Mercedes-Benz India has launched ‘SKYLine’, a Made in India, for India end-to-end Dealer Management System (DMS) developed in collaboration with Zoho. Built on Zoho CRM and implemented by Zoho’s Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) team, SKYLine marks a transformational leap in customer experience and operational excellence across the company’s nationwide dealership network.
The bespoke system introduces a decentralized architecture, real-time analytics, and seamless global integration, redefining how Mercedes-Benz customers experience vehicle servicing—from reception to delivery. SKYLine reflects the strength of Indian technological innovation, developed locally over two years, with more than 5,000 man-days of user acceptance testing and 3,000 man-days of training.
Digitizing the Complete Service Journey
Designed to modernize operations and elevate customer satisfaction, SKYLine digitizes the entire service lifecycle—from booking to delivery—through real-time data integration, streamlined workflows, and unified backend systems. This enables faster turnaround times, transparency, and a truly premium, brand-aligned experience for both customers and dealers.
Each dealership now operates on its own Zoho CRM instance, giving it autonomy while maintaining compliance with Mercedes-Benz’s centrally defined standards. SKYLine integrates seamlessly with the company’s European HQ systems, thanks to a robust transformation layer co-developed with Zoho. This middleware manages all downstream communication, ensuring full interoperability without any modifications at the HQ end.
Co-Created for Scale, Security, and Control
Mercedes-Benz India’s challenge was clear—enable dealership-level independence while preserving OEM-level control and enterprise-wide standardization. Zoho addressed this by co-creating a vertical, multi-instance architecture powered by Zoho CRM and Qntrl, its workflow orchestration platform.
The middleware, jointly developed using Qntrl, allows real-time synchronization across systems and regions by supporting REST, SOAP, file-based, and other legacy protocols. This innovative framework ensures SKYLine remains agile and compatible with global systems while tailored for India’s operational landscape.
Redefining Customer Experience
“SKYLine represents a significant step towards managing our customer service operations, being a key lever that will significantly enhance customer’s experience,” said Santosh Iyer, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. “This bespoke DMS, built by Zoho for our dealer partners, is seamless, secure, and highly integrated with our global systems. It sets a new benchmark in customer experience by blending technology with personalized service.”
He added, “We are proud that Zoho developed a world-class, no-code, no-source platform locally, underlining India’s unmatched technological prowess. SKYLine brings transparency, efficiency, and control into every service interaction—empowering customers and elevating the ownership experience.”
Mani Vembu, CEO, Zoho, emphasized the spirit of co-creation: “SKYLine is a technology marvel born of close collaboration. When Mercedes-Benz India came to us with a vision that had no off-the-shelf solution, we saw an opportunity to build something truly unique. Together, we developed a decentralized platform that empowers dealerships while maintaining central governance and real-time integration with HQ systems. This project shows what’s possible when product teams and customers share a purpose and a commitment to solving real-world challenges.”
Intelligent Workflows and Real-Time Insights
SKYLine now orchestrates the entire spectrum of customer service processes, including:
- Service booking and digital check-in
- Vehicle inspection and real-time estimate approvals (to be activated soon)
- Job card creation and skill-based technician assignment
- Live job tracking and proactive customer communication
- Quality control and post-service feedback
These connected, paperless workflows replace fragmented legacy systems, ensuring a seamless, transparent customer journey. Beyond service, SKYLine streamlines courtesy car management and pre-owned vehicle operations, both critical growth areas for the brand.
Dealerships can visualize courtesy car availability on dynamic dashboards, while pre-owned vehicle workflows are centralized for efficiency and traceability. Embedded AI-driven analytics offer real-time insights for dealership managers and OEM leaders, empowering data-driven decisions across the network.
