SMFL showcases SaaS products utilizing Generative AI

Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing held a media roundtable on December 3, 2024, as part of the “drive DX 2030” project announced in October 2024, to discuss the transformation and vision of SaaS products utilizing generative AI. At this roundtable, SMFL also unveiled its in-house developed generative AI tool “SakAI”.

Characteristics and Challenges of SMFL’s Digital Sales

SMFL’s initiative “drive DX 2030” aims for the company to become the “top runner in SaaS related to physical assets” by 2030 and contribute to customer growth and solving social issues through “finance x business x DX.”

SMFL has been providing its proprietary SaaS product “assetforce” to many customers, contributing to the streamlining of the physical asset lifecycle and the management of data generated by these assets. At the roundtable, SMFL presented how the use of “SakAI” with assetforce will transform SMFL’s sales process and enhance the product experience value for customers who implement it.

First, Yuta Nawano, Senior Manager of the DX Promotion Department, gave a presentation on the characteristics of assetforce sales at SMFL and the transformation of the sales process through the use of the generative AI tool “SakAI.” He stated the following:

“The goal of assetforce sales activities is not just to secure contracts with customers, but to support them until their challenges are resolved, they become self-sufficient, and they can fully utilize the product.

Our sales activities have three main strengths: First, we understand and can propose both our financial services and SaaS products. Second, we have a deep understanding of customer businesses and can make proposals through lease offerings. Third, we understand the specific operation and configuration methods of assetforce and can implement an agile approach.

To propose assetforce in a way that accurately fits customer needs, we need to expand our human resources with these skills. Based on various case studies, the generative AI tool ‘SakAI’ was developed to make proposals to more customers with a sense of speed.

‘SakAI’, which started being tested in the sales field in October, is being used as a collective intelligence of company-wide sales results, having learned from a vast amount of sales knowledge. While observing future usage and proposal results, we hope to nurture ‘SakAI’ as a good partner for assetforce sales.”

Unveiling the Generative AI Tool “SakAI” and Conducting a Demonstration

Following this, Norihiko Terao, a specialist in the Digital Lab, who is in charge of the “SakAI” development project, presented the project and how it will transform the customer experience value of assetforce, along with a demonstration. He stated the following:

“The generative AI tool ‘SakAI’ has reached the stage of sales demonstration in just two months. ‘SakAI’ can not only transform the sales process in the sales phase of assetforce, but can also automate the configuration, requirements definition, and coding of assetforce in the implementation and operation phases.

By using ‘SakAI,’ it is possible to search for past implementation cases with high affinity with customers in a matter of seconds, and based on the searched cases, it is possible to create appointment emails that fit the customer’s challenges.

During visits after appointments are secured, simply entering the customer’s business process as text allows the creation of a process map, automatically configures it as a workflow on assetforce, and presents it to the customer.

This allows the customer to have a concrete image of how assetforce can be used from the first visit. Furthermore, by providing ‘SakAI’ to companies that have implemented assetforce, it is possible to automate various configuration tasks and the generation and configuration of scripts for customers.

This allows a wider range of people to use assetforce more flexibly and at a higher level, regardless of their IT skills or human resources.”

Future Prospects and Vision Utilizing Generative AI Technology

Finally, Yu Fujiwara, Director and Head of the Digital Lab, presented the future prospects and vision utilizing generative AI technology:

“In the future, we plan to expand the scope of use of the generative AI tool ‘SakAI.’ Within the company, we will not only improve the overall quality of SaaS sales and proposals by expanding its use to SaaS products other than assetforce, but we will also promote the expansion of the digital sales workforce through early training and experience acquisition.

For companies using assetforce, we aim to maximize the value of the product usage experience. By promoting automation of settings and script utilization with the power of AI, customers can use assetforce easily and at a high level without relying on IT skills. This will enable us to further accelerate the resolution of customer challenges and business growth through assetforce.

We have already reached a new stage by combining SaaS products with generative AI tools. We will streamline and enhance the entire process from product sales to implementation, and fundamentally transform the customer user experience. This is the value proposition of our company, which aims to be the ‘top runner in SaaS related to physical assets.’”

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