DMS providers

[deboss]

Ok - as long as we are mentioning names:

Auto Soft International hs been in my store for years - it works, is easy to use, is frequently upgraded, low FIXED cost, and they are now the 3rd largest DMS vendor in the country. Did pretty good on the last NADA survey. Been around for 18 years that I know of.

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[This message has been edited by deboss (edited 02-14-2008).]

[kutzera]

I have used R&R, ADP and now Arkona for ease of use Arkona is probably the best, the only problem I see with Arkona is that for some of the programs that Parts Mgrs use like kits, associated parts, mass bin changes which were accessible in R&R you now have to have access to programming. Which gives you access to things we dont need to see such as Accounting Records and such. But over all I would say Arkona out of the three I have used is best. 5 years now

[Hawk]

It's too late to do the best thing...research your choices and go to NADA and talk to people!! I did that this week and learned a great deal. Now will be doing some demo's with my staff and see if we can improve. If we can't improve ease of use AND save money we'll keep what we've got. But I think there are many good choices out there now...different than 2001-2002 when I was looking and re-upped with current provider. You just gotta research and decide for yourself....my 2 cents.

Tom Hawkins

[tcollins]

Arkona is a very simplistic DMS solution but comes with its own limitations. I'm constantly finding myself looking for one more piece of information and not finding it which has forced me to be a excel expert. I like the fact that it has the accounting up front so you can see where things are flowing. UCS was much more complex (also read as expensive) but I always had the ability to custom generate reports to suit my situation. Support backed this up whenever I coudn't figure something out myself. But, I never found a report that Nichols or Hartle suggested I couldn't build.

Anyone using the Microsoft DMS system yet?