Advantages Of Dealership Management Systems

The world is undergoing a digital revolution that is changing the ways in which a traditional automotive business used to operate. Businesses have expanded and so have the customer’s expectations. The way businesses operate has deviated soo much towards the modern consumer, that the traditional modes of business management and customer interaction methods cannot thrive properly in today’s age. These changes are only going to further grow and there’s no looking back.

Now, considering the ever-growing business needs and customer engagement methods, dealerships and service centers need to rely on various smart technologies to stay relevant during this digital disruption. This is where the advantages of dealership management systems become ever more required. A good dealership management system helps organize an automotive business and introduces the required technological advancements required to make a business go digital.

What is a DMS software?

A Dealership Management Software, also known as an auto dealership management system is essentially an ERP software that is particularly made for the automobile industry. ERPs are Enterprise Resource Planning, a term used in the business world for the broad set of activities that helps a business manage important aspects of its operations. Important aspects of a business include management, finance, marketing, customer engagement, etc which are organized and streamlined using suites of software called ERP software.

When such an ERP software is built catering to the needs of the automobile industry, they are then called Dealership Management Software (DMS).

Who needs the DMS Advantages and why?

The advantages of dealership management systems are more relevant to auto dealers, auto service centers, detailing garages, and even basic car wash garages that have a single large or multiple outlets across various locations. Auto businesses that are large or have multiple outlets are difficult to manage and hence, using a standard formatted system for all the outlets would be a major advantage in running the entire franchise.

A standardized system not only helps in making a franchise uniform but also reduces the need for using multiple systems to run each outlet. Also, engaging with customers from different outlets and meeting their demands can all be handled efficiently from a single place or even from a smartphone (if the DMS supports it). Coordinating the movement of goods, regulating automobile services, and even managing the movement of auto repair spare parts from all the service outlets can be streamlined and tracked easily. These are just some of the few DMS Advantages that a business with multiple outlets can get.

What are the Advantages of Dealership Management Systems?

Like already discussed, DMS, basically streamlines every important operational aspect of the automobile business. The final DMS advantage would be that an automobile business that implements it will be able to achieve operational efficiency, build great customer relationships and manage the entire business from one place.

1. DMS helps manage inventory

Inventory management is difficult and said to be one of the most tedious jobs to do when done manually. But, using a DMS can make this manual work much easier. DMS digitalizes the inventory thanks to which, one need not perform tedious manual work in counting and organizing inventory. DMS software automatically keeps track of the inventory, thus, notifying the manager whenever stocks are low. This way, one could focus on other important tasks rather than wasting time manually working in the inventory. This greatly benefits an automobile service business that has multiple outlets.

2. DMS helps the management team make better decisions:

DMS collects all the business data from every business outlet and displays them in a single dashboard. DMS displays every business data that one would ever need to see to make better business decisions.

3. DMS improves business development tracking:

DMS documents a business’ progress efficiently. All the inside work which various departments from various outlets manually perform are made to do on computers that run the DMS software. This way, every data from each aspect of the industry is stored and documented precisely via the DMS software. Data such as income reports, finance reports, sale reports, etc can be collectively shown at the same time. This helps in easily tracking business growth and makes measuring performance more accurate.

4. DMS makes business tracking portable and accessible on the go:

The latest generation of DMS software comes with mobile dashboards that allow business owners or managers to monitor this dashboard from a single smartphone screen. This way, one can manage and monitor their business even while vacationing abroad. Overall, DMS today can make sure that business owners need not be physically present to manage their businesses. Thanks to this, one can manage their business with the same level of efficiency using their smartphones as that they could when physically present in the office.

5. DMS reduces operation cost:

One of the primary advantages of a Dealership Management System is that these suites of software can reduce operational costs at various organizational levels. DMS software integrates deep inside the core of an automotive business seamlessly. Due to this, the entire business operations can be seen from one place (one dashboard). This will significantly remove the need for training employees, ease the process of resource acquisition and turn the role of management into a child’s play.

6. Seamless integration of various teams to bring out effective teamwork:

The primary role of DMS software is to bring synchronicity between various departments or teams inside a business from various outlets. With seamless integration of DMS software into the core of the business, various teams can be combined and software products can be discarded. For example,  service operations such as supply chain, Customer Relationship Management software (CRM), product management team, finance software or team can all be managed from a single DMS software’s dashboard. With a DMS, one could cut down the cost it requires to own multiple single-purpose solving products such as CRM, Tally, etc.

7. DMS helps improve and digitalize customer engagement:

Customers are the core of a business and keeping them happy is the key to a business’s success. Every business knows this but doing it is the difficult part. Thankfully, building a customer-centric relationship is one of the primary DMS Advantages. DMS software digitalizes customer interaction using SMS, chats, Email and even automated calls if required. Good DMS software can push out a customer-first vibe by automatically engaging with customers and keeping them informed of the various stages of the services that they ordered. A good DMS software collects reviews from customers and automatically posts good reviews online to help build social proof. Negative reviews will be sent to the management team so that further compensatory actions can be taken. Overall, DMS can help convey customer perception of a business to the management team or owner.

Conclusion

Deciding whether to implement ERP into one’s business can be hard, especially considering the initial price. You need to have a set of criteria to make a proper decision-

• The time it takes to implement the ERP into the business. (phase-wise implementation)
• Clear cost to benefit comparison (ROI).
• Software compatibility with the business.
• ERP training  
• Future scope of improvements/ how frequent are the updates?

Today’s iteration of the cloud-based DMS solution makes the decision process even easier to make, unlike custom-built install-based counterparts. Cloud-based DMS can easily fulfill all of these important criteria.

Clearly, DMS are revolutionary software technologies that can digitize and help make automobile business operations as easy as they can get. DMS advantages are numerous and can vary from business to business. DMS’s way of building customer relationships is the best solution for engagement with today’s generation customers who are more likely to be in the digitally disrupted world. DMS also future proofs a business, makes management easier, and helps make informed business decisions.

DMS is the present and will be the future of automotive businesses. From the manufacturing sector to the service sector, DMS helps with all.

But not all DMS softwares are created equal. DMS are a result of the software industry and the automotive industry joining hands to achieve a digital revolution. Hence, one needs to find the right DMS software for their business.

GaragePlug could be that DMS for your business.

If you’re looking to implement ERP for your automotive business, considering talking to our team of experts at GaragePlug.

Our experts can help assess your organization and guide you towards implementing the cheapest yet most effective ERP solution for your business.

A new auto repair shop also needs to be prepared for all unexpected situations that may arise during daily operations when the business starts running. These may include dealing with customers who do not pay on time, managing leaves and time offs of workers and preparing for the peak and slow times in a business. Some of the experience of dealing with these things may come from situations while running the operations.

Auto repair shop building cost is different for each business and it is up to the business owner to plan things in such a way which ensures maximum profits and minimum costs. Opening an auto repair shop of your own is not a simple task and various nuances to it which owners should quickly understand. It is important for them to figure out what kind of services and customer segments they want to target in advance before they start construction in a full swing. A business owner should be open to new ideas and should constantly adapt to the changing situations in order to become successful.

‍