IAS News and Press
IAS RELEASES WEB-BASED VERSION OF LEADING MENU GENERATION SYSTEM, SMARTMENU
The Web-based version of SmartMenu provides dealerships a powerful, proven, and secure alternative to non-compliant, vulnerable menu selling programs.
Apr 4, 2005
Austin, Texas - April 4, 2005 - IAS, the leading provider of revolutionary F&I software programs, announced today that their SmartMenu program is now available in a secure Web-based version for dealership F&I offices.
Featuring an intuitive graphical user interface, this latest version of SmartMenu, SmartMenu 4.0, offers even more dealer customization and flexibility than previous releases of the program. SmartMenu 4.0 also allows dealerships to centrally manage menu settings, access historical deal metrics and usage reports, and save and retrieve deals between all F&I offices and physical locations. All functionality is password protected so that configuration changes are only made as directed by dealer principals. Once the initial setup and installation is complete, no updates to dealership F&I computers are necessary because all users immediately receive new changes through a central server.
In compliance with the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act of 1999, the Web-based version of SmartMenu uses 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption technology to ensure the protection of all customer and dealership data. SSL technology has become the standard method of Internet data protection, and is used worldwide by banks, government and military agencies, online stores, and all other businesses needing to ensure data privacy.
"In recent years our products and software have conquered the profit and efficiency problems previously associated with the F&I office," said Bob Corbin, president, IAS. "In a new era of legality issues, we're actively working with a number of dealerships to provide an appreciable impact on their businesses with secure, compliant tools that continue to build profits. At IAS that translates into proactively building an unparalleled menu selling software tool."
Additional features of SmartMenu 4.0 include:
- Storage with instant retrieval of every menu offered to each customer including multiple iterations for the same customer;
- an extensible tax and fee setup structure to compute payments for any dealer in any state;
- and multiple menu templates, allowing a dealer to choose the menu template most aesthetically pleasing for a given profile.
A bonus feature of SmartMenu 4.0 includes a free, one-click Patriot Act Compliance check with every transaction. The software automatically cross-references potential customers with the Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC) list of suspected terrorists. This feature can save dealerships from paying for this service monthly from an outside vendor as well as avoid potential fines.
"We are at the forefront of an exploding category of software products that apply directly to improving the F&I process for both dealerships and consumers. SmartMenu is IAS' flagship technology product aimed at reaching the financial and compliance goals of our dealership customers," said Matt Nowicki, director of information technology, IAS. "With a number of new products and services in the wings, we're confident that IAS will remain the leader in revolutionizing the F&I office."
SmartMenu 4.0 also introduces the concept of customer profiles. Utilizing the software, dealers can create unlimited customer profiles, allowing a user to create multiple lease, finance, cash and balloon menus with their own set of products and packages resulting in saved time and improved profits in the F&I office.
Pricing and Availability: Both the software and Web-based versions of SmartMenu are free to all IAS dealerships. The Web-based version of SmartMenu is available immediately.
About SmartDealerProducts from IAS
SmartDealerProducts from IAS is the leading provider of revolutionary F&I software solutions for the automotive industry since 1984. SmartDealerProducts three step process is uniquely designed to maximize profit potential and increase customer satisfaction index (CSI) scores for automotive dealerships. SmartTrac, is an innovative presentation tool provides important F&I product information to retail consumers. SmartMenu allows dealerships to sell more products by providing professional, customized F&I menus for each and every customer, in seconds. The last step in the process, SmartEye, digitally records the transaction to monitor the process for training, legality and quality assurance. For more information, please visit www.smartdealerproducts.com.