During the months that humanity hid indoors in 2020, the marketing teams at many organizational management suite providers decided it would be a good idea to inundate the internet with ads about all the impressive things you could do with their particular brand of management software. 

For most people, these ads were an irritation. For members of the collision community, they were an amusement. What was being advertised looked to anyone who had spent any time in a well-organized auto repair facility in the past two decades like ancient technology. 

Where these general-purpose business oversight tools might bring some value to small teams operating on an out-of-office basis for the first time in their history, the specialized software suites used to manage collision businesses have been handling off-site oversight for many years—and far more years to boot! 

Of course, the businesses that specialize in providing management solutions to the collision sector did not rest easy, despite their enormous head start. In fact, many started innovating new ways to simplify auto repair operations in a world that was increasingly averse to interacting. 

As a result of these innovations, new features allowing for seamless communication between auto repairers, customers and auto insurers became a standard part of the industry management suite. 

Of course, to be featured in this edition of the Collision Repair Buyer’s Guide and Business Directory, meeting the industry standard is not enough. In picking our management and software selections for 2021, we looked for the digital solutions that did more than just ape the competition and offered bottom-line improvements over similar products. 

If you are interested in upgrading the software systems that serve as the backbone of your business, the next few pages have all the updates you need to know about.