Your dealership management system (DMS) is a key component in the success of your dealership. DMSs allows you to manage inventory, staff, customer information, and more in one place. A DMS also helps you streamline your business processes and generate reports that provide valuable insights into what’s going on at your dealership. But DMSs are complex systems and most are running on outdated technology and provide limited features for today’s modern dealership. In this blog post we’ll discuss five signs it’s time to upgrade your DMS.
1) Your DMS is limiting the way you run your dealership
DMSs are designed to increase efficiency by streamlining processes that were previously time-consuming and manual. A DMS should be helping you save time, not take up so much of your time that you can’t run your business effectively.
2) Your DMS is becoming a resource hog
DMSs have large databases with lots of information to maintain, meaning they require a lot of processing power. If your DMS is slowed down by outdated technology or running too many background tasks, it impacts how fast your staff can do their jobs. Update your DMS to use newer technology that operates at faster speeds and won’t bog down. Even better move away from the server and into the cloud.
3) Your DMS expenses continue to grow
DMSs are expensive. DMS licenses are expensive and DMS maintenance agreements are even more so. DMSs can cost up to $10,000 per month on top of the upfront software costs. Finding a new provider with a different cost structure and upgrading your DMS will help you save money even if you need to walk away from your current DMS.
4) You can’t remember the last time your DMS was updated
With outdated DMSs, it is becoming more difficult (or even impossible) to make updates to the system. A DMS needs regular updates in order to comply with new law requirements, meet customer needs, and stay current with best practices for your industry. An old DMS won’t allow you to keep up with these changes or update smoothly.
5) Your DMS makes reporting and accounting anything but simple
DMSs can help you generate a variety of reports for a variety of purposes, from monitoring your inventory to completing customer information forms. But if your DMS doesn’t provide the ability to run these reports quickly or efficiently, it may be time to upgrade. An old DMS can also make accounting difficult as you try to reconcile accounts and process payroll. DMSs also have the potential to complicate billing as staff complete different tasks that cause billing issues.
So is it time for a new Dealership Management Solution?
If you’ve gotten this far odds are you’re probably ready for something new. Before you start googling “best DMS providers” take a minute and see what we’ve been working on here at Blackpurl.