CarTrax vehicle identification and tracking moves to the Cloud

CarTrax SaaS deployment model reduces cost of RFID vehicle tracking for car dealerships

November 15, 2016 ‒ Raleigh, NC ‒ Entigral Systems, Inc. has successfully completed the migration of its CarTrax vehicle identification and tracking system to the Cloud, to enable faster deployment and lower cost of ownership for new and used automotive dealerships. CarTrax uses RFID to identify, locate and track inventory and customer vehicles at dealership facilities.

Upgrading CarTrax to a Software-as-a-Service deployment model, cuts deployment cost and implementation time by 80-90%. But most important, it removes the burden of platform maintenance from lean dealership IT departments. Dealers no longer need to manage or maintain servers, take backups or install feature upgrades. Now this is all done for them automatically.

Amid record low staff retention, and record high competition, automotive dealerships are fighting a losing battle to maintain growth and profitability. For years they have invested in solutions to shift their marketing online. Now they are beginning to apply technology to streamline operations and improve the on-site (not online) sales and service experience.

According to various industry reports, nowadays about 70% of car buyers conduct all of their research online and only visit a car dealership to see a specific vehicle they are interest in buying. Yet when they get there, it is like a step back in time. Their experience on-site at the dealership is the exact opposite of the slick online experience they just had – Sales staff have no idea what vehicles are being advertised, and have difficulty finding the vehicle the buyer came to see.

No amount of sweet-talking and stalling can dismiss the buyers’ disappointment and frustration from having to wait 20-30 minutes for the car to be tracked down. All the while, buyers are on their smartphones searching other dealer’s sites, looking for an alternative. CarTrax cuts the waiting, and the risk of losing a sale, by letting Sales staff instantly locate any vehicle on the dealers lot and storage facilities right from their phone.

Waiting in Service is another major cause of stress for customers, and a top reason for service customer churn. By identifying customer vehicles on arrival in the Service Drive, dealerships can recognize their customers and speed-up check-in. And by tracking vehicles through each service step, customers can be informed of their vehicle’s status and know when it is ready for pickup.

CarTrax is an industry-specific application of Entigral’s TraxWare sensor automation platform, which has been widely deployed in complex manufacturing environments to streamline various production workflows and provide unprecedented visibility of materials inventory and product status through different manufacturing processes. TraxWare has helped manufacturers save millions of dollars annually through reduced production errors, waste elimination and numerous other efficiencies.

About Entigral Systems Inc.