DEALERVAULT HELPS PREVENT DATA FROM FALLING INTO THE WRONG HANDS THROUGH ITS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE TRANSFER SOLUTION
Steve Cottrell took the stage as a finalist for the “Most Innovative Solution of the Year” at the 2015 DrivingSales Executive Summit
Apple founder Steve Jobs once said: “The customers never know what they want until we show them.” That statement captures innovation perfectly, said Steve Cottrell, founder and CEO of DealerVault.
A decade ago, when Cottrell said he first came up with the idea to create a central repository for data, dealers and their vendor partners told him it would never work. A little over two years ago, the DealerVault solution finally came into fruition after some dealers were experiencing data theft and were concerned about transferring their data to vendors safely.
“At that point we decided ‘what the heck.’ If we wait for the market to ask for this it’s going to be too late,” said Cottrell.
“We’ve always embraced innovation and technology. This was an opportunity for us to be innovative and really create something that’s going to have a huge impact and a positive impact on the dealer community.”
The DealerVault solution gives dealers complete control and visibility into the data shared with their vendor partners, including vehicle sales, inventory, service appointments and parts information — whatever is typically stored in a dealership’s DMS system.
Using a point and click interface in a highly secure cloud-based environment, dealers can create and update data feeds, monitor activity and limit access to only the data that suppliers need, said Cottrell.
That’s unlike traditional data-pulling environments that grant vendors usernames and passwords to access a data system, he added.
“What we’ve really done is turned the lights on in the entire process and given the dealer tremendous visibility into what’s going on and given them a very easy-to-use package,” said Cottrell.
DealerVault has also taken great pains to ensure the data is backed by ample security by partnering with Rackspace, a giant, publicly-traded managed cloud computing company.
Dealers who use the DealerVault solution are also protected by the company’s $20-million cyber liability policy, said Cottrell.
Since its inception, the DealerVault solution has expanded into 18,000 franchised dealerships across North America.
Cottrell was also a 2015 Innovation Cup finalist for the “Most Innovative Solution of the Year” as part of the annual DrivingSales Executive Summit held in Las Vegas, Nev.
We’ve always embraced innovation and technology. This was an opportunity for us to be innovative and really create something that’s going to have a huge impact and a positive impact on the dealer community
But Cottrell said there’s still a ways to go in getting the industry to invest in data security.
He sees big dealership groups in the U.S. that are making the move to protect their data, but it’s tough for smaller stores to come up with the technological resources and staff to manage their data movement.
There’s also all kinds of headaches that go along with data management, such as knowing how to ask vendors for indemnification and ensuring insurance certificates are current, said Cottrell.
Some dealers have said they like the DealerVault solution, but their vendor partners have a strict process in place for sharing data and they are unwilling to make a change for one store, said Cottrell.
OEMs and their dealer networks are also fighting a battle for control and access to data. That’s why Cottrell is in talks with several OEMs in the hopes of building transparency and trust between them and their dealers.
“I think in 2016 you are going to see a fundamental shift from traditional username and password and certified interface to a more dealer-controlled model,” said Cottrell.
For more information on DealerVault, visit DealerVault.com.
