Tag: DMS

Don’t Fall Behind: Keep Up with Today’s Digital Consumers

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Did digitization change the way buyers interact with your dealership? Or have today’s buyers—and their shifting habits—altered the course forever of the retail automotive process? Time may tell but for now, one thing is clear: a failure to adapt will cost you sales, service clients, and team members! Don’t go ‘the way of the dodo.’ Keep up with thriving dealers and follow the advice below.

Embrace a Hybrid Approach

In the past 18 months, the trend toward shopping for cars online has been dramatically accelerated. In fact, two out of three customers are more likely to buy a vehicle 100% online, according to the 2020 Cox Automotive COVID-19 Digital Shopping Survey. Still, your dealership can’t simply switch to an all-virtual model without leaving a significant portion of your existing customer base behind.

To satisfy both sets of customers, embrace a hybrid car buying approach. That means giving customers the choice to complete as much or as little of the car buying process online as they want. This gives your customers the best of both worlds, while also offering some mixture of in-person and online buying.

According to a recent Cox Automotive research study, the vast majority (84%) of top dealers (those dealers that have become both more profitable and more efficient since the start of the pandemic), say that offering more digital options to customers is critical to retail success. That’s compared to just 64% of static dealers.

Align Communication Channels with Consumer Preferences

As your dealership keeps pace with modern shoppers, it’s important to adapt your communications channels as well. As evidenced by the shift to more online shopping, the car-buying consumer tends to gravitate toward convenience. In communication, that convenience includes more emails and text messaging and fewer in-person visits and phone conversations.

Just like adopting a hybrid car buying approach, give your customers options by providing a variety of communications channels. Cater to customers who want to text and email just as you would to those who prefer more traditional communication. The transition to a digital-centered sales processes inevitably includes embracing these modern communications channels. And the change might be easier than you think.

According to How to Thrive: Best Practices for Accelerated Digital Landscape, 68% of thriving dealers say that it’s been easier than they thought to adapt to a more digital-centered sales process, compared to only 34% of static dealers that felt the same.

Use Data to Discover New Opportunities

As more and more customers shop for and buy cars online, they leave behind data about themselves (and about the industry’s direction) that can help you see new opportunities. As your dealership makes changes to adapt to modern customer preferences, don’t forget to monitor your data.

Watch carefully for trends that can identify new opportunities for earning profit. Have the courage to trust your data enough to pursue those opportunities once they’re found. It can mean the difference between thriving to find additional profit and additional customers, or staying stuck in the past.

The car-buying consumer can be hard to track, but if you have the right tools, processes, and the right information about your customers, you can anticipate their next moves and be ahead of the curve for the next big buying trend. To learn more about surviving and thriving in a new digital landscape, check out our eBook: Thrive and Survive: A Handbook for Dealing with (Almost) Anything.

 

Learn how to thrive against the competition with the new guide, Thrive and Survive: A Handbook for Dealing with (Almost) Anything.

 

Run Your Dealership Your Way

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When it comes to data, it’s not just about what you know, accuracy, access, and speed matter as well. Battle lines have been drawn, and dealerships with access to faster customer data are winning the competition for modern customers. Does your DMS partner work to provide flexible reporting options and role-specific dashboards, helping you access, manage, and protect your dealership’s data? Let’s take a look at how to deal with data management and your DMS and technology partners below.

Keep Your CRM Data Up to Date

Keeping data up to date doesn’t sound like anyone’s ideal job description, especially salespeople who are busy interacting with actual customers. But to succeed in today’s digital world, ongoing data housekeeping is an absolute must. In fact, 75% of thriving dealerships proactively keep their CRMs updated.

Make sure your customer records are up-to-date and filled with as much first-party data as possible. And, there’s some good news for salespeople (and everyone else)—comprehensive technology integrations allow your systems to communicate with each other. These integrations can automatically record customer interactions, eliminating a lot of manual labor and data entry.

Leverage Cox Automotive Data

Your dealership’s own data can only take you so far. It’s certainly helpful, but it’s also limited to the interactions you’ve had with your specific customers. Cox Automotive data, touch 75% of vehicle transactions in North America—that’s 3 out of every 4 buyers—giving you access to a world of customer information.

With brands like Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Dealer.com, Cox Automotive data can help you know where customers are shopping, what they’re looking for, and when they’re ready to buy, giving you a significant advantage in the competition for customers.

Partner with a DMS that Doesn’t Restrict Data Access

Who really owns all this data anyway? It’s a hot button topic in today’s digital industry, and opinions vary from person to person, and even from technology provider to technology provider. Some providers restrict your data under the guise of customer privacy. Others take your side and support your rights to your use your data.

As the competition for online customers ramps up, you want a technology partner that doesn’t restrict your access to your data. You want a partner that can help you segment your customers lists, target shoppers and personalize messages. In short, you want a partner that can help you win deals. It’s no surprise that the vast majority of thriving dealers (86%) agree that having accurate and complete customer data is a top priority.

Give Your Dealership Some Muscle

Whatever your position at the dealership, having clear insights into the future outlook of your business is no longer just a ‘nice to have,’ it’s critical. Get the data you need delivered to your team in fast, clear, and easy-to-decipher reports and dashboards with Critical Analytics using the data directly from your DMS.

As buying preferences shift and the industry evolves, the more you know about your customers, the better off your dealership will be. Data is the future of the industry, and the future is now. Win the war on data (and partner with a technology provider that can help manage and fight for your data rights), download Thrive and Survive: A Handbook for Dealing with (Almost) Anything.

 

 

Learn how to thrive against the competition with the new guide, Thrive and Survive: A Handbook for Dealing with (Almost) Anything.

 

Thriving in a Competitive Market

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In your line of work, it’s not enough to merely outlast the competition. When it comes to retail automotive, a willingness to adapt to new trends and pivot on a moment’s notice can make all the difference. You’ve probably seen it—the strong thrive and the weak struggle to survive. Now, as buying options expand beyond the showroom, the world of automotive retail is becoming more competitive than ever. There’s no room for dealerships that aren’t willing to evolve. It’s a dog-eat-dog industry and your biggest threat comes from your competition, as well as your own decisions to keep up with modern customers. Here’s how to deal with an increasingly competitive market.

Differentiate Your Dealership

As more shoppers go online to research and buy cars, it’s easy for dealerships to blend in with the crowd of competition. Your customers can go anywhere they want, so give them a compelling reason to buy from you. Differentiation can take on many forms—you can stand out based on your business model or brand promise, for example. Just make sure that whatever you decide, it’s authentic. Not sure where to start? Look to your original company values to start. What got you into this business? Are you here to help serve people one-to-one? Talk to your vendors and ask them to step in and meet you here, first.

Exploit Competitive Advantages

As you look for ways to differentiate your dealership, you’ll probably find a whole list of things that you do better than your competition. That’s great. These are your competitive advantages, and you should find fun, creative, and strategic ways to tell your customers all about them. Sit down with your dealership’s leadership team to discuss what you do best. Talk about the weaknesses of your competition and how you may be able to make improvements to find new competitive advantages, whether in your sales team, your location, your online presence, or all of the above. Once you have your list of advantages, discuss how to best use them for your benefit.

Adopt Technologies That Differentiate

When you get started, begin by creating a competitive advantage with your technology tools. If you’ve recently implemented technology at your business, or if you’re considering a switch, conduct an audit on the integration points between your tools, technology, and processes. This may seem like a big ask—and it may be—but connected technology should serve to boost the way your business runs. If it’s not helping your people succeed, and improving the customer experience, then it’s likely slowing you down.

You have some big decisions ahead. Adapt and thrive. Or, keep struggling to fight against your competition. Set your business apart with better tools, interconnected technology, and a customer experience that keeps people coming back.

Learn how to thrive against the competition with the new guide, Thrive and Survive: A Handbook for Dealing with (Almost) Anything.

 

An Interview with Netchex: Understanding Modern, Integrated Payroll

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Better payroll is a critical need for dealers. But many are settling for solutions that limit their ability to process payroll efficiently, forcing tradeoffs, and keeping teams from more meaningful HR activities. In addition, many dealers sacrifice payroll efficiency simply due to the fear of change. We sat down with Will Boudreaux, CEO of Netchex, to help our dealer partners understand how a modernized, integrated payroll solution can help as year-end approaches.

Why Now?

Q: With year-end approaching, many controllers who might want to upgrade their payroll solution might be concerned about timing. Why is now a good time to act?

A: Businesses must determine the best time for a change considering other initiatives and priorities. But a start at the beginning of a calendar year is for sure an optimal time when considering a payroll migration. Clients like the clean break between years – allowing their prior system to keep balances and reporting items whole and take advantage of the resetting of liabilities, accumulators, PTO plans, and the like with the new year. Additionally, it’s less data transfer between systems making it easier for all parties to have a successful launch. Finally, a new year allows for new initiatives. Clients like to use the migration to Netchex to kick off things like Self Service, Benefits Administration, or introducing new processes for handling historically manual tasks like PTO requests or performance reviews. A new year provides a great time both from a liability break and process improvements.

Will Integration Really Help?

Q: Could the integration between Dealertrack DMS and Netchex’s payroll platform actually make year-end reporting easier at my dealership? How?

A: Well – it depends. If Netchex takes over the processing of your payroll prior to the year ending, we’ll also handle all year-end reporting like W2s, 1099s, and 1095s. Additionally, we’ll file taxes for each quarter that a client is with us during that year as well as all year-end tax reporting.

Why Netchex?

Q: We give our Client Partners the option to choose other third-party solutions to manage HR and Payroll functions. So, then, why should dealerships partner with Netchex versus another third-party vendor? What is the true key benefit of the Dealertrack integration? How are we leveling up?

A: Netchex and Dealertrack DMS recognize there are alternatives in the HCM space other than our solution. We spent a lot of time discussing ways to differentiate and it really starts with the integration. Being able to have support from both parties to ensure bi-directional data flow is a huge win for our shared clients, especially when it comes to tech time and commissions. Plus, they love the employee mobile app that gives their teams direct access to all their data. Additionally, Dealertrack has educated Netchex on the small details that make a successful dealership run and we have ingrained many of those practices in our solution – tasking with reminders, pay policies, PTO policies, manager functionality for access to employee activity, handling 941’s – those are just a few examples of our understanding of the dealer space. Dealertrack DMS also has set a high bar for service and as such, Netchex delivers on that level. The reality is many companies might be able to get associates paid but nowhere near as efficient as our offering. In reality, Netchex benefits add up in time savings and liability. Our partners report that:

  • The employee portal access is a time saver.
  • Tasking and reminders to employees and managers are huge time-savers.
  • They do not want the tax liability; most controllers love that they don’t have to do the 941’s/year end reporting, Cobra etc.
What does the transition look like?

Q: Smooth onboarding, ongoing consultative support is something Dealertrack DMS clients expect from our partnership. How is Netchex meeting this standard?

A: Well, I pointed to this in the earlier question, and I’ll share some more detail. Netchex has created Dealer-specific onboarding and service teams. These associates wake up each day and only think, act and work in the dealership world. This allows for deep understanding of need and more importantly, the ability to consult at a high level with Dealertrack DMS customers. Sharing best practices, as well as guidance away from potential pitfalls, is cornerstone to our service delivery. With over 1,000 Dealertrack rooftops installed, Netchex has the experience and understanding of dealer service expectations.

How does Integrated Payroll, powered by Netchex, save time?

Q: Let’s talk about time-savers. How does the integration between Dealertrack’s DMS and Netchex benefit dealership staff from day one and day-to-day? What time-savers are users now taking advantage of?

A: When designing the integration for Dealertrack DMS and Netchex, we focused on the pinch points that are time-sensitive, volume intensive, and critical for accuracy. Pay has to be correct and on-time. Moving critical pay data like commissions and Tech Time in an automated fashion not only saves administrators tons of time, it provides peace of mind that it is accurate. On the back end of payroll, GL integration is critical for dealers to close jobs as well as their books. Making this a key component of our integration strategy has been well received and a big win for dealers. One dealer, Budd Baer Auto Group, estimated we saved them 4 days of work every month.

What improvements are being made?

Q: Have any enhancements or improvements to the solution been made since the partnership was announced, and what is planned for 2022?

A: Netchex and Dealertrack DMS are consistently eliciting feedback from clients to ensure the best experience. Whether it’s enhancing reporting capabilities around Tech Proficiency or Monthly accruals or even application workflow within Netchex, we not only listen—we deliver. Our journey to create the best experience isn’t over, either – we have new solutions and services planned for 2022 all coming from client feedback.

Simply by switching to Netchex, Lawley Auto Group’s entire hiring and onboarding process was streamlined so that hiring managers won a ton of time back in their day, and new hires now spend their first day doing the job they were hired to do. – Will Boudreaux, Netchex CEO

Where’s the proof?

Q: Can you share any anecdotes or success stories from your experience switching dealerships over to Netchex?

A: Lawley Auto Group is a favorite of ours. They’re multi-state, multi-location and came in with struggles related to onboarding, timecards, and manual accounting processes. An employee’s first day was spent filling out paperwork, timecard edits for 250 employees was taking a full 8-hour workday. Plus it took a lot of  time for every location to sign-off on the payroll, and managing Tech Time was always a struggle. Simply by switching to Netchex, Lawley Auto Group’s entire hiring and onboarding process was streamlined so that hiring managers won a ton of time back in their day, and new hires now spend their first day doing the job they were hired to do. Our mobile app timekeeping means significantly fewer errors on timecards, plus remote approval for all the locations. And the integrated payroll handles Tech Time automatically. We’ve saved them several hours each week, and of course, the thousands of dollars associated with that time.

Dealers asking “why now,” before switching to an integrated payroll technology must consider the benefits and challenges associated with making the move. And, the longer you wait, the benefits of time savings, better onboarding, and year-end reporting begin to vanish. Upgrading your payroll process and technology is a critical need for your business. The accelerated digital landscape is here to stay. And your dealership’s most critical and largest expense—your payroll—simply must keep up.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT INTEGRATED PAYROLL AND HR MANAGEMENT FROM DEALERTRACK DMS? CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR DEALERSHIP COULD BENEFIT.

 

Will Boudreaux, CEO of Netchex

Will Boudreaux is the founder and CEO of Netchex – the fastest-growing payroll services company in the country. Technology-centric but service-driven Netchex has become a leader in the Human Capital Management industry.

Will launched Netchex in 2003 based on an innovative vision of how deliver solutions in the payroll services industry.

Key Results From Integrated Payroll Tech

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When Neal Jackson, accounting manager at Lawley Auto Group, decided to upgrade the payroll process and technology in his multi-state, multi-location dealership, he went looking for a solution that met certain requirements. It needed to keep his dealership in compliance, save time, and reduce the amount of manual adjusting his team always took on to get the job done right. What he discovered was a modern, integrated payroll solution that worked directly with his Dealer Management System. Jackson, an “early adopter” of the technology, was ready to dive in and give it a try. Here are four key results that Jackson and Lawley Auto Group uncovered as a result.

1 – Tech Time in No Time

When dealers talk about the key challenges of managing payroll within their dealership, Tech Time is usually at the top of the list. Variable rates of pay, managing commissions, and calculating costs always make the process of managing payroll more complex. “Tech Time has been a huge, huge time-saver for me. And one of the reasons is that we’re semi-monthly and one of those Tech Time conversions happens at month-end,” explains Jackson. With integrated payroll, Tech Time is automated, saving accounting teams hours upon hours each week. And those hours add up to serious cost-savings in time.

2 – No More Manual Paperwork

Jackson found himself manually adjusting payroll each month for eight different locations in his automotive group. With different state tax laws, over 250 employees, and only a small team of three employees to help him, the conversion process could take hours (and sometimes days). “It was very hard to get reports out of payroll in a manner that was usable. So, I spent a lot of time taking reports out of Dealertrack and converting them into an excel file. And that was pretty time-consuming due to all the noise that was in them,” Jackson explains.

3 – Streamlined Onboarding Processes

Hiring, staffing, and onboarding is just the tip of the iceberg for human resource teams. In an industry facing an almost 80% turnover rate, getting your team up-to-speed with a fast and efficient process is key. “Simply by switching to Netchex, Lawley Auto Group’s entire hiring and onboarding process was streamlined so that hiring managers won a ton of time back in their day, and new hires now spend their first day doing the job they were hired to do,” explains Will Boudreaux, CEO of Netchex.

4 – Free to Focus on What Matters

When Lawley Auto Group began to see the time savings take effect upon the implementation of an integrated payroll system, something amazing happened. He was able to convert a full-time payroll position into a part-time clerk, freeing her to focus on other areas of growth within the dealership.

To learn more, download a copy of the Lawley Auto Group Story here.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT INTEGRATED PAYROLL AND HR MANAGEMENT FROM DEALERTRACK DMS? CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR DEALERSHIP COULD BENEFIT.

Why Now is the Right Time to Switch Your HR and Payroll Tech

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The digital age of automotive retail has arrived—it’s out with the old and in with the new way of buying and selling cars. This retail revolution has allowed dealers to keep up with customer preferences. But it has also provided the perfect opportunity to improve operational efficiency, including payroll and employee management, with the help of modern technology.

If your current HR technology doesn’t make your job easier and your dealership run smoother (or you’re still manually processing most of your payroll), here are a few reasons why now is the perfect time to make the switch to Dealertrack DMS Integrated Payroll and HR Solutions.

Just in Time for Open Enrollment

Open enrollment is one of the busiest times of the year for HR professionals. With an integrated solution, you get benefits administration help with easy enrollment and more comprehensive management that empowers employees to better control their own benefits coverage. Plus, it eliminates the paper and manual tasks associated with enrollment, carrier communication, and benefits administration.

Year-End Is Coming

Integrated technologies with Dealertrack DMS Payroll and HR Solutions help you avoid penalties, late fees, and audits associated with taxes and additional year-end to-dos.  Automated taxes and reporting keep you compliant and ensure accuracy, including electronic IRS filing and pay withdrawals, quarterly online tax statements, and W-2 previews.

A New Year’s Revolution

What better way to start off the new year than with a fresh start with your HR technology? After year-end budget audits, Integrated Payroll and HR can save you money across the company by eliminating waste and streamlining processes. If your company already has some form of HR technology, now is the time to evaluate ROI and seek further improvements on all of your HR processes.

HR Technology for the Digital Age

The shift towards digital technology in the workplace has made HR technology a practical necessity. Not only does it streamline human resource management, but today’s workforce wants and expects this kind of modern technology. Investing in HR technology can maximize your company’s potential, and help you reduce the risk of falling behind.

A Modern Workplace Companion

If you’re worried that HR Management will replace your job, don’t. Integrated solutions are designed to make the administrative side of HR easier by saving time, energy, and money. This enables you and your staff to focus on engaging with your company’s most important asset—people.

Customized HR Services

When you’re able to customize your HR Service experience, you get to pay only for the services that make a positive impact on your company and boost engagement. In other words, you can personalize and tailor fit the technology to your company’s needs, so you get the most out of your investment.

Simplified Switching

A streamlined implementation process gets your company up and running on the solution you select as soon as possible.  The implementation process is built upon several quick turnaround dates for our team, so the whole process can move as smoothly and quickly as your team helps move it along.

Easy to Learn, Easy to Love

HR technology is designed with employees in mind to make your job easier. Your HR team can take part in a comprehensive rollout plan, consisting of training, documentation, and personalized assistance from our award-winning client service team.

Ready to bring your HR management and payroll into the digital age? Learn more about Dealertrack DMS Payroll and HR.

 

 

Ask the Expert: New Trends in Automotive Hiring

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As dealerships continue to find new ways to overcome the challenges facing their business, one key challenge continues to loom large: retention and hiring. New digital technology helps you deliver for your clients, but your team will always remain your number one revenue generator. Dealertrack DMS has partnered with Hireology, the experts in HR Solutions for automotive, to bring integrated offerings to our dealer partners. We reached out to their team to better understand what dealers should know about the new trends in automotive hiring.

Technology’s Influence: How is technology shifting the way dealers fill roles?

We’ve seen technology become all the more important during the past eighteen months, especially in the retail automotive industry. Dealers who were able to quickly pivot their operations to online selling, for instance, thrived when the initial lockdowns from COVID-19 took effect.

Additionally, using recruitment software can help you attract a much larger number of candidates to your open positions. You can utilize more sourcing avenues, run employees through the process much faster, and get new hires up to speed, resulting in a more immediate impact on your bottom line.

The Great Resignation: How concerned should dealers be about this?

It’s a far-reaching reality. We saw over 4 million people leave their jobs in August, the most we’ve seen since 2000. You should definitely be concerned, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. You must change the way you think about employee and applicant demands and meet them where they are. It’s an applicant economy right now, meaning the ball is in their court, so you need to step up offerings (like benefits, pay, culture, etc.) to make your dealership a place they want to work.

Retention: How can dealers improve retention?

Turnover will never become obsolete, but you can curb it. Feedback is the number one way to really gauge your employees’ happiness. Anonymous surveys are a great way to do this, but you also want to encourage management to have conversations with their direct reports. There needs to be an environment of trust and open communication, and when you receive feedback, it should be addressed and changes should be made. That’s the way to keep people around.

Talent expectations: How can dealers meet and exceed candidate expectations?

Our recent State of Hiring report, where we surveyed nearly 5000 recent applicants, revealed exactly what candidates want and some actionable ways to make your dealership meet their needs. We heard from those individuals that candidates want to be valued by their manager and their organization, find a place where they can grow their skills, have flexibility, and a good work-life balance. Of course, they want to be paid competitively, but bigger picture, there are other adjustments companies need to make to attract and retain great teams.

To learn more, READ THE GUIDE FOR FREE, ONLINE: REDEFINING TODAY’S RETAIL AUTO EMPLOYEE: WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN TOP RETAIL AUTO TALENT—AND WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM YOUR DEALERSHIP.

Embracing the New Digital Era of Accounting

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In times of industry turmoil, the big tend to get bigger, and the small, well the small sometimes don’t survive. It’s the natural evolution of the industry, but that doesn’t mean small dealerships are doomed to unavoidable extinction. There are ways to adapt to industry change and stay atop the proverbial pecking order, for dealers of all sizes. And, as it turns out, the right controller and the right accounting team can mean the difference between dealers that thrive and those that are struggling to survive.

The Difference Between Thriving and Surviving Dealerships

Within the past 18 months, we have seen our own version of “survival of the fittest” in the automotive sales industry. As circumstances have forced dealers to adapt to a new way of doing business, some dealers have embraced digital experiences, while others have been less eager to evolve and have felt the difficulties of a down economy.

In general, top-performing dealers—those that have become more profitable and efficient—have accelerated their adoption of digital technology significantly more than the static dealers—those that have become either less efficient and profitable, or stayed the same.

Unfortunately, even among those dealers that have adopted digital technology, some have walked back the progress they’ve made—perhaps explaining why only 62% of static dealers believe that digital changes will create long-term benefit, compared to 83% of thriving dealers.

Communicating at the Speed of Digital

Out of necessity, the digital era has introduced a new, more efficient way of communicating within dealerships. Over the past 18 months, dealers have had to rely on Zoom calls and other modern forms of communication, just to survive. These new technologies have enabled dealers to communicate better, but they’ve also resulted in dealers communicating more—an ironic technological twist, considering we’re also working apart more than ever too. It’s easier than ever, for example, to hop on a Zoom call with a parts manager to learn new processes. If dealers thought they were communicating well before, the new digital era has introduced the industry to a higher level of communication efficiency.

In the accounting office, where communication is often done with numbers and documents, the digital era has paved the way for more paperless adoption. Prior to the pandemic, dealer accounting offices were slow to adopt digital document scanning. But now, as people work from home and can’t be near the source documents nearly as often, the industry went from 50% adoption to full adoption, nearly overnight. Even if these new processes were forced on dealerships, their benefits will be felt well beyond a window of temporary distancing because, simply put, it’s a better way to communicate long-term, and it creates efficiencies that are felt throughout the entire dealership.

Integrity of Numbers and Integration Across Channels

One way dealerships experience inefficiency is through a general lack of communication between disconnected technologies. When one department’s technology says one thing, and another department’s technology says something completely different, it can be a nightmare for accounting offices to figure out whose numbers they can trust and how to reconcile the differences.

If the goal is integrity in numbers (and it should be for every dealership accounting office), integration of technologies is hugely important in the new digital era. When technology is integrated with the help of a centralized DMS that connects every department’s technologies across the dealership, controllers don’t need to worry whether they can trust the numbers on one department’s dashboard. They don’t need to worry about why the CRM data doesn’t match the customer pay repair orders on the financial statement. Integration is automatic, and it’s more important than ever before as dealers embrace digital.

In Closing…

No matter what some dealerships believe, the digital advancements made during the past 18 months are here to stay. They have already started to separate the evolving dealers from the static dealers, and they will continue to act as a dividing line between dealers that prioritize profitability and efficiency, and those that don’t.

As your dealership continues to embrace digital, give your accounting team the tools they need to enable better, more efficient communication between your teams and between your technologies. Empower them with improved communication and integration and your dealership will continue to evolve in the new digital era.

About the Author | Karli DeVall

Karli DeVall is the CFO at Tim Dahle Nissan and Red Rock Auto Group. Prior to her current role, she spent ten years running an accounting and consulting practice in the retail automotive industry where she specialized in fixing broken accounting offices. She is passionate about the role that controllers and accounting teams play in the business and looks for ways to empower teams to connect and showcase their skills to their community.

Four Ways Payroll Integrations Save Time and Money

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Payroll is a critical function for every business. It’s also the single largest expense for most companies, accounting for 68% of the average company’s overhead1, and that’s before factoring for the hours of time it takes to run payroll on a regular basis. Wouldn’t it be nice if you and your dealership could save time and money while performing this costly and time-consuming process? A key technology trend is helping dealerships do just that with a single, simple action. Fully integrating your payroll solution with your DMS reduces does both in four specific ways.

 

1. Integrated Payroll Reduces Administrative Work

By pushing and pulling information from your DMS, integrated payroll systems create efficiencies for those tasked with running payroll. If you’re still working within multiple disconnected systems, consider how much time you’re spending setting up manual reports, entering duplicate data, and making manual reconciliations. And, as you’re probably painfully aware, if you make an error in one system, it can take a long time to discover, locate, and fix that mistake in each place that it occurs. Truly integrating your DMS with a full-featured payroll solution can help you eliminate spreadsheets and manual data re-entry, freeing you up to spend time on more important—and more profitable—activities.

2. Integrated Payroll Automatically Posts to the General Ledger

Of course, the payroll process is deeply intertwined with your dealership’s accounting systems and processes. And every payroll needs to be posted to the DMS general ledger. It’s one of the most important administrative tasks associated with payroll. Payrolls processed through fully integrated platforms post to the DMS General Ledger in real-time, with no additional manual steps required. Automatic payroll posting eliminates the need for spreadsheet uploads and/or manual journal entries common with other 3rd party payroll solutions.

3. Integrated Payroll Eliminates Disparate Systems

Of course, salaries and wages aren’t the only type of compensation within your dealership. Integrated human resource management systems go beyond payroll by helping you manage employee paid time off, benefits, performance reviews, job summaries, and much more. Integrated systems eliminate the need to track and report these items manually, or through separate, non-integrated solutions, saving you lots of time and freeing up resources for more important activities. With the right platform, you get one integrated platform and a single system of record for all human resource information.

 

4. Integrated Payroll Streamlines Payroll Complexity into One Process

Payroll is one of the most complex calculations performed by any business, and it’s even more complicated for dealerships. Factoring for sales commissions, bonuses, tech time, and employee receivables, running payroll within a dealership can be extremely difficult to understand and execute. Full-featured, integrated payroll solutions simplify the process by empowering you to review, validate, and reconcile these pay types as part of standard payroll processing, saving time and ensuring accuracy.

 

Your dealership spends a lot of money to pay its people. And the payroll process is one of the most important and time-consuming activities performed within your company. While you may not be able to do anything about the recurring cash outlay associated with paying your people, you can save time and money on the process of running payroll. By adopting a full-featured payroll management system that integrates with your DMS, you can reduce administrative work, eliminates disparate systems, and minimize complexity, saving you both time and money.

 

Want to learn more about Integrated Payroll and HR Management from Dealertrack DMS? Click here to see how your dealership could benefit.

1 https://www.zenefits.com/workest/payroll-data-priority-small-businesses

 

 

 

Bring Your Payroll and HR Into the Digital Age

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If you manage human resources within a dealership, you have two jobs. First, you do the job you were hired to do—taking care of your people. And, you also do clerical and administrative work in order for people to do their job and get paid. And, often, putting in the hours to ensure your team gets paid, adds up to…lost hours. In fact, a recent study1 on workplace productivity estimates that office workers spend 552 hours, or 69 total days, a year on administrative or repetitive tasks. The cost of that lost productivity is a staggering $2.87 trillion annually in the United States.

With such a heavy cost to your dealership’s resources and to your personal time, eliminating repetitive HR administration work should be one of your most important financial goals. Not surprisingly, technology solutions have come forward with a promise of solving this important problem, while increasing efficiency within dealerships. Modern solutions bring payroll and HR management into the digital age by integrating with your DMS and reducing the amount of monotonous, administrative HR work you have to do. By reducing duplicate data entry, automating manual processes, and streamlining important activities, an integrated payroll and HR solution helps you stay focused on your actual job.

Integrated HR: Hiring, Onboarding, and Training

As a human resource professional, one of your most important jobs is to keep your dealership staffed with quality talent. Unfortunately, the process of hiring, onboarding, and retaining great employees is filled with unproductive administrative work. You spend as much time creating job posts, reviewing resumes, filling out employee paperwork, and collecting personal documents, as you do getting new employees up to speed on their important jobs.

With the right technology, you can build brand awareness and market open roles across multiple channels to connect with top applicants and to convince them to work for you. Using an automated, integrated solution to aide in your employee search can help you look beyond your typical pool of talent to attract highly qualified candidates. And, the ideal partner will give you access to experts that can assist you in your talent acquisition efforts.

The efficiencies don’t stop on an employee’s first day of work. Integrated HR platforms make the complex task of employee onboarding much easier. The benefits of effective onboarding and job training are clear. Research performed by Hireology suggests that 62 percent of companies with structured onboarding programs experience faster time to productivity and 54 percent claim to have better employee engagement. Most importantly, 69 percent of employees that receive effective onboarding are more likely to stay with their employer for at least three years.

Integrated Payroll and Benefits Management

Better hiring practices can bring in better employees and effective onboarding can get them up to speed quickly. But there’s really only one thing that will keep your team members engaged for the long term—a regular paycheck and great benefits. A DMS-integrated, paperless payroll processing solution reduces human error, speeds up workflows, and eliminates manual data re-entry, making it easy to get your people paid. Just imagine how much time you could save with one system that compiles and organizes manual reports for ongoing payroll processing and posts payroll accounting information back to the DMS general ledger. With the ability to validate, review, and reconcile seamlessly, you avoid the manual work that eats into your time and destroys your productivity.

Just as a good compensation package goes beyond base salary, a great HR management system goes beyond payroll processing to include all benefits. In addition to managing other forms of monetary compensation, including bonuses and sales commissions, a comprehensive HR solution helps you manage employee paid time off, performance reviews, job descriptions, and more. And because you won’t have to track and report these items manually, or through separate systems, you’ll be more efficient.

It’s time to bring payroll and HR into the digital age. Comprehensive human capital management systems with payroll processing streamline administrative tasks, eliminate manual processes, and avoid costly errors, reducing the amount of clerical and administrative work that you have to manage. That means you spend less time on paperwork and more time taking care of your people.

Want to learn more about Integrated Payroll and HR Management from Dealertrack DMS? Click here to see how your dealership could benefit.

 

Source: https://itchronicles.com/technology/repetitive-tasks-cost-5-trillion-annually/