For most companies, growth can be a challenge. For Newport Boats and its three locations, it was imperative to meet and conquer the challenge efficiently.

One component of their dealership that Newport Boats had to seriously consider was the operations management software system.

Renee Ascencio, Vice President of Newport Boats explains, “We were duplicating everything three times when we had a non-integrated system. In addition to extra work, we could not get the detail back out to make decisions. We were using Quickbooks, MIC, CTA, and Q&A. We spent 80% of our time gathering information, and even then you could not trust what you got.”

Having a clear, easy-to-use, menu-based software management program was a top priority. So Newport Boats turned to IDS and its Astra Software to satisfy those needs. For most dealers ‘operations’ includes Inventory, Parts, Sales, Rentals, Service and full Accounting. Renee states, “Tracking Daily Activities was a priority. We anticipated a lot of value from Docs (Daily Operating Controls) and Budgets.”

However confident Renee was in her evaluation of various software products, the real test was actually seeing if a system could help without having her employees become software developers in the process. “Training is important, but not at the expense of productivity,” says Renee.

Astra has been in place at Newport Boats since April 1999, and Newport Boats has already seen an impact directly attributable to the Astra Software system. “The real value is in the overall System. We are able to easily see problem financial areas during the month and make adjustments on the fly to affect that month’s results.” According to Renee, “office expenses and shipping costs are a perfect example. We are now able to take action to correct problem areas immediately.”

Most dealerships have good and bad areas of operation, and Newport Boats was no exception. “For example, Service was a loser, but now it’s profitable. The Astra System gave us the tools to manage the department for profitability. Another example was that we had a problem in warranty work not being written or claimed. Now all our warranty service is automatic with every receivable tracked in detail,” says Renee confidently.

When asked about how that affected real dollars, Renee responds, “We now know our margins on all our products to the tenth of a percentage and it’s online. I can look at the Financials everyday and know how we are doing.”

So Newport Boats is using technology to not only increase their efficiency, but also respond effectively to and control their growth. They are poised to increase sales and exceed their expectations.