DealersEdge Professional Forums

We are having a Demo with Arkona and like any other Demo I have ever seen you usally get to see the the highlights of the product,s What are some of the down falls I hear the Parts side is not the best but thats one persons opinion.

Most demo's are just highlights anyway. I have previously been on ADP and EDS, and after almost 3 yrs with ARKONA, I have to say they have a hit. Their system is just as robust as anyone elses. I'm a parts manager, and I have better inventory controls than I've ever had, and I can do more with parts history than I ever thought I would need. ARKONA should be willing to help you locate a dealer in your area that is running the system to actually see a LIVE Demo. As in all other previous posts, your pre-change prep is what will make your changeover a success or a failure. Get your system cleaned up, close ALL RO's, and parts tickets, and other that that, handle all paperwork as if you were doing inventory. Contact me if you want any other information.

*Disclaimer* I am not an ARKONA employee, I just use their system everyday.

I guess I would respectfully disagree with Richard on some aspects. ARKONA is a very simply system with very few bells and whistles. The parts system (I have worked with several over the last 31 years) is OK. You get what you need but not much more. Sometimes having to run several reports to get the information you got under ADP or UCS and no real ability to run "custom" reports. Being a simple system, there are many ways to make mistakes without even knowing you have done it (voided counter tickets and lost special order deposit money). I have 14 employees and we are constantly training to solve these issues. Integration to the franchise is somewhat cumbersome, having to be interpreted by another program. My greatest dissappointment has been with customer service. I have had problems go to the customer service manager for a "fix", have everyone agree that it's a problem, stay there for more than 3 months, only to be told that the system doesn't have the capability and never had the capability and I could give you a dozen or more instances just like that.
Having said that, it would be very difficult for a GM or dealer principle not to look very hard at ARKONA based on the fees alone.

As a employee of ARKONA and a Parts Manager that has worked on ARKONA from the begining this sound like a training problem not saying that there may be a issues. But without details I can't say. Please contact me so we can help you.

I would like to vist a dealer who is running DealerTrack. We have special order and stock order issues, along with our core inventory values not being relieved. I came from a Toyota store running R&R to a Chevy store running DealerTrack and would like to see how a DealerTrack parts manager navigates the system doing everyday operations. We're in the Dayton Ohio area.

istacy65 contact me at richard AT wilsoncountyauto DOT com, and I'll get you in touch with one of the best DT trainers I know, and he can help you