Who's Innovating Without Adding AI?

[Carsten]

I think this is a great time to start considering that crusty carburetor full of gunk and mismatching screws might not be really what you want to be using.

Software is like an engine. There is only so much you can do to fix or upgrade it. You need to strip back your engine back down to the core to do a rebuild. Sometimes you have to buy a whole new block. Software advancements are like engine changes from the 40s to the 2000. And today we have ev motors. Software has to undergo a core platform change or upgrade. Swapping heads, or pistons or even throwing on a turbo charger or new tranny can help but once you hit that 300,000 mile mark ... you really need to consider whether it's work investing in that engine with sketchy rod bearings or not. This summer you witnessed what happens to software that needed a new block.

Newer engines like the EV motor are coming along and they will be able to handle your needs just as well as the old guard.

 

[Collin Pedersen]

I am! Going on 3 years of development but we're finally opening up to the public! @jon.berna said self promote, so I'm going to!

Been working with about 20 dealerships over the past few years to get this application up and running. We hit the drawing board for a full inventory solution after realizing that the products we were looking to create, would involve the same 60% of work over and over (inventory management). I will say, we have added some AI features, but it's not the core of our application.

autoZnetwork - API Based Inventory Management

1. Inventory Management
   1. Aftermarket Parts & Accessories - Add aftermarket parts to your vehicles data.
   2. Options Ranking - Automatic VIN decode picks out the options customers care about.
   3. Our VIN decode allows you to add OEM/Manufacturer features.
   4. Shared Inventory - Manage shared inventory between multiple rooftops.
   5. Multiple Locations - Manage multiple locations from one platform.
   6. Dealer Groups - Manage multiple organizations from one platform.
   7. Enterprise Organizations - Manage multiple dealer groups from one dashboard.
   8. Notifications - Send email, text, chat, or webhook notifications.
2. Inventory Photos
   1. Mobile App - Snap photos from a mobile app and upload instantly.
   2. High Definition Photos - Supports 2k+ photos. (Cough Cough vAuto's 500px photos are a thing of the past!)
   3. 360 Interior/Exterior Photos - Capture 360 degree exterior & interior photos.
   4. Photo Editor - Edit your inventory photos online and save.
   5. Background Editor - Move your vehicle around on the AI generated background.
   6. Photo Overlays - Add overlays to your inventory quickly.
   7. Photo Banners - Add custom banners in your inventory photos.
   8. Highlighted Options Ranking Overlay - Add vehicle installed options to the images.
3. Inventory Videos
   1. Upload Videos - Upload any videos, from walk-arounds to sales videos
   2. Facebook Integration - Your videos are injected into your Facebook Catalog for retargeting.
   3. Send Videos to 3rd Parties - Send videos to any 3rd party that supports them.
4. Inventory Feeds (Importing Inventory)
   1. DMS Integrations - Import your inventory directly from your DMS. We support a large handful already.
   2. Supplemental Feeds - Blend data from multiple feeds into one platform.
   3. Advanced Feed Splitting - Send your inventory to the right location from one feed.
5. Inventory Syndications (Outgoing Inventory)
   1. Unlimited Syndications - Send your inventory to any 3rd party provider.
   2. Custom Syndications - Make your own syndication and send it wherever you'd like.
   3. Hourly Syndications - Send your inventory feed every hour. (enough of this 1 time per day).
   4. Disclaimers - Prepend or append disclaimers to your description.
6. Marketing Tools
   1. Craigslist Posting Automation - Post your inventory to Craigslist in any area.
   2. Facebook Catalog - Send a perfect inventory feed to Meta (Facebook) Ads.
   3. Facebook Leads Bridge - Send your Meta (Facebook) Leads directly to your CRM.
   4. Google (Ads) VLAs - Send a perfect inventory feed to Google to enable VLAs.
   5. Google Business Profile Vehicle Listings - Keep your inventory in sync with GBP's Vehicle Listings.
   6. Pinterest Catalog - Keep your inventory in sync with Pinterest.
   7. Snapchat Catalog - Keep your inventory in sync with Snapchat.
   8. TikTok Catalog - Keep your inventory in sync with TikTok.
7. Printing Solutions
   1. Stock Tags - Print weather resistant stock tags for your inventory.
   2. Buyers Guides - Print buyers guides for your vehicles.
   3. Window Stickers - Print custom window stickers for your vehicles.
   4. QR Codes - Add a QR Code to any of your documents so you don't have to reprint after a price change.
   5. Remote Printing - Print remotely to your dealership printer from desktop or the mobile app.
8. Developer Tools
   1. Domain (DNS) Management - Use our automotive domain manager to keep your DNS records organized.
   2. Inventory Photos CDN - Access inventory photos using a CDN that supports dynamic capabilities (resize, crop, compress, etc).
   3. RESTful API - Use our API to make changes from external systems.
   4. 0auth 2.0 Authentication - Add Oauth logins to your own applications.
   5. Webhooks - Trigger webhooks based on inventory changes.
   6. Zapier Integration - Trigger custom events using Zapier. (Make integration coming soon)

dealerMe - Website Solution
Our website solution is running off this platform as well. Getting a 98% Google Page Speed score. Integrated with 700Credit, and soon will be fully integrated with DealerTrack and RouteOne. Running a very powerful search engine that is geared for how the customer actually searches. Every customer is fingerprinted, and personalization is baked into the search formula. As the user clicks, the searches are constantly improving for that customer.

Best part of dealerMe, the ASC events are baked into the platform, just punch in you GA4 ID, Faceboo Pixel ID, Google Ads conversion IDs, and you're done. Full ASC compliance out of the box within minutes. All the events are sent server-side as well, so there's no need to worry about ad blockers in the browser, and it increases the page speed!

honkr - Automotive Deposit Solution
Accept secure deposits on your inventory. Supports webhooks, credit card processing, and integrates directly with autoZnetwork. Obviously can be used in our website solution!

So to answer your question @jon.berna , there are a few of us out there that aren't only focussed AI, we're looking to rebuild the automotive technology requirements from the ground up! Eliminating the need for Homenet, vAuto, any middle-man provider has been an undertaking, but worth it!