I am trying to look up the UCS company. I don't know anything about this company. Anyone familiar with it? website or any other info?
UCS DMS
- Thread starter iceman101
- Start date
- Apr 28, 2009
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- Jerry
- Oct 17, 2009
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- Lee
Iceman-
Welcome to DR! UCS purchased Reynolds about a year and a half ago, looking back they were completely different DMS's however my understanding is that going forward they will be one company offering 1 product. I have emailed a friend, who also happens to be the local R&R rep for more information. I will forward the info via PM when I receive it.
As a vendor I can tell you many 3rd parties have trouble gaining access to UCS data so if you have vendors that you're not willing to part with reach out to them to confirm that they will be able to access your data. (If you're a OneCommand client we can contiue to access your data with very little change.)
Welcome to DR! UCS purchased Reynolds about a year and a half ago, looking back they were completely different DMS's however my understanding is that going forward they will be one company offering 1 product. I have emailed a friend, who also happens to be the local R&R rep for more information. I will forward the info via PM when I receive it.
As a vendor I can tell you many 3rd parties have trouble gaining access to UCS data so if you have vendors that you're not willing to part with reach out to them to confirm that they will be able to access your data. (If you're a OneCommand client we can contiue to access your data with very little change.)
UCS has provided management systems for the dealer vertical since the late 80's. The rumors we hear in the retail auto IT world is that they managed to piss off so many of their customers through hostile contracts and poor business practices that no one trusted them. Therefore it is surmised that in order to compete in the market place UCS needed a new image and acquired the then publicly held R&R with the help of Fin O'Neil (recently appointed leader at R&R after their Generation Series product flopped costing them 89 Million in R&D expenses). The 2 billion dollar acquisition couldn't have been more poorly timed. The decline in retail automotive in North America and growing comptetiveness in the marketplace with new comers like Arkona/Dealertrack are proving it difficult for R&R to maintain its market penetration. With a capital expenditure that large expect UCS/R&R to enact aggressive contracts with large premiums and long terms.
Just found this forum and thought I'd add my two cents. I've been out of this industry for a number of years, but had a front row seat for most of the 80's and 90's. To the best of my knowledge, this is the UCS/FDCS/Reynolds cliff notes.
UCS was founded in the 70's, I believe, by Bob Brockman. It is a privately held company, and their specialty was mostly mega-dealers and dealer groups. All green screen, mainframe stuff, much run out of their Houston office. At their zenith I think they had something like 1000 clients. The market consensus was that the UCS software (now called "Power") was powerful and flexible, but expensive, and UCS as a company was difficult to deal with.
In the early 90's (1992?), Ford decided to get out of the DMS business and sold their Dealer Computer Services operation off to UCS. It was run as (very nominally) separate operation called Ford Dealer Computer Services (UCS got to use the Ford name). As Ford dealers learned the hard way what doing business with UCS was like, the installed base steadily shrunk. until they were about the same size as when the DCS operation was first acquired. Along they way, UCS lost the rights to use the Ford name and logo.
Fast forward to 2006(?) - Brockman worked a deal that was deceptively labeled as a "merger" between UCS and Reynolds, when in reality it was a leveraged buyout. Very good for the stockholders as Brockman and his investors paid a big premium for the outstanding stock, I think it was $40 a share when market value was something in the $28 range. R&R is now just a name, the company is owned and operated by Brockman and his top 6 or 7 lieutenants. All decisions are made by Brockman, nothing gets done without his approval. The UCS philosophy seems to be that the company (aka Bob) should make as much profit as possible from each customer - there are comments to that effect on a number of different websites. To that end, Dayton has seen a steady turnover in the workforce with legacy R&R employees (ie higher cost resources) being let go, and the positions backfilled with new hires if at all. They like to lock dealers into restrictive, long-term contracts, *everything* has a price, and 3rd party access to the system is extremely limited. Essentially, if the dealer wants to do X, they need to use our system; if we don't do X, they don't need to do it (I've read comments that effect on other community sites)
This approach has made Mr. Brockman a very wealthy man, however, it does not sit well with many dealers and there has been a fairly steady exodus from R&R to other DMS providers over the past 4 years; I've seen reports that one of the other DMS operations has Brockman's picture on the wall labeled as their "Salesman of the Year". My personal opinion is that R&R will be milked of any value until the remains of the company will be roughly the same size as the "old" UCS. Very similar trajectory as the FDCS deal.
As always, your mileage may vary. If you are interested in a Reynolds (nee UCS) system, I'd recommend speaking to current and if possible former clients to get their opinions and insight.
Good luck.
UCS was founded in the 70's, I believe, by Bob Brockman. It is a privately held company, and their specialty was mostly mega-dealers and dealer groups. All green screen, mainframe stuff, much run out of their Houston office. At their zenith I think they had something like 1000 clients. The market consensus was that the UCS software (now called "Power") was powerful and flexible, but expensive, and UCS as a company was difficult to deal with.
In the early 90's (1992?), Ford decided to get out of the DMS business and sold their Dealer Computer Services operation off to UCS. It was run as (very nominally) separate operation called Ford Dealer Computer Services (UCS got to use the Ford name). As Ford dealers learned the hard way what doing business with UCS was like, the installed base steadily shrunk. until they were about the same size as when the DCS operation was first acquired. Along they way, UCS lost the rights to use the Ford name and logo.
Fast forward to 2006(?) - Brockman worked a deal that was deceptively labeled as a "merger" between UCS and Reynolds, when in reality it was a leveraged buyout. Very good for the stockholders as Brockman and his investors paid a big premium for the outstanding stock, I think it was $40 a share when market value was something in the $28 range. R&R is now just a name, the company is owned and operated by Brockman and his top 6 or 7 lieutenants. All decisions are made by Brockman, nothing gets done without his approval. The UCS philosophy seems to be that the company (aka Bob) should make as much profit as possible from each customer - there are comments to that effect on a number of different websites. To that end, Dayton has seen a steady turnover in the workforce with legacy R&R employees (ie higher cost resources) being let go, and the positions backfilled with new hires if at all. They like to lock dealers into restrictive, long-term contracts, *everything* has a price, and 3rd party access to the system is extremely limited. Essentially, if the dealer wants to do X, they need to use our system; if we don't do X, they don't need to do it (I've read comments that effect on other community sites)
This approach has made Mr. Brockman a very wealthy man, however, it does not sit well with many dealers and there has been a fairly steady exodus from R&R to other DMS providers over the past 4 years; I've seen reports that one of the other DMS operations has Brockman's picture on the wall labeled as their "Salesman of the Year". My personal opinion is that R&R will be milked of any value until the remains of the company will be roughly the same size as the "old" UCS. Very similar trajectory as the FDCS deal.
As always, your mileage may vary. If you are interested in a Reynolds (nee UCS) system, I'd recommend speaking to current and if possible former clients to get their opinions and insight.
Good luck.