Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/264625
March 2014 | Boating Industry | 43 www.BoatingIndustry.com offerings in recent years, Raynor added that IDS' product is focused on allowing already slimmed-down companies to get more pro- ductivity out of their staffs. To that end, Astra G2 has built-in market- ing and advertising capabilities that he said have yet to be adopted by the expected num- ber of business subscribers. "We have some tremendous marketing capabilities within our software that we're actually surprised the dealers don't take more advantage of," he said, adding that collection of customer emails should be a key focus for modern dealerships. "Collection of emails is sort of the premise for conducting some of this marketing [and it] is not being collected to the degree that we would like to see." Looking ahead, Raynor envisions future marine dealerships that are "device agnostic" where employees spend less time sitting at desks and more time on the dock, on the lot or with customers, wherever they may be. He added that cutting-edge technology may soon alert businesses when customers pull in, allowing that customer's salesperson to greet them on the lot or at the door. "A lot of that technology already exists, it's just putting it together and making it cost effec- tive," he said. "At the end of the day, it's still a personal interaction with the people in terms of getting out on the water and enjoying it, and part of that is having a good experience with the business that you're buying [your boat] from." ADP PROMOTES BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE It's hard to miss ADP's presence within the marine industry, with major promotions at most major events as the New Jersey-based payroll mega-giant seeks to grow its footprint in the boating industry. Its latest marine product, LightspeedEVO, brings multiple a la carte modules — like sales, parts, service and accounting — into one pack- age that provides clients with real-time ac- counting and multi-store capabilities so all locations and departments remain fully in sync with each other. Some of its newer additions include an inte- grated CRM, which the company calls a Cus- tomer Experience Manager (CEM) due to its additional features like tracking leads, sending targeted marketing messages and announce- ments to customers and satisfaction surveys for multiple departments within a store. It has also added loyalty awards and a parts-and-unit locator product that allows dealers to check the inventory of other LightspeedEVO users. One of its latest products is one that ADP general manager Greg Smith feels has the abil- ity to transform the industry through shared dealer metrics. DataBack, which debuted in ADP's previous NXT product, is a business in- telligence tool that allows dealers to compare themselves with other dealers in the industry. "A dealer generally will know or can tell from their financial data how they're doing – you know, my sales are up 10 percent, my ser- vice department is up 15, whatever it is, but is that good or bad?" asked Smith. "You may be up 10, but the rest of the industry may be up 20, so I feel good, but is there room [to improve]?" ADP, with approximately 500 marine clients, has grown quickly by adding ap- proximately 200 new customers within the last three years. The company is on track to add another 100 dealers in 2014, with marine being the $9 billion company's fastest grow- ing market segment. After the recession, several DMS provid- ers have gone out of business, abandoned the marine business or slowed the pace of innova- tion. Smith urges dealers to stay up to date with what's available, and focus on selecting a state-of-the-art provider that has strength to move its products forward in both good times and bad. "We put a lot of resources into that market and have invested pretty heavily in develop- ment and continue to develop for the marine industry," he said. "We're in it, we're really committed to it." Partially because switching DMS provid- ers is a significant project, Smith said another consideration for dealers considering new software is to not just look at current needs, but also look at the business plan several years into the future. "How is my business going to grow in the next four or five years? Do I want to add ad- ditional sites? Do I want to grow my sales line? Do I want to expand my customer base?" he asked. "As you're thinking ahead you want to make sure that the software you select is going to grow with you and be able to support your business as you expand it." ADP customers still using NXT are being encouraged to switch to EVO, even though the company isn't "force marching" people to convert to the latest, marine-specific MARKET FOCUS SECTION { DMS } Like its competitors, IDS' Astra G2 is more visual with functions to keep all aspects of a dealership in sync. P42x44-BI14MAR-MF-DMS.indd 43 2/7/14 10:46 AM