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A Browser-Based Solution

What it Means to be Future-Ready

PFW Password - Spring 2010 The PFW IntelliDealer Dealership Management System is unique in that it is the only true browser-based solution available on the market today. This helps our customers stay connected, requires fewer resources, provides exceptional user-friendliness and prepares them for the future.

Resource Efficiency
When installing a Dealership Management System at your location, many competitive solutions require multiple servers and have client software that must be installed before you can operate the system. This adds the headache of dealing with installation and licensing issues and demands far more financial, staffing, training and support resources.

Having a browser-based solution that is a Server-Side Application, rather than a Client- Side Application, means it is delivered from the server to the browser, not from each individual PC. This means you don’t have to update and install PFW IntelliDealer software on every single PC, only on the server.

Mobility By Necessity, Connectivity By Choice
In the equipment distribution industry, Dealers are expected to increase profit margins and efficiency… the greater the expectations, the greater the need to do business more effectively and dynamically. To help meet these performance requirements, PFW IntelliDealer allows you to stay connected with your business while on the move. Being browser-based, PFW IntelliDealer can be accessed from almost anywhere in the world using a variety of devices that connect remotely to your network on the Internet.

Not only can PFW IntelliDealer work remotely on your laptop, but you can also access PFW IntelliDealer with browser-based devices such as an iPhone or BlackBerry. This ability has allowed PFW to introduce software products such as PFW MobileInspection, PFW MobileTech and Wireless Inventory Control. These mobile applications allow for dealership processes to take place in a disconnected manner when business needs to be more fluid.

“In today’s business world, being able to go where the business takes you is a must,” says Robert Morton, PFW Vice President, Operations. “As amalgamation in the industry continues, dealerships require a more professional, organized and disciplined approach to managing their business – and part of that includes being able to manage your business while on the move.”

Premium User-Friendliness
Having a browser-based system where any functionality is only a click away results in exceptional user-friendliness, as operation is simple for even the most basic of computer users. Staff can quickly come up to speed and become productive in the dealership environment because everyone is familiar with a browser. Whether you use the Internet to view sports scores, check your stocks or buy items on eBay, you’re
familiar with browsers – and if you can use a browser, you can use PFW IntelliDealer.

Additional Resources
Because it operates in a browser environment, PFW IntelliDealer can take advantage of additional Internet-based resources. Using the Google Maps service, for example, PFW IntelliDealer can launch a dynamic mapping program from a browser window and provide maps with locations, directions and even plotted routes. This can be especially useful for mobile sales staff and service technicians.

Current web technologies that work in the browser environment can also be used to add functionality. Enhancements can include improving the user experience by displaying your business data in pie charts, increasing security by locking fields and customization of the system by allowing you to add your logo or change the color scheme to match your company or OEM colors! Drag-and-drop functionality can also be employed in Customer Portal and Sales Support Portal to allow you to easily configure the layout and choose what information is most important to your dealership.

“Many people are visual learners, and when you can show them their information in a new way, they get really excited about it,” says Ross Atkinson, PFW Director, System Architecture and Product Design. “When people view their business numbers represented as pie charts in Management Central and they can instantly process trends at their dealership, they often ask themselves how they did business without it.”

While no one can predict what the future will hold, we do know that any technology that is browser-based will allow us to deliver PFW IntelliDealer to our customers and that we will be able to leverage exciting new advancements to offer the most comprehensive, easy-to-use, efficient solution possible.