Integrated report
for the year ended 30 June 2020
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Chief Innovation Officer's review

Our innovation strategy is focused on unmet and emerging consumer needs. We work methodically to discover new and profitable ways to deliver more value and better experiences for our customers. Finding new solutions to business and consumer challenges, we create a sustainable competitive advantage for Motus.

Today, businesses are being challenged more than ever before to find viable strategies for innovation and digital enablement amid the wave of start-up disruptors, innovative competitors, and the fast pace of technological change. The ability to innovate and to automate has become central to competitiveness and indeed sustainability.

COVID-19 accelerated the shift in vehicle purchasing patterns from the traditional physical dealership to digital, online platforms. Motus' sales performance during the lockdown demonstrates that we have the technical ability, agility and entrepreneurial energy to lead this shift. While 'kicking the tyres' remains an integral part of the car buying experience, research shows that consumers are relying more and more on online information to shortlist their vehicle and dealership options before setting foot in a showroom. The increasing use of digital platforms for customers to choose and buy their cars online is another trend taking rapid hold in the industry. Though car buying will remain a complex consumer journey, largely due to finance and compliance/legislative requirements, we are aligned with this development and are investing significantly in a class-leading end-to-end digital offering.

Motus is well placed to capitalise on these trends. Over the past years we have invested significantly in digital platforms that generate valuable consumer insights and improve transactional processes which has progressed our next generation customer experience. Critically, we have a sales team adept at complementing online platforms with social media marketing and presence, electronic communication and, still most importantly, face-to-face interaction. For us, digital platforms are powerful tools in the hands of an indispensable, skilled and service-oriented sales force.

More broadly, our investment in innovation and a well-established culture of break-through thinking is supporting our ability to overcome the challenges of the post-pandemic automotive industry while preparing for longer-term shifts in human mobility. For Motus, innovation has three dimensions - internal innovation; strategic partnerships; and trends, concepts and pilot projects. We constantly ask: how might we better understand and capitalise on Motus' window of opportunity to create and deliver value through these three strategic focus areas?

Kerry Cassel


Executive director, CEO Financial Services and
the Head of Innovation and Information Technology for the Group

 

Internal innovation

Motus deliberately and programmatically fosters innovative thinking at all levels of the organisation. In the past financial year, we exposed executives and employees to global leaders in innovative thinking through our membership of Plug and Play in Silicon Valley and 'Innovation Sprints' in conjunction with XU Exponential University (XU) Berlin. We also facilitated collaboration across divisions on proof of concept projects. These efforts culminated in the launch of the Motus Xponential (Mx) innovation initiative in October 2019.

The Mx digital platform will help us to harness the talent and energy of our employees and to foster a culture of innovation in our business. Within Mx our innovative thinkers, creative problem solvers and people interested in technology and innovation will be able to learn and share information on new ideas and technologies. They also have opportunities to demonstrate thought leadership on innovation and automotive trends. Collaboration between teams, departments or employees that would not normally engage with each other in their day-to-day business operations are at the core of Mx.

Mx is particularly well suited as a platform for training and online courses, which already include master classes on embracing entrepreneurship and a workshop on bringing innovation into the workplace. Future courses will cover artificial intelligence, digital disruption, the future of work and the fourth Industrial Revolution that has enabled the digitisation of the physical world through the application of the latest smart technology, like machine learning and computer vision. Mx will help us to identify employees who are highly engaged in innovation and will enable an annual innovation audit to measure the perception around innovation within the business.

In addition, we held a one-week innovation sprint, challenging employees to develop testable prototypes to improve the way we sell vehicles to first-time car buyers, by reducing the average vehicle sales transaction time. Two teams developed fresh, fun and engaging approaches targeting different audiences and needs. Both solutions are being tested – paperless deal files at Kia and Renault dealerships; and Moov, a web-based chat functionality that matches first-time buyers to a deal that meets their personal requirements.

Lifti ride-sharing for good

As part of our commitment to promoting mobility for good, Motus partnered with Lifti, a new ride-sharing app that offers a more affordable and convenient way to travel. Lifti connects drivers with passengers travelling in the same direction at similar times. It helps users to save money on their transportation costs, while also reducing carbon emissions, easing traffic congestion and relieving pressure on high-density parking by reducing the number of single occupant vehicles. The app enables commuters to choose with whom they want to share a ride, and both passengers and drivers can be rated. Payment is facilitated through a secure automated digital payment service.

Current informal lift clubs are created and managed by individuals using social media apps like Facebook, indicating a need for these services but matching is sometimes not that effective. In addition, there is no security screening or financial control system to regulate pricing to ensure compliance with government legislation regarding lift clubs. The Lifti app addresses both concerns with set prices and user background checks to verify identity documents. Users are also required to upload a photograph of themselves to aid the identification process. An added benefit is that the app provides a path to vehicle ownership, giving potential owners a flexible but assured income stream that contributes to meeting affordability requirements when applying for a car loan.

While the market has certainly shown demand for such a solution, the business model has been impacted by COVID-19-related concerns and because people were required to work from home. The Lifti initiative has been placed on hold pending the softening of the impact of COVID-19, which could result in an opportunity to involve banks in the offering - using reward programmes and preferential interest rates - to ensure the service's sustainability.

Innovation trends and strategic partnerships

The Motus innovation team continues to closely monitor the adoption and impact of several disruptive trends taking place in the industry, including:

  • the electrification of drivetrains;
  • connected cars; and
  • shared ownership models.

We also focus on innovation trends that could add value to our business in the form of efficiencies, risk management and new products and services. These innovation trends include artificial intelligence; machine learning; computer vision; cloud computing; digitisation; block chain and business process automation.

To capitalise on these trends, Motus has been working with international leaders, including Plug and Play; Strategyn and XU. We are confident that these partnerships have enriched Motus and that our investments on that front will be rewarded with home-grown innovation.

Innovation concepts and pilot projects

Our concepts and pilot projects distinguish between core innovations that enhance existing offerings or improve efficiencies, and disruptive growth opportunities that will allow us to reach new customers and markets.

 

   
Our current focus is on seven concepts:
    
         
  Connected car: We are leveraging third-party hardware to generate connected car data and developing the capability to build the back-end architecture that will enable us to manage the consumers' connected car experience. With this capability in house, we will be ready to switch to other data sources, for instance, when our vehicles have connected devices embedded during the manufacturing process. We expect Hyundai, Kia and Renault vehicles to be imported with this functionality within two years.    
         
  Digital car buying: Motus launched the Bumpa project to offer secure end-to-end digital car buying in the private to private car buying market. Unfortunately, the weak economy and poor industry conditions severely curtailed business and Motus opted to put this project on hold.    
         
  Digital onboarding, identity, Know Your Client in the finance and insurance environment: The first full live pilot was launched with Renault Centurion and learnings from the pilot have been incorporated into the production environment. The pilot was a large undertaking between multiple domains, systems and parties as well as with four of the South African banks. Rollout was planned for April 2020 but because of COVID‑19, this was postponed. The intervening months have been used to ensure that all elements of the process are working in unison and that our banking partners approve. Our intention is to have achieved full rollout of face-to-face onboarding by October 2020. The next phase of the project will be the development of full remote client self-onboarding.    
         
  Computer Vision: This project relies on augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect dents and scratches and automate claims processes.    
         
  Mobility as a Service (MaaS): This lift club solution, of which Lifti is a prime example, matches car owners and passengers from the same neighbourhoods who travel in the same directions, at the same times. The service ensures that passengers can travel short or long distances comfortably and reliably while drivers are afforded the opportunity to share their fuel costs with passengers by offering their empty seats.    
         
  Big data: Motus successfully concluded a partnership with Discovery Insure to launch a usage-based warranty product in June 2020 that will be marketed to the Discovery Insure customer base. The partnership leveraged their combined data to deliver a world first usage-based warranty product. Both Motus and Discovery Insure have ambitions to expand the product offering into service and maintenance plans, which will provide further growth opportunities.    
         
  Business process automation and digital transformation: This project focuses on technology-enabled automation of complex business processes. It aims to streamline our business for simplicity, achieve digital transformation, increase service quality, improve service delivery and contain costs.    

 

 

Conclusion

We believe the innovation strategy within Motus is well defined, structured around global best practice and supported through key strategic partnerships. This strategy will foster innovation at every level of the organisation and create a culture of innovation and collaboration. This will ensure that innovation is established as a strategic capability across Motus to deliver innovations that will create value internally and externally to support the business in creating unassailable competitive advantage in our markets.

Kerry Cassel
Executive director, CEO Financial Services and the Head of Innovation and Information Technology for the Group

15 September 2020