Ather Energy Joins Hands with Salesforce for a Dealer Management System

 Salesforce, the AI CRM major, has forged a strategic partnership with Ather Energy, the country’s leading electric two-wheeler player, building its ‘Ather Dealer Central’, a next-generation Dealer Management System (DMS) on the Salesforce Platform.

The Genesis of DMS

Speaking to the media today in Bengaluru, Ravneeet S. Phokela, Chief Business Officer, Ather Energy gave a backstory into the genesis of its DMS. In his presentation, he said:

“We have been in business for more than a decade and we already had a system in place. However, over time, we realized that our technology stack had become fragmented in many ways. We were using  solutions that were integrated together, but this approach had limitations. While it got the job done, it often became difficult to scale, make changes, or adopt new technologies. The system was essentially stitched together from multiple fragmented components.”

“To address this, we worked with Salesforce to create a unified platform. This platform now manages everything within our ecosystem—customer support, dealer interactions, lead management, sales nurturing, and service. With all these systems integrated into one seamless platform, scalability has improved and adopting new technologies—whether AI or future innovations—has become much easier.”

“Think of it like a Lego block system: there is a strong foundation, and we can continue layering new use cases, technologies, innovations, and regulatory requirements without disrupting the core infrastructure. This gives us immense scalability, which is crucial because we are still in the early stages of expansion and growth.”

“As we scale, it's essential to have a reliable, scalable, and flexible system that allows us to focus on selling rather than worrying about technology. When you're on the front lines—whether as a dealer or a salesperson—technology should be invisible. It should simply work in the background, enabling a seamless experience. This technology stack allows us to do exactly that, making the job easier for our sales teams, dealers, and internal teams.”

“Whether it's lead management, nurturing, servicing, or selling, technology should enhance the process without being a barrier. This system enables that by functioning smoothly in the background, allowing our teams to focus on their core tasks. We are extremely happy not just with the solution we have built but also with the collaborative effort that went into it. Together with Salesforce, we have created well-designed, future-ready solutions. Our collaboration with Salesforce and the implementation of ‘Ather Dealer Central’ reimagines how EV dealerships operate and it represents our ambitious technological leap.”

Advantage Ather Energy

With the upcoming IPO and growth on the horizon, Ather Energy aims to drive seamless and agile business operations, providing a competitive advantage for its expanding ecosystem of dealers in India. Currently, Ather Energy has 350 dealers across the country and plans to expand its footprint in the coming months. This first-of-its-kind DMS adds more tech power to its ambitious future expansion roadmap.

AI Enabling Enterprises

Mankiran Chowhan, Vice President, Financial Services & Consumer Industries, Salesforce India, reflecting on this partnership gave a top view on how Salesforce is enabling enterprises across industries to level up their customer experience. Key insights from her presentation:

“Over the years, we've grown significantly, reaching over 13,000 employees in India. One key aspect I want to draw attention to is the Salesforce ecosystem. We have spoken about how we are working towards creating 1.8 million jobs within this ecosystem. Salesforce has been playing out in the AI space since 2014. And with predictive AI under the Einstein platform and the shift towards generative and autonomous AI, which is transforming businesses, we have taken an early lead.”

“The key question businesses are asking now is: how do we leverage AI to improve productivity while enhancing customer experiences? Customers today expect instant responses, zero wait times, and highly personalized interactions. Companies are trying to bridge this gap by integrating AI into their operations to improve efficiency and meet rising consumer expectations.”

“ While India is on track to become the third-largest economy by 2030, AI will play a crucial role in unlocking this potential. This is where digital platforms like Agentforce come into play, seamlessly integrating human and digital agents to maximize productivity. Imagine calling a customer service center and getting a personalized response instantly, or businesses running highly targeted marketing campaigns based on AI-driven insights. The power of AI lies in ensuring that every lead is nurtured rather than lost.

"AI-powered agents are already making a difference across industries—whether in banking, where financial options can be proactively provided or in telecom, where wait times can be eliminated. The use cases are limitless.”

“ This collaboration with Ather Energy is focused on leveraging AI to enhance customer and dealer experiences. It involves a unified, mobile-first application that integrates lead management, CRM, and DMS, offering a seamless experience for dealers. We are proud to be part of this journey and excited about the opportunities ahead.  Our approach to the dealer management system was to develop a solution that is agile, scalable, and truly customer centric.”

Pivoting Agentforce

Salesforce is aggressively positioning Agentforce. It’s a new layer on the Salesforce Platform, that 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 unrivalled speed.