ATLANTA -

When one thinks of vocational expertise in the remarketing industry, areas like sales, marketing, finance and business management might be the first to come to mind — and rightfully so.

Physics, though? Not so much.

But that’s a piece of the resume for Ben Flusberg of RMS Automotive, who has degrees in that field from Harvard and Stanford.

Such science- and math-related thinking may be the name of the game in the remarketing business.

As senior director of insights and optimization, Flusberg leads a team of analysts and product development specialists. They’re part of a team of data scientists, a field that has become the focal point of RMS, and perhaps of growing importance to the auto industry at large.

RMS has targeted three sets of folks, Flusberg said, as they bring a unique set of skills to the plate: those with statistics/math backgrounds, who hone in on the data-driven strategy; computer scientists to aid in software concerns; and, largely, those with tech backgrounds, most commonly engineers, given their practical problem-solving skills.

Starting by working with large commercial consignors over the past two to three years, the mission of RMS has been to help clients take data and analytics and combine them with their experiences/instincts to make decisions during the remarketing process, Flusberg said in a phone interview this week.

Those two areas coming together, he said, can be powerful. And perhaps necessary as wholesale volumes continue to increase.

“Data science and analytics is shifting the way RMS Automotive conducts business,” Flusberg said in a news release. “Our team is helping clients make optimal decisions about how to handle their unprecedented inventory volumes, including where to transport vehicles and how to sell them faster while maximizing return.” 

 And it’s not just about giving clients a number or data set, Flusberg said. In the interview, he described it as a “strategic collaboration” between RMS and the consignor to help the latter make the best remarketing decision. In other words, arm the client with the right information to make the best choice.

“We leverage science to supplement the ‘art’ clients use to make business decisions,” said Flusberg in the news release.

Again, while the initial client base has been on the commercial consignor side, Flusberg sees potential for other players in the business, like larger dealer groups, to utilize RMS. And perhaps go beyond remarketing decisions as well.

In the short term, one piece they have in the pipeline is this: RMS is looking towards a strategy designed to help its clients continue to increase speed by integrating their open-sale listings with OVE and Manheim.com. That is expected in coming weeks.