I made a strategic decision from the start to surface all content - content for our own use and for third-party developers - through APIs. A full list of the APIs available to third parties can be found here.

This second point - selling data - is important because, in addition to serving up content to its own web platform, Autodata also uses APIs to enable third-party developers to include its content within their own applications and systems, via the Autodata Developer Platform. We want to sell data, but we don’t know how'. The feeling among the company’s leadership team was: ‘We want to do something digital, but we don’t know what. Since his 2013 appointment as CTO, Brooks has driven the development of Autodata’s online platform and established a new approach to making content accessible through APIs, as part of Autodata’s wider digital transformation strategy. This kind of agility when it comes to content delivery is due, in part, to good API management. Now, Autodata serves up only the information they need, via the app, in the order that the mechanic needs it, in order to perform each of the tasks involved in a Volvo S40 annual service. So, if a mechanic was performing an annual service on a 2006 Volvo S40, which required them to check the air conditioning, for example, they would have previously been forced to locate and consult the air-con section of Autodata’s paper-based manual on that model.

This makes it easier for us to create more user-centric views of content, based on mashing up the information to reflect the ways that mechanics work. Before, our content was delivered to them in more traditional formats, but with this online platform, all the information is pulled into one place. This is the key app we use for talking to garages and mechanics. As Autodata chief technology officer Neil Brooks explains: The types of content available include technical specifications, detailed service schedules, quick search for diagnostic trouble codes and interactive wiring diagrams. It started with paper-based books, directories and manuals, before moving on to using CDs to distribute its content to users.īut in recent years, Autodata has moved to an online model: its latest online content platform, launched in late 2014, holds information on 29,000 models from over 80 automotive manufacturers worldwide.

For over four decades, Autodata has provided professional mechanics with the up-to-date technical information they need to repair and service a vast range of cars and motorcycles.

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