ARKONA Releases Factory Communications Integration for General Motors
SALT LAKE CITY--May 21, 2002--ARKONA Inc. (OTC: ARKN) Tuesday announced the integration of its dealer management solution with General Motors' dealership factory communications system.
This integration provides the more than 16,000 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac and Oldsmobile franchises with a more robust and cost-effective alternative to managing and exchanging information with General Motors.
ARKONA's dealer management solutions allow GM dealers to receive and transfer FACTS (financial statements), RAPID (parts management) and WINS (warranty processing) data using the GM ACCESS system. The ARKONA solution is designed with efficiency in mind so that data is only entered once from any data entry screen and is shared throughout all applications.
"The ARKONA solution is extremely fast and accurate," said Allen Elggren, controller, Chapman Automotive Group, of Chandler, Ariz. "Our parts managers and parts personnel appreciate the simple user interface and the powerful reporting features built into the ARKONA solution."
"ARKONA provides a simple solution to warranty submission. It is fast and effective for on time claim submission and makes it easy to cross-train warranty clerks," stated Randy Harrison, service director, Mark Miller Pontiac-Buick, of Salt Lake City. "ARKONA's warranty download increases productivity of the warranty administrator by eliminating the data entry of each claim line and parts."
General Motors and ARKONA have been working on this integration for months to verify that data is accurately transferred to and from GM systems. Dealers now have immediate access and current information about their parts, accounting and service business through the ARKONA solution.
"This is a huge step forward for ARKONA in its marketing and sales efforts to GM dealers," said Rich Holland, president, ARKONA. "This new integration streamlines the flow of information to dealers and adds an entirely new level of information access that is critical to improving their dealerships. ARKONA's software is leading-edge technology and one of the most comprehensive dealer management solutions available.
"ARKONA continues to grow its dealer base each month and is rapidly moving towards complete integration with Ford, Mitsubishi and BMW."
About ARKONA Inc.
Founded in 1996, ARKONA is a public company and a leader in automotive management solutions. ARKONA's Dealer Management Suite also leads the market in technologically superior e-business solutions for automotive dealers that fully integrate back office systems with a retail Web presence. In this market ARKONA is one of the first premier Application Service Providers (ASP).
For more information visit the ARKONA Web site at www.arkona.com.
This release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical information.
Forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release.
Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations or results or any change in events.