By: Neeloy Majumder
How can technology enhance the customer experience? is the question that throttles at the heart of tech transformations redefining the Auto Finance industry. As the automotive finance ecosystem evolves and navigates through conventional lanes to digital-first highways, technology is emerging as the linchpin for understanding and meeting customer needs at a granular level.
While digital transformation is the need of the hour, it is also fundamentally shifting gears as to how automotive financiers engage with customers, delivering more personalized, efficient, and bespoke services. Moreover, tech transformations are paving the path for introduction of new age product offerings and solutions that can also automate traditional customer journeys.
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Facilitating End-to-End Capital Flow
For vehicle fleets to keep moving and for their operators to match-up with the demand influx, continuous capital flow is essential for both vehicle maintenance and fleet expansion. To that effect, technology is being harnessed to provide ‘credit-on-tap’ services. The use of digital platforms and streamlined processes ensures that fleet operators can access capital while eliminating delays. The ability to secure ‘funds on demand’ empowers fleet operators to keep their vehicles on the road and meet customer expectations, ultimately driving business growth and stability.
Imagine a truck driver on a long-haul journey who finds himself at a highway fuel station late at night, out of cash, and in urgent need of fuel. With the help of a mobile app and an always-on backend loan platform, the customer can request and avail funds with a few taps on his phone. The platform instantly processes the loan, transferring the necessary amount to the oil marketing company (OMC), which then notifies the fuel station to authorize the purchase. This seamless integration of existing technology at the OMC, the financier’s infrastructure, and innovative decision-making and loan disbursal platform renders the process quick and efficient.
Deploying Chatbots and AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening-up newer avenues for customer engagement in Auto segment. At Tata Motors Finance, AI-based recommendation engines and chatbots are reshaping customer interactions. By leveraging open-source AI libraries, these tools provide instant loan approvals at auto dealerships for walk-in customers, significantly reducing turnaround times.
Though instant approvals are common for passenger car customers, commercial vehicle buyers often face delays due to limited bureau footprint. AI driven chatbot’s ability to streamline this process improves customer satisfaction and helps dealerships convert leads into sales more effectively, making the customer journey more user friendly.
Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Personalization
Data-driven insights is another area where investments continue to reap rich rewards. Having transitioned to a leading cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and a Microsoft cloud data warehouse, it is possible to better understand customer behaviours and spot emerging trends, enabling us to enhance our customer offerings.
Moreover, for the CV customer segment, branch interactions remain a critical touchpoint. Tech deployment has emerged as a key enabler in improving in-branch experience, adding personalized services and instant ‘on-counter loan’ offers for customers. In addition, technology has emerged as an enabler facilitating value-added services including by tracking insurance renewals for our customers. What makes this possible is the secured scalability of cloud platforms to timely deliver critical data insights, in turn creating a seamless customer experience.
From vehicle acquisition to maintenance and beyond, technology is making deeper inroads into the automotive ecosystem. The integration of digital solutions, AI-driven customer engagement, and data-driven insights is creating personalized, seamless offerings. As technology continues to evolve, customers can expect a top-notch experience at every stage of their automotive journey. Undeniably, tech transformation has emerged as the driving force in redefining automotive finance, promising a future where customer needs are met more precisely and efficiently than ever before.
The author is the COO-Technology, Tata Motors Finance
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