Nissan Financial Services Australia and New Zealand is set to undergo a $35 million digital transformation, replacing its core systems and deploying AI to reduce its cost-to-serve. A spokesperson told iTNews that the automotive finance market is increasingly competitive and rapidly digitising. "To maintain our leadership position and support our partners, we must operate with a lean, automated [technology] infrastructure," the spokesperson said. "This transformation is about building the foundation for the next decade of growth, ensuring we can deliver better services at a lower operating cost while remaining agile enough to pivot as market dynamics change." The company has set up two projects to tackle the core replacement and AI enablement portions of the transformation. The core replacement is codenamed "Project Aurora”, and will see the company move "from a legacy architectural environment to a modern, API-first platform," the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, AI and automation adoption work will fall under a "Project Echo". "Our AI agenda is focused on a 'cost-to-serve' reduction model," the spokesperson said. "We are looking beyond generic tools to identify specific use cases in automated underwriting, intelligent document processing, and enhanced collection strategies. "The goal is to remove manual friction from the customer and dealer journey, allowing our teams to focus on higher-value commercial activities." The company would not be drawn on vendors involved in either project, although the spokesperson indicated that the "enterprise-grade AI modules" being considered directly integrate with the core, which could suggest a single vendor stack. Nissan Financial Services is seeking a head of digital transformation to oversee the initiative and a delivery team of around 35 personnel.