How Direct Finance Went from “We’ve Got a Problem” to “Miles Ahead of the Competition” in a Few Weeks

With help from TeraSky and AWS, Direct Finance solved a serious client challenge — and created a significant competitive advantage — at record speed with a cloud-based, one-stop-shop AI model.

Overview
Even though Direct Finance – a leading car loan provider in Israel – could approve loans in minutes, many recipients were not actualizing their loans. The reason: it was hard to find a suitable car. Without a sufficient, accessible supply of cars, Direct Finance recognized a gap between the demand and the supply and wanted to leverage its existing technological edge to stay ahead of the game. Together with TeraSky and AWS, Direct Finance built and launched a cloud-based car matching analytics platform in only two weeks.

The Challenge

Market demand for cars in Israel was high, and Direct Finance’s auto financing loan business should have been booming. Although they were competing with banks and other major players, Direct Finance had the advantage of the speed and cutting-edge technology, sometimes even approving loans within 24 hours. But something interesting would happen. People would apply for loans and not actualize them, claiming that they couldn’t find the right car to buy with the loan money. Direct Finance wanted to help their potential customers find the right cars, and provide them with financing and loan options.

Direct Finance wanted to capitalize on its technological advantage and build a platform that could connect eligible loan recipients to a relevant car. The team had an idea for a one-stop-shop AI model that would leverage customer data generated on the company’s existing platform and compare it to dealership data to match customers with the right car in real-time. But they needed to move fast to stay ahead in the competitive market.

Developing the analytic capability and internal data infrastructure in-house would have been a lengthy process requiring an enormous investment in infrastructures like servers and physical space. Additionally, customer privacy regulations prevented Direct Finance from using many common cloud solutions.

TeraSky helped Direct Finance build a compliant, cloud-based solution in two weeks.

The Solution
When Direct Finance set out to leverage its existing technology to build a one-stop-shop for car loan clients, they needed a fast solution that could meet the strict PII requirements for financial institutions. Internal data infrastructure, standard in Finance, would have taken months to implement.

Enter TeraSky, a technology integrator that partners with the world’s leading providers to design and build data infrastructure both in the cloud and data centers, bringing together the best of both worlds. TeraSky helped Direct Finance utilize AWS infrastructure to build a cloud-based solution that met the company’s needs and was compliant with privacy regulations. And they did it in an unheard-of timeframe.

As a certified AWS Partner, TeraSky was able to utilize Amazon SageMaker, a service that allows developers to create, train, and deploy machine-learning models in the cloud. Working with TeraSky, Direct Finance had a car matching platform up and running within two weeks.

Results
Direct Finance had the vision for an innovative solution to a market need. With the right partners and the right data infrastructure, they were able to remain compliant and launch a solution in an unheard-of timeframe.

Tal Matzri, Direct Finance’s Infrastructure Manager: “The collaboration with TeraSky and other companies like Amazon, allowed me, as an infrastructure manager, to provide a response for all of the needs that arise, in record time. Thanks to this new solution, we are able to offer customers the perfect match — a vehicle that suits their needs and budget, and an agency where they can actualize the purchase with our loan.”

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