Numa, a dealership operations AI system, has acquired the fixed-ops software company SocketTime and will work to integrate AI systems into the platform for a launch by the end of the year.
Driving the news: Numa’s AI operating system is being used by more than 1,300 dealerships across the U.S and Canada to help businesses use AI agents to respond faster and improve customer service and productivity.
SocketTime’s software handles dealerships' service scheduling, advisor write-up, dispatch, technician utilization, MPI workflows, recon, and customer communication.
Zooming in: Combining the capabilities of the two into one platform, Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Numa, told CDG that fixed ops departments will be able to turn repair orders around more quickly, with more concentrated data producing more beneficial conversations with customers.
“An AI that connects the shop and the technician seamlessly into the Dealership service advisor and customer workflow,” Roumeliotis explained.
In announcing the acquisition, Numa laid out plans to add AI agents to SocketTime’s platform to expand the following:
Scheduling against real shop capacity, factoring in technician skill, speed, and job expansion.
Presenting factory-recommended maintenance based on vehicle history and OEM guidance.
Turning customer concerns into structured intake and pre-diagnostic context before the vehicle arrives.
Transforming technician videos and inspection findings into approval-ready communication, and sending status updates and delay notifications without waiting on a busy advisor.
Detect and escalate heat cases before they become CSI failures.
Run service, recon, and trade opportunities from one system.
Additionally, shops will be able to use the system to market to customers about routine maintenance and service.
“All information that flows through the shop is now going to be available for both the AI and the customer service team at the dealership to be able to provide status updates on all maintenance and service,” Roumeliotis said.
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Bottom line: Numa’s acquisition of SocketTime expands the capability of the service department DMS with the introduction of a tool to speed up workflow and improve efficiency.
“The existing service operations tools—from scheduling to dispatching to MPI to technician tools and service lane check-in—are as old and decrepit as Father Time,” Roumeliotis said. “Nobody has invested in rebuilding these products in an AI-native fashion that drastically improves the productivity and operation of a dealership's profit surgery room.
“Status updates with the NUMA-driven shop AI will be as seamless as a DoorDash order, and customer satisfaction will skyrocket. And we expect the hour productivity per lift to go from, on average, five hours a day to eight hours a day with the system we purchased, which has been proven in our real-time deployments."
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