On Monday, Helion Automotive Technologies announced a list of five technology priorities for auto dealerships looking to improve operational efficiencies in 2017.

The provider of information technology solutions for auto dealers said appropriating budgets to address the areas of internet bandwidth, wireless, incoming call flow, security and software licensing will help support the upcoming year’s new business and technology initiatives.

"Dealers often view IT as a cost of doing business, rather than as an investment that can help them become more competitive," said Erik Nachbahr, president of Helion. "In this industry, time is money and an outdated IT infrastructure can result in downtime, lost revenue, reduced customer retention and loss of employee buy-in."

Helion's top IT priorities for dealers in 2017:

1.    Internet Bandwidth

Fiber optics is the future of Internet connectivity, says Helion. Cloud-based, third-party and OEM applications require greater data throughput than a T1 can handle.

A fiber optics connection carries data at rates ranging from 100 Mbps to 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps), while a T1 connection carries data at a rate of 1.544 Mbps.

2.    Wireless

More wireless is needed for dealerships heightening their use of OEMs and third-party location-based technologies and programs, according to Helion.

The company said the average dealership with six to 10 high-speed wireless access nodes needs to increase their wireless capacity by three to five times, to have a total of at least 25 wireless access nodes per location.

3.    Incoming Call Flow

According to Helion, up to 30 percent of incoming phone leads don’t connect with an employee who can assist them.

"Dealers are losing a crazy amount of leads due to something they probably don't think much about," said Nachbahr. He recommends creating a new call flow designed to support dealer processes and to follow it each day with no changes.

4.    Security and Regulatory Compliance

Nachbahr's highly suggests that dealers get cyber liability insurance and have security policies established to best evade harsh financial consequences associated with security breaches.

Seventy-five percent of businesses with fewer than 500 employees reported a security breach last year, according to a July report titled IT Security at Small to Mid-Size Businesses (SMBs): 2016 Benchmark Survey. The study is a topic of an August Auto Remarketing article about how dealerships can minimize the risk of costly security breaches.

5.    Software Licensing

Nachbahr says dealers need to be sure that their employees are not using unlicensed copies of software.

In the last two years, approximately 45 percent of auto dealerships have been audited by Microsoft, according to Helion.

"One dealership I know of got caught using unlicensed copies of Microsoft Office on over 300 computers, and had to pay a fine of $1.5 million," said Nachbahr. "This is something that dealers cannot afford to mess around with."

Nachbahr suggests dealerships try Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription program, Office 365 Business, if Office 2016 is too costly.