Wolters Kluwer, a global provider of professional information, software solutions and services, announced results of an industry survey it commissioned to better understand where automotive, dealer and auto-finance professionals are still finding barriers in adopting more digitized solutions for back-office documentation processing.

It presented an online survey to more than 2,000 automotive dealer, lender and service provider professionals in November. Nearly four in five respondents, or 80%, said they aren't currently using digital finance solutions. Twenty-three percent said they still have not found the right solution to fit their needs, and 24% said they haven’t found the right qualified provider to implement the solutions. Only 11% cited budget reasons as to why they haven’t implemented the technology.

Of those who are leveraging digital, 82% said they are utilizing e-signature tools through a partner, and 75% said they are utilizing e-contracting tools through a partner. Only 34% said they are leveraging a more robust e-vault solution.

“We are certainly starting to see wider migration and adoption levels for critical digital finance tools like e-signature and e-contract, but the industry has a lot of catching up to do in adopting a more complete e-vault environment for their documents,” said Tim Yalich, Head of Auto Strategy for Wolters Kluwer. “It’s not enough to offer your customer just an electronic way of signing a contract. You need to also have a completely digitized back-office process for holding, securitizing, managing and transitioning all documents between a dealer and lender, and a lender to investor.”

The rate of digital workflows by automotive professionals reinforces that, as 85% of respondents said they are leveraging digitized processes for credit application and decisioning, and 82% are using them for loan processing and funding. Only 43% are leveraging digital tools for securitization or collateralization. However, when asked where they would like to transition more toward digital in 2023, 82% said they would like to digitize more of their securitization or collateralization processes.

Automotive and auto finance professionals can benefit from a well-rounded, robust digital back-office ecosystem, since 54% of respondents said they are trying to focus on a reduction of errors, and 53% said they want to align with a full suite of technology being used by partners, and compete with other lenders that have gone digital.