Enterprise Developing More Customer-Focused Technology
Company focus will be on speedier transactions and more consumer options
Offering the latest in high-tech bells and whistles might give a car rental company more attention and a leg up on the competition in the product awareness department, but if they’re not exactly what a customer is looking for, it’s a wasted investment.
Enterprise Holdings revealed its strategic approach to Forbes to maintain prosperity in 2020. While they’re by far the biggest conglomerate in the car rental industry, even a few simple tactical errors could result in losing market share and being more selective about their approach to customer service appears to be the way to go.
“We’re not talking about flying cars and autonomous vehicles today,” said Enterprise Holdings vice-president of customer experience Paul Reh. “It’s a matter of listening to the customer and anticipating their needs. What do they want us to do now?”
One major option the company introduced in 2019 was the option for customers to subscribe monthly to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. So far Enterprise Holdings has not revealed whether that same feature will be introduced to its other car rental operations Alamo and National.
They’re also aiming to upgrade the features of their app, following the lead of major competitor Avis, which reported a substantial amount of cost savings in 2019 that improved the company’s bottom line. It also introduced a unique app feature allowing customers to split payments between their bank accounts and credit cards.
In turn, Enterprise plans to concentrate more on making their mobile features more dynamic. Eliminating lineups at car rental outlets is another major corporate goal.
“Technology that makes the car rental process more streamlined and efficient is essential,” said Auto Rental News editor Chris Brown, who was also interviewed for the story. “The conundrum for the car rental industry is that it has a system that is frankly a bit anachronistic compared to the way we are accessing travel.”
For the most part, the optics have it that car rental companies want to make bookings and vehicle acquisitions a lot faster, more options when it comes to customer service, and fewer hassles involving lineups and extensive paper trails. Those anecdotal issues are something that front line staff most frequently hear about on a regular basis.
Given the tight competition, addressing the customer needs will be the major focus for Enterprise and other car rental industry players. In the meantime, flying cars and self-driving vehicles will have to wait.
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