CDK Global Teams up With Microsoft to Drive Dealer and Developer-Led Innovation in Automotive Industry

February 13, 2020

New capabilities will steer dealers into next-gen of digital transformation via Fortellis platform

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CDK Global, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDK), a leading retail automotive technology company, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft to drive dealer and developer-led innovation in the automotive retail industry. Powered by the open and agnostic Fortellis Automotive Commerce Exchange™ platform integrated with the Microsoft Power Platform, the collaboration will focus on creating capabilities dealers and developers can use to build differentiating solutions and enhance integration within existing dealership systems. These capabilities will accelerate dealers into the next generation of digital transformation.

“CDK and Microsoft have a shared vision of digital transformation for the automotive industry,” said Mahesh Shah, executive vice president and chief product and technology officer, CDK Global. “We are committed to cultivating open and agnostic spaces, where together we will create a new ecosystem that will foster an environment where industry-leading innovation can emerge and thrive.”

The CDK and Microsoft collaboration will empower automotive dealers to take innovation into their own hands and drive modernization in their businesses.

John Reed, Director of Automotive Solutions at Microsoft Corp. says: “Microsoft and CDK intend to simplify the development of solutions to help dealers and manufacturers focus on their customers’ needs and accelerate innovation as the industry transforms.”

Integrating Fortellis and Microsoft Power Platform

Over the next year, CDK will take the first steps in driving digital transformation by integrating Fortellis with the Microsoft Power Platform, establishing foundational technological capabilities between the two systems. This will offer dealers robust industry specific features including the ability to develop web and mobile user experiences quickly and easily, addressing the high demand for personalized, modern experiences in automotive retail. The integration of these platforms creates an ecosystem within Fortellis that leverages low- or no-code application development enabling dealer-led innovation by putting the power of development directly in dealers’ hands.

Dealers can visit CDK, Microsoft and Fortellis to learn more at the NADA expo in the Fortellis booth #2514C.

Driving the Standards

CDK is working with Microsoft to enable innovation and time-to-value via packaged solutions created specifically for the automotive industry and extensions to Microsoft’s Common Data Model (CDM) based on industry data standards. All of these will enable customers, Independent Software Vendors and other solution providers to easily build industry solutions.

Advancing Developer Collaboration

In addition to the support of the Common Data Model, Fortellis announced new developer collaboration capabilities using GitHub within the Fortellis platform. GitHub, one of the world’s leading software development platforms, is a recent acquisition and subsidiary of Microsoft. Using GitHub within Fortellis provides automotive technology developers the ability to upload code specifications stored on GitHub directly to Fortellis. The first version of this integration is designed to allow developers a new way of collaborating and working together for API specification editing.

“We are not only dedicated to continuously improving the Fortellis developer experience, but also enabling all-new developer collaboration capabilities in the industry,” said Steven Liu, vice president, product management, CDK Global. “By using GitHub and Fortellis together, we are able to create an accelerated and guided developer experience which brings more digital innovation to the automotive industry.”

CDK further plans to expand its use of GitHub to cover Fortellis app listing and publishing workflows in the Fortellis Marketplace, enabling further capabilities for developers.

Sharing Insight

As part of the commitment CDK made last year, Fortellis is establishing an Advisory Board of industry members that will focus on ensuring Fortellis remains an open and agnostic technology platform observing good governance. The collaboration between CDK and Microsoft includes Microsoft joining the Fortellis Steering Committee to broaden support of industry standards.

Building on Microsoft’s commitment to customer success in the automotive industry, CDK and Fortellis will continue to deepen their collaboration with Microsoft helping identify trends and opportunities for the company to further develop the Microsoft Automotive Accelerator.

About CDK Global, Inc.

With $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (Nasdaq: CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 30,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process, including the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com.

About Fortellis Automotive Commerce Exchange™ Platform

Fortellis is a technology platform that enables the automotive industry to leverage, build, innovate and integrate solutions and workflows to transform business. The Fortellis platform—with its Developer Network and Marketplace—connects software developers, OEMs and dealers so they can create new and unique experiences efficiently and seamlessly. Visit fortellis.io to learn more.