Why do we use forks and spoons? Obviously you can’t eat soup with a fork and you can’t pierce salad with a spoon… but why don’t we just always use sporks?
The answer is simple; sporks don’t work for everything. The tines aren’t strong enough for proper pronging and the bowl is too shallow for sufficient scooping. In trying to find a blended solution for forks and spoons, we ended up creating an abomination that doesn’t really work as either one.
What does this have to do with HomeNet? Syndication software and pricing software are as different as forks and spoons. HomeNet is a fork and vAuto is a spoon, and merging the two would only leave us with a spork-like abomination.
Software programming isn’t sorcery in the sense that you can just make anything happen. Ultimately it comes down to something like building a language and then giving instructions in that language. In order to have one software system perform multiple tasks, the rules of each task cannot present conflicting instruction. When there is a conflict, the software doesn’t work the way we want it to. So you can see why companies like Zoho and Google have all these annoying apps and extensions rather than housing every task manager in one hub. By separating the tasks, we reduce the risk of conflict and ensure smooth operation.
Inventory data is extensive. Imagine all the information that has to be established just to decode a single manufacturer’s VIN sequence; body style, engine size, color code, trim packages, production year. Now imagine all the information that has to be established to compare these vehicles with thousands of records (talking about market and pricing data). These are two totally separate and unique tasks that require a lot of computation and the utmost accuracy.
Fork and spoon. HomeNet and vAuto are not the same thing, they do not perform the same tasks, and the individual tasks they each perform cannot be efficiently merged because of the amount of data that is being processed. It is not “dumb” to pay for both HomeNet and vAuto. It would however be empirically irresponsible to expect any one application to effectively merge these tasks. So think on that, Mr. Anonymous Dealer Forum Commenter.
It is true that some companies will exploit this. They take advantage of the overlap and intentionally inhibit one app from what should be basic functions because the function has been assigned to another app with an additional cost:
“I will sell you a CRM that organizes your customers and their information… but if you want to build bulk email campaigns to send to filtered audiences, I’m gonna need you to buy my marketing tool. I mean, you can email your customers from the CRM, and you can send generic templates to everyone with some minimal filter options, but it’s gonna look like that’s what it is and the stats will suck and you’ll probably just end up getting black flagged. So yea you should definitely just also buy my marketing tool.”
That’s how the scam works.
But that’s not what Cox is doing with HomeNet. Do you really believe that most dealerships in the US use HomeNet just because they don’t know any better? Nah, there is a real reason HomeNet hasn’t gone away.
Cox Automotive would likely stand to gain millions of dollars each year between consolidated expenses and additional revenue if they could make one super product that did effectively do everything HomeNet and vAuto do. Seems like figuring out how to pull that off would be their top priority if it were feasible.
Some folks seem to think the two have already been merged, and I think this is where a lot of confusion and HomeNet hate come from. As far as I can tell, it’s just a misunderstanding of vAuto’s available syndication.
We can talk all day about the acquisition and development of the Cox product empire, but even if it’s simply [cheaper] to leave vAuto and HomeNet built separately, Cox still went out of their way to provide solutions for the overlap.
Let’s go back to the language. HomeNet is designed for the task of processing data from a merchandising/syndication standpoint; think text documents. vAuto is designed to process data from a pricing standpoint; think spreadsheets. This again is the whole reason we keep the two separate; different languages. But HomeNet still needs pricing data, and vAuto still needs syndicated merchandising data. Instead of making all HomeNet syndication customers pay for vAuto pricing and vice versa, Cox borrowed the function of each app and provided a translator (we call these APIs) to the other so both could perform basic functions in the overlap.
The syndication offered by vAuto does not do everything HomeNet does; it is a translated version of HomeNet specifically designed for the capabilities (language) of a pricing tool. Without HomeNet, vAuto’s syndication wouldn’t exist; so to replace HomeNet you’d be back to merging the two tasks under one app.
The pricing data offered by HomeNet isn’t exactly its own; it is a translated version of the pricing data processed by vAuto (and DealerOn, Dealer.com, DealerTrack, etc.).
And this is why it really grinds my gears that it’s always HomeNet on the chopping block. HomeNet technically integrates more pricing data than vAuto while vAuto has a lesser syndication platform. So if you’re gonna cut one of the two, a stronger argument could be made to keep HomeNet for everything.
While I have used this argument to defend HomeNet, my opinion as a professional consultant is to use both for their designed task. Let vAuto process all your pricing and OEM offer integration and all the numbers data. Let HomeNet process all your inventory data so your ads are running at peak performance and your SEO capture can keep new audiences rotating.
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