ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 100 Auto/Mate customers walked away with the tools and resources they need to make their dealerships successful, according to the DMS provider, which just wrapped up its annual User Summit in San Antonio this past week. The three-day event provided dealership employees a variety of educational workshops, presentations and training sessions to better utilize the Auto/Mate system and see what features are new and lined up for release.

“I am so proud to stand up in front of our customers and represent Auto/Mate,” said Mike Esposito, the company’s president and CEO. “The amount of love, appreciation and input that our customers expressed to us was simply amazing, from both new and existing customers. It was gratifying to hear all of their stories, from recent conversions and installations, to how much they rely on our support and software on a daily basis.”

Sessions at User Summit included a keynote from Lisa Copeland on overcoming fear in the dealership, open forums for dealers to voice what features they’d like to see be developed and new product announcements, including Auto/Mate’s Texting engine and e-Signature Capture, as well as enhancements made to Payroll, Accounting and Report/Mate.

“It’s awesome to hear how receptive the Auto/Mate team is to our needs,” said John Corsa, controller at Susquehanna Auto. “I came here with three suggestions from our management team and left this [Report/Mate] breakout session delightfully surprised knowing that they are already scheduled for production.”

Auto/Mate’s annual User Summit was sponsored by partners of Open/Mate, Auto/Mate’s third-party integration program. Its advocacy for open standards in the automotive industry gave sponsors the opportunity to exhibit at the event and meet with Auto/Mate customers, providing them with additional solutions for their dealership.

“The User Summit was a big success for us because of the opportunity it gave us to connect with Auto/Mate users from around the country,” said Zach Dunham, AIB director of marketing. “We also appreciated that the attendees were genuinely interested in our services.”

Next year’s User Summit is tentatively planned for fall 2018.