FEASTERVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Bensalem native Michael Risich, CEO of a locally based automotive software company called Bolt On Technology, says he fell into the auto industry by accident.
But now his software - which helps car repair shops be more efficient by connecting with customers via tablets and cellphones - can be found in all 50 states, Canada, South America and even Guam.
In the mid-’90s, Risich was teaching Microsoft-based classes to North Penn School District residents.
One day, an owner of an auto mechanic shop and his wife stayed after class. They told him they had purchased the leading technology available and asked Risich if he’d help them with the computer programs they used to organize sales.
He agreed to stop by and, when he did, Risich said he couldn’t believe what he found.
“It was comical,” he said from his company’s Lower Southampton office. “It was so far behind. I thought: ’This is an opportunity.’ “
But before finding success, Risich hustled hard, working a wide range of jobs, always with an eye toward independence and being his own boss.
“I started my first business when I was 14. I was a DJ and I had to ask my father to drive me to my gigs and then I’d pay him for the gasoline,” said Risich, laughing at the memory.
He later became a delivery driver while taking full-time computer courses. After earning a technical degree, he did some consulting work for insurance companies, an investment firm and an armored car manufacturer. But he couldn’t forget what he saw at the auto shop that day.
Because of that, he began the painstaking process of developing the technology that would later evolve into Bolt On’s best-selling product, the Mobile Manager Pro. The software streamlines repair and inspection processes, eliminates handwritten chicken scratches and allows mechanics to send personalized diagnoses, including pictures and estimates, to customers through email and text messages.
Customers can authorize mechanics to begin certain jobs simply by responding with a text.
“My wife will tell you, when I was writing the software, I had a mistress. And her name was Dell,” Risich said, referencing the laptop computer brand he used to create the program. “She’d wake up in the middle of the night and I’d be downstairs working on that laptop.”
It all paid off for Risich in 2011, when tool industry giant Snap-On licensed three software modules from Bolt On Technology, branded them under its own name and sold them around the world.
“There really is just a huge pool of opportunity in the auto industry,” said Risich, who lives in Chalfont with his wife and three children. “The millenni(al) vehicle owners now, they never grew up a day in their lives without Internet access. So that’s the new target audience. If a shop is only trying to target people my age and above, they might as well close their doors in the next couple of years.”
One thing that sets apart Bolt On from its competitors, Risich said, is the fact that the company has shared building space with Feasterville Tire and Service Center on Street Road for the last few years. As his company develops new software, it can be tested immediately in an auto shop environment.
Another shop that gives Risich feedback on his products is owned by the same man who approached him for help after class all those years ago. George Turner, who co-owns GT Automotive Center in Ambler, said he has been a loyal Bolt On customer since the company’s inception.
Mobile Manager Pro has helped streamline the shop’s day-to-day business, Turner said Friday.
“It’s worked out good for us,” Turner added. “It does a lot of things for us, like track the service that’s done on a customer’s car . and it will send out a reminder for the next time that they’re due for service.”
Risich said Bolt On is staying true to its slogan of “relentless innovation” by continuing to develop software solutions. The company is also preparing to move into new office space in Upper Southampton.
“The vehicles that we drive are far more technologically advanced than the software that runs the businesses that maintain those vehicles,” said Risich. “But we are closing that gap and even surpassing it.”
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Information from: The Intelligencer, https://www.theintell.com
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