The Dangers of a DMS that “Does it All”

Every dealer has a unique need for responsive inventory management, POS, and improved usability that allows them to fulfill orders in a timely manner. Many dealer management systems offer an “all-in-one” approach that claims to provide the best applications for increasing business agility, improving customer experience, and providing a value-added service to marine and powersports dealers, but can a single system application really offer the best in every core component including POS for sales and service, order and service ticket tracking, shopping cart integration, email marketing, lead generation and accounting? Of course not!

If there was a single product that was guaranteed to be the best of the best, time and again, surpassing the competitors, then there would be no competition! Any product can claim to be the best, but is it really the best?

Unfortunately, many dealers find out the hard way that there are dangers to all-in-one dealer management systems that claim to “do it all.” These systems fail to integrate core applications that improve marketplace responsiveness and provide technological flexibility for dealers of varied sizes and types. Instead of providing an all-in-one DMS that helps the dealer to effectively and, most importantly, efficiently, manage critical functions such as inventory, sales and marketing, most dealer management systems fall short of providing full integration and managers are left searching for other answers.

There is No One-Size-Fits-All DMS

A DMS that will truly improve productivity, increase functionality and help executives to achieve improved business performance must integrate the best performance systems from various technological environments in order to truly shine. There’s a reason why SalesForce is considered, “the World’s number one sales, service and marketing app,” or why QuickBooks is rated, “The #1 small business accounting software.” It’s because these applications provide the best in the industry! No dealer management system that specializes in inventory management and POS services can possibly stake a claim to being the best at accounting, bookkeeping, sales and marketing too!

Why Choose a DMS that Integrates Outside Applications?

Instead of taking the risk of trying out a DMS that claims to provide an “all in one” approach, businesses should consider a dealer management system that understands their industry, knows what they are good at and is willing to admit the need for help in other applications in order to provide customers with a fully functional, fully integrated, best-of-the-best product that makes almost anything possible. DMS software applications that do not integrate outside applications can leave dealers scrambling to make ends meet and to create a functioning system that really works for them.

Outside tasks, such as email marketing (MailChimp is a pro at that) and customer response management (SalesForce leads the team on that one) are sometimes best left to the pros in those industries while internal tasks such as inventory management and shopping cart integration as well as order fulfillment and POS can effectively be managed by a dealer management system. Considering flexibility in every element of the design and integration of a DMS including the ability to integrate outside applications ensures that business owners and upper management have the power of each industry application on their sides. An all-in-one DMS simply cannot provide such extreme potential for individual customization.

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