Bad design is bad design. It doesn't have to be that way.
Ransomware Attack Affects Parts & Service Network for 15,000 Auto Dealerships
- Thread starter B6_Dolphin
- Start date
Are you getting paid a base salary….. or 100% commission ?
Do some independent repair shops use this software ?
Sounds good, until you have to have to purchase another host because your existing hardware is already maxed out because corporate doesn't want to spent money. Then you have to buy more VM licenses and support to cover the additional licenses per year, power and air conditioning costs, and on-prem licenses for the software itself; which in my experience lately has been 2-3x the cost of cloud hosting.
From what I've read so far, CDK is an old program. There's bound to be a lot of vulnerabilities that aren't patched up. Then there's the large amounts of 3rd party programs that aren't from CDK themselves, but other software developers. Then you get the dealership network who themselves are another critical vulnerability. However, so far I haven't seen anything about how the attackers got in.
I am hourly plus commission based on department profit.
I don't know of any independent shops using CDK, they would usually use something from Mitchell or AllData as shop management software since they usually aren't also selling vehicles and keeping a half million in parts inventory on hand.
How much to create a good design from scratch using your ‘Fort Knox’ style engineering / security protocol ?
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I could start with a fully functional small database for 12 months for free, and set up up online in minutes.How much to create a good design from scratch using your ‘Fort Knox’ style engineering / security protocol ?
At any time you can scale up or scale down, depending on load requirements.
This is database only; I would code a front end with data entry, reporting and analytics.
Easy peasey.
I did this very thing a few years ago as a demo for a smaller ($250M) SEMI company.
On prem made zero sense.
A lot of dealers base their counter people's commission on department profit to encourage us to work together as a team.
I have called dealers that have their parts departments on individual commission and have had to wait 30+ minutes on hold for the original person I talked to to finish what they were doing to help me.
FWIW when we are on department based commission, our individual percentages are different and usually based on how much we sell. I am usually 60-70% of the department profit, and yes I am tired.
No especially since the customer "free" WiFi was a basic WRT54GL with default password, followed that to a switch, then followed the swtich to the core router which sternly warned me in putty to stop what I was doing. The default passwords and few others didn't work so I stopped.
I took screen shots and sent an e-mail to the GM the following day which a screenshot of his shared drive on the network. Basically they were treating it like a home network, printers and all.
Needless to say it wasn't that way when a returned again after a few months.
Where's the meme of @bdcardinal pretending to sling parts at the Ford parts counter when really he just makes memes and obsessively follows the Kardashians?? 
I do not follow the Kardashians haha. Plus whenever I do make memes I do it on my lunch break using my data plan.Where's the meme of @bdcardinal pretending to sling parts at the Ford parts counter when really he just makes memes and obsessively follows the Kardashians??
Totally unrelated I just went to 192.168.1.1, typed in "admin" and "password" and had access to our customer wifi admin.
With respect to software, first to market beats correct to market. You consumers want that so much that everyone who insisted on correct to market died off. (Everyone is a consumer.)
The huge reason cloud is here to stay is this: give two young poor entrepreneurs one stack of money to start their companies. Guy who goes cloud and pay-as-you-go puts almost nothing into computing infrastructure, puts a little into people, and either succeeds until he can sell enough to become sustaining or dies. If he dies, the computing infrastructure goes back to be used for another entrepreneur.
Guy who does on-premises computing infrastructure has to lease racks, building and HVAC now, take his wad and a bunch of OPM to get that up, and he hasn’t even started developing his software. If he goes under, all that has to be liquidated.
The huge reason cloud is here to stay is this: give two young poor entrepreneurs one stack of money to start their companies. Guy who goes cloud and pay-as-you-go puts almost nothing into computing infrastructure, puts a little into people, and either succeeds until he can sell enough to become sustaining or dies. If he dies, the computing infrastructure goes back to be used for another entrepreneur.
Guy who does on-premises computing infrastructure has to lease racks, building and HVAC now, take his wad and a bunch of OPM to get that up, and he hasn’t even started developing his software. If he goes under, all that has to be liquidated.
That.....is......absolutely.......pitiful. Is their a person responsible for that part of the dealer infrastructure? They need to be shown the door. That's analogous to leaving the keys in the ignition with the windows rolled down and the doors unlocked. Full tank of gas too.
Scott
I think I agree with most of what he's saying. I'm not sure entirely how much this software covers, but months or longer is a more realistic target for dealers looking to switch.
Training is a big issue- but there's a lot of back end accounting transactions, business logic, inventory, payment and banking info ... that would have to get configured in a new system. That type of software change is a major major undertaking for any sort of organization.
Training is a big issue- but there's a lot of back end accounting transactions, business logic, inventory, payment and banking info ... that would have to get configured in a new system. That type of software change is a major major undertaking for any sort of organization.
It really is an absurd commentary on society, technology and work ethic for those who just gave up.
You can't help but ask what we did before vertically integrated software.
I guess maybe I could see arguments about selling vehicles because titling and financing can get you in hot water later if you really botch it.
However service and parts sales can be done the prehistoric way. Maybe you'll have a harder time acquiring OEM parts, but seek dealers not on CDK, use aftermarket, and definitely sell parts for service you have on hand -- eg every dealer should be sitting on barrels of oil and shelves of filters. Handwrite tickets, smile a lot, bring in extra snacks (and even catered food) to the customer lounge. This should all be a tax write-off down the line (extra food etc)
If you need things like CV axles or suspension where the average aftermarket is sketchy, maybe pay overnight fees from RA etc (apparently WorldPac is struggling, too?). If you sell parts at a loss that's also a tax deduction so you need an accountant who has an eye for this when filing time comes.
ANYWAY the TL;DR is that just sitting around bouncing a ball off the wall is incredibly stupid. You're not gonna turn a profit but you can MINIMIZE THE BLEEDING
You can't help but ask what we did before vertically integrated software.
I guess maybe I could see arguments about selling vehicles because titling and financing can get you in hot water later if you really botch it.
However service and parts sales can be done the prehistoric way. Maybe you'll have a harder time acquiring OEM parts, but seek dealers not on CDK, use aftermarket, and definitely sell parts for service you have on hand -- eg every dealer should be sitting on barrels of oil and shelves of filters. Handwrite tickets, smile a lot, bring in extra snacks (and even catered food) to the customer lounge. This should all be a tax write-off down the line (extra food etc)
If you need things like CV axles or suspension where the average aftermarket is sketchy, maybe pay overnight fees from RA etc (apparently WorldPac is struggling, too?). If you sell parts at a loss that's also a tax deduction so you need an accountant who has an eye for this when filing time comes.
ANYWAY the TL;DR is that just sitting around bouncing a ball off the wall is incredibly stupid. You're not gonna turn a profit but you can MINIMIZE THE BLEEDING
^^^^
Well said and how I think.
Let’s say I need new brakes and rotors on my 2018 Mazda CX5.
Mazda parts dept is down and don’t have the parts on hand but they can open a Commercial account with AutoZone, NAPA, AAP, etc…
They buy all the parts and simply mark them up ____% plus the necessary labor, shop fee, tax etc….
As a consumer I have no idea what they did…. I just want my brakes done.
If Mazda dealer needs an air filter, NGK plugs, cabin filter, etc… they can still do tune ups even if they don’t have the necessary parts on hand.
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