Discount Tire tunes IT to reinvent customer experience

“When you’re doing something for the first time, especially with this many new technologies and integrations, it’s nearly impossible to estimate the initiative,” Desai says, a fact that underscores the importance of managing expectations and establishing a culture willing to embrace a test-and-learn mindset, he adds.   

Moreover, with pure innovation projects, total costs are very hard to predict, says Desai, who advises CIOs to prepare their leadership team for the twists and turns involved in pursuing any innovative concept. In the case of Discount Tire, the leadership team truly walked the innovation talk: They were patient, invested for the long term, and acknowledged the reality that everything won’t go as planned, he says.   

InOctober 2022, Discount Tire opened its first Pit Pass concept store near Atlanta, Georgia,Key accomplishments include a much smaller retail footprint, shorter in-store lead times, and positive employee and customer feedback.

With Pit Pass, customers can schedule appointments through the Discount Tire website and use Treadwell Tire Guide to find the right tires for them based on how and where they drive. Customers can also share key information and pay prior to their visit to create a more efficient experience. They can also view wait times at nearby stores, pick where they want their car serviced, and follow their position in a digital queue. When they arrive, drivers don’t have to park, go inside, and explain their issue; instead they stay in their car while the Discount Tire Pit Crew services the vehicle.  

For Desai, Discount’s leadership and culture were instrumental in pulling this off. For many organizations, that may not be the case. If so, remember not to neglect the part of your business that earned you the trust and capacity to experiment in the first place. After all, as Discount Tire’s Pit Pass transformation shows, reinventing your business model takes more than just vision. It requires building a robust partnership ecosystem, organizing cross-functional teams focused on the initiative at hand, and clearly managing expectations with leadership and key stakeholders.