GM, ADP, PC's & The Internet

[jdpetey]

We are a GM dealership that uses ADP, with DCS etc. Internet utilization is becoming more predominant (required). Dealerworld, Global Tire Warranty, training, VIS 2000, SI 2000, etc. You get the picture.

Frankly, Im glad. Things should be a lot quicker, especially with a cable connection.

I look forward to the D2D link. Depending on other dealers to upload their inventories is not effective or accurate enough.

As far as One-Touch, Parts Voice, and the like arent nearly as accurate. Why would anyone pay an extra fee for something they already have anyway? Getting a disc from One-Touch thats already two weeks old doesnt seem too logical. As for the WD suppliers being on One-Touch, most experienced (GM) parts countermen can usually tell what type of parts the WD is most likely going to stock, or possibly going to have anyway, thus a quick phone call would determine availability from them.

Enough about the locator stuff.

Our parts department has recently become Connected to the Internet due to necessity. I am sure we are far behind many others. However, our department is one of the only ones, aside from the Principal to access DWD and another terminal for the techs to access SI 2000 & VIS, to have an Internet connection. The rest of the computer terminals are CRTs for ADP purposes only. Service writers, primarily.

Does anyone have any success or nightmare stories in regards to full integration between the Parts & Service Departments & The Internet? Networking seems like the most likely answer. I can see some upsides to upgrading the whole system to PCs and catching up to the times. Parts or Service e-mailing customers to notify customers that their parts are in, scheduling appointments, service reminders, etc. Parts e-mailing service, Service e-mailing Parts. In house e-mail seems too much with ADP & it does nothing in regards to e-mailing anyone else.

We need more PCs, less CRTs. Bell & Howell (ProQuest) owns the Parts PCs, ADP the CRTs in Service. Does ADP offer PCs for Service? I would certainly think so.

Is the answer affordable? Better yet, can I sell it to the Principal? Is it effective?


Thanks ahead of time.

jdpetey

[jazdale]

JD,

You're correct on all counts.
It sounds like you are starting to realize some of the positive impact the web can offer a dealership.

I am noticing a trend where dealers are not buying green screens at all.

As far as the writers go, I'm suprised they don't have PCs since it only makes sense to cut/paste the vin into VISS during write-up.
Didn't VISS stop updating green screen version about a year ago?

I agree with your point on email. Notification of incoming email is easy to overlook. Using a PC with outlook [express] would definitely assist in seeing incoming email as soon as it is recieved on your pc.

I suggest you ask a sales rep to show you all the things we offer on this topic.
1. Get-wired for network/firewall.
2. Dynamic Website for an interactive consumer website.
3. PCs for the obvious and a nice customer/vehicle search feature called Search Wizard.
4. Active observer to limit/monitor the websites an employee can view.

Though you can piecemeal the above with outside sources, it sure is nice to make one call to ADP and say 'fix it' without the typical finger pointing that the problem is from something that we didn't install.

Dale

[Matt Parsons]

Have you looked at either the EDS PC Source as a place to buy PC's for your store, or at GM's recently launched GM Marketplace that is an aggregated buying site using Covisint? Both of these locations offer PC's for car dealers that meet the specs of what OEM's and DSP's are doing. In addition, both of these sites offer PC's that are pre-loaded with TIS and SI2000 as they are the preferred provider by GM Service Operations for PC's that will be used in the shop area.

PC Source information can be found at www.edspcsource.com.

Lastly, how is your store connecting to and managing your Internet connection? Does the store have a business grade solution that offers a firewall, spam filtering, web site blocking, domain name services, etc?

[Gerry Laughlin]

JD,
We pretty much have what you are discussing in our shop, the access to the information available on the internet is a real plus. We did try the email thing, just never could get it to go in our shop. I guess for the most part our advisors feel safer with face to face discussions between the departments.
Anyway, the point I really wanted to get to, we built the system we have ourselves and maintain it ourselves, which if I could go back in time I would change. I was always opposed to the systems Matt and Dale are talking about just based on cost alone, but in the long run I think it would have been a wiser move. I look at how much of my day is spent maintaining our system and the aggravation I regularly face trying to solve one problem or another, and have come to believe that we really are not saving the dollars we think we are. Anyway, you are making the right move by going to the PC's and all, just be careful how you get there.

Gerry