Revamping Data Processes for Competitor Pro
Challenge:
Competitor Pro, an Atlanta-based startup offering inventory intelligence to automobile dealerships, found itself confronting significant data-related challenges. The company was spending over $16,000 monthly on outsourced data collection and struggled to understand the data gathered effectively. This high expenditure and lack of clear data insights hindered the startup’s mission and growth.
Approach:
Over a two-month period, our data science expert at Chameleon Collective, Vu Pham, undertook a complete overhaul of the data collection process, bringing it in-house. This change allowed Competitor Pro to have enhanced control over both the data collection code and the data itself. Vu crafted a machine learning model designed to enable the startup to understand each dealership’s automobile inventory and determine suitable retail pricing for each vehicle. Moreover, Chameleon assisted Competitor Pro in hiring junior engineers who would maintain and further develop the new data processes. The solution incorporated cloud computing technology across Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean. Over the first year, this setup tracked over 50 million vehicles across more than 40,000 automobile dealerships.
Impact:
With the new process in place, Competitor Pro experienced a significant reduction in data collection costs, from $16,000 to under $1,000 monthly. In addition to the cost savings, the company gained access to richer, more actionable data that it could leverage to provide superior services to its automobile dealership clients.