The Dealer Services Group of Automatic Data Processing, Inc., has announced the 150th order for their ASP, a new technology program to provide delivery of sales, service, parts and business applications and Internet access to dealers across a secure network hosted in a professionally managed environment.

Instead of locating the system at the dealership, ADP’s ASP is an “offsite” solution with the server and software located in a secure data center with 24/7 support. The business applications offered through ASP all comes from the same single source vendor solving many integration challenges, according to ADP.

Dealership locations in Florida, Illinois, Arizona, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Ohio and California are all now being serviced by various sized ATT, MCI and Qwest frame connections directly from the ADP Data Center in Chicago.

ADP’s ASP is designed for all types of dealerships from single locations to the largest dealer groups. Because ASP is an offsite solution, it can be tailored to provide as much or as little information access and system management as the dealer needs, according to company officials.

"We are using ADP's ASP services for F&I, accounting, repair order invoicing, inventory management and customer relationship management," said Jordan Aron, co-owner of Imperial Motors Jaguar, with locations in Lake Bluff, Ill., and Wilmette, Ill. "With ASP we no longer have to spend time maintaining our IT systems and worrying about maintenance and backup issues. We now have faster processing times for our computer-based transactions. Software upgrades occur seamlessly and some incremental costs have been reduced due to having our system offsite. ASP allows us to better focus our efforts on meeting the needs of our customers," Aron said.

“This is not just a subset of automotive front-end solutions but the entire suite of applications the dealer uses every day to operate their dealership," said Dan McCray, vice president of ASP product marketing for ADP Dealer Services. "This total application suite, all available offsite, is what differentiates ADP from the others. With our ASP program, the dealer no longer has the headaches of having to manage software upgrades, system breakdowns, data security, high cost IT staffing, data backups and Internet access issues. All of these are now managed by the ADP staff, a highly trained group of technicians who provide all the services and support.”

According to McCray, ASP provides each dealership location with a managed network strategy that connects customers, manufacturers, dealers and the Internet. This connection is protected by a facility having fully redundant onsite power, temperature control and disaster recovery systems.

“ASP frees dealers to focus on their core business of building customer relationships and selling and servicing vehicles more profitability," said Bob Karp, general manager of e-commerce and ASP for ADP Dealer Services. "Instead of constantly purchasing new technology, this program provides the latest technology and services for a single monthly fee -– not a purchase, but rental of exactly what the dealer needs today. As the dealer’s opportunities expand, ASP expands with him to provide him with the latest technology, as he needs it.”

In addition to the 150 dealer locations either contracted or operational, ASP is adding additional dealerships each week, according to McCray. “This is no longer a pilot project, but a total commitment to the auto industry to offer the best hosted ‘off site’ application solutions in the industry," McCray said. "ADP’s ASP is the way to deal with tomorrow’s technology today.”

Several of ADP’s ASP dealerships have been part of the program for over the last 15 months enjoying the benefits of a true managed “offsite” solution.

Dealer Services also has the ability to expand to additional data centers with minimum investment by sharing costs with other ADP Divisions such as Employer Services and Brokerage Services who also are industry leaders in “offsite” solutions, according to McCray.

About ADP Dealer Services

ADP Dealer Services provides integrated computing solutions to more than 16,000 automotive and truck dealers throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

ADP Dealer Services Group is the third largest business unit of ADP. ADP, with more the $6 billion in revenues and more than 500,000 clients, is one of the largest independent computing services firms in the world.

More information on ADP and ADP Dealer Services is available at www.adpdealer.comand www.dealersuite.com.

ADP is a registered trademark of ADP of North America, Inc.