Volkswagen Financial Services in Mexico is implementing the Miles platform from global automotive finance, leasing and fleet software provider Sofico in a move to better service its fleet, retail and insurance business lines throughout the country.

Luis Perez, VWFS Mexico’s commercial manager, fleet and truck business

VWFS Mexico funds and manages over 327,000 vehicle contracts in its portfolio across the group’s mainstream car brands, along with trucks from heavy truck specialists MAN and Scania, and annually finances around 140,000 contracts, some 13,000 of which are in the Mexican fleet market.

In line with growth expectations for the country’s fleet sector over the coming years, the financial services provider needed a platform that was both scalable and flexible enough to cope with the increased demand and turned to Sofico.

The current implementation project in Mexico is utilising a pre-configured Miles Reference Implementation which speeds up the process considerably, while Sofico consultants are also re-using an interface developed by Sofico for VWFS in Australia and Ireland on previous projects.

Sofico has worked closely with VWFS Mexico on the implementation both in Belgium and Mexico, running definition workshops in both countries, and is hosting the Miles environments during the implementation phase of the project from its head office in Ghent.

After the system go-live, which is set for this October, VWFS headquarters in Germany will then host the final platform in a newly designed on-premise cloud, running a series of pilots with up to 40 fleet specialist dealers in various strategic parts of Mexico to thoroughly test and evaluate the system.

There will then follow a general nationwide roll out through 2019 which will incorporate the remainder of the group’s 268 dealers.

VWFS Mexico is Sofico’s first customer in the Latin America region and the contact appointment comes only a few months after the company established an office in the city of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, staffed by existing personnel seconded from head office in Ghent, Belgium, and from Tokyo, Japan, along with a number of locally hired specialists.

The new office fits in with Sofico’s growth strategy of establishing a local presence in key markets so that customers can be better supported through these offices, with local, native-speaking staff familiar with the market.

Luis Perez, VWFS Mexico’s commercial manager, fleet and truck business, said: “We particularly liked Sofico’s commitment to the project. By opening an office here in Mexico, they underlined their commitment and support for us going forward, and this was an important factor for us.

“Our strategic partnership with them was an important boost to our confidence levels for the project, and their consultants have shown themselves to be highly knowledgeable, not just from an IT but also from a business sense.”