First Look provides business intelligence and analytics software solutions for automotive retailers. It enables non-analytically skilled managers to operate with insights from sophisticated analytics through easy-to-use tools. First Look's proprietary Level 5 Analytical Engine and Insight technology analyzes data and presents findings and recommendations in plain English. This empowers managers to make improved decisions without advanced analytical skills.

1. First Look - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
Dynamic Business Intelligence
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First Look enables retail automotive managers to operate with the benefits of powerful analytical insight without the time or
analytical sophistication required by complex, traditional analytical tools. Read More...
Technology
First Look Insight
The technology revolution promised to empower everyone with the sophistication of complex analytics. The challenge is that
you can't change people. Those who are not analytically inclined or skilled are not going to suddenly begin analyzing
spreadsheets because computational speed improved by 10,000% or the writing of algorithms became more user friendly.
First Look has solved the challenge of empowering line managers who are not analytically inclined or skilled with the benefits
of the type of analytical insight used by MBAs and senior management.
Read More...
Clients
In addition to private dealership groups First Look's customers include three of the nation's largest automotive retailers, each
with more than $1 billion in annual sales. In addition, First Look provides custom solutions for corporations through its unique
(patent pending) Insight Expert System technology.
Case StudyResource Automotive
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2. First Look - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
As it approached its 40th anniversary, Resource Automotive, the pioneer in automobile retail Finance and
Insurance department performance, was seeking to once again revolutionize the retail automotive business
through innovation. Resource found itself with an outstanding field organization skilled in enabling change
management in automotive retail Finance and Insurance (F&I) departments yet the F&I sector that it had created
had matured
Read more...
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Solutions
Answers, inPlain English
The power of First Look is found in its revolutionary analytic software solutions. See how First Look's Solutions can improve
efficiency and profitability for automotive retail businesses of every size.
Read more...
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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3. About First Look - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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Headquartered in Chicago, business intelligence, performance management software pioneer First Look empowers
traditionally non-analytically skilled or inclined management with the benefits of sophisticated analytical insight.
Background
One of the most powerful drivers of economic growth in the 1990s was the revolution in the precision of business decision
making. By introducing increasingly sophisticated analytical tools that could be operated by analytically skilled general
management personnel, large corporations were able to catalyze significantly increased efficiency and profitability in their
operations. At the same time, these powerful developments failed to take root beyond the ranks of already analytically skilled
and inclined management.
The First Look Solution
First Look empowers non-analytically skilled or inclined managers with the high level
of analytical sophistication that senior Fortune 500 management harnessed to drive
unprecedented efficiency and profitability. By moving beyond existing "do-it-
yourself" tools and reports into sophisticated yet easy to use "do-it-for-you" tools and
systems, First Look introduces the power of data driven decision making to non-
analytically skilled or inclined line management.
First Look's unique solution combines tools built around industry best practices with a unique and proprietary Artificial
Intelligence (Expert System) approach that provides the benefits of complex analytics to managers that either lack the time,
inclination or skills to perform such analyses on their own. In place of current data intensive reports, First Look Insight
automatically highlights in plain English text on a single page the key findings that an analytically skilled user would obtain
through exhaustive analysis of dozens of traditional data reports. The defining characteristic of all First Look products is their
unique combination of exceptional quickness and ease of use with maximum analytical insight.
First Look currently implements this revolutionary analytic software in the $500 billion automotive retail market. First Look's
major products for the automotive retail market include:
Performance Dashboard powered by Insight - a revolutionary Performance Management system that enables
non-analytical managers to quickly determine key areas for improvement while obtaining the penetrating insight
necessary to drive performance improvement.
Variable Operations Best Practices Tools - allows managers to integrate sophisticated analysis into daily
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4. About First Look - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
activities while making it easy to consistently execute and track compliance with industry best practices.
Dynamic Reporting Software - enables managers, even those with limited computer savvy, to quickly and
easily make optimal inventory management decisions.
Contact Us
First Look 815 West Van Buren St. Suite 500 Chicago, IL, USA 60607
For business or press information call us at 312.279.1234 or email:
Human Resources: hr@firstlook.biz
General Information: info@firstlook.biz
First Look Partners
"The thing that I like best about First Look is the fact that you can zero in on exactly what your customer is going to come into
your store looking for... It takes all the guesswork out. With dealer management systems I've used in the past, you have to
analyze the information. With First Look, the information is all there; it's been analyzed for you. The DMS system that I've
used in the past was primarily an accounting system. First Look is a used car management system."
Rick Frazier General Manager United Auto Group
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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5. First Look Solutions - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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The power of First Look is found in its revolutionary analytic solutions. First Look’s proprietary Level 5 Analytical Engine
provides the maximum analytical insight achievable yet users always interface with easy to use, highly intuitive tools that
quickly empower the user with the benefits of sophisticated analysis. Unlike companies that pretend that software can divine
the right answer in every situation, First Look recognizes that its analytical insight is the “science” of the automotive retail
business that is most impactful when married to the “art” of talented managers. Accordingly, First Look tees up the key
information to empower managers with maximum analytical insight as they make decisions drawing on the best of automobile
retail “art” and “science”.
Performance Management Dashboards powered by Insight
Every manager already has access to dozens of reports to tell him what happened. How many cars were sold? What was the
average profit? How big was the wholesale loss? To take performance to a higher level, a manager needs to know precisely
why things happened.
Insight is First Look's expert system. Created by the First Look technology team and
Artificial Intelligence advisors from Northwestern University's DevLab, Insight turns
data into actionable information. With Insight, the data behind standard automotive
reports is analyzed, and then prioritized in terms of the automotive retailer's business
performance in plain English. Insight drives First Look's Performance Management
Dashboard. The Performance Management Dashboard organizes data from many sources into a prioritized analysis, and
contextualizes the information in an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface. With the power of Insight, First Look's Performance
Management Dashboard not only reports key metrics, but also provides analysis of the data that drives key metrics in everyday
language. The Performance Management Dashboard reveals the "how" and the "why" of an automotive retailer's business in
the context of wider market trends.
Variable OperationsBest Practices Tools
No other department has the risk or opportunity of used vehicle sales. No manager in the automotive retail business has more
to juggle on a daily basis than the used car manager. First Look offers a quick and easy-to-use system to eliminate mistakes
that are have been an everyday part of any used car operation, and enable managers to seize the big opportunities that are all
too often left on the table.
With proprietary Variable Operations Best Practices Tools, First Look arms automotive retailers with the power of
precision. First Look's Variable Operations Best Practices Tools allow managers to analyze business decisions in real time
using First Look's analysis the most up-to-date industry trends. Best Practices Tools take the guesswork out of trades,
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6. First Look Solutions - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
maximizing profitability and efficiency with minimal time investment by the used car manager.
By identifying the precise price points, trim and colors that perform best on an individual lot, First Look makes it easy for
managers to ensure that his inventory will consist of the vehicles that his customers are looking for. First Look's Variable
Operations Best Practices Tools make it easy for a used car manager to do things the right way, every single time.
Dynamic Reporting Software
Like all First Look Solutions, Dynamic Reporting Software organizes and prioritizes data in an intuitive, point-and-click
interface. First Look's Dynamic Reporting Software provides intelligent analysis of key performance indicators and drivers in
plain English. However, the robust solution also allows automotive retailers to penetrate the data as deep as they like. Get the
latest analysis of the indicators, the drivers, and the factors that drive the drivers with First Look Dynamic Reporting Software.
With the easily navigable interface, First Look customers get the analysis they want without sifting through the information
they don't.
Contact Us
First Look 815 West Van Buren St. Suite 500 Chicago, IL, USA 60607
For business or press information call us at 312.279.1234 or email:
Human Resources: hr@firstlook.biz
General Information: info@firstlook.biz
First Look Partners
"I have probably seen thousands of programs over the last 25 years, and First Look by far has been the easiest and the best
program that we've used... We've cut our inventory by $3 million in used cars and we're still selling the same amount of cars.
I'd recommend First Look to any dealer, whether it's import or domestic, single-point or multi-point."
Rocky McCullough Group President United Auto Group
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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7. First Look Clients and Case Studies - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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Clients
In addition to private dealership groups First Look's customers include three of the nation's largest automotive retailers, each
with more than $1 billion in annual sales. In addition, First Look provides custom solutions for corporations through its unique
(patent pending) Insight Expert System technology.
Case StudyResource Automotive
VIP Expert System
As it approached its 40th anniversary, Resource Automotive, the pioneer in
automobile retail Finance and Insurance department performance, was seeking to once
again revolutionize the retail automotive business through innovation. Resource found
itself with an outstanding field organization skilled in enabling change management in
automotive retail Finance and Insurance (F&I) departments yet the F&I sector that it
had created had matured and become increasingly commoditized. Resource’s unique original strategy leveraged its field
organization to enable dealerships to develop a highly professional and profitable F&I Department. Compensation came
through the clients’ commitment to carry Resource’s finance and insurance products.
Resource determined that it could differentiate itself by extending its core change management competency into the new and
used car departments. Because their experience was primarily in the F&I department, Resource needed to empower its field
personnel with a similar level of expertise in the new and used car departments.
Resource approached First Look about using First Look’s unique technology and tools to enable the transformation of the new
and used car sales departments through the introduction of data driven decision-making. First Look created a series of
Resource branded inventory optimization tools for dealership management and utilized its unique Insight artificial intelligence
technology to create an Expert System that could assist Resource’s field personnel in providing sophisticated consultative
insight on a dealer’s new and used car department’s performance.
Powered by First Look’s unique Insight technology, Resource introduced Variable Income Partners (VIP) at the 2004 National
Automobile Dealer Association Convention. VIP generated unprecedented interest from new and existing clients with
hundreds of dealerships signing up for tests at their own stores.
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8. First Look Clients and Case Studies - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
To visit Resource VIP's home page, click here.
For First Look's disclosure on the related-party nature of Resource VIP, click here.
Contact Us
First Look 815 West Van Buren St. Suite 500 Chicago, IL, USA 60607
For business or press information call us at 312.279.1234 or email:
Human Resources: hr@firstlook.biz
General Information: info@firstlook.biz
First Look Partners
"You're looking at a person who barely knows how to turn a computer on. First Look is very user friendly. It's very, very easy
to use."
Gary Schwarzburg Used Car Manager United Auto Group
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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9. First Look Technology - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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Technology
First Look INSIGHT
The technology revolution promised to empower everyone with the benefits of sophisticated analysis. The challenge is that
technology doesn't change people. Those who are not analytically inclined or skilled are not going to suddenly begin analyzing
spreadsheets because computational speed improved by 10,000% or the writing of algorithms became more user friendly. Yet
the hundreds of billions of dollars of value that has been unlocked by providing senior and analytically sophisticated
management with power tools are dwarfed by the value that can be unlocked by enabling line managers who are not
analytically skilled or inclined to operate with the benefits of sophisticated analytical insight.
Answers, in Plain English
First Look Insight empowers line managers who are not analytically inclined or
skilled with the benefits of the type of analytical insight that historically been the
province of MBAs and senior management. By using an artificial intelligence
approach First Look Insight effectively analyzes the dozens of spreadsheet reports that
are currently available to a manager and seeks the proverbial 20% of factors that will
provide 80% of value. By translating these findings into natural language text descriptors, First Look allows managers to get
answers instead of data.
Insight is powered by First Look's proprietary Level 5 Analysis. Created by First Look's Analytics Team, Level 5 Analysis
allows managers to see the wider market through the lens of their own business, in the language they use everyday.
Read more...
Artificial Intelligence Advisors
First Look's Solutions have been created by the First Look technology team in partnership with a team of Artificial
Intelligence advisors from Northwestern University's DevLab.
Under the direction of Dr. Kristian Hammond, Director of DevLab, and Dr. Larry Birnbaum, Professor at DevLab,
Northwestern University's Center for Technology Commercialization within the McCormick School of Engineering and
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10. First Look Technology - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
Applied Science, First Look has created robust applications with unique abilities to quickly analyze massive amounts of data
with the utmost sophistication, and report the results in everyday language.
DevLab engineers have widely recognized expertise and a broad base of experience in statistics and applied science, having
brought several search optimization tools to market through the commercial wing of DevLab, Open Road Technologies, Inc.
Their skills are continually brought to bear on First Look's development of solutions for the automotive retail industry.
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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11. First Look Analytics - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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Analytical Engine
Level 5 Analysis
First Look's Analytical Team is comprised of experts with backgrounds in sophisticated statistical analysis and operations
research. Bringing experience from a variety of the most analytically sophisticated industries, including financial services
(credit cards), airlines (yield and fare optimization), direct marketing and management consulting, First Look's Analytical
Team creates the intelligence that powers our Insight Expert System.
First Look analyzes data through a proprietary five-tiered system. First Look's Level 5 Analysis, which integrates a custom
market analysis of key models and brands with an analysis of precisely what's happening in an individual store, allows
managers to see the wider market through the lens of their own business in the language they use everyday.
Level 1 Key Metrics - First Look's analysis of key metrics makes it easy for managers to focus on critical KPI performance
indicators.
Level 2 KPI Drivers - First Look drills down into the forces behind a business' KPIs, exposing the drivers of success and
failure so that they can be targeted and acted upon.
Level 3 Key Ratios - Through complex statistical analysis, the First Look Analytics Team has developed proprietary metrics
that provide quick diagnosis of issues and opportunities. Inspired by the key ratios used by banks and rating agencies to
determine creditworthiness and risk of companies, First Look's Key Ratios provide shortcuts to penetrating analysis for certain
recurring issues.
Level 4 Complex Statistical Analysis - By drawing on complex statistical analysis, First Look is able to generate penetrating
insights that can not be ascertained through basic analysis of store operations.
Level 5 Statistical Analysis Integration - First Look can take complex statistical analysis of market data and integrate it with
complex statistical analysis of store performance to provide unique insight into risks and opportunities for a store.
Artificial Intelligence Advisors
First Look's Solutions have been created by the First Look technology team in partnership with a team of Artificial
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12. First Look Analytics - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
Intelligence advisors from Northwestern University's DevLab.
Under the direction of Dr. Kristian Hammond, Director of DevLab, and Dr. Larry Birnbaum, Professor at DevLab,
Northwestern University's Center for Technology Commercialization within the McCormick School of Engineering and
Applied Science, First Look has created robust applications with unique abilities to quickly analyze massive amounts of data
with the utmost sophistication, and report the results in everyday language.
DevLab engineers have widely recognized expertise and a broad base of experience in statistics and applied science, having
brought several search optimization tools to market through the commercial wing of DevLab, Open Road Technologies, Inc.
Their skills are continually brought to bear on First Look's development of solutions for the automotive retail industry.
© 2004 First Look, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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13. Related Party Disclosure - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
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Related Party Disclosure
First Look entered into a Marketing and Distribution Agreement with Resource Automotive, Inc., an indirect subsidiary of
Aon Corporation, effective January 30, 2004. Aon Chief Executive Officer Patrick G. Ryan is the father of First Look Chief
Executive Officer Patrick G. Ryan Jr.
First Look only entered into the agreement after assurances from counsel on both sides that the agreement was fully in
accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Sarbanes-Oxley Public Company
Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002.
The terms of the Marketing Agreement were carefully considered by the Governance/Nominating Committee and the Board of
Directors of Aon to determine whether they are in Resource’s interest and do not contain terms that would not have been
arrived at in arms-length negotiations. As detailed in Aon’s proxy statement, both the committee and the Board of Directors
concluded that, in light of the need for Resource to differentiate itself in the marketplace, Resource’s limited obligations
during the trial period, the favorable terms available to Resource, and Resource’s sole right to renew at the end of the trial
period, it was appropriate for Resource to enter into the Marketing Agreement with First Look.
In order to ensure that the Marketing Agreement was exceptionally favorable to Aon shareholders, First Look developed a
proprietary, Resource branded system without requiring any payment or sales commitment from Resource. Under the current
contractual commitments Resource is only obligated to compensate First Look when a customer agrees to provide Resource
with a business commitment with a value significantly greater than any payment that Resource would make to First Look. In
addition, First Look agreed to provide volume pricing to Resource without requiring Resource to make a commitment for a
specific volume of sales. Finally, Resource has the exclusive rights to these products.
As detailed in Aon’s proxy, Resource believes that its ability to offer its customers the First Look technology and services will
help Resource differentiate itself from its competitors in an increasingly competitive marketplace, which in turn may result in
Resource obtaining significantly increased sales of its core products. Resource further believes that First Look’s products are
superior to those offered by other potential suppliers, and that the pricing offered by First Look is less than, and certainly no
greater than, Resource could obtain from others. Under the Marketing Agreement, at the end of an eight-month trial period, the
agreement may be renewed, at Resource’s sole option. If Resource continues to believe at that time that continuing an
arrangement with First Look is in its business interest and renews the agreement, it may be required to meet certain minimum
sales obligations in order to continue to obtain the favorable terms applicable during the trial period.
To return to the Case Study, click here.
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14. Related Party Disclosure - Dynamic Business Intelligence, Pat Ryan, Jr., Resource Automotive, Aon
© 2004 First Look, LLC All Rights Reserved
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