What We Learned at CDK Truck Connect 2025: The Shifting Priorities of the Dealership Back Office

Coming off CDK Truck Connect 2025, the buzz on the show floor and the conversations we had at our booth made one thing clear: the dealership back office is under pressure and ready for change. 

From staffing shortages and rising fraud concerns to the growing need for visibility and tech consolidation, the conversations we had with finance and operations leaders pointed to a major shift in priorities. Here’s what stood out to us. 

Fraud and Risk Are Still Top of Mind, but the Approach is Evolving

While fraud prevention has always been a priority for dealership finance teams, we noticed a shift in how attendees were thinking about it this year. It’s no longer just about catching issues after the fact. It’s about preventing them altogether.

Conversations centered on securing approvals, protecting supplier data, and preventing duplicate payments before they happen. Teams want control, not just alerts. And with increasing concerns around data breaches and cyberattacks in the industry, this was echoed during sessions like “Securing Your Dealership,” highlighting the growing intersection between cybersecurity and financial operations.

This broader focus on risk management also came with a question: how can we be sure the tools we use aren’t creating vulnerabilities of their own? That’s where the conversation turned to the need for platforms with built-in safeguards, audit trails, role-based access controls, and SOC 2-level protection.

Reallocation Isn’t Enough: Dealerships Want to Do More with Less

If we had a dollar for every time someone mentioned staffing issues, we’d have more than enough to light up the entire event with glowing shoes!

Hiring remains a major challenge across the board, especially in accounting departments. But what we heard more often than not was that leaders weren’t looking to move people around. They were looking to reduce the number of manual tasks altogether.

Attendees weren’t asking how to “optimize labor.” They were asking, "how can I scale my dealership without adding headcount?"

With margins tightening and inflation still impacting operations, the interest in hard cost savings was real. That means automation isn’t just about efficiency anymore. It’s become a direct lever for growth.

Visibility is a Must, Not a Maybe

Let’s be honest — dealing with disconnected systems and patchwork processes isn’t new. But the patience for it is wearing thin.

In the “Driving Intelligent Decisions Through Data” session, one theme stood out: leaders want visibility. Not just across data, but across the entire invoice-to-pay process. The back office is done toggling between platforms and chasing down approvals. They want one place to manage it all, from invoice capture and approvals to payment execution and reconciliation.

This demand for visibility is also driving a bigger push toward end-to-end platforms that eliminate the gray areas in workflows and make it easier to track performance, spot issues, and make decisions in real time.

The Tech Stack Tightening Begins

Beyond the finance department, we also noticed a growing interest in consolidated trucking tech stacks. Dealerships are looking for ways to streamline their tech investments, and that includes tools that integrate seamlessly with CDK and don’t require a dozen workarounds to work together.

One of the reasons? The rise of enhanced digital commerce.

Dealerships are being forced to think more like online retailers — where speed, convenience, and transparency aren’t just customer perks. They’re expectations. That pressure is making its way into the back office too, where manual payment workflows and outdated approval processes are becoming blockers to modern operations.

The bottom line: tech decisions are no longer just about functionality. They’re about flexibility, scalability, and speed.

The Cost of Doing Nothing Is Adding Up

It’s easy to put off a technology upgrade when the current system still “works.” But the conversations we had made it clear. Many dealerships are already feeling the impact of that delay.

According to Ardent Partners, nearly 62% of finance teams say that manual invoice processing is their biggest challenge, leading to late payments, missed discounts, and higher processing costs.

And those numbers don’t even touch on the risk of fraud, the burden of exception handling, or the cost of compliance issues. Waiting to modernize AP and payments isn’t just costing time. It’s costing real money.

CDK Certification Matters, and Dealerships Know It

Our team had more than a few conversations that started with one big question: “So what exactly does it mean that you’re CDK Certified?”

The short answer? It means our solution has gone through a rigorous review process and is officially validated to integrate with CDK systems. The longer answer? Certification gives dealerships confidence that they’re investing in a solution purpose-built for their needs, with two-way data sync, full visibility into critical workflows, and availability in the CDK Global eStore. It means fewer workarounds, smoother implementation, and a more seamless experience overall.

This year, that certification status wasn’t just a technical checkbox. It became a key part of how dealerships evaluated whether a solution was truly built for them, and we were proud to be one of the partners meeting that standard.

Final Thoughts: The Way Forward

If CDK Truck Connect 2025 made anything clear, it’s that dealerships are ready for a transformation. Finance and operations teams aren’t just looking for quick fixes. They’re looking for sustainable ways to scale, secure, and simplify their processes.

That’s exactly why we built onPhase, a CDK-certified, all-in-one AP and payment automation solution designed specifically for heavy truck dealerships. From eliminating duplicate payments and preventing fraud to streamlining approvals and giving you full visibility across every transaction, we’re here to help you close the gaps and move forward with confidence.

Ready to see what that looks like in action?
If you’re exploring automation options that work seamlessly with CDK, see how onPhase integrates directly with your existing systems—no clunky workarounds required. Check out our CDK Integration Overview.