Considerations for changing your DMS

Most dealers have considered this at some point: Do we change our DMS?

There are many reasons a motor dealer would change their DMS:

• Functionality
• Cost
• Business contraction/expansion
• Manufacturer requirements/demands
• Integration
• Business process requirements
• DMS vendor changes or pressure
• Cloud computing
• IT infrastructure
• Reliability

The list is not exhaustive of course, nor is it necessarily the case that there’s just one reason to change your DMS – there could be several reasons to make that move. After all, changing DMS is hardly for the faint-hearted. It’s also a decision that lasts for many years, so careful evaluation is key.

After many years of working in the industry, being partisan and independent when it comes to DMS’s, I have put together a list of the primary considerations that could help with your decision making as a car dealer.

Integration – will you need to use third party systems? (as part of your OEM requirements or business process). Having a high integration need now or full/part integration in the future will rule out some DMS vendors. Will you need to integrate into accounting systems, VHC, showroom, workshop or marketing systems?

Reports – are you prescriptive in your business reports or are you happy with a “standard” or basic report suite? Just like integration, having the autonomy of creating your reports would colour your decision in what system to implement.

Accreditations – How strict are the rules your manufacturer(s) regarding DMS? Some franchises insist on only one or two DMS vendors, restricting the choice but (possibly) reducing the investment. Will you be introducing one of these restrictive franchises to your portfolio in the future?

Growth – How big will you be? The bigger you are, the bigger the system needs to be; centralised functions will need a system that can cope with that configuration, and although it may be more expensive in the short-term, the long-term benefits can be significant.

On the other hand, if you don’t plan to grow, remain non-franchise, or indeed you want to reduce in size or go non-franchise your DMS considerations are more varied.

Finally, I have found that dealers sometimes are unaware of what DMS vendors are available in the UK today, so I have put together a list to help get you started (in alphabetical order so as not to be biased!) Apologies to any vendor I have missed. Please get in touch if so.

Tags: DMS