WOLTERS KLUWER INDUSTRY SURVEY SHOWS WHERE AUTOMOTIVE AND AUTO FINANCE PROFESSIONALS ARE MAKING PROGRESS IN ADOPTING DIGITAL TOOLS

While eSignature and eContracting Technologies Becoming More Widespread, Digital eVault Tools for Securitization & Collateralization Now Major Focus for 2023

NEW YORK – December 8, 2022 – Wolters Kluwer, a global leader in professional information, software solutions and services, announced today results from an industry survey it commissioned to better understand where automotive, dealer, and auto finance professionals are still finding barriers in adopting more digitized solutions for back-office documentation processing. Click here to see the data infographic.

Wolters Kluwer presented an online survey to more than 2,000 automotive dealer, lender and service provider professionals during November. Nearly 4 in 5 respondents (80%) said they are not currently using digital finance solutions. Twenty-three percent said they still have not found the right solution to fit their needs, and 24% said they haven’t yet found the right qualified provider to implement these solutions. Only 11% cited budget reasons as to why they haven’t yet implemented.

Of those that are leveraging digital, 82% said they are utilizing eSignature tools through a partner, and 75% said they are utilizing eContracting tools through a partner. Only 34% said they are leveraging a more robust eVault solution.

“We are certainly starting to see a wider migration and adoption levels for critical digital finance tools like eSignature and eContract, but the industry has a lot of catching up to do in adopting a more complete eVault environment for their documents,” said Tim Yalich, Head of Auto Strategy for Wolters Kluwer. “It’s not enough to offer your customer just an electronic way of signing a contract. You need to also have a completely digitized back-office process for holding, securitizing, managing, and transitioning all documents between a dealer and lender, and a lender to investor.”

The rate of digital workflows by automotive professionals reinforces this, as 85% of respondents said they are leveraging digitized processes for credit application and decisioning, and 82% are using for loan processing and funding. Only 43% are leveraging digital tools for securitization or collateralization. However, when asked where they would like to transition more toward digital in 2023, eighty-two percent said they would like to digitize more of their securitization or collateralization processes.

It’s critical for automotive and auto finance professionals to continue pushing for a well-rounded, robust digital back-office ecosystem since 54% of respondents said they are trying to focus on a reduction of errors, and 53% said they want to align with a full suite of technology being used by partners, and compete with other lenders who have become digitized.

Click here to see the full data infographic.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, governance, risk & compliance, and legal & regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

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