Automotive Dealership Management Systems
Ever since automotive dealerships moved to the electronic age, dealer management systems have been considered cost centers, consuming significant percentages of the profit from sales and service activities. Dealers have universally complained about these costs and have aggressively sought way to mitigate costs. But what can they do about it?
They must have the capabilities provided by dealer management systems. Do they just keep complaining and paying or do they attempt to control costs by limiting capabilities? Here is my take:
Today dealers have a unique opportunity to radically change this reality to one of "generating profit" by improved processes and control, customer centricity and enhanced operating transparency and decision making.
Automotive Retail Accelerator
SAP and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have announced a Co-Innovation Partnership and the resulting offering, AURA (AUtomotive Retail Accelerator) . This new reality is a new global solution will build on the proven capabilities of SAP DBM in Financials, Customer Management, Vehicle Sales and Service and Parts Management, and adds OEM specific Brand Layers, OEM and 3rd Party interfaces, Robust Reporting and Enhanced Support capabilities.
AURA will address all automotive dealership processes; will contribute to maximizing revenue and customer loyalty and increasing operational control of the business by providing complete 360 degree views of customers, vehicles and the business. The AURA solution is available in selected countries for National Sales companies, Dealers and Dealer Groups and OEM distribution networks will move dealer management systems from a "cost of doing business" to a "profit generator"; from CapEx to OpEx.
The co-innovative solution will be offered in three levels of capability, "Baseline" which includes all dealership processes, "Premium" which adds CRM capability and enhanced reporting functionality and "Premium Plus" which adds still further management and intelligence capabilities. In addition, existing DBM partners benefit from this non-exclusive agreement by working alongside TCS and focusing on implementations, localization and increased local market reach.
I believe this new reality will be crucial in the pressure cooker of automotive retailing.
