Ryan Volberg, Autoprise's 35-year-old president and CEO, said the nascent firm is on target to meet annual revenue projections of about US$1.8 million.

Collision software firm quick off the mark
Product streamlines body shop operations,wins contracts across Canada

By Glenn Drexhage
Business In Vancouver
October 15, 2002

A Vancouver software start-up's foray into the multibillion-dollar collision repair industry is leading to early successes.

So far, Autoprise Solutions Canada Inc., which formed June 1, has made inroads with some of Canada's largest collision-repair operations.

The company offers software and services to streamline collision-shop procedures and simplify the insurance claims process.

Its "shop management" software helps automate job costs, production tasks, accounting, reporting duties and more.

Autoprise's products include traditional software packages for solo shops and chains, along with Web-based systems. All operations are based at the Vancouver firm, which is a subsidiary of Autoprise Inc. in Washington state.

Ryan Volberg, Autoprise's 35-year-old president and CEO, said the nascent firm is on target to meet annual revenue projections of about US$1.8 million. Autoprise has about 35 employees, and Volberg expects to increase that 50 per cent in six to nine months.

Local firms Vivonet Inc. and KiT Systems each own half of Autoprise. Vivonet established itself in the restaurant industry with a Web-based point-of-sale system, and KiT Systems is a subsidiary of B.C.'s Kirmac Collision chain.

Vivonet was looking to enter a new market, said Volberg, who is also that firm's co-founder and CEO. So it combined its Web expertise with KiT Systems' applications and targeted the collision-repair industry, which has been highly fragmented. "That's all changing now -- we're starting to see a tremendous amount of consolidation," Volberg said.

Plus, the Insurance Corporation of B.C. is increasingly using technology to connect with insurance shops in the province.

These shifts could mean big opportunities for Autoprise. Previously, the shop-management software developed by KiT Systems was largely distributed by Chicago's CCC Information Services Inc. to between 300 and 400 North American locations.

Since entering the market on its own in June, Autoprise has landed a handful of B.C. customers, including Tsawwassen Collision Ltd., Automall Autobody Ltd., West End Auto Body Ltd. and Springfield Autobody Ltd.

Other new customers include Hamilton-based CARSTAR Canada - the country's largest collision repair franchise -- and Winnipeg's The Boyd Group, the only public collision-repair company in North America. Autoprise is providing help desk and technical support for Boyd's B.C. locations and also has a multi-pilot agreement with the company.

Paul McFarlane, general manager of The Boyd Group in B.C., is pleased with the product's results so far.

"I think these guys can really help me down the road," he said. "We have 17 shops [in B.C.]...I want consistency, and they can do that for me."

McFarlane wouldn't reveal fees.

"It's much better than what I was paying [to previous companies]," he said. Volberg said the cost for a solo collision repair shop to implement Autoprise's software and receive training would be about $20,000.

He foresees big prospects in the North American collision repair industry, which is valued at about US$50 billion. However, Autoprise could face stiff competition from U.S. software and services firms such as Mitchell International Inc. and Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP's collision services group has about 12,000 shop customers and also serves most top insurers in Canada and the U.S., said Joe O'Brien, vice-president of sales and services for North America. He said he wasn't aware of Autoprise.

Mike Jerry, national manager of collision for Mitchell in Canada, does know the company. "We don't come up against them often, but we have come up against them."

Mitchell's Web site says its products are used by most insurance companies in North America and the "vast majority" of collision repair shops.

Both Jerry and O'Brien agree Autoprise faces considerable challenges ahead. Jerry said the collision shop market was mature and shrinking in Canada, which means there aren't as many opportunities for new entrants.

"It's a very finite market," O'Brien added. "Almost everybody has a system."

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