Heavy Truck DMS Comparison
Karmak vs Procede: A Heavy Truck DMS Comparison From the IT Side
Fusion, Blaze and Excede compared on where they run, which truck brands they connect to, and what each one asks of your network.
Karmak and Procede both build dealer management systems for heavy truck dealers. Karmak sells Fusion and, since buying DSI, Blaze. Procede sells one platform, Excede. The biggest IT difference is where each one runs and who keeps it running.
Last updated: October 8, 2026
Heavy truck has three big DMS names. This page covers two of them.
Erik Nachbahr, who founded Helion Technologies in 1997, sums up the market in one line. “Heavy truck is CDK, Karmak, and Procede Software. Those are the big ones there.” He’s right. CDK sells to car and truck stores alike, while Karmak and Procede were built for commercial vehicles from the start. Two specialists. One generalist.
Search for a straight Karmak vs Procede comparison and you mostly get software directories. Nobody covers the IT side. So this page does, for the stores Helion supports through its heavy truck dealership IT program. A demo shows you what a repair order looks like on screen. It won’t show you what happens to that repair order when the circuit at a store two hours from the nearest tech goes dark on a Thursday afternoon with three trucks waiting on parts. That part’s on us.
Full disclosure. Karmak signed a reseller agreement with Helion back in 2018, so we know Karmak well. That’s why the comparison below sticks to what each vendor publishes.
Why Karmak vs Procede Is a Live Question in 2026
Both vendors changed shape in the past year. Neither change forces a dealer to do anything. Nothing’s on fire. Both are still good reasons to reread your contract before the next renewal lands on your desk.
Karmak’s deal was the bigger market move, since it now sells two DMS products into the same PACCAR stores and says both will keep being sold and supported for the customers already running them.
Procede took outside money to build faster, with AI reporting it calls Procede Intelligence and more integrations across the commercial vehicle world on the way, according to its January announcement. On Blaze and thinking about Fusion? Our IT checklist for the Karmak DSI deal covers that one path in detail.
New owners. Same login screen.
September 2025
Karmak acquired DSI Solutions, maker of the Blaze DMS, adding more than 700 account locations. Karmak says the deal gives it over 50% of the DMS market among PACCAR dealers.
One vendor, two products, half the PACCAR stores.
January 2026
Procede Software took a majority growth investment from Rubicon Technology Partners, a private equity firm focused on enterprise software, to speed up product work and widen integrations across the commercial vehicle world.
Same Excede. New money behind the roadmap.
Side by side
Karmak vs Procede, Compared Line by Line
Everything here comes from the vendors’ own sites and announcements, as of October 2026. Confirm the details with each one before you sign anything. Things change.
| Topic | Karmak | Procede |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Carlinville, Illinois. Founded in 1981 and 100% employee-owned. | Solana Beach, California. Founded in 2001. |
| DMS products | Fusion, its enterprise system, plus Blaze, which came with DSI. | Excede, a single platform. |
| Where it runs | Fusion on a Windows server in your building or in Karmak’s Xcelerate Cloud Hosting. Blaze runs in a web browser. | Excede Hosted Services on Microsoft Azure, run by Procede, which announced a 99.9% uptime guarantee when it launched in 2020. |
| Reported footprint | 4,000+ rooftops across North America. | Hundreds of commercial vehicle dealer locations across North America. |
| OEMs they name | DTNA, PACCAR, International, Mack and Volvo, Hino, Isuzu and Ford. | Freightliner, Western Star, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Mack, Volvo, International, Isuzu, Hino, Fuso and Sprinter. |
| Who uses it | Truck dealers, parts distributors, service shops, lease and rental operations, trailer dealers and fleets. | Commercial vehicle dealers, across accounting, parts, service, lease and rental, and vehicle sales. |
| Integrations and reporting | 75+ integration partners, Syncron inventory planning among them. | Power BI reporting, plus Procede Intelligence for AI-driven insights. |
| Latest ownership news | Bought DSI Solutions, effective September 30, 2025. | Rubicon Technology Partners majority investment, January 30, 2026. |
Sources: Karmak, Karmak integrations, Procede Excede and Excede Hosted Services.
Before the demo
Six IT Questions to Settle Before You Pick Karmak or Procede
The demo covers screens and workflows. These are the questions it skips. Ask both vendors the same six, in writing. Then lay the answers side by side.
Want the IT side of either move priced out for your stores? Request a price quote.
Where Helion fits
The network, the devices, the security and the Safeguards file under the DMS. That work doesn’t change much with the logo on the login screen. Where the risk sits does.
Heavy truck DMS evaluation Same six questions for both vendors
1 Who runs the server?
Fusion can sit on a server in your building, and then your team patches it, backs it up and keeps it powered. Somebody has to. Hosted Fusion and Excede on Azure hand that job to the vendor.
Ask for the backup schedule and the date of the last restore test.
2 What happens when the internet drops?
A hosted or browser-based DMS stops at any rooftop that loses its circuit. A server in one store keeps that store running and can cut off every other one. Both happen.
Price cellular failover into the move, store by store.
3 Which OEM links do you really use?
Both vendors publish long OEM lists. What counts is the handful your people touch every day for parts ordering, warranty claims and labor reporting.
Bring your make list. A Freightliner and Isuzu store needs different things than a Kenworth-only one.
4 Which devices have to change?
Label printers, signature pads, scanners and shop tablets all talk to the DMS. A Windows client and a web browser make different demands on every one of them.
Count them. Every rooftop, before anybody sets a go-live date.
5 What does the vendor owe you on security?
A truck dealer that finances or leases falls under the FTC Safeguards Rule, which says to pick service providers that can protect customer data and check on them over time. Both vendors changed ownership structure in the last year.
Get current security documentation from whichever one you choose.
6 How does your data come back out?
Contracts end. Groups sell stores. Ask what format your history leaves in, how many days you get to pull it, and who at the vendor signs for that answer.
Get it on paper before the demo ends.
Three Ways a Heavy Truck DMS Can Run
The dots show how much of the IT work stays at your store.
In the browser
Blaze works this way. The lightest footprint at the store, and the most dependent on a steady connection.
Vendor-hosted
Fusion on Xcelerate, or Excede on Azure. The vendor runs the server while your circuits carry every transaction.
On your own server
Fusion’s on-premise option. The most control, and the patching, backups and power are yours to own.
None is wrong. A 12-store group with stores hours apart weighs them differently than a single rooftop off the interstate with one IT person, one internet circuit and a server closet that doubles as the copier room. Our DMS transition support plans the move for whichever model you land on.
What Helion Brings to a Heavy Truck DMS Decision
Heavy truck stores sit inside that same base, including groups with rooftops spread across several states, where the nearest backup technician can be hours away instead of a short drive across town. Peach State Truck Centers, a 12-location heavy truck group, is one of them. Those stores have taught us where a DMS move tends to hurt. Usually it’s the parts counter. At the worst possible hour.
How Helion Handles the IT Side of a DMS Choice
-
1
Complimentary assessment
We walk the network, the devices and the circuits at each rooftop, and read the IT invoices you pay now. Bring all of them.
-
2
Side-by-side IT cost
Own server, vendor hosting or browser. Each one moves cost between your budget and the vendor’s invoice. We put both on one page.
-
3
Cutover plan
Failover, device swaps, user roles with multi-factor authentication, and a date your service manager actually agrees to.
-
4
Safeguards file
The new vendor goes into your service provider records. The old system’s data gets kept or disposed of on purpose.
Common Questions
Still comparing proposals?
Bring both to a complimentary IT and cybersecurity assessment. We’ll tell you what your network is ready for.
Is Karmak or Procede better for a heavy truck dealership?
Can Karmak Fusion run in the cloud?
Does Procede host Excede for you?
Which truck brands do Karmak and Procede connect to?
Where does CDK fit in?
Does switching DMS change our FTC Safeguards obligations?
Does Helion work with Karmak and Procede dealers?
Pick the DMS that fits your stores. Then make sure the network under it is ready for the switch.
Request a Price Quote →