J.D. Power and HARMAN today announced an alliance that will significantly influence the automotive industry’s use of vehicle data to enrich the customer experience, solve problems more effectively and help identify what consumers want from their increasingly automated vehicles.
Integrating customer insights with connected car data to provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with more accurate feedback from owners is the shared goal of J.D. Power, a global leader in consumer insights, data analytics and automotive advisory services, and HARMAN International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., that is a leader in connected technologies including hardware, software, machine learning and services for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets.
With the rapid emergence of new technology in the automotive industry, understanding driver behavior and preferences within the vehicle is more crucial than ever for automakers. For 50 years, J.D. Power has been providing rich automotive consumer insights. Now, J.D. Power will work with HARMAN to go beyond measuring consumer insights to help automakers around the world better measure and understand how their evolving products are satisfying customer needs.
“Having been on the OEM side for most of my career, I know the industry has been looking for this kind of solution for a long time,” said Doug Betts, Senior Vice President of Global Automotive at J.D. Power. “It was easy to dream, but getting it done takes a skill set that no single company has. The alliance of our two companies can credibly deliver the dream of merging consumer and vehicle data to provide a clear view of cause and effect.”
HARMAN Ignite, the industry’s award-winning automotive cloud solution, enables a unique view into driver usage patterns, and when combined with J.D. Power consumer data, will provide functional-level insights into how consumers are interacting with the systems and what they may want from the in-car experience. With this service, OEMs and suppliers can identify areas that can be improved and ultimately bring desired features and functions to market faster.
“J.D. Power has the most thorough understanding of automotive consumer satisfaction of any company in the industry,” said Sanjay Dhawan, President, HARMAN Connected Services & HARMAN Chief Technology Officer. “With HARMAN’s connected car, software and integration expertise, we are set to realize the exciting potential of connected cars, including enhanced safety, greater performance and more immersive and personalized experiences.”
In cooperation with OEMs, data only will be collected from consumers who opt in to share their data. This data will be anonymized and aggregated to protect consumer privacy.
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. J.D. Power is a portfolio company of XIO Group, a global alternative investments and private equity firm headquartered in London, and is led by its four founders: Athene Li, Joseph Pacini, Murphy Qiao and Carsten Geyer.
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
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