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The Best of NADA 2007<br />
By Jeff Forsberg<br />
Director Peterson Sullivan PLLC<br />
Las Vegas. Each time NADA makes a<br />
stop here, I resolve to limit my play at<br />
the tables, because accountants should<br />
know better. On the other hand, visiting<br />
Vegas gives me an opportunity to check<br />
on my “investment.” But the real action<br />
was at the exhibition hall and workshops,<br />
serving as a think-tank on best<br />
practices. My observations on NADA<br />
2007 follow if you were otherwise busy<br />
increasing your position in the casinos:<br />
Most Interesting DMS News<br />
Reynolds & Reynolds (“R&R”) occupied<br />
a mammoth booth aptly named “the<br />
battleship.” R&R added even more bulk<br />
following its recent marriage with UCS,<br />
hinting at its next slogan: “It’s your battleship….”<br />
R&R reps ventured it will<br />
continue to provide ERA support for ten<br />
years and beyond –as if it had a limited<br />
shelf life, leading one to speculate about<br />
its long-range development path. One<br />
possible scenario is that the post-UCS’<br />
“Power” offering will, in time, assimilate<br />
R&R’s ERA customers, presumably<br />
for a premium. Given the dynamic New<br />
World Order of DMS providers, your<br />
next DMS contract will be particularly<br />
consequential to your dealership.<br />
Paul Gillrie, the DMS consultant to<br />
dealers, fielded more than a few<br />
inquiries about Microsoft’s presence at<br />
NADA. A common refrain heard from<br />
dealers: “I’m going to wait for<br />
Microsoft.” That might be the pragmatic<br />
approach, but consider that a MS-branded<br />
DMS won’t be something you will<br />
pick up at Best Buy, which is another<br />
way of saying it won’t be inexpensive.<br />
And the release date will likely slide<br />
past year 2008. True, there are “secondtier”<br />
providers offering a DMS built on<br />
MS technology today (Quorum, PBS,<br />
and ACS, etc.). But these “second tier”<br />
providers all lack significant market<br />
penetration; fewer customers can mean<br />
limited feature sets, uneven factory support<br />
and a higher risk of an outright<br />
sale. Finally, I can’t recommend being a<br />
pilot dealer for new DMS software —<br />
just ask those intrepid dealers running<br />
the RGS system at the time R&R<br />
unplugged it. Don’t get me wrong: I<br />
think a MS-branded DMS is an exciting<br />
development and will give strong competition<br />
to “The Big Two” (i.e. ADP and<br />
R&R/UCS).<br />
continued on page 26<br />
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