on manual, error-prone Excel spreadsheet inputs that lacked the ability to be updated on demand. This approach required extensive effort and limited a given plan’s flexibility, efficiency and accuracy since a new spreadsheet and subsequent data input(s) were required once changes were made. This left OEMs and their dealers unable to quickly adapt to industry changes. Urban Science’s new business planning module replaces these outdated workflows, reducing the time needed to create a business plan to just a few minutes, while moving fully online to ensure business plans are built in real time with the most accurate and up-to-date financial and operational data.

Key features:

• “What if” scenario planning: Users can plan against critical variables, such as EV adoption, technology disruption, tariffs and government incentives, to instantly visualize potential outcomes to facilitate better decision-making. This allows users to explore multiple business scenarios and their impacts without committing to a final plan.
• Real-time adaptability: Users can now quickly modify their plans online to remain competitive as market conditions change.
• Performance benchmarking: Users can compare actual business performance against business plans to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
• Strategic network alignment: OEMs can distribute standardized business plans while allowing for dealer-level customization to ensure alignment and relevance across the network. This includes specific plans for individual dealers or high-level network plans that can be cascaded down to all dealers in specific market, region or zone.
• Effortless dealer engagement: Our business planning solution empowers dealers to engage with confidence and clarity, providing on-demand, actionable insights that make business planning easier than ever.

Click here for more information about FinancialView and its ability to deliver on-the-go financial decisions that grow network health and maximize profitability.

About Urban Science
Urban Science is a leading automotive consultancy and technology firm that serves automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers, and AdTech companies that support them, around the world. Headquartered in Detroit and operating in 20 office locations globally, Urban Science taps the power of its science – and its unrivaled data, solution offerings, and industry expertise – to create clarity and business certainty for clients in even the most chaotic market conditions.

Visit UrbanScience.com for more information about how Urban Science helps the automotive industry gain a competitive edge by taking the guesswork out of critical business decisions. This in turn, drives improved efficiency and profitability industrywide.