How Hertz Cuts Roadside Resolution Time 15% with Microsoft Copilot Studio
The Hertz Corporation, operating 11,000+ rental locations across 160 countries with a fleet of 560,000 vehicles, deployed Microsoft Copilot Studio to build “Manny” — an AI agent that resolves customer roadside issues by searching manufacturer websites, government vehicle databases, and instructional video platforms in natural language. An early pilot reduced customer issue resolution time by more than 15%, and was built by a developer with no prior agent experience.
Impact
>15%
Customer issue resolution time reduction
Excel huddle sheets
Manual process eliminated
1 developer
Agent built by
Challenge
Hertz’s frontline employees managed shift logistics through manual Excel-based huddle sheets and resolved roadside customer vehicle questions by manually searching multiple fragmented sources, creating operational inefficiencies that couldn’t scale across 11,000 locations and a 560,000-vehicle fleet.
Solution
Hertz deployed Microsoft Power Platform to automate shift management and sync payroll updates, and used Microsoft Copilot Studio to build “Manny” — an AI agent that handles natural language queries about vehicle operations by searching manufacturer websites, government databases, and instructional video platforms in real time.
Tools & Technologies
What Leaders Say
“We have literally hundreds of processes that could benefit from automation and AI, and we see Power Platform as a fast, efficient way to develop solutions.”
“Copilot Studio gives us the confidence to effectively explore and realize the potential of AI at Hertz.”
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Full Story
The Hertz Corporation is one of the world’s largest car rental and mobility providers, operating the Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly brands across more than 11,000 locations in 160 countries. Its fleet exceeds 560,000 vehicles and its workforce spans more than 26,000 employees. At that scale, operational consistency is a constant challenge: thousands of daily customer interactions, shift management across dispersed locations, and the practical problem of frontline employees needing accurate, real-time answers about hundreds of different vehicle models.
Before Copilot Studio, Hertz’s field employees handled two categories of inefficiency at once. First, shift management relied on manual Excel-based huddle sheets that required constant updating and were difficult to keep current with real-time rental activity. Second, roadside customer issues — questions about vehicle operations, Wi-Fi hotspot setups, tire inflation procedures, and similar requests — required agents to manually search fragmented sources: manufacturer websites, government vehicle databases, and instructional video platforms. Neither process could scale with the volume or speed Hertz needed.
Hertz deployed Microsoft Power Platform across two primary use cases. The “Start My Day” application integrated Microsoft Shifts data with real-time huddle sheets showing local rental activity, automated shift update synchronization to the ADP payroll system, and put schedule management directly in employees’ hands. The second deployment was “Manny” — a roadside assistance AI agent built in Microsoft Copilot Studio that processes natural language queries about vehicle operations and returns immediate, specific answers drawn from multiple live data sources. Manny was built by a single platform developer with no prior agent development experience, using Copilot Studio’s low-code environment to define topics and prompts.
Manny’s pilot results were immediate. Customer issue resolution time dropped by more than 15% in the early testing phase. Employees filed direct feedback: “Manny is great! I entered a complicated question about setting up a car’s Wi-Fi hotspot… Manny answered the question and provided detailed, step-by-step instructions.” The Excel-based huddle sheet process was eliminated. Payroll synchronization was automated. Director of Strategic Technology Initiative Zac Cadi summarized the broader mandate: “We have literally hundreds of processes that could benefit from automation and AI, and we see Power Platform as a fast, efficient way to develop solutions.”
Hertz’s deployment of Copilot Studio represents the opening phase of a broader automation agenda. With hundreds of identified processes that could benefit from automation and AI, and a low-code development environment that allows non-specialist developers to build production agents, the company has a repeatable pattern for scaling AI-powered workflows across its global operations.