Integrated Vs Siloed Systems - Battle between Two Practices in Auto Dealerships

Integrated vs Siloed

Systems-Battle between two practices in Auto Dealerships

Businesses like auto dealerships, marinas, motels, etc. fall under the category of High Turnover / Low Margin Sales and Services Business (HT-LM S&S). They have a lot riding on them when it comes to sourcing leads, closing deals and ensuring a smooth customer journey.

Especially in the digital-age, running a High Turnover / Low Margin Sales and Services Business can be nerve-racking. Digitization has restructured the industry landscape by introducing new buying habits and customer journeys.

The millennial generation of customers walks into auto dealerships armed with Internet-fed information. The need for a sales rep to walk them through the model specs and its benefits have gone out of the window.

Thanks to modern-day technologies like Cloud, Big Data, IoT, Digital marketing and the likes, business houses are also able to ramp up their personalized suggestions to customers in a better way. But, all that doesn’t end on a high note. There are several challenges en route. Point solutions help business houses mitigate these challenges to a certain extent.

Point Solutions- A Golden Handcuff that doesn’t hurt

To get a 30,000 feet view of their customer personas and preferences from a 3-inch distance, auto dealers have to tinker with several siloed software systems. Their inventory management happens on a dedicated inventory management system. Marketing, lead management and automation can be taken care of by another platform built on a specific platform made by another vendor. The same applies to other allied functions like sales, accounting, invoicing, delivery tracking and what not.

Keeping systems isolated for separate functions like accounting, marketing, sales, inventory management, etc. might seem like a good idea from an information security point of view. But, if you take a deeper look, the pitfall is evident. Point solutions turn out to be golden handcuffs that auto dealers have worn voluntarily.

The Peril of the Comfort Zone

Disparate systems do not provide sales reps with the fodder to personalize their offering to the customer. As a result, customer journeys become stale and disengaging for the customer.

And, there is a long list of other perils that point solutions would impose on an auto dealership business. Some such perils include:

● Wasted employee productivity

● No real-time visibility of customer journey

● Hidden maintenance cost of disparate system

● Wasted man hours on employee training

● Lack of personalized offering

● Lost lead conversions

Platform solutions promise to weed away all these perils of disparate systems.

From the Comfort Zone to the Growth Zone

Platform solutions provide a converged approach to the entire auto dealership business. From quote to invoice, it gives sales reps and every other stakeholder real-time visibility of the customer journey. The converged view of the customers, and their journey from prospect to hot lead to order, every phase of the transaction can be seen and analyzed with granular attention.

All the perils that disparate systems create is converted into positive outcomes.

● Enhanced employee productivity

● Real-time visibility of departmental operations

● Significant IT cost savings

● Personalized customer offerings

● Perfected inventory management

What is necessary for business

Nowadays, Organizations are willing to go with integrated systems. It does not show any partiality between several departments in an organization. It gives access to all members of a team. It makes way for a highly collaborative environment. The integrated systems are allowing all the employees to give suggestions over developments.

Siloed systems are also useful for confidential decision-making factors in an organization. It provides an incomplete view of a business. The customer experience will be bad. The integrated system is better and beneficial.

Final thoughts

There is no single industry today which is not digitally transformed. At the heart of their rapid transformation are platform solutions that are scalable, flexible and affordable.

So, the next time you decide to invest in another point solution, Stop, look around and pick a platform solution.

Want more expert guidance on selecting a platform solution for your auto dealership. Talk to our experts.