SAN FRANCISCO -

In addition to recently revealing a pricing pledge for its XSELLERATOR dealership management product, Calgary-based Quorum Information Technologies rolled out a “DMS Assurance” program for its new customers. 

Officials explained that three components compose the program:

—Price Assurance. New customers will have permanently locked-in monthly support rates. There will be no future factory integration costs for supported franchises. The company is also offering “dealer-friendly” month-to-month contracts

—Software Assurance. Quorum will automatically give all of its new customers future XSELLERATOR versions for free. Moreover, Quorum will provide customers with the new versions of the underlying Microsoft technology (server operating system and database engines) for free as these technologies are launched. There will also be unlimited secure remote connections to allow existing users to tap into to their system on the Web or via handheld devices.

— Business Assurance. Paying a low monthly subscription fee, new Quorum customers will be protected from the following: future hardware replacements and common ad-hoc charges. Included will be:

1. Automatic and free replacement of a dealership’s server following 60 months of use.

2. Unlimited use of standard F&I forms at no extra cost. Also, dealers can tap into all of Quorum’s electronic non-F&I forms and documents (eDocuments) that they can use in XSELLERATOR and store with transactions, all at no extra cost.

3. Ability to use all of Quorum’s library Excel-based “FlexReports.”

“This announcement is a key part of Quorum’s strategy to provide its dealership customers with maximum value at the best possible prices. We do not believe in the traditional model where dealers experience continual added costs for using their systems,” stated Mark Allen, Quorum’s vice president of sales, marketing and services.

“The combination of these ‘assurances,’ that we collectively call ‘DMS assurance’, provides dealerships with the ultimate price protection and cost predictability for their information technology. Dealers will only incur additional costs if they decide to add new services, grow their business and add users, or decide to have us perform custom work for them,” he continued.

“The point is that it is all in their control,” Allen shared further. “Not only that, but the server replacement element of our ‘Business Assurance’ option in conjunction with the services we already provide like automated off-site back-ups and server protection and monitoring, dealerships will find that they now have all of the benefits normally attributed to ASP or cloud-computing models, but without any of the deficiencies like expensive communication and reliance on outside data centers. In short, it is the best of both worlds.”

He added: “2011 is a break out year for Quorum. These new programs really set us apart from the field of dealer systems providers. We are proud to lead the way and bring these sorts of programs to our customers.”

Statement on Pricing

Additionally, Quorum released a promise about XSELLERATOR pricing, as follows:

“At Quorum, we have a fundamental belief that when a dealership selects a dealer management system, they should receive an outstanding product and incredible service from a business partner that they want to do business with for the long run. For far too long this industry has been plagued with hidden costs, tricky contracts and just plain nickel-and-diming,” he shared.

“We are not that kind of company, and I am, therefore, enormously proud to announce that we are leading the pack with our pricing assurance and pledge to new customers that switch to us. The essence of our pledge is that:

—The monthly support price that a new customer signs up for will remain fixed at the same rate forever. That means no annual increases, no hidden transaction charges, and no nickel-and-diming.

—We provide all future factory integration for our supported franchises at no cost additional cost.

—All enhancements and updates to our DMS, XSELLERATOR, are always provided to all of our customers at no additional cost.”

Allen also stressed that month-to-month contracts will remain.

“Some may find this shocking and suspect a catch, but I assure you there is not. It is simply our commitment to our customers and this industry,” Allen concluded.