Auto Remarketing is launching a new series called Executive Snapshots in which an automotive executive shares some brief thoughts on how he or she sees the industry, some challenges and solutions and how their company is adapting to these opportunities. In our debut Executive Snapshot feature — which can be found in the June 1 print and digital editions of AR, our kickoff to the Top 100 Used Car Dealers series  —  we profile Robert M. Berndt, president of Dominion Dealer Solutions of Norfolk, Va. 

An excerpt of the feature can be found below. The entire piece can be read here.
 

Auto Remarketing: Your company has played a major role over the years as dealers moved from a paper-based operation to one that is more digitally-based.  What has been the driving force behind this transition?

Robert M. Berndt: Technology’s underlying value proposition is delivering improved business results.  I think dealership owners now understand what that means for them.  For corporate owners, digitally-based customer and inventory management systems provide greater visibility into their businesses.  For private owners, technology can facilitate better business processes – and the drivers for that change – the ease-of-use and improved efficiency — are ultimately the people running the dealerships. 

You can look at a lot of examples where someone who had been resistant to using a smart phone or an iPad within the last two years – and now they are not only using it, but relying on it.  Managers are realizing that they can look at their inventory data on their phones.  They are just wowed.

Some of this technology adoption is happening in an organic fashion.  So, it will be pervasive and it will be everywhere over a period of time. 

AR: Is this driven by younger people pushing?

RB: In some cases, yes.  In others, it is simply business driven.  Technology has been around for a while now.  It’s not just the youngsters that use it successfully. Folks realize that technology makes their life easier.  So those who have been resistant in the past are having a harder time explaining why they shouldn’t adapt and take advantage of the ease that is there.  Case in point, my dad is in his mid-70s and got his first iPhone two years ago — he’s a pro at it now. 

The savvy dealer knows that if he wants people to want to work in his dealership, then he has to get them the right technology to do their job.  There are probably a lot of different influences in the technology decision.  Certainly, as owners transition their businesses to their adult children, new processes and technology are adopted.  

AR: This company has grown tremendously in the providing of technology.  Has educating dealers been a major challenge?

RB: It’s getting easier.  Think about selling websites 10 years ago when many dealers said, “I don’t think people are going to use that.”  Now websites are fundamental to their businesses.   Look at that trajectory and the timeframe of adoption of dealership websites.  These kinds of things tend to accelerate, not decelerate, which means adoption of new technology will change even more quickly going forward.  So we don’t have to sell the concept as much as we used to.  Mobility and flexibility are defining business process.  We are staying on the front edge of that — and will do whatever we can to make sure dealers understand the value in that, and how our solutions deliver that, for their businesses.

For the complete story, see the print and digital editions of the June 1 AR — which is Part I of our Top 100 Used Car Dealers series — both of which are available now.