Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information, software solutions and services, announced today results from an industry survey it commissioned to better understand how many automotive professionals are leveraging digital back-office resources and processes, and how those resources (or lack thereof) are impacting their business operations. Click here to see the data infographic.
Wolters Kluwer presented an online survey to more than 3,000 automotive dealer, lender and service provider professionals during April. Approximately 37% said they would like to build in back-office automation but are unsure how to accomplish; another 24% said they would like to but have not found the right partner.
Nearly a third of respondents said they are still unsure if eContract or eSign solutions will expedite the transaction process. This is interesting since 74% said it takes greater than 30 minutes to complete a sale when a customer has to sign traditional physical paperwork; and 76% said it takes between 10-20 minutes when the customer signs documentation using e-sign or digital signature. Furthermore, 38% said a 'little less than half' of all deals contain errors or mistakes due to manual or paper processes.
As the next phase of automotive transformation happens, what will surface is an awareness of more improvement needed throughout the journey, particularly around paper used in the transaction. The increased use of digitized resources will ultimately add the necessary automation to all workflows, increasing efficiency and reducing errors.
"We still have a very paper-driven culture in automotive, which slows down the overall process and increases opportunities for unwanted errors at any phase of the transaction," said Tim Yalich, Head of Auto Strategy for Wolters Kluwer. "We now need to shift focus to digitization for more automation throughout the process, with robust tools that are built around e-signature, e-contract and e-vault solutions for a complete end-to-end solution that helps all automotive professionals throughout the value chain."
Eighty-five percent of automotive professionals said they either plan to adopt more digital finance tools this year, or have plans to better understand and find the right partner for implementation.
