Minacs has a strong tradition of supporting the automotive industry: over six years ago, the sector made up ~70% of overall revenues, and it now stands at ~45% due to diversification across multiple sectors. Consequently, Minacs has a vision for supporting the connected car, aiming to deliver seamless CMS solutions for any wirelessly connected vehicle, over any network. Its clients are mainly original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), but Minacs also works with car dealerships on specific programs. OEMs pay a percentage of the cost to Minacs and encourage the dealers to opt in for support of dealer parts programs and marketing needs. Minacs’ automotive clients include Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, Honda, Acura, Hyundai, KIA, MINI, and BMW.

Minacs has ~4K employees supporting the automotive sector, with ~3.5K providing customer care and ~500 supporting marketing programs. Support is provided from delivery centers in the U.S, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, where agents with special technical skills  support mechanics in the dealerships, and can see the customer relationship management (CRM) history of the customer. Minacs also has ~1.5k agents supporting an emergency assistance program for one of its automotive clients; many of the agents supporting this program are emergency response trained and have 911 dispatch certifications.  

From a channel perspective, Minacs is using the traditional channels such as voice, e-mail, and web chat, but is also using video chat with its dealers for proactive and reactive communication (e.g. to allow agents to see a vehicle part being discussed). Minacs is also using digital and social marketing through advertisements on Facebook, Google, and Twitter for the OEMs.

Minacs provides marketing services for its automotive clients. This includes managing service reminders for vehicle owners, and using analytics to provide targeted offers to customers (e.g. targeting special offers to customers identified as not using dealerships for vehicle servicing). Minacs also cleanses customer data for marketing accuracy.

Minacs uses telematics to transmit data in real-time back to the contact center. Its connected consumer strategy leverages ALT CRM, a business operations model that utilizes big data analytics, algorithmic logic, and technology. Minacs developed ALT CRM as an alternative CRM model to support clients by predicting purchasing behavior, applying algorithmic logic to deliver timely and personalized messages, while utilizing multiple channels and devices for interactions. It also shares with clients insights gained from customers and vehicles through its support of emergency driver assistance, traffic and navigation, infotainment, usage based insurance, smart device integration, fleet management, and energy management.

OEM support includes mediation services, trade assistance buyback, service, parts, digital marketing, social customer service, marketing enablement technology services, affiliates rewards/owner loyalty and retention programs, rebates and incentives, outbound cross-sell/up-sell, customer acquisition analytics, and digital test drive campaigns.

Dealer support includes product and parts services, electronic parts catalog assistance, support of parts information center, warranty claims and recall inquiries, dealer inquiries and compliments, help desk and escalation technical support to dealer technicians, field assistance, outbound cross-sell/up-sell, customer acquisition analytics, and digital test drive campaigns.

Customer support includes welcome and education calls, customer lifecycle marketing programs, complaint management, vehicle location inquiries, customer care escalation, payment incentives, and warranty claims support.

Minacs anticipates growth in its digital marketing support service in the near future, as it is seeing growth in mobile and social support. It is seeing dealers moving television and radio marketing funds to digital marketing. Minacs has invested in its North American team and plans to focus on business growth in Asia as well. As it supports and sells services for offerings such as Sirius satellite radio subscriptions for OEMs, it is looking to package credit card processing and subscription marketing. On the financial side of the automotive business it also supports Ford and Honda credit/lease retention and looks to increase this business support as well.

In summary, while customer management services (CMS) in the automotive sector is not as mature as in, say, telecoms or high tech, Minacs understands that this is a growth area, as the needs of the digitally connected consumer continue to increase and vehicles join the digitally connected world.