15 November 2016 - Business mobility specialist Alphabet today unveiled the latest phase of its Teleservices connected car initiative, with the integration of live, real-time access to online service booking systems. Another first for the leasing industry, a reservation slot in the workshop can now be booked directly into a BMW Service Centre while the customer is on the phone - further enhancing the convenience and overall experience for company car drivers.
Previously, when a leasing company needed to book a customer’s leased vehicle in for a planned or unscheduled service this would require numerous emails and/or phone calls between the driver, the leasing company and the servicing garage. In the some cases this could take up to 4 hours to confirm the service appointment for the customer. Now, Alphabet representatives can view live, real-time workshop availability and book a service slot into the Service Centre there and then. What previously could take 3 to 4 hours can now be done in 3 to 4 minutes.
Announced earlier this year, Alphabet’s Teleservices initiative, in collaboration with BMW UK, was a first for the worldwide fleet and leasing industry, with a new service and maintenance programme for company cars which utilises teleservice data direct from the vehicle manufacturer. The programme uses intelligence provided by a connected vehicle which then enables Alphabet to reach out to corporate, public sector and SME customers to provide a more proactive and informed service booking experience.
As a result of the Teleservices innovation the representative booking the service with the driver over the phone now knows exactly what service actions the car needs and how long it will take – thus helping to identify those vehicles which can be serviced within a 90 minute ‘While You Wait’ window. As a result of Teleservice intelligence, Alphabet proactively contact drivers who require a service or some form of attention and plan it in – avoiding the hassle of last-minute or even worse, neglected service warnings which provide a headache to both the fleet driver and fleet manager alike. Subsequently Alphabet has seen an increase in corporate drivers taking up the 90 minute ‘While You Wait’ servicing option since the introduction of Teleservices earlier this year for leased BMW and MINI vehicles with maintenance agreements.
Kit Wisdom, Head of Technical Services at Alphabet commented: “This is the next and natural stage of evolution for Teleservices for us. Not only do we now know what a vehicle needs in terms of servicing, but we can also now book the service directly into the Service Centre workshop, making the process absolutely seamless.
By working closely with BMW UK, the new service for Alphabet customers is helping to reduce downtime for fleets, improve driver satisfaction with the vehicle servicing process, increase overall safety and duty of care, while minimising end-of-contract charges. We’ve seen a 110% increase in the number of proactive, service bookings for customers.
We’re all busy people these days but by the intelligent application of connected car technology we can provide fleet drivers and decision makers with real world benefits, such as greater convenience through ‘While You Wait’ Servicing and increased employee productivity. In the corporate driver world, the opportunity for ‘While You Wait’ Servicing is a very welcome change and one which drivers are increasingly taking up.”