Throughout history, technology has been a catalyst for driving change within the business world. As the technological advancements steer through various challenges to break the stagnancy barrier, PCMI, LLC was created to empower you with innovative administration software to fuel your growth by becoming “Your Technology Partner.”
Founded in 2012 by Mark Nagelvoort, the President and CEO envisioned a transformative approach to policy and claims administration systems. Today, the company has three global offices and is the industry leader in administration software, seeking to do more.
Insights Success caught up with Mark in our endeavor to find “The 10 Fastest-Growing Automobile Solution Providers of 2022” and discussed where PCMI heads next.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please provide a brief overview of PCMI and administration software, PCRS.
PCMI provides software that a company would need to offer what we refer to as add-on products. Add-on products can be anything from prepaid maintenance plans, extended warranties, GAP, and even furniture protection.
One of the primary benefits of selling add-on products is to generate customer loyalty and improve your brand. In recent years, there has been more of an emphasis on making sure that the customer quickly and easily receives the benefit of the product, which requires a certain type of technology.
PCMI’s administration software, PCRS (Policy Claim and Reporting Solutions), not only provides the technology to sell and issue add-on products but can also facilitate the processing of a customer to ensure they receive the benefit of said products.
The ultimate goal is to provide a comprehensive, flexible administration system that allows companies within the automotive and consumer industries to best cater to their customers specific needs to maximize the customer experience.
What makes PCMI the preferred solution among other competitors? What makes your technology different?
PCRS is very scalable. The scalability of the software allows you to start with either a single product or manage 10-20 different products all in the same solution, making it both extremely flexible as well as efficient.
Not to mention the system is offered under a SaaS model, so there are almost no upfront costs.
From a business leadership perspective, what is the most important aspect of a successful business?Discipline and keen focus on the real problems our customers and the industry face. For us, it’s not about selling more software. It’s centered on solving problems that our customers (and their customers and integration partners) face through innovation and data integrity.
What would you say is the driving force of your growth as an auto provider?
A comprehensive understanding of our customer’s challenges and both the innovation and flexibility to address those needs. For our large customers, they like that we’re international with offices in the US, Europe, and Asia. For our smaller customers, they like that 3-4 people can actually set up and run our entire system.
Because PCRS is so versatile, we can service small, medium, and large markets which has been the driving force of our growth.
What obstacles has PCMI faced over the years, and how did you overcome them?
Launching the company in 2012, we began this journey with no customers and we knew we were entering a saturated market that was complacent in terms of capabilities.
We overcame those obstacles by designing a brand-new system – built systematically with all ecosystem stakeholders in mind – for a market our competitor’s thought was too fragmented to serve. And then, we implemented rigorous product development and continuous improvement to incorporate learning into the feedback loop.
We saw the market growth opportunity as substantially higher than our peers, driven by increasingly complex requirements and evolving product use cases. We have since overtaken our competitors as the number one software platform.
In the past year, how has PCMI grown, and how has it affected the industry and its customers?
One of the things we’re most proud of is how extensively our software is used. To go from market launch in 2012 to serving over 40,000 dealers in 2022 is a great accomplishment for our customers’ adoption.
Last year, the usage of our system was up 38%, and we expect this trend to continue.
How do you plan to continue growing within the market and with your customers?
The biggest feature of our software is that our clients get to define new types of products without even contacting PCMI, so they are constantly reacting to market conditions.
For example, in periods of high unemployment, they can develop plans that forgive loan payments. In other markets, they can focus on the appearance of the products being damaged for something as simple as fabric protection. They can also design complete service contracts for extended warranty programs that protect a customer for a long period of time.
We see the constant evolution of additional products that our customers can build within our software without modification as a key driver, which makes the opportunity for continued growth tremendous.
What are the future goals of PCMI? Where do you see the company in 5 years?
PCMI is not only a provider within the automotive industry, but also a provider for the consumer warranty and home warranty markets.
With so many customers coming to us looking to improve their customer loyalty, we anticipate significant growth among strategic markets with our current platform as well as international expansion.
Our main goal, ultimately, is to be the technology partner of an expanding customer base.
What do you think is the single most important reason for your success?
From the very first day, we looked for people that were committed and excited about the industry, and we committed to their growth at PCMI.
As a result, they’ve stayed with us and really led the success. It comes down to your team and making sure you have the right people.
What advice would you give to individuals starting out in the industry?
Make sure that your product is different and that you’re serving the market in a unique way.
