According to the report Approaching the Future 2025: Trends in Reputation and Management of Intangibles, conducted by the corporate foundation Corporate Excellence–Centre for Reputation Leadership, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has substantially improved the strategy and business development of many companies. The implementation and training of staff for its correct use is the main priority for 65.7% of Spanish companies. One of these is Flexicar which, with its rapid growth over the last five years, has already joined this technological revolution. “We have not only seen the enormous potential of artificial intelligence, but also the speed with which it evolves. If you are not constantly trained and monitored, you will become obsolete overnight,” says Andrés Parra, director of Flexicar’s IT department.
“AI has achieved hyperproductivity in our workers who perform administrative tasks and internal business processes much faster”
As Parra explains, integrating a tool with these characteristics into a company with more than 1,800 employees like his is a real challenge. “This is an implementation in all areas of the company, for which we are making progress little by little, analyzing each use and how to train our employees for this,” says the Flexicar specialist.
Data analysis in the used sector
One of the main benefits offered by artificial intelligence is data analysis that allows the creation of better business strategies based on the knowledge generated by the collection of information. This, translated into the second-hand sector, “means better control of the actions car to anticipate any unforeseen events, improving the customer experience”, explains Miguel Ángel Monge, director of the after-sales department at Flexicar. “With this information that the artificial intelligence provides us, we intend to cover absolutely everything that can happen to the car during the warranty period and beyond, as the case may be”, he adds.
Since Flexicar’s raw material is used vehicles, the company’s technical team provides AI with six types of criteria to prepare this detailed service life report. “The type of previous repair it has had, the mileage, the age, the make and model and the province, because the geographical factor also influences the use of the car,” explains Monge. The Flexicar expert claims that in this way they know how to properly prepare the cars for the customer and help him carry out the appropriate maintenance afterwards. “We also ask the AI to collect useful external information that it can incorporate into the report, for example reviews about that car model,” says Monge.
“The use of artificial intelligence means better control of the automotive ‘stock’ to anticipate any unexpected events, improving the customer experience”
Artificial intelligence also directly influences other aspects of after-sales such as customer service. “We are seeing how incident resolution has totally changed, both through chatbots with regard to bot telephone”, explains the Aftersales director. “But we also give importance to human care, because there are still people who are reluctant to talk to a machine”, clarifies Monge.
Other business uses of AI: from advertising to core services
As Parra explained at the beginning, Flexicar already implements artificial intelligence in all areas of the company, which has changed the way we work. “It has achieved the hyper-productivity of our employees, who see how tasks related to administration and business processes are carried out much faster,” explains the company’s IT director. This affects administrative, IT, communications and marketing positions.
“It has revolutionized the way we manage our advertising campaigns, the contents we develop, our positioning in web search engines, in sales portals…”, exemplifies Parra. “It’s allowed us to do some really amazing things in video, especially with the latest Google technology, I see3. This means that we no longer stop at asking the typical question to AI about how it would solve a problem, but we go one step further, creating our own ideas with it and improving productivity,” he adds.
Flexicar currently trains the staff who make up the central services in the use of artificial intelligence and provides information to the 169 dealers that the company has distributed in 42 Spanish provinces and Portugal. These are the staff responsible for development and digital strategy, as explained by Parra, who explains: “Then progress will be made with the administrative profiles so that they can work more efficiently on a daily basis and with sellers.”
Flexicar in Spain and Portugal
165 retailers
4 retailers
“Sellers right now receive this information about vehicles prepared by very sophisticated AI, it comes from central services; the idea is to teach them how to obtain it themselves. We have a super powerful business tool in our hands, but we need to learn to use it well and stay up to date”, summarizes Parra.
