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After financial services, health and education technology, Sales team targets the automotive industry with the launch of Automotive Clouda dedicated product to help key industry stakeholders make the most of the data available to them.
In the digital age, the automotive industry is witnessing an unprecedented transformation, with vehicles more connected than ever and new sales and service models (such as D2C and subscriptions) emerging. The shift has increased the amount of data available to all parties involved, from companies that manufacture the vehicles to dealers and financiers who make them available to customers.
However, when it comes to mobilizing this wealth of information for customer benefit or revenue growth, companies have traditionally struggled. According to McKinseyOnly 1% of auto customers are completely satisfied with their auto-buying experience, and only a quarter of automakers and dealers believe their business has adapted well to selling online.
“The auto industry is facing a new digital imperative amid a massive upheaval caused by the rise of direct-to-consumer models and the dawn of the electric vehicle era,” said Achyut Jajoo, SVP and GM of manufacturing and automotive at Salesforce. “But with great disruption comes great opportunities, and companies accelerating into the digital-first future… can gain a competitive advantage while future-proofing their business.”
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Enter Salesforce Automotive Cloud
To make this possible, Salesforce has introduced Automotive Cloud. The product leverages Driver 360, which leverages the full power of Customer 360 to create a single, real-time view of the entire customer and vehicle lifecycle for automakers, dealers and financial groups in the automotive industry. It brings together information from all available sources, including customer interactions and milestones, enabling automakers not only to deliver better service and experiences, but also to generate revenue through better lead conversion and collaboration.
Driver 360 provides turnkey solutions with industry-specific data models and processes, including driver console, vehicle console, and AI and analytics capabilities.
The driver console, as the company explains, provides service teams with a complete picture of every customer interaction through continuous touch points and customized alerts, from car browsing and purchase history to service trips. This enables teams to effectively personalize support, offers and sales. Similarly, the vehicle console aggregates comprehensive vehicle information, such as mileage, vehicle market value, and real-time service and repair data, for automakers, dealers, or financial groups.
Meanwhile, under AI and analytics, the Automotive Cloud provides intelligent automation with click-based configuration and integration tools to simplify building and delivering proprietary and automated experiences, such as vehicle order status updates or shipment delay notifications, to help team members more tasks to complete with fewer resources. It also provides purpose-built dashboards that provide a detailed view of sales and business performance, customer and asset lifecycle, and revenue trends to drive efficiency at scale.
Adoption already underway
Multiple automotive industry players, including Astara and Toyota Financial Services, are already looking to use Salesforce Automotive Cloud to transform customer experiences. The solution will be generally available on October 17, 2022.
“With Automotive Cloud, we can increase the competitive advantage for our entire mobility ecosystem by connecting customer data and vehicle management within the same platform,” said Antonio Rodríguez López, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Astara. “This allows us to deliver the best customer experience and increase the lifetime value of our customers.
According to Salesforce’s own research, 93% of automotive industry leaders believe that first-party data (similar to the data used by the Automotive Cloud) will significantly improve the overall customer experience — be it in search to vehicles, the purchase, the financing or the post-purchase phase.
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