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Reynolds closes modem access?

It is time for dealerships to find a more permanent solution by saving money, time & headaches and finally make that DMS switch.

Switch to WHO? They both seem like two choices that will cause you trouble. But I suppose I said too much already since not one person made a comment to my post in this thread...:rofl:

lfinney,
Reynolds is under no illusion that we have some magical hold on your dealership and you can’t ever leave us. That is a business decision every dealership eventually has to make.
All I ask is that the dealer make that decision based on facts and not a bunch of spin from a blog site where the views are skewed by people who don't have as much skin in the game as the dealer does.
If there is a law suit the last guy on the totem pole in the suit will be the 3rd party vendor and they will likely be the last guy your dealership can depend on to help.
 
Fist Bob you assume it is the access we are concerned with, it's not. Make no mistake an encrypted tunnel is much more secure than a modem, but a modem can make a secure transaction as well.

Our biggest issue comes once the 3rd party is in the system, what they do and what data do they get. Who at the 3rd party has the information access, who at the 3rd part has all the keys, what is the 3rd party’s data security policies on its servers, how are they secured, what is the 3rd parties security policy with its employee's who have access to the data and the dealerships servers, I could go on and on.

Bob there is enough technology out there to secure the transaction, no doubt. But the dealerships contingent liability is with their dealership and the customers in their system, if a law suit was to come about the lawyer would sue everyone involved starting with the deepest pockets first and Reynolds would be at t he top of that list. Secondly our contingent liability spans millions of customers over thousands of dealerships. So as you can see we have cause to be a bit more concerned than the vendor wanting the data or the dealership wanting to give it.
While there would be a strong possibility we would be able to detach ourselves in a law suit from the vendor and the dealership it would still take some number of hundreds of thousands of dollars in court, compare that to the cost of just protecting the data and the dealership up front and it is stupid for us not to do so, as is a fraction of the cost of a law suit for us and the dealer
So I am clear Larry: Putting in Captchas to protect dealers from mailicious third parties is effective how? Its a blatant attempt to keep valid third parties out of the software by rendering scripted data polling difficult, your attempt at using the "avoiding legal reprocussions" as the corporate spin is undermining your credibility. Hell give me a addendum to the MSA and Ill sign it absolving you for any security holes created by the utilization of an automated data poll to a third party.
Your company (and most of the informed consumers) is more than aware that RCI is a tool to force third parties to pay inordinate fees to become certified.
The inherent security risk to a dealer is their own employees access to the data. Give me an hour on a dealers network (wirelessly in a lot of cases) and Ill have rights to most of the files if I want it. Thats what you guys should be concerned with first, your own backyard. But lets not talk about that, because as we all know theres no revenue in improving the era environment.
 
It is my understanding you can use the Query Builder in Reynolds to automatically run a report query everyday and export it to a file on a computer. You could then post that file via FTP somewhere via a schedule. It isn't a sexy solution but supposedly it works. I talked to a dealer today who did that with some 3rd parties.
 
It is my understanding you can use the Query Builder in Reynolds to automatically run a report query everyday and export it to a file on a computer. You could then post that file via FTP somewhere via a schedule. It isn't a sexy solution but supposedly it works. I talked to a dealer today who did that with some 3rd parties.
This is what we're getting together on a spare (old, decrepit) XP box. Just ERA and a connection to the series of tubes. We'll see how it pans out in the next day or two.
 
It is my understanding you can use the Query Builder in Reynolds to automatically run a report query everyday and export it to a file on a computer. You could then post that file via FTP somewhere via a schedule. It isn't a sexy solution but supposedly it works. I talked to a dealer today who did that with some 3rd parties.
I've been doing this for over ten years, works far better than 6910
 
I love Query Builder... and on some Reynolds created reports and executables you can't get the same info from Query Builder, you can put the report on Hold and "print" it to Excel using Download Report Wizard!

I dislike the captchka. What a pain, and it comes up usually twice when using Query Builder.
 
Until Bob took the reins you used to be able to use eralink to create your own idescriptors, which essentially gave you the ability to create meaningful reports fairly easily. Evidently that ability was also a SECURITY BREACH and was removed with little prior warning.
 
I've been doing this for over ten years, works far better than 6910

The contributors of this Tech-Forum have been of great influence to my personal knowledge on the way the Auto Dealer industry works. Thank you thus-far for all of the knowledge shared, you all are great! Having that said, I have a question to pose to you.

As a third party vendor who has made an application for Dealer Service Department's our company has identified a need to integrate with DMS Providers.

We would like to identify the benefits & application to each of the following:
- ReyRey Querybuilder
- VPN Access
- Other recommended access points (Aside from becoming a Certified Interface)

Our requirements are as follows:
- RO information at time of vehicle arrival to dealer
- Vehicle Specifications
- Customer Information
- Name
- Contact Info/Preference

Would the suggested integration point be feasible for what I need?

Once again, Thank You and I look forward to future contributions by all.

Garrett
 
Hello everyone.

Jeff Kershner was kind enough to give me permission to post this message to the forum. Thanks, Jeff.

My name is Jeff Swearingen, I run a software company in Austin, TX called Enexity, you may have seen our SecureLink product elsewhere in the market.

The reason for my post is self serving, although I believe my company may be able to help some of the 3rd party vendors whose access has been removed by Reynolds decision to terminate all modem connectivity. We have received a couple of phone calls this week from vendors trying to quickly replace their remote access with a product that's easy and inexpensive for them and easy and secure for their customers.

A quick overview of our SecureLink product can be found here: Enexity - Standardizing The Way Software Vendors Support Their Customers

Essentially, we offer secure & easy remote support access to secure networks, it's used by over 15,000 companies & gives you access to telnet, RDP, web servers, etc. and has built in tools for desktop sharing and file transfer. Our primary industries are healthcare, financial services & government, but their seems to be an immediate need in this arena!

We also offer a product for the Enterprise (dealership) that enables remote access for 3rd party technology vendors, an overview of that product is here: Enexity - Standardizing The Way Your Software Vendors Support You

We can offer a special on an entry level package that's $5,000 for a turn-key implementation and full licensing for the rest of 2010.

Even if our product is not a fit for you, I'd be happy to give anyone my thoughts on establishing a remote access policy with your customers or vendors, which may help you avoid the pitfalls of setting up VPN connections or getting stuck with a WebEx or other desktop sharing type tool.

Thanks again for the opportunity to post this message, I'd be glad to speak with anyone about their particular use case & give an honest answer about our ability to help you.

Regards,

-Jeff Swearingen
Co-founder & CEO
Enexity, Inc.
512-637-8732 office
my e-mail is my first name at enexity dot com