While the topic of cyber security may seem technical in nature, at its core it's a business issue that every dealer needs to understand. Today we are absolutely seeing dealerships being attacked on a regular basis and your dealership is at risk, even if you have rock-solid firewalls and security software in place.

The problem is so prevalent that I believe it warrants a series of blogs to educate dealers. In this series I'll cover the following:

Part 1: The rise in cyber attacks and their consequences

Part 2: The most common tactics that cyber criminals use to access your network

Part 3: Policies, procedures and technologies to prevent security breaches

Part 4: What to do if your dealership is breached

Only two percent of small business owners (< 500 employees) said they view the threat of a cyber attack as the most critical issue they face, according to a recent CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey. That's because most small business owners don't believe cyber criminals would target them, but they are wrong. Small businesses are most vulnerable to security attacks because they are less likely to have full-time security experts on staff.

In fact, 75 percent of small businesses have experienced a security breach, according to a July 2016 report by Osterman Research titled, IT Security at Small to Mid-Size Businesses (SMBs): 2016 Benchmark Survey.

It's really not a matter of if, but when, it will happen to you. Let's start with what, exactly, a security breach is and why you should be concerned.

Hack vs. Breach

I have received many calls from dealers who have experienced a security breach. Typically the first thing they tell me is, "We've been hacked!" When I ask what happened, the dealer explains a scenario that was not, in fact, caused by hacking. I think many people get their ideas of what hacking is from the movies. You know, the image of a lone wolf closeted in a dark room, literally hacking his way into your system through a hole in your firewall.

In reality, today's most serious threats come from clever emails sent to your employees that encourage them to click on a link. Once the link is clicked on, a virus or malware is downloaded onto the employee's computer. Once this happens, your security software and firewall are useless. Your network is officially breached.

Remember the email scams a few years back that featured Nigerian princes who promised you untold riches if you would only send them your name, social security number and bank account number? Today's cyber criminals and the scams they conduct are much more sophisticated. 

Their emails often go undetected by security software because the 'reply to' addresses are very similar to the actual email addresses used by employees in your organization. For example, let's say your email address is JDoe@johndoedealership.com. Cyber criminals will register the domain address johndoedealershiip.com, then create and send emails from the address JDoe@johndoedealershiip.com. At first glance the two addresses look the same, and most employees don't pay close attention to the 'reply to' address.

While security software may flag many of these emails as spam, unfortunately and inevitably, some will get through. Do you think your employees are effectively trained and prepared to avoid clicking on a scam email? Think again.

We recently conducted a test for one of our dealership clients. We emailed 120 employees with an email that looked, at first glance, like it was coming from the dealer principal. The email said in effect "Congratulations! You qualify for an employee bonus. Click on the link and sign in, and you can see what your share of the bonus will be." Half of the employees opened the email, eight people clicked on the link and three employees entered their user names and passwords when prompted. If this email was sent by cyber thieves, they would have had immediate access to this dealership's network.

That's how easy it is and that's why this is super scary.

Dire Consequences

The consequences of a security breach can be severe. Cyber criminals are in this for one reason: money. In some countries this line of work pays very well, and so more and smarter people continue to be lured into the profession.

There's three primary ways cyber criminals make money:

1) Steal your customers' personal and sensitive information such as social security numbers, addresses, names, credit card numbers and bank account numbers. The criminals then use this information to file false tax returns, order credit cards and siphon money out of bank accounts.

2) Trick you into wiring money to them. This has happened in quite a few dealerships I know of. Sophisticated 'whaling' email scams trick an employee, usually someone in accounting, to wire money to a bank account. Once it's discovered that the wire request was fraudulent, the money is gone and there is no way of getting it back.

3) Hold your computer files and data hostage for money, essentially shutting your business down for ransom. The only way for you to 'unlock' your system and get your business running again is to pay using bitcoins, which are untraceable.

In the latter two scenarios, your cost is limited to the amount that you pay the cyber thieves. A recent, successful wiring scam resulted in one dealership losing a total of $60,000 in two separate $30,000 transfers. Ransom requests can range anywhere from hundreds of dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on how greedy the cyber thief is.

However, the most financially damaging scenario is having your customers' sensitive data stolen. If this happens, plan on spending roughly $30 per record. If your dealership has 100,000 customers in its database, you could be on the hook for $3 million.

Why so much?

First, you have to contact all your customers, inform them of the breach and offer to pay for credit monitoring for two years, to ensure they are not adversely affected.

Additional costs include possible FBI investigations, mandatory security audits, consumer lawsuits and FTC action for non-compliance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act and software copyright laws. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it?

Besides monies lost, you will also suffer damage to your brand and customer trust. It's your responsibility to keep your customers' sensitive data safe. If you betray that trust, be prepared for a public relations nightmare.

Some dealers have asked me whether keeping their customers' data safe is the responsibility of their dealership management system (DMS) provider. The answer is no, it isn't. Your dealership is legally responsible.

When it comes to preventing cyber attacks, the best offense is defense. But it's difficult to defend against a weapon you know nothing about. In Part 2 of my series I'll review the current threats and tactics most likely to be used by cyber thieves to gain access to your network.

Is there someone in your family who hardly ever answers the phone, but will almost always respond to a text? Don't take it personally. This same person probably prefers to make dinner and travel reservations online, and only answers the phone if they feel it's imperative to do so--like if it's their boss calling them for the second time or their mother calling them for the eighth time.

Increasingly, a growing percentage of the population, especially younger people, prefers to interact with family, friends and businesses electronically.

Dealers, this means you too.

Granted, the majority of customers still prefer to contact your dealership via the phone. Some of them are even patient and will wait for a call back, but most won't. If a prospect can't find an immediate answer to their question, or they get sent to voice mail, chances are they'll grow impatient. They may even start Googling to find another dealership or service center while they're still on hold.

At this point whoever connects with the customer first, wins.

For this reason, many dealers are now offering electronic communications options. Online chat, online service scheduling systems and texting applications are all examples of technology being used now to connect with customers and improve customer satisfaction.

Even more technologies are coming down the pipeline. On the sales side dealerships have barely scratched the surface when it comes to videos, offering cars for sale online and location-based technologies. On the service side, the next few years will bring tremendous increases in usage of over-the-air software updates, mobile tablets and wireless shop tools.

You may not realize it yet, but many of your customers are really eager for you to get all these technologies in place so they don't have to talk to you. It's strange but true; among a certain segment of your customers, the less they talk to you, the more satisfied they will be.

When you consider new applications and tools for your dealership, remember to always ask, "How much bandwidth will this take?" Bandwidth is important because no matter how incredibly well designed a new application or technology is, customers won't be happy if it's slow and unreliable. To provide a positive customer experience, speed and reliability are critical.

So as you strive to improve your customer experience, remember to conduct periodic assessments to see if your information technology (IT) infrastructure is up to the task. For most dealerships, the two main areas to be addressed are Internet and wireless connections.

INTERNET

Today's dealership requires an enterprise level Internet connection provided by fiber optics, which delivers data at speeds ten to 100 times faster than small business Internet service.

Many dealers believe fiber optics is too expensive, but thanks to recent deregulation and increased competition, the cost of fiber optics has dropped dramatically. In many areas a carrier can bring fiber optics right into your server room for under $1,000 per month.

Resiliency is also important. Dealers should consider having two fiber optics connections from two separate service providers; or at the minimum a fiber optics connection from one provider and a dedicated Internet circuit from another provider.

WIRELESS (WiFi)

In order to understand how much wireless coverage your dealership needs, it's important to understand how much you have now. These definitions will help you determine where you are and how much you need to upgrade.

Level 1: Shop and Guest

I estimate that 25 percent of dealerships are still at this level. Typically this means there are anywhere from one to six wireless nodes in the store. This level is not adequate if your dealership is using mobile tablet applications or cloud-based DMS and other third-party applications.

Level 2: Data Throughout

Currently about 70 percent of dealerships are at this level. At this level wireless access is available throughout the entire dealership. This level of coverage typically doesn't extend to the lot, although there may be some access close to the building. Depending on the size of the dealership, this type of coverage requires from six to 20 wireless access nodes.

Level 3: Voice

This level is basically Level 2 with the addition of roaming voice capability for wireless phones. However, most people now use mobile phones, so there is less demand for this level of coverage. Only three percent of dealerships are at this level.

Level 4: Location Based

Not many dealerships are at this level yet, but this is where the industry is headed. This level provides "Big Brother" capability, or extreme high-density wireless coverage. If you're considering any type of location-based software that tracks customer and/or employee movements out on the lot and through your store, this is the level of wireless you'll need.

Level 4 provides coverage over the entire lot, all the way to the perimeter. This type of wireless requires a minimum of 25 access nodes per store. At about $800 per access node, it doesn't come cheap. The good news is, the wireless access nodes you purchase today should last from three to five years.

Last but not least, you probably want to upgrade your network switches. Most technologies require switches that deliver 1,000 Mbps, or about one Gigabit, of throughput. Many dealerships are still using 100 Mbps switches, which are woefully inadequate for a typical dealership's needs.

If your customers don't want to talk to you, don't take it personally. Offer them the communications options they're comfortable with. Just don't forget about the bandwidth.

Timonium, MD –­ July 18th, 2017 –­ Helion Automotive Technologies, the retail automotive industry's leading Information Technology (IT) managed services provider (MSP), today announced the recent addition of Tracey Reyes as its new Director of Marketing. Reyes brings more than 20 years professional experience in marketing, advertising, events, branding and strategy to the position, with over 10 years of experience in the retail automotive industry.

In her role as Director of Marketing, Reyes will oversee the development and implementation of strategies to increase awareness of Helion's position as the premier choice of auto dealers for IT managed services.

"Tracey brings a wealth of marketing knowledge to this position and I'm excited to have her energy, expertise and guidance for achieving our vision for the future," said Erik Nachbahr, founder and president of Helion Automotive Technologies.

Prior to joining Helion, Reyes held positions as Marketing Director with Digital Air Strike and as Marketing Manager with DealerTrack. Additionally she has held positions as Director of Marketing with Paypro Corporation and Assistant Marketing Manager with First Data Merchant Services. Reyes has a proven track record of increasing customer engagement, lead generation and revenue with creative and innovative marketing campaigns.

"Helion's unique service offerings are one of the best kept secrets in the automotive industry, and I look forward to changing that narrative," said Reyes. "The main challenge lies in educating auto dealers about how IT services should be viewed as an investment that can help them grow and reach their business objectives, versus an expense to be contained."

Helion's service offerings to auto dealerships includes end-to-end management of hardware infrastructure, software applications support, Help Desk support, data and cybersecurity solutions, communications and more.

For more information contact Helion at 443-541-1500 or online at http://www.heliontechnologies.com.

About Helion Automotive Technologies

Helion...Putting Your Dealership in the FAST LANE! Helion Automotive Technologies is a leading IT solutions provider, providing auto dealers with faster, more efficient networks and secure data protection. From managed services to IT assistance and service desk help, Helion offers both short-term IT fixes and long-term planning so dealers can focus on what matters most: selling more cars. Helion has specialized in IT for more than twenty years and works with 650+ auto dealers nationwide. Dealers can request a free assessment of their IT needs at www.heliontechnologies.com.

Timonium, MD –­ July 10th, 2017 –­ Helion Automotive Technologies, the retail automotive industry's leading Information Technology (IT) managed services provider (MSP), today announced it has been ranked # 69 out of 501 top managed services providers in the world according to the 2017 MSPmentor 501 Global Edition - Worldwide Company Rankings. The list is compiled annually by MSPmentor.net and is widely recognized as the IT industry's most respected rankings.

"The fact that Helion is among the top MSPs in the world demonstrates the degree to which the automotive industry recognizes and embraces the importance of technology to current and future business operations," said Erik Nachbahr, founder and president of Helion Automotive Technologies. "In the last ten years the auto industry has been completely transformed by technology and there is still much more change ahead."

Helion's service offerings to auto dealerships includes end-to-end management of hardware infrastructure, software applications support, Help Desk support, data and cybersecurity solutions, communications and more.

Helion currently provides IT managed services to more than 650 auto dealerships and 28,000 end users. The company handles an average 300 Help Desk calls every day and resolves more than 6,000 IT issues per month. In 2016 Helion expanded into heavy-duty trucking and currently supports 33 commercial truck dealerships.

Each year MSPmentor.net, a leading online resource and destination for managed services providers, compiles the list of company rankings by data collection and analyses of MSP business models, technologies, vertical markets and revenues. The MSP 501 ranking features IT services firms from virtually every corner of the earth, both large and small.

For more information contact Helion at 443-541-1500 or online at http://www.heliontechnologies.com.

About Helion Automotive Technologies

Helion...Putting Your Dealership in the FAST LANE! Helion Automotive Technologies is a leading IT solutions provider, providing auto dealers with faster, more efficient networks and secure data protection. From managed services to IT assistance and service desk help, Helion offers both short-term IT fixes and long-term planning so dealers can focus on what matters most: selling more cars. Helion has specialized in IT for more than twenty years and works with 650+ auto dealers nationwide. Dealers can request a free assessment of their IT needs at www.heliontechnologies.com.

Timonium, MD –­ July 17th, 2017 –­ Helion Automotive Technologies, the retail automotive industry's leading Information Technology (IT) managed services provider (MSP), today announced the recent addition of Tracey Reyes as its new Director of Marketing. Reyes brings more than 20 years professional experience in marketing, advertising, events, branding and strategy to the position, with over 10 years of experience in the retail automotive industry.

In her role as Director of Marketing, Reyes will oversee the development and implementation of strategies to increase awareness of Helion's position as the premier choice of auto dealers for IT managed services.

"Tracey brings a wealth of marketing knowledge to this position and I'm excited to have her energy, expertise and guidance for achieving our vision for the future," said Erik Nachbahr, founder and president of Helion Automotive Technologies.

Prior to joining Helion, Reyes held positions as Marketing Director with Digital Air Strike and as Marketing Manager with DealerTrack. Additionally she has held positions as Director of Marketing with Paypro Corporation and Assistant Marketing Manager with First Data Merchant Services. Reyes has a proven track record of increasing customer engagement, lead generation and revenue with creative and innovative marketing campaigns.

"Helion's unique service offerings are one of the best kept secrets in the automotive industry, and I look forward to changing that narrative," said Reyes. "The main challenge lies in educating auto dealers about how IT services should be viewed as an investment that can help them grow and reach their business objectives, versus an expense to be contained."

Helion's service offerings to auto dealerships includes end-to-end management of hardware infrastructure, software applications support, Help Desk support, data and cybersecurity solutions, communications and more.

For more information contact Helion at 443-541-1500 or online at http://www.heliontechnologies.com.

About Helion Automotive Technologies

Helion...Putting Your Dealership in the FAST LANE! Helion Automotive Technologies is a leading IT solutions provider, providing auto dealers with faster, more efficient networks and secure data protection. From managed services to IT assistance and service desk help, Helion offers both short-term IT fixes and long-term planning so dealers can focus on what matters most: selling more cars. Helion has specialized in IT for more than twenty years and works with 650+ auto dealers nationwide. Dealers can request a free assessment of their IT needs at www.heliontechnologies.com.

Timonium, MD -- June 12th, 2016 -- Helion Automotive Technologies, a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions for auto and truck dealers, today issued a new data security warning for auto dealerships. Hackers are now planting malware inside of social media posts designed to lure employees of organizations to click on the post. If an employee takes the bait and clicks on the social media post, e.g. Facebook and Twitter messages and public postings, the malware is downloaded onto the employee's computer and may compromise the entire organization's network. Security software and firewalls cannot prevent this type of attack.

"This is the same spear phishing scheme that hackers have been using successfully in targeted email messages for several years now," said Erik Nachbahr, President and CEO of Helion Automotive Technologies. "The problem is that although most employees have been told and know not to click on emails from people they don't know, they don't think twice when it comes to clicking on a message or offer in their Facebook feed. They are more trusting in a social media environment."

Spear phishing is a type of attack that involves identifying specific people for attack, studying their social media posts to learn their interests and activities, and then creating a message or offer that appeals to them. For example, a recent breach at the Pentagon was caused when the wife of an employee clicked on a Twitter link that promised a great deal for a family-friendly vacation. She had previously been exchanging messages with friends over what they should do with their children over the summer. Although the wife was at home at the time, the hackers accessed the Pentagon employee's computer via a shared home network, and once the employee was back at the Pentagon, accessed the network from his computer.

Auto dealership employees are ideal targets for spear phishers looking to steal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and bank account information.

Helion recently conducted a phishing test at an auto dealership by sending emails to 125 employees. Three employees clicked on the emails and were taken to a website where they entered their user names and passwords when prompted. If this was a real attack and customer information was compromised, the consequences for that dealership may have been thousands of dollars paid out in credit monitoring for customers, investigations and lawsuits.

"That test was a good sample that revealed auto dealerships are very vulnerable to this type of attack and need to do a better job at educating their employees," said Nachbahr.

To help prevent this type of attack, Nachbahr recommends the following tips:

• Educate employees to never click on links in social media posts and messages from their computers or personal devices while at work or at home. If they want to click on social media posts at home, encourage them to use a personal device that they do not bring into work.

• Require employees to change their network login passwords every 90 days. Encourage them to use strong passwords and to never share or give login information to anyone.

• Encourage employees to keep social media profiles private and don't accept friend or connection requests from people they don't know.

• If employees receive a phone call, email message or social media message from a banking institution, vendor, or other entity that asks for personal information, user names or passwords, do not give this information verbally or via email. Instead, contact the institution directly and give the information verbally. Also never click on a link that takes you to a website that requires login information; instead, open a new browser window and manually navigate to the website.

• Ensure that your dealership has the latest versions of security software and firewalls. Although they don't prevent phishing attacks, they can help to prevent other types of attacks.

• Every auto dealership should have cyber liability insurance, which covers costs associated with a data security breach and/or loss of data.

• Apply software updates, also known as patches, to Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer and all software applications on every PC on a regular basis.

As the leading provider of managed IT services to auto dealerships nationwide, Helion offers 24-hour monitoring, managing and problem resolution for dealerships' computers, servers, and networks. Helion currently services more than 650 automotive and heavy-duty trucking dealerships, and 28,000 end users. The company handles an average 300 Help Desk calls every day and resolves more than 6,000 IT issues per month.

For more information on Helion's managed IT services, contact 443-541-1500.

About Helion Technologies

Helion...Putting Your Dealership in the FAST LANE! Helion Automotive Technologies is a leading IT solutions provider, providing auto dealers with faster, more efficient networks and secure data protection. From managed services to IT assistance and service desk help, Helion offers both short-term IT fixes and long-term planning so dealers can focus on what matters most: selling more cars. Helion has specialized in IT for more than ten years and works with 650+ auto dealers nationwide. Dealers can request a free assessment of their IT needs at http://www.heliontechnologies.com.

If you're like most dealers when I say the term 'collaboration tool,' you may have no idea what I'm talking about. However, when I say the term 'Instant Messaging' you know what I'm talking about, but you may not like it. Remember a decade or so ago, when IM apps were all the rage in the workplace? Many dealerships tried, but quickly abandoned them because employees were spending too much time chatting and not enough time working.

If that was your experience, I'm going to ask you to keep an open mind. In the last few years IM has evolved into a workplace collaboration tool guaranteed to improve your customers' experience.

Today's collaboration tools are integrated with both phone and computer systems; examples include Jabber from Cisco or Connect from Shoretel. In the workplace, a collaboration tool enables customers to connect with more employees, reduces phone tag and allows issues to be resolved quickly.

Here are a couple examples of how this overlooked tool can be used in your dealership.

Connect More Calls

According to a recent "2 Million Call Report" issued by CallRevu, 28 percent of incoming calls to dealerships never connect with anyone. Callers either hang up while on hold or after being transferred to voice mail, or they leave a voice mail but nobody calls back, or the phone just rings and rings.

That's nearly one-third of customers and potential customers that aren't getting price quotes, issues resolved or other questions answered.

Collaboration tools have a feature called 'Presence Management,' which allows receptionists and other employees to see the status of their fellow employees; whether 'Available,' 'Away from Desk,' 'Out of Office' or 'On the Phone.' This can help eliminate many of those annoying hold delays.

Let's say Mrs. Smith calls in to find out if her car is ready to be picked up at the service department. Her assigned service advisor may be with another customer, but he sees a message pop up on his mobile tablet: "Is Mrs. Smith's car ready?" He can respond without having to take the call, servicing both customers better.

Or, when a customer calls in to ask if your dealership has a vehicle in stock, the receptionist can instantly see which salespeople are available. If three salespeople are showing as available, they can be sent a group message alerting them to a lead.

Eliminate 'Check With the Manager' Syndrome

While collaboration tools are great for connecting off-site customers with the appropriate agent, they also play an important role in better servicing your on-site customers.

One of the most often cited tactics that annoys car shoppers is the "Let me go check with my manager" syndrome. When a salesperson leaves their office in the middle of a negotiation, do you really want that customer to sit there with plenty of time to talk themself out of buying?

Imagine instead if that salesperson uses a collaboration tool to ask their manager for approval of price or other terms. The back and forth messaging is private, instant and the salesperson never has to leave the office.

A collaboration tool can be used in a similar fashion to prevent the escalation of issues and to quickly resolve issues. From a customer's perspective, nothing is worse than calling to complain about something and then being placed on hold or sent into voice mail. Your instant perception is that nobody cares, which only makes you angrier.

If an employee is not empowered to resolve an issue, they can instantly reach out to a manager with the authority and availability to deal with the customer. Even if the manager is occupied, they may choose to make themselves available when they see a message pop up on their computer screen alerting them to a situation that needs attention.

Today's collaboration tools aren't designed to replace email or phone calls, but rather as an additional channel that can be used for specific types of communication, such as the instant exchange of information.

Can they be abused? Certainly, but it's highly doubtful, especially if you roll it out with guidelines and let employees know that all messages sent on the system are occasionally monitored and/or stored. That should eliminate the use of the system for gossip and personal communications.

From a customer perspective collaboration tools increase the connection rate for inbound calls and empower employees to take better care of customers. Dealers who have tried IM in the past and dismissed it as a productivity waster may want to approach this underutilized tool with an open mind.

What is your experience with IM and collaboration tools? Do you believe they help or hurt workplace productivity?

Baltimore, MD, May 9th, 2017 – EY today announced that Erik Nachbahr, President and founder of Helion Automotive Technologies, is a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2017 Award in the Maryland region. The awards program, which is celebrating its 31st year, recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Nachbahr was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 28, 2017 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

"Being selected as a finalist for this prestigious award is a real honor," said Erik Nachbahr, President and Founder of Helion Automotive Technologies. "Like many entrepreneurs it took me years of hard work, perseverance and commitment to build a successful business. It's incredibly satisfying to be recognized and supported by peers in the business community and sponsors of this program."

Helion Automotive Technologies is an information technology (IT) managed services provider (MSP) specializing in retail automotive. Like many technology gurus, Erik started working alone and out of his basement. In 1997 his first automotive client was a Toyota dealer who hired him to fix several IT issues in his store. That dealer referred Erik to several other Toyota dealers, who in turn referred him to more dealers. Erik quickly recognized an opportunity in the retail automotive niche and formed Helion Automotive Technologies.

Today Helion services over 650 auto dealerships and 28,000 end users. The company handles an average 300 Help Desk calls every day and resolves more than 6,000 IT issues per month. In 2016 Helion expanded into the heavy-duty trucking industry with the addition of a client with 33 commercial truck dealerships.

Now in its 31st year, the EY program has expanded to recognize business leaders in over 145 cities and more than 60 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National competition. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 18, 2017. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth ForumTM, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the US by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In the Maryland region, sponsors also include DLA Piper, PNC, Cushman & Wakefield, KELLY Benefit Strategies, Randstad Professionals, and the Baltimore Business Journal.

For more information contact Helion at 443-541-1500 or online at http://www.heliontechnologies.com.

About Helion Automotive Technologies

Helion...Putting Your Dealership in the FAST LANE! Helion Automotive Technologies is a leading IT solutions provider, providing auto dealers with faster, more efficient networks and secure data protection. From managed services to IT assistance and service desk help, Helion offers both short-term IT fixes and long-term planning so dealers can focus on what matters most: selling more cars. Helion has specialized in IT for more than twenty years and works with 650+ auto dealers nationwide. Dealers can request a free assessment of their IT needs at www.heliontechnologies.com.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year®

Entrepreneur Of The Year®, founded by EY, is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in over 145 cities and more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy

About EY’s Growth Markets Network

EY’s worldwide Growth Markets Network is dedicated to serving the changing needs of high-growth companies. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped many of the world’s most dynamic and ambitious companies grow into market leaders. Whether working with international mid-cap companies or early stage, venture-backed businesses, our professionals draw upon their extensive experience, insight and global resources to help your business succeed. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/sgm or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member of the global EY organization that provides services to clients in the US.

For more information, please visit ey.com.

A recent article in Automotive News states the era of online car sales has arrived. Some dealerships already offer customers the ability to transact most, if not all, of the purchase experience online. AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said that in January 2017, 30 percent of AutoNation's new-vehicle sales were transacted online.

Experts predict this trend is about to be fast tracked, and many dealerships are within a year or two of being able to offer the entire vehicle-purchase experience online.

But there's one aspect of the online car sales experience that many dealers overlook as they begin exploring this option: their IT infrastructure. As your dealership evaluates online shopping portals, new F&I and leasing apps, and other technologies that allow you to move the car-buying experience online, it's important to also evaluate whether or not your IT infrastructure can support the increased data.

In order to offer a fast, seamless and secure online transaction, the majority of dealers will need to make upgrades in the following areas:

Internet

Have your applications been feeling sluggish lately? Are you still using T-1 or DSL based Internet at your dealership? Many popular dealership applications are now web based or otherwise utilizing your Internet connections to operate. Add on customer WiFi and other increasing demands to have it be just as good as at home, and you are likely at full capacity on your current connection. If you also don’t have a backup you can be completely down when a carrier experiences an outage.

Slowness definitely hurts. Your employees are less efficient, your customers can be dissatisfied and you can lose money from lost time to poor CSI scores.

There are plenty of options for upgrades. Fiber optic services are fast and can be easily upgraded as needs further increase. A best case scenario would be redundant fiber connections or a primary fiber and a coax or similar backup connection.

Hardware

Servers, switches, PCs and routers that were manufactured more than five years ago do not have the processing capacity to handle the large amounts of data involved with online vehicle transactions. Additionally, many dealership networks are still using Small-Office/Home-Office (SOHO) hardware that they picked up at a local retailer.

If you're planning to sell cars online, the large amounts of bandwidth and processing capacity involved requires upgrading to enterprise-grade equipment. Benchmark recommendations include:

• If your server is older than three years, purchase a new one. If you don't have a centralized server set-up, you'll need to implement one for security purposes.
• If your PCs are older than five years, purchase new ones.
• Check your network switches; 100 Mbps switches are obsolete and will need to be upgraded to Gigabit switches.  
• WiFi routers. These need to be enterprise-grade; Cisco/Meraki brand routers are best in class. For security purposes routers should also be cloud-managed.

Communication Systems

When you start selling cars online, do you really want your salespeople and F&I people to be texting and calling customers using their personal cell phones? If you're not sure of the answer, let me make it clear: NO YOU DON'T. For multiple reasons, security being high among them, all customer communications should be sent over a secure network and tracked, just as all documentation will need to be tracked.

Online chat tools, texting apps and Unified Communications Platforms (UCPs) are all systems that can be integrated with your CRM and/or DMS platforms to create secure, trackable and seamless communications channels.

Security

When a customer purchases a vehicle online they'll be required to enter their personal and sensitive information into a website form. It's your dealership's responsibility to ensure that all this data is protected. Collecting and storing social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, bank account numbers and credit card numbers online is no small matter. That's the type of information that hackers love to target.

To sell vehicles online, your dealership will need to create a virtual fortress. A benchmark recommendation is to hire a trained IT security consultant to oversee this important task. This is not something you want to mess around with.

Wireless

An important value-add that your dealership can offer that other online shopping sites may not be able to offer is a live, virtual walkaround. If a customer is interested in a particular vehicle, a salesperson can run outside and use a tablet or phone to start a two-way video chat that allows the customer to view the vehicle up close in real-time and ask questions.

This type of service, along with other up and coming location-based technologies, requires a robust wireless network that extends coverage to the edges of your dealership's lot. For the average-size dealership, this will require a minimum of 25 enterprise-grade WiFi routers. Yes, you read that right. No, that's not a typo. Trust me, I know.

More vendors are coming out with very cool front-end apps, portals and other technologies to help make online car sales a reality. As dealers evaluate the risks, costs and benefits involved, it's important to factor in the necessary upgrades to IT infrastructures. These benchmark recommendations should help.

While I was at NADA this year, I ran into a dealer who told me that he had recently discovered something very upsetting. An ex-salesperson who went to work for the competition had been logging into the dealer's CRM and stealing leads, which the salesperson then proceeded to enter into the CRM at his current workplace. Apparently this had been going on, undetected, for months.

How can this happen, you wonder? Unfortunately for dealers, it's pretty easy.

I wrote recently about how most dealerships don't have an established process to delete user accounts when employees leave. A simple checklist is all it takes.

But there's another very common practice in dealerships that makes it easy for ex-employees to continue logging in. That practice is shared accounts.

Sometimes, for the convenience of having employees being able to shift back and forth between different computers, or to save money, dealerships establish shared accounts. For instance, a sales department with five salespeople may have three CRM accounts with logins that look something like this:

Username: Sales1

Password: Auto1234

Username: Sales2

Password: Auto1234

Username: Sales3

Password: Auto1234

Okay, so anyone who knows anything about cybersecurity takes one look at those login credentials and breaks out into a cold sweat. Actually, there are quite a few things wrong with those login credentials.

But the biggest security risk is that everyone knows what the logins are, including all your ex-salespeople.

If your dealership's DMS, CRM or other applications are cloud-based, those databases can be accessed from any computer, anywhere, as long as the person is using the right login credentials. Ex salespeople could be stealing your leads. So could ex service managers.

As upsetting as this is, what you may not realize is that if this is happening, stolen leads are the least of your concerns. Your dealership is legally responsible for protecting your customers' personal information. If your database is breached, your dealership could be liable for all the costs involved. At about $30 per customer record, this could add up to millions of dollars.

Another problem with shared accounts is that it muddles the audit trail. When your database is breached one of the first things the FBI does is audit your logins. You should always be able to tell who specifically logged into what, where and when. With shared accounts this is a problem, which means that nice FBI agent will probably become upset. In my experience, it's best not to upset FBI agents more than is necessary.

Shared accounts are a bad idea, all around. Assign every employee a unique username and establish a process to delete all user accounts after your employees leave. This will help keep your leads and your customers' personal information safe from prying eyes.