2010 is the year of Consolidation

[Alex Snyder]

I'm popping this into the CRM forum because I think the CRM companies are in the prime position to help dealers consolidate their technologies.

I've been waiting to see our industry get to a point where we don't have to use 5 billion different plug-in's and extra services. Our website vendors and CRM companies have done a great job in 2009 of developing worthwhile "other" products off of their original platforms. I want to say thanks to them and pass :thumbup: :thumbup: 's.

Also on the horizon is a consolidation of lead services. With search engines getting better and better at delivering people relevant results, we're closing the gap on a need for third party lead providers and maybe even third party inventory aggregates. I welcome it!

Could 2011 be the year of multiple DMS options?

 

[ghen]

There are a lot of good customer facing tools/plugins that CRM vendors really need to jump on. The two I can think of off the top of my head are accessory sales and service opportunities. Many programs I've seen are really starting to get into the service department with scheduling at the very least and customer value at the most, but having one cohesive program that handles both service and sales would be awesome. Accessory sales on the other hand would be like a lucrative side business that would require building a front end for customers and a back end to set prices and track employee->customer sales for spiffs. Not as much integration but definitely something that would benefit from a good web based updating system that most CRMs have in place already.

 

[mattwatson81]

Could 2011 be the year of multiple DMS options?

There are already a lot of DMS systems available. I'm not an expert on all of them but here are some of the ones I know of besides ERA and ADP

DealerTrack DMS/Arkona
Auto/Mate
AutoSoft
ACS
PBS
Quorom
Adam
Lightyear
Dubuque Data Services
DPC
... and others

Just depends on what manufacturers you have and the compatibility.

 

[Jan Kristian]

"Give it Up"
meaning, let go of the baggage of past

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Also on the horizon is a consolidation of lead services.

I feel like we are starting to see this already. A lot of leads services have quickly fallen off the map over the last year or so.

Yeah, I get so tired of having to log into 100 different systems a say just to get a few things accomplished.

 

[danoneil]

Alex made a prediction one year ago. Did this prediction come true ? Opinions ?

We did see autotrader snatch up 4 or 5 companys in 2010.

 

[Alex Snyder]

We did see autotrader snatch up 4 or 5 companys in 2010.

Thanks for bumping this thread Dan :thumbup:

I must admit I was hoping for a little more consolidation in a different route.

 

[danoneil]

It's always interesting on forums like this to go back one year and review older threads. It's going to be some what interesting to see how autotraders take overs will effect our industry. Will cost go up ? Go down ?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I agree, I was hoping to see more consolidation in other areas. We did see some consolidation and not just in our industry.

I know for myself and taking on a new position and job, I accomplished a decent amount of consolidation across my dealers. Moved to 1 CRM - Inventory tool, 1 Fixed-Ops Marketing service, In-house photos, 1 website provider and a few others areas of consolidation.

I think we'll continue to see this trend with the CRM or Website services across our industry.

Did I not see where eCarlist purchased DealerUps CRM somewhere here in in the forum?

 

[mattwatson81]

The dealers need consolidated marketing and management tools. They need one sales platform that creates collaboration and imrpoves efficiencies. Vendors acquiring other vendors doesn't necessarily create that. They end up owning a bunch of companies and tools that still don't work together.

I wrote an article last year about streamling the sales process and the importance of having one platform. It serves as just one example.
Streamling the Sales Process | Matt Watson of VinSolutions | DrivingSales