Most dealers are talking about AI. Jeff Swickard is building an AI department inside his auto group.
In this special episode of The Dealer Playbook, Michael Cerullo sits down with Jeff Swickard, President & CEO of Swickard Auto Group, to unpack what it actually takes to operationalize AI inside a dealership group—without breaking culture, customer experience, or your tech stack.
Jeff shares how they built an enterprise data warehouse in Microsoft Azure, why integration is the real battle, and how they’re using agentic AI + sentiment analysis to protect and improve the guest experience—especially in service.
What you’ll learn:
If you’re a dealer principal, GM, fixed ops leader, or marketing/ops exec trying to figure out what AI actually means for your stores, this is a blueprint for how the best groups are approaching it.
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome & Meet Jeff Swickard
00:29 Why They Built an AI Department in a Dealer Group
02:03 Taming the Tech Stack: Enterprise Data Warehouse on Azure
03:34 AI + Hospitality: Using Sentiment Analysis to Elevate Service
06:23 Building It In-House: 2.5 Years to Connect the Data Sources
07:39 Getting Buy-In: Involving Employees Early & Prioritizing ROI
10:33 Forward-Thinking (and Stumbling): Learning, Predictive Analytics & People
13:30 Leadership Urgency: Staying Focused, Pivoting Fast & Buy vs. Build
16:13 Wrap-Up, Thanks, and Podcast Outro