GM Financial to integrate Amazon voice technology 

SAN DIEGO — GM Financial plans to work with Amazon as the captive looks to upgrade its interactive voice response (IVR) system this year, according to Will Stacy, GMF’s executive vice president, chief marketing officer and digital officer, at the Auto Finance Sales & Marketing Summit on Monday. 

“There are projections that, by 2025, voice search will outpace what you see on search engines today,” Stacy said. “I’ve been taking a deep dive into Amazon Connect, and [GMF] is in the middle of trying to set up a pilot to see what we can do with Amazon.” 

The cloud-based Amazon Connect is an omnichannel contact center that assists companies with voice and chat capabilities.  “It’s really remarkable what you can do with these cloud-based platforms, especially in the voice space,” Stacy said, noting Amazon’s platform is also more cost-effective than a traditional IVR system. 

He said the captive is “moving very quickly” to upgrade its IVR system to be able to facilitate voice interactions in the same way Alexa, Siri and Google Home function. “We have to make this experience with voice very easy and practical,” Stacy explained. “It’s what customers are expecting.” 

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GMF would pilot the platform for both consumer and dealer customers, as the captive — which boasts a nearly $80 billion portfolio — receives thousands of calls regularly, Stacy noted. “It will help with that zero friction aspect of our digital strategy,” he said. “Customers rather have something like Alexa to give them an answer.”

There is interest in marketing the integration with customers since Amazon is well known for its customer experience. “Marketing is the experience, that’s what’s going to drive loyalty,” Stacy added. “It’d let customers know there is a powerful technology backing [GMF’s] customer experience strategies.”