Auto Group Transforms HR with AI Recruitment Tools and Digital Benefits Enrollment 

When Chief Administrative Officer Dave Campbell joined Phil Long Dealerships, the owner made the company’s mission clear: “We aren’t in the car business,” he told him. “We’re in the people business.” 

That people-first mindset has guided the Colorado-based auto group for more than 80 years. But with 14 dealerships and more than 1,300 employees, Phil Long needed an easier, more connected way to manage benefits enrollment, recruitment processes and complex pay structures. 

The Challenge of Disconnected Systems 

Phil Long’s human resources (HR) team relied on separate systems that didn’t communicate with one another, creating repetitive tasks that slowed down decision-making and led to more time spent answering employee questions instead of focusing on strategy. 

“We had products in different systems, and none of them talked to each other,” said Jennifer Lyons, director of benefits and payroll at Phil Long Dealerships. 

The result was a long list of challenges for the HR team: 

• No employee self-service: Employees had to contact HR for simple updates or FAQs, like changing an address or bank account, instead of using self-service tools or AI chatbots. 
• Paper-based open enrollment: HR processed hundreds of paper forms every year, waiting for employees to complete and return them manually during benefits enrollment. 
• High-volume hiring process: Each location recruited for specialized roles, such as sales consultants and service technicians, without a single system for sourcing talent, managing the interview process or tracking candidate engagement across job boards and social media.  
• Payroll complexity: Each dealership had unique pay structures, from commission-based sales to hourly technicians, making payroll accuracy difficult to maintain across locations. 

The time-consuming administrative tasks piled up, especially during open enrollment for employee benefits. “When you have 1,300 employees and you’re waiting for 1,300 pieces of paper to come in, it’s a lot of work and a lot of wasted time,” said Lyons. 

The HR team knew it was time to automate manual tasks and connect every stage of the employee experience. 

Streamlining the Open Enrollment Process 

Phil Long was first introduced to isolved through Benefit Services. When it came time to find a new provider, Lyons said isolved was the right fit to offer the best benefits package and support its employees. 

With isolved Benefits Administration, the open enrollment experience is now fully digital and mobile-friendly. HR can track participation in real-time dashboards, monitor eligibility and use automation to keep every benefits program on schedule. That visibility helps the team make more data-driven decisions about benefits strategy and employee engagement. 

Employees also benefit from a more seamless benefits experience. Through the self-service portal, they can review health insurance and healthcare options, update their benefits package, manage life events and request paid time off (PTO)—all from their mobile devices. 

“They can do their benefit elections through their mobile app,” said Lyons. “That helps free up our HR team, payroll team and our benefits team so that they can focus on their job and other things.” 

Using AI in Recruitment for Faster Hiring Decisions 

With 14 locations hiring year-round, Phil Long’s HR team needed a faster, more consistent way to attract qualified candidates and streamline its hiring practices. The team began exploring how the use of AI tools could support their recruitment strategy and make the hiring process easier for both HR and hiring managers. 

They turned to isolved Job Ad Writer, a generative AI recruitment tool within isolved Talent Acquisition that creates professional job descriptions for ads in minutes. 

By using AI-driven tools early in the recruitment process, Phil Long’s hiring teams can post to job boards faster, reach a broader talent pool and find top talent more easily. The use of AI helps streamline repetitive tasks like writing job ads and posting across job boards, giving recruitment teams more time to focus on outreach, scheduling interviews and improving the candidate experience for job seekers.  

Simplifying Workflows with a Single Source of Truth 

Today, Phil Long has brought payroll, benefits administration, talent acquisition, onboarding and HR together in one unified system with isolved.  

That connection gives their workforce a single login to manage everything in one place—from pay and benefits to time-off requests, tax information and health plan details—creating a more connected employee experience. 

Payroll has also improved. isolved Payroll makes it easy to manage different pay structures across locations and ensure every employee is paid correctly and on time. “isolved gave our team everything we needed to make payroll run smoothly,” said Lyons. 

Key results include: 

• 100% paperless benefits enrollment process 
• Faster time-to-hire with AI-driven recruitment tools 
• Improved payroll accuracy across all dealerships 
• Streamlined HR workflows across 14 locations 
• Empowered employees through mobile self-service 

Embracing the Use of AI Tools and Automation 

Phil Long’s success with isolved’s AI hiring tools and benefits solutions has encouraged their team to look for new ways to optimize workflows and strengthen the employee experience. 

The team is exploring additional AI-driven tools, including isolved’s Always-On HR, a conversational AI assistant that provides 24/7 support for employees and HR. 

“We’re also really embracing what’s coming down the pipeline with technology and AI,” Lyons said. “We love the AI that’s in the recruiting and applicant tracking… We’re really looking forward to what’s coming in the future with those advances.”