The automotive aftermarket industry is making great strides in vehicle technology while working to achieve and maintain success in an uncertain supply chain. Today, Patricia Bennett, CEO of Acumatica Partner PC Bennett Solutions, gives her expert insights on the industry and covers how Acumatica Cloud ERP helps these businesses get their back-office systems up to speed with a rapidly advancing market. She also extends an invitation to join PC Bennett at the Acumatica booth (North Hall #11233) for the 2025 SEMA Show, which will be held November 4–7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Please tell us a bit about PC Bennett Solutions and what you do for companies in the automotive aftermarket industry.

PC Bennett has been in business since 2002, so this is our 23^rd year. I started the company selling Microsoft Dynamics Small Business Financials by myself while being a stay-at-home mom. The company grew pretty quickly, and suddenly I was hiring people and working from an office instead of out of my house. In 2010, I was introduced to Acumatica and fell in love with the technology, with the people, and with the company. I decided to embrace Acumatica. So, we were one of Acumatica’s first partners. In 2014, I sold the Microsoft practice, and PC Bennett became the very first Acumatica-exclusive partner in the ecosystem.

As I considered moving PC Bennett to verticalize—to specialize in a specific industry—I knew it had to be something I liked. Personally, I love cars. I love speed. So, the automotive aftermarket was a natural fit. We support the industry by specializing in what it needs. We created a customization, called AutoFitmentPlus, that allows our customers to stock their auto parts inventories by year, make, model, engine type, body type, whatever they need. It connects to the industry-standard ACES (Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard), PIES (Product Information Exchange Standard), and SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) databases. And you can also use it to validate and identify VIN numbers.

How are modern automotive aftermarket companies optimizing their operations—or how should they be?

In the automotive aftermarket industry, the technology behind the cars is really advancing, but how companies use behind-the-scenes business management technology hasn’t really kept up. So, what we provide—what Acumatica provides—takes companies to a new level. They’re beginning to embrace automation in the back-office systems, and that’s what we’re giving them.

The pandemic also changed a lot of things. Before COVID, if you needed a car part, you would just physically go out and buy it. But during and after COVID, ecommerce became so powerful and so strong that automotive aftermarket companies now really want ecommerce integrations. They need them to thrive. We used to call the sales cycle “quote-to-cash,” but now we typically say, “shopping cart-to-cash.” And we provide that full integration—connecting ecommerce to ERP. The full system.

What key trends and innovations are shaping business transformation in the automotive aftermarket space?

Like I mentioned, ecommerce is big—specifically multichannel ecommerce. Selling on Amazon, eBay, even Instagram. Businesses are working to reach customers through lots of different online marketplaces at the same time. It’s really an extension of the effects of COVID. The trend is to meet customers where they are and make it as convenient as possible for them to “add to cart.”

What are the biggest operational challenges in business management for this industry? How would you advise companies to address them?

For the automotive aftermarket industry right now, I think tariffs are a big issue because there’s been a lot of product coming from China. To minimize the effects of tariffs, some manufacturing operations are moving to the United States. But there’s pain to go through on both sides—pain from tariffs and pain from moving operations.

A lot of internal company pains can be put down to the fact that many auto businesses are using QuickBooks, and they’ve been using it way longer than they should. They’ve grown past the point where QuickBooks is helpful and workable for them. But they stick with it because it’s what they’re used to. Like I said, the technology behind the cars is modernizing—becoming faster and smarter—but the back-office systems aren’t advancing at the same pace. They have to implement an ERP solution, but the thought of changing software can be uncomfortable.

Another thing that happens is they’re used to just buying QuickBooks, installing it, and being up and running. So, the concept of an ERP implementation, which requires planning and different stages, is foreign to them. To help with that, PC Bennett has created a couple of options specifically designed for the automotive aftermarket industry. We call them Business in a Box and Business Your Way.

With Business Your Way, we talk to customers about their business requirements and build the perfect Acumatica deployment with them. But, with Business in a Box, we offer two “flavors”—distribution and manufacturing. We’ve preconfigured the Acumatica system for these deployments. We import the client’s business data into the system, and they start with basic Acumatica functionality. They learn the software with our support, and then we can add new features over time. Business in a Box is a fast way for small businesses to transition to a true ERP solution and get a faster return on investment.

In your experience, what business management strategies have proven most effective in your key industry? How can cloud ERP solutions, like Acumatica, support these strategies?

Inventory is central for automotive businesses, and what I have seen Acumatica bring to the table for this industry in particular is better inventory control. If you have a ton of inventory, you have a lot of money sitting on shelves. But, if you don’t have enough inventory, you’re losing customers. So, they need to find this magic balance of buying enough but not too much. Acumatica helps businesses balance that.

The other thing that Acumatica brings to the table is the ability to have dashboards and KPIs in all different areas of the business. So, if you’re at a warehouse, and you know that you’re going to get three truckloads of parts on Monday, you can say with certainty: “On Monday, I will need 20 extra people in the warehouse to handle this delivery.”

Tracking the production process is also important for auto parts manufacturing. You need to track where products are at every stage, how many items you need to produce, what raw materials you need. And everything has to be automated, so it runs smoothly without errors. Acumatica is one system to run the entire operation, and that is extremely helpful.

What features should businesses look for in automotive ERP software?

Two of the most important features are, of course, the ability to track inventory accurately and to track manufacturing processes and stages. But comprehensive, connected finance features are also really important. Basic accounting systems, like QuickBooks, are more like checkbook registers. They record financial transactions, but they can’t bring all areas of the business together in one solution. They can’t give you full visibility of the organization. Automotive aftermarket companies need ERP systems that give full visibility.

What do you believe the future of the automotive aftermarket industry will look like? How do you think business technology, like Acumatica, can support that future?

I think AI is going to play a huge part in the future of the automotive aftermarket industry—and in every industry. It will influence all areas of business operations and make projections and forecasting more accurate. And fortunately, Acumatica is already there. Acumatica is ahead of the AI game and ready to be used when the customer is ready to take advantage of it. So, that’s huge.

Acumatica’s ability to integrate with other technologies and tools is also very important to the future of the industry. I don’t think there are a lot of products out there that have the ability to integrate with other products as easily as Acumatica does.

If people would like to meet you and talk to you about Acumatica and the services PC Bennett Solutions offers, where could they connect with you?

I’d like to invite people to come see us at the Acumatica booth at SEMA! It’s booth #11233 in North Hall. We will also be at AAPEX 2025, Booth #A1054. SEMA will be held November 4–7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and AAPEX will run from November 4–6 at the Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum, also in Vegas. If they come to SEMA and want to reach out, they can let us know they’re coming because we will be having a dinner with customers and prospects on Wednesday, November 5^th. So, if they would like to know more about how other companies are using Acumatica, how other businesses work with PC Bennett, this is a great opportunity to talk to them and to us and see how implementing Acumatica has changed their businesses and really helped them grow.

And, if people can’t make it to Vegas in November, they can join us in Indianapolis in December at PRI Show 2025, which will run December 11–13 at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis.