CDK Global Outage Highlights Gaps in Finance Office Preparation

Introduction

The recent CDK Global outage, which affected thousands of car dealerships across North America, has highlighted the importance of finance office preparation. When systems go down, it can have a major impact on a dealership's ability to process sales and service transactions. Dealerships that are not prepared for these types of outages can lose valuable sales and damage their customer relationships.

Causes of the CDK Global Outage

The CDK Global outage was caused by a software update that went awry. The update caused the company's servers to crash, which in turn caused dealerships to lose access to their management systems. Dealerships were unable to process sales or service transactions, and they were also unable to access customer information.

Impact of the CDK Global Outage

The CDK Global outage had a major impact on dealerships across North America. Some dealerships were forced to close their doors for the day, while others were able to operate on a limited basis. The outage also caused delays in the processing of sales and service transactions. In some cases, customers were forced to wait days or even weeks for their vehicles to be serviced.

Lessons Learned from the CDK Global Outage

The CDK Global outage has taught dealerships several important lessons about the importance of finance office preparation. First, dealerships need to have a plan in place for dealing with system outages. This plan should include procedures for backing up data, communicating with customers, and processing transactions manually. Second, dealerships need to make sure that their staff is trained on how to operate the dealership's management systems. This will help to ensure that dealerships can continue to operate even when systems are down.

Conclusion

The CDK Global outage was a major disruption for dealerships across North America. However, it also served as a reminder of the importance of finance office preparation. Dealerships that are prepared for system outages can minimize the impact of these events and protect their businesses.