Preparing for Data-Driven Growth: The New Mindset for Automotive Monetisation
Revenue streams in automotive are changing. Once driven by engineering excellence, market leaders are turning to new ways to generate revenue from the vehicle lifecycle by leveraging and monetising data.
Amid this shift, leading a company without data is like flying a plane while blindfolded. Success relies on a clear flight path, powering every decision with data, from product development to customer experience.
Before data can be monetised, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must become innately data-driven organisations. Automotive brands can only lead the way in this changing market with a strong collection and activation strategy.
Here, our experts share why strong data foundations are essential and how to navigate the stages of data maturity to achieve long-term growth.
Why it’s essential to build data foundations now
While disruptive brands lead the shift towards the software-defined vehicle, many traditional automakers are still underprepared, lacking the data visibility, governance and activation needed to compete.
Without this, brands cannot evolve quickly, leaving them at risk of falling behind in a market increasingly defined by the in-vehicle experience and connected services. Beyond monetisation, data has become the bedrock of decision-making, allowing OEMs to invest strategically and confidently with offers and developments that truly meet customer needs.
New automotive brands have entered the market with agile and scalable data-driven models. To remain competitive, traditional OEMs must evolve their DNA and reimagine their entire approach.
Achieving data maturity for monetisation
Rather than heading straight to monetisation, traditional automotive brands require a ground-up redesign of their data strategies. The four stages below offer a journey towards data maturity.
1. Capture and secure the right data
To ensure monetisation success, building the infrastructure needed to collect meaningful, actionable data is crucial. This involves considering which data pieces are valuable (vehicle data, driver behaviour, usage, etc), and where they can be stored to avoid data siloes. Critically, OEMs should ensure compliance, privacy and security from the outset to enable customer trust and long-term success.
2. Use data to drive decision-making
Before directly monetising data, brands should consider how it can be leveraged to power internal progress. For example, one use could be monitoring and analysing customer behaviour, preferences and use of connected services. This would enable OEMs to identify where to develop features, how to improve efficiency and methods for personalising the customer experience. With data-driven insights, automotive brands have the opportunity to improve retention through customer-centric decision-making.
3. Monetise data externally
Once data is collected, stored and leveraged internally, it’s possible to consider selling it to third parties, such as insurers, mobility providers and advertisers. This could also extend to packaging insights into an analytics service or through partnerships to create co-branded offerings. Crucially, all external monetisation should be done with customer consent, robust governance and a strategy that protects customer-brand trust.
4. Build data-powered products and features
The final stage in the maturity journey allows automakers to fully harness the power of their data to develop intelligent features, such as AI-driven maintenance, over-the-air (OTA) upgrades, or in-vehicle commerce. Based on deep data insights, these allow automakers to unlock revenue through subscription-based services, payments and in-car software that delights both drivers and passengers. From AI Travel Companions to infotainment and navigation packages, the opportunities for monetising connected services are vast, and the right data strategy unlocks these opportunities.
Preparing for data-driven monetisation
The automotive leaders of tomorrow will not just build the best vehicles, they’ll power the best software-defined driving experiences. This shift may be sizable, but automakers can use the right strategy and technology to set the foundations for long-term success.
To prepare, ensure the data strategy heavily focuses on the customer, understanding what they value at every stage of the vehicle lifecycle. Pair this approach with scalable technology, such as modular, cloud-native systems that support growth and change.
Ready to dive deeper into monetisation strategies? Download our cheat sheet to explore common models, then learn about the automotive technology needed to lay the foundations for success.