Roll out of Autoline for Barloworld Motor Group commences ....

The 2nd of February 2004 saw the first implementation of the Autoline Dealer Management System (DMS) being rolled out at Barons Culemborg and Audi Centre Cape Town.

This marks the start of a project that will take 18 months to roll out 40 dealerships. This is very exciting as this will enable the Barloworld Motor Group to eventually have one single customer database and all dealerships will run on one single dealer management system.

This implementation took place after many months of preparation by the Barloworld Motor IS staff, Kerridge Computer Company staff, and input from selected business representatives within our the group, as well as dealership staff.

The Autoline-Barloworld Implementation Team

By dealer standards this implementation can be considered to be a fairly large one – consisting of over 100 users. The implementation team is highly skilled and is made up of Kerridge experts as well as former dealership employees. The planning process was intricate and intensive and included the conceptualisation of an innovative training and awareness process, which will be put in place over the next few months.

The successful rollout of the DMS was due to a concerted and collaborative team effort from all those involved in the implementation team and the remarkable cooperative attitude and enthusiasm displayed by the dealership staff and management.

This first implementation serves as a learning experience for all those involved, the successes and shortcomings will go a long way in preparing the team for the next implementations that will take place within the next 18 months. The morning on the “Go Live” was filled with an air of apprehension and excitement. Fortunately it was all systems go and the few hiccups that were experienced were soon under control thanks to the experience and steadfastness displayed by the project management team and support staff.

Some of the Kerridge DMS implementation team members’ comments on the Barons Culemborg and Audi Centre Cape Town implementation were:

“The implementation was a great success in my view. The experience gained is phenomenal and will always be the base for future implementations.”
Kevin Ramsamy - Kerridge Project Consultant (Barloworld Motor Employee)

“There are two things that could happen on the morning of “Go Live”, the system fails and a DRP needs to be actioned, or the system is a success and our business is able to transact. Needless to say, with careful planning and a brilliant mix of expertise the latter was achieved.”
Santhosh Pursad - Kerridge Project Consultant (Barloworld Motor Employee)

Frank Mcguiness, a former Barons Woodmead Sales Manager who is now part of the rollout team had this to say about his first rollout and the new system: “Now after nearly three weeks of working with the live system I can see that there was a lot of dedicated and hard work that went into this project and I am sure that it will be the same for future installations. As for the system, the potential for retrieving information for CRM and other figures needed to give Barloworld the insight for our customers needs and requirements are enormous and I am sure it will take quite a few months to even scratch the surface of the system’s capabilities.”

Sidney Govender, the assistant project manager, was very impressed by the attitude and eagerness of the Barons Culemborg Staff and had this to say: “For the pilot of a new system the rollout went extremely well. There were some issues, most of which, were resolved by the rollout team efficiently. The staff at Barons Culemborg and Audi Center Cape Town was absolutely brilliant.”

The rollout meant that the Implementation Team spent many hours at the dealership preparing for the eminent “Go Live” of the system and interacting with dealership staff. The team spent up to five days with minimal sleep and sometimes going back to the hotel room to freshen up and return to the dealership after four to five hours on any given day. Their hard work and efforts certainly paid off and Barloworld Motor as a group is yet to reap the benefit of this mammoth project.

Etienne Geldenhuys (Barloworld Motor Systems Implementations Manager) said that the complete implementation could not be possible without the positive attitude and commitment of the staff and management on site. Gaz Enous (DP – Barons Culemborg) and Graeme Sholto-Douglas (DP – Audi Centre Cape Town) were on site throughout the implementation period motivating their staff and praising their efforts. A great thank you to them, Peter Gangen (FM) and all departmental managers.

The next sites to go live on the new Autoline Dealer management system are Barons Bellville, Barons N1 City, Barons Claremont and Barons Tokai on 31 May 2004.