Ather Energy and Salesforce Partner to Revolutionize EV Sales with AI-Powered Platform

Ather Bets Big on AI and Salesforce to Transform EV Sales

One of India's leading electric two-wheeler manufacturers, Ather Energy, has taken a tech-first approach to customer engagement and dealer management. In partnership with Salesforce, Ather has developed a unified, AI-ready digital platform to streamline its sales, service, and customer experience operations. The partnership was first announced two years ago. With the integration of Salesforce's cloud-based solutions, Ather now has a single, scalable system that connects dealers, service centers, and customers, ensuring real-time access to critical data. "We are a growing company in a growing industry, and things are changing rapidly -- not just from a consumer point of view but also from a regulatory perspective. At the core of our business strategy is consumer experience, and that includes our dealers," Ravneet S. Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy, said in an exclusive interview with AIM. He was speaking on the sidelines of Ather-Salesforce event in Bengaluru. India's EV sector is evolving rapidly, with shifting regulations, growing competition, and changing consumer behaviour. To navigate these challenges, Ather recognised the need for a centralised platform that brings together lead management, customer interactions, and dealership operations. Phokela mentioned that regarding integrating AI or other emerging technologies, it is essential to be positioned to embrace the innovations that arise within the ecosystem. Previously, Ather's dealership and customer management relied on multiple tools, making it challenging to track test drives, pre-orders, and post-sales service seamlessly. With Salesforce, Ather has consolidated these functions into a unified platform, allowing for real-time coordination across all stakeholders. "You can't be a consumer-focused company if you don't have a unified view of the customer," he said. Highlighting the significance of this collaboration, Mankiran Chowhan, vice president of Salesforce India, emphasised how it enhances Ather's scalability and operational efficiency. "This is about unifying CRM, lead management, and DMS (dealer management system) into one scalable platform, enhancing the experience for both dealers and customers," said Chowhan to AIM. Beyond just data centralisation, the system is built to integrate AI and automation, ensuring smarter decision-making and predictive analytics. Chowhan highlighted Salesforce's AI engine, Einstein AI, that processes over 2 trillion predictions daily, enabling businesses to personalise customer interactions and optimise operations. "This is really about how human agents and digital agents are all working together seamlessly in maximizing productivity," said Chowhan. While Ather is still in the early stages of AI adoption, its new digital backbone ensures future compatibility with AI-driven tools. This means the company can eventually implement predictive maintenance alerts, automated service scheduling, and real-time sales forecasting, all powered by AI. Phokela emphasised the importance of seamless AI integration, stating, "Technology should be invisible. A sales guy should sell. The system should work in the background, making their job easier." Chowhan highlighted how trust and transparency are key concerns in AI adoption, stating, "The world of AI is evolving rapidly, and trust and privacy are becoming critical. Most organisations are now looking at how AI ties back to their business goals." For Ather, this means ensuring that AI is embedded responsibly into its digital framework, allowing for scalability without compromising data security. The partnership also ensures that as new regulatory requirements emerge, Ather's systems can adapt and evolve without major overhauls. Transitioning to a unified, AI-enabled digital platform was not without its challenges. Phokela highlighted that resistance to change was one of the biggest obstacles. "If it ain't broken, why fix it? We already had a system, and it was working fine. The decision to proactively change something was a reasonably bold step," he stated, emphasising the risks associated with data migration and system overhaul. From a technical standpoint, developing a scalable and future-ready architecture requires careful planning, as Ather explained. The system needed to be flexible and adaptable to meet the evolving needs of Ather's dealerships and customers. The complexity of dealer-managed systems also necessitated a solid data model with 40-50 data entities, ensuring that future business pivots would not be hindered by technological limitations. On future collaborations, Chowhan expressed optimism about empowering more businesses. "Agent force is what we call, is really the heart and center of what Salesforce is focusing on," she said. She added that there is a global workforce shortage while it is in surplus in India, and yet many are not employable. "So our focus right now is making sure that we can bridge that gap and get AI to help enable that next wave of growth as India focuses on being the third largest economy and really empowering that next wave," Chowhan said.

Ather, Salesforce team up to launch AI platform to improve customer satisfaction, dealership ops

The mobile app-based solution will allow dealers to make decisions in real time and improve customer satisfaction. Built on Salesforce, which deploys AI agents autonomously, the 'Ather Dealer Central' will integrate the lead management system, customer relationship management and dealership management system into a single end-to-end, scalable platform. US tech firm Salesforce and initial public offering (IPO)-bound electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy on Monday announced an automotive dealer management system using autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents. The mobile app-based solution will allow dealers to make decisions in real time and improve customer satisfaction, the two companies said. The Ather dealership platform aims to reduce customer turnaround time which usually takes about four weeks to address. Through the collaboration, the two partners are also exploring how a shortage of skilled workforce in certain domains can be resolved. Ather Energy currently has 350 dealers across the country and will be looking to expand its footprint in the coming months, the firm said. The interface will also track the operational efficiency of different functions using AI-powered platforms. On the sidelines, Ather also said the platform will help convert leads faster in a competitive EV market. "Over a period of time, we built a technology stack that became fragmented in many ways. While it got the job done, it sometimes became difficult to scale, adapt, or absorb new technology because the system was stitched together with multiple fragmented pieces," said Ather Energy's chief business officer Ravneet S Phokela. Built on Salesforce, which deploys AI agents autonomously, the 'Ather Dealer Central' will integrate the lead management system (LMS), customer relationship management (CRM) and dealership management system (DMS) into a single end-to-end, scalable platform. The EV manufacturer sees the opportunity to build a foundational model for its offerings and then build solutions on top of it. Salesforce India's Vice President, Financial Services and Customer Industries, Mankiran Chowhan, said, "As India's EV market matures, customer experience will be a key driver of business growth, with consumers seeking differentiated, seamless interactions while making eco-conscious choices." She added that as businesses scale, AI-driven innovations are becoming essential to improve customer interactions. Ather is likely to file an updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) this week ahead of launching an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of April at a lower valuation than originally planned.

Salesforce and Ather Energy Limited Join Hands to Redefine Customer and Dealer Experience

A first of its kind Automotive Dealer Management System that unifies Ather's Lead Management Customer relationship management and Dealerships on Salesforce platform Salesforce, the #1 AI CRM[2], today announced its partnership with Ather Energy Limited, one of India's electric two-wheeler (E2W) manufacturers, to strengthen and expand dealership operations and elevate customer experiences. This strategic collaboration with Salesforce will bring together sales, support service and dealer operations, improve operational efficiency and provide an enhanced customer experience through a unified, AI-powered platform. With growth on the horizon, Ather Energy is looking to drive seamless and agile business operations, providing a competitive advantage for its growing ecosystem of dealers in India. Ather Energy currently has 350 dealers across the country and will be looking to expand its footprint in the coming months. The first of its kind Dealer Management Solution (DMS) built in collaboration with Salesforce, will be made available on the mobile app empowering dealers to make decisions on the go directly driving both customer satisfaction and business growth. To support this exponential growth, Ather Energy has built 'Ather Dealer Central', a next-generation Dealer Management System (DMS) on the Salesforce Platform. This system integrates LMS (Lead Management System), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and DMS into a single, scalable platform. Ravneet S. Phokela Chief Business Officer Ather Energy, said "At Ather our approach to the dealer management system was to develop a solution that is agile, scalable, and truly customer-centric. Our collaboration with Salesforce and the implementation of 'Ather Dealer Central' - our new dealer management system, reimagines how EV dealerships operate and it represents our ambitious technological leap. Ather Dealer Central is a unified, intelligent platform that seamlessly connects every aspect of the dealer ecosystem, that will provide our dealer partners with unprecedented insights, mobility, and efficiency empowering them to deliver exceptional customer service. It is a strategic asset which we believe will shape the future of EV retail and customer engagement in India." Commenting on the collaboration, Mankiran Chowhan, Vice President, Financial Services & Consumer Industries, Salesforce India, said "As India's EV market matures, customer experience will be a key driver of business growth, with consumers seeking differentiated, seamless interactions while making eco-conscious choices. Our partnership with Ather Energy showcases how technology can redefine mobility, empowering businesses to deliver smarter, more connected experiences. By leveraging Salesforce's solutions, Ather is setting a new benchmark for dealership management and customer engagement -- creating a scalable ecosystem that drives sustainable growth and innovation in the industry." She further added, "As businesses scale, AI-driven innovations are becoming essential to enhancing customer interactions. With Salesforce's Agentforce -- an AI-powered digital labor solution -- companies can deploy autonomous AI agents across functions, boosting efficiency, optimising operations, and redefining customer engagement." Salesforce Agentforce, a new layer on the Salesforce Platform, enables companies to build and deploy AI agents that can autonomously take action across any business function. Agentforce represents the next evolution of Salesforce -- a platform where AI agents work alongside humans -- a digital workforce that amplifies and augments human capabilities and delivers results with unrivaled speed. About Salesforce: Salesforce helps organizations of any size reimagine their business with AI. Agentforce -- the first digital labor solution for enterprises -- seamlessly integrates with Customer 360 applications, Data Cloud, and Einstein AI to create a limitless workforce, bringing humans and agents together to deliver customer success on a single, trusted platform. Visit https://www.salesforce.com/in/ for more information. About Ather Energy Limited Ather Energy Limited is an electric vehicle manufacturer founded in 2013 by IIT Madras alumni Tarun Sanjay Mehta and Swapnil Babanlal Jain. In 2018, Ather launched its electric scooter, the Ather 450, which was followed by the Ather 450X in 2020. Further, in August 2023, Ather introduced the 450S and two variants of the 450X. This was followed by the launch of Ather's first family scooter, Rizta, which focuses on customers with families, in April 2024. Moreover, Ather has also established a public charging network, called the Ather Grid, which is designed and built in India. Ather has installed over 2,500 fast chargers across India as of December 31, 2024. As at December 31, globally, Ather Energy had 304 registered trademarks, 200 registered designs and 45 registered patents, in addition to pending applications for 11 designs, 103 trademarks and 281 patents.