Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) doesn’t follow the typical automaker model of updating its cars every year. Instead, the company rolls out updates every quarter, improving not only the cars that roll off the assembly line but also the software that runs on the computers in the cars it has already sold. So how does the automaker know what its customers want or need? It’s by analyzing data from the Tesla cars that are already on the roads.
Tesla keeps in touch with customers
Writing on CIO.com, Rob Enderle makes the case for why analytics makes such a big difference in Tesla’s ability to take on and edge out Jaguar in terms of quality. The automaker connects all of its cars to its corporate offices wirelessly so that it can collect data from them. Tesla continues to analyze all of that data and use it to improve its cars. As a result, the automaker has a higher customer satisfaction score and is better able to target customer satisfaction because it has constant updates from its cars regarding what customers and need. Tesla Motors also constantly interacts with its customers directly rather than through a proxy. The company runs the most active web forum on its cars, so it knows what people are saying. In contrast, Enderle says it appears to him that Jaguar’s North American corporate office is “poorly run.” He adds that because so many previously loyal Jaguar customers are becoming disloyal, it suggestions that the carmaker is “either incompetent or uninformed,” suggesting that it’s probably the latter choice.
How Tesla applies analytics
Like others before him, he compares Tesla’s business model to that of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), although he says Tesla has improved upon it through its use of analytics. He says Tesla is essentially “pushing a boulder uphill” and beating other automakers that aren’t pushing a boulder. Of course that boulder is the fact that Tesla’s cars are all-electric. He adds that Tesla Motors does a good job of putting the analytical data it gathers to good use, acting upon it to continually improve its cars.
