Cognistx To Enhance Monro Muffler & Brake's Customer Engagement System

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Feb 29, 2016, 09:10 ET

GIBSONIA, Pa., Feb. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Monro Muffler & Brake, a national automotive undercar repair and tire service company with 1,030 company-operated stores in 25 states under the brands names of Monro Muffler Brake and Service, Mr. Tire, Tread Quarters Discount Tires, AutoTire, Tire Warehouse, Tire Barn, Ken Towery's Tire and Auto Care, The Tire choice and Car-X, will enhance the customer experience of maintaining and repairing their cars and trucks over the next several years. The company is the first in the automotive industry to work with Cognistx™ and their SmartCognitives-branded platform of machine-learning algorithms to provide a more efficient, personalized and valuable mobile experience to its customers.

"Our customers come to us for quality auto repair services, name brand tires and superior maintenance," said Monro's Senior Vice President of Marketing, Tom Tracy. "We're going to be able to help our customers be better informed about their vehicles, remind them of when they need service or repairs, and be able to customize valuable offers specifically for their unique needs to help them save time and money, thanks to this leading-edge technology."

Cognistx's cognitive algorithms are unique in the retail marketplace because they become increasingly more prescriptive and accurate with every consumer interaction. Consequently, retailers, like Monro, learn more about how to better engage and interact in near real time with their customers, how to design and electronically deliver offers that capture their attention through personalization and relevance.

"Few retailers do a good job of marrying technology with a customized customer experience that is tailored to their behaviors and timed according to how they might use a retailer's offer," said Sanjay Chopra, CEO of Cognistx. "Imagine getting an alert indicating that your truck is in need of an oil change and you're within driving distance of a Monro store. In addition to the alert, you would receive a special offer, relevant to the service you need, based on your level of loyalty to their business. You would also receive assistance in scheduling your appointment and directions to help you get there."

The SmartCognitives platform is a cloud-based, modular web service available through API that fully integrates with existing enterprise data systems to access warehouses of big data. The rules-based system autonomously provisions context-dimensional content to customers via the customer's branded mobile applications.

"Only SmartCognitives brings your customers the exact right content at the exact right time to spur them into action," added Chopra. "Whether it's customized offers, individual sales or product information, customers see that their favorite retailers are finally paying attention and serving up meaningful content that suits them as individuals. This is the perfect application for Monro and we're glad to be their partner to change the automotive service industry for the better."

Cognistx' has a technology hub in Pittsburgh and operations offices in the Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem, NC, and Raleigh. The company's co-founders include Sanjay Chopra, a serial technology entrepreneur; Eric Nyberg, professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, who consulted with IBM on the Watson project and Jeffrey Battin, Ad-Tech entrepreneur and Inc. Magazine award winner. Other partners include Florian Metze, professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science; Jill Zoria, SVP Enterprise Development; Pete Minnelli, SVP Creative; and Karen Barnes, SVP Operations.