In August, key personnel from 20 equipment dealerships ranging in type from agricultural, construction/industrial, outdoor power, powersports, and golf joined to exchange best practices, learn new skills and address their business needs at the first annual Aspen User Conference in Winter Park, CO. These dealers represent a cross section of the thousands of users of Aspen, a progressive business management system developed and distributed by Charter Software.
Aspen was released in 2009 as Charter Software’s answer to the continually changing needs of growing equipment dealerships—including the trend of expansion and growing manufacturers’ requirements. Originating as a result of the accumulation of intensive dealer field testing, the software is continually updated with new features to meet industry demands.
A highlight of the conference, dealer principals and their key personnel attended the Aspen Dealer Roundtable to discuss and prioritize the “Aspen Wishlist,” a collection of user-contributed ideas and suggestions for the software. The forum allowed the users to discuss why they felt these features were important and to have a say in the future functionality of Aspen.
Charter Software’s President Anne Salemo says, “The equipment industry continues to go through some huge changes, and our customers are the voice of the industry. Aspen is an important tool for dealers to use to stay competitive and thrive in this industry. As they face new challenges, our product must evolve with them, so we give our users a say in prioritizing what new functionality is implemented.”
While the opportunities to weigh in on the software development and network with other dealers were a draw for many of the conference attendees, the primary focus of the conference was to provide advanced training to the software users.
“There is so much more for our Aspen users to learn beyond their initial training sessions. Continuing training is the key to maximizing their use of Aspen,” says Mary Moyer, director of charter’s Technical Support division. “We also wanted to give our conference attendees an in-person first look at some of the new features just added to the software such as the ability to send mass e-mail and other CRM features, the new Technician Availability Calendar, Bar Coding and Multiple Applications, Parts Management Analysis, and a peek at Aspen Community and Multi-Corporation functionality.”
Users played around with these new features and practiced their newly learned skills in the hands-on Aspen lab, staffed by Charter Software’s trainers and open throughout the conference.
Also in attendance were representatives from ChargeItPro, a credit card payment processing solution that integrates seamlessly with Aspen, and field representatives from the Iowa-Nebraska and Northeast Equipment Dealers Associations who both endorse Charter Software as a business systems provider to their membership.
