Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/108758
FEATURE STORY Business Management System & Website Services survey JULIE PRUITT SALES/MARKETING DIRECTOR BASIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 1) What is the latest news about your company? Julie Pruitt (JP): Basic Software Systems is always updating our software with the industry's daily changing trends.We recently added a new online backup and data recovery tool to complement our dealer management system.This tool is called Vault Online Data Backup & Recovery. With Vault, you can preserve all of your files in a secure, off-site environment without a major capital investment. We even manage the setup and the maintenance for you, so you can concentrate on your business. Our solution uses the same level of security that the top banks in the financial industry utilize for safe online banking.Your files are stored off-site in two mirrored data centers located on opposite coasts. Even if your company suffers a flood, fire or break-in, you can be sure that your data is safe. If you do experience a data disaster or your computer suddenly crashes,WE WILL BE ABLE TO RESTORE YOUR FILES! We also announced the release of our Advanced Reporting and Data Mining technology tool.With the exponential growth of data and the increased demand for better data visualization, this tool allows the dealer to create their own unique reports, charts and dashboards easily as they are kept up-to-date dynamically throughout the day. Our products and our company remain leading providers for business technology in the outdoor power equipment industry today. 2) What are the latest business management system technology trends in the OPE industry? JP: Most OPE dealerships are needing fast, convenient and cost-efficient technology tools. Bar Code scanners can be a huge timesaver at the parts counter. Most business management system providers offer an exceptional bar coding system that will integrate with their software. Another big trend is Manufacturer Interfaces.These interfaces can provide realtime access to see customer-specific pricing, parts availability, supercession information and order status of desired parts. Distributors receive 10 orders electronically, drastically reducing errors and mistakes commonly found in faxed or phone orders.We work daily with numerous manufacturers to bring only the best interfaces to our customers and prospective clients. 3) What impact can a business management system make on an OPE dealer's bottom line? JP: All dealerships are concerned about their bottom line, right? All business management systems should allow the dealer to capture sales history for all the parts and customers, which can then be used to reduce costly obsolete parts and equipment from tying up capital that can be used to operate their business.The dealer should also have the capability of knowing what parts and equipment each customer is purchasing, which will help the dealer target specific sales incentives. If a dealer is not using a business management system that offers this capability, then they need to look at switching to a vendor that does care about their bottom line. 4) When shopping for a business management system, what are key factors that OPE dealers need to consider? JP: When dealers are looking to integrate a business management system in their dealership, there is research that needs to be done. 1. A plan: Before calling a business management system vendor, get with your entire team, parts department, service techs, accounting, sales, and write out the needs each department is looking for in a system.This will cut down time in the long run, but also make software demonstrations run smoother for everyone. Always have a plan. 2. Emotional buying: When shopping for anything today, a lot of our decision making is based on the way the service of the sale makes us feel. Every salesman is going to make the potential client "feel" good about their product, but if the customer of 10 or more years is not "happy," flags should be raised and something should be looked at. Before any decision is made when purchasing a business management system,TALK TO THE USERS first.The vendor should give to you a list of customers you can talk to non-reluctantly. 3. Demonstrations: Never take a salesman's "word for it." Always request a demonstration of the product. Online meetings and webinars are very easy and convenient, especially for multiple store locations involved. Either request an online demo or an onsite demo; don't just settle for a demo to play with.You need to be able to ask questions and see the software in action, answering your questions. Depending on the list that you should have prepared, the demo could OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT last from an hour to several hours. 4. Investment: The dealers need to realize that technology does not come cheap.The price tag on a business management system should be based on the quality of the software itself, the flexibility it offers, and the functionalities that it provides for the complexity of the dealership's needs, not based on the high-dollar AS400 platform hardware or the cosmetics of the software. Some of the biggest equipment retail store chains today are running on "not-so-pretty software," but evidently that software works for their success. 5. Partnership: The business management system provider your dealership chooses will be a partnership with your company.They will be serving you on a daily, monthly, yearly basis. Choose the vendor that your dealership can grow with.You will be relying on their software every single day. A good vendor usually has the history of services in your industry to prove that they are doing something that is helping dealers succeed every day. JIM PHELAN CO-OWNER/PARTNER c-SYSTEMS SOFTWARE, INC. 1) What is the latest news about your company? Jim Phelan (JP): At c-Systems Software, one of our basic tenets is efficiency.We are constantly adding functionality that makes dealers' jobs easier, and much of our recent effort has been devoted to reducing the amount of information our dealers have to enter manually. One of our biggest new features is the inclusion of what we call Flat Rate Time — FRT — to our latest release: Infinity 5.1. FRT automatically links labor rates to equipment being repaired. Simply point and click to add the appropriate labor rate within a repair order, removing the hassle of manually looking up and entering labor codes, descriptions and times.We hope that the inclusion of labor rates will be the first step toward offering automatic completion and electronic transmission of warranty claims from dealers to their vendors. Another feature of Infinity 5.1 is our enhanced Pickup & Delivery module, which makes vehicle route mapping more efficient than ever. Drag and drop pickups and deliveries between your queue and daily schedule with ease, and automatically plot your route onto a map with directions. 2) What are the latest business management system technology trends in the OPE industry? JP: More and more, dealers should expect an www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Illustration ©istockphoto.com/Henrik5000 F ollowing up on a survey that we conducted for July 2011 OPE, we recently completed a similar survey to bring you up to speed on the latest technology and trends in business management systems (BMS) and website services in the OPE industry. We received the following written responses Dec. 26, 2012, to Jan. 31, 2013: