DMS Comparison
Tekion vs Reynolds and Reynolds: A DMS Comparison From the IT Side
What changes for your servers, network, devices, phones and data access when a store moves from ERA-IGNITE to Tekion, or decides to stay.
Tekion vs Reynolds and Reynolds is a choice between Tekion’s cloud-native Automotive Retail Cloud and Reynolds’ ERA-IGNITE, the core of its Retail Management System. For IT, the gap shows up in servers, network, devices, phones and how outside vendors reach your data.
Last updated: October 18, 2026
The login screen is the easy part of a DMS move.
A Reynolds store has usually run the same system for a long time. The accounting forms, the printers that feed them, the phone system and the habits of every office clerk all grew up around it. Erik Nachbahr, who founded Helion Technologies in 1997, put the size of a move plainly in his post on life after Tekion go-live. “It’s such a titanic shift from where you were on CDK or Reynolds and Reynolds that nobody absorbs all of it on the first pass.” The wiring closet feels it too. So do the printers.
Search for Tekion vs Reynolds and you’ll find feature lists and forum threads about desking screens. We cover the part underneath, for dealers weighing our Tekion enablement services or our DMS transition support. Nobody demos what happens when the business office prints a deal jacket on day one and the laser printer that’s been mapped to the old system since 2014 just sits there blinking. That part’s on us.
Full disclosure. Helion is a Tekion Certified Partner, and we support stores running Reynolds and Reynolds too. So everything below is what each company publishes about itself, linked.
Data Access in Tekion vs Reynolds and Reynolds
Your F&I menu, your CRM, your service scheduler and the AI tools your managers keep asking about all need your DMS data. How they get it is set by the DMS company’s program rather than by you, and that program shapes how long a new vendor waits, what the connection takes and who signs off on it. So it’s worth reading both programs before you sign anything.
Erik put Tekion’s side this way when we asked him about data access. “Tekion, for example, has a very open API, and it’s very easy for vendors, and for dealers to have vendors they want to have access their data.”
Reynolds runs its own certified program. Each vendor applies. Both companies explain theirs in their own words, and the cards here quote them directly so you can read the source yourself. Our managed AI team starts every project with the same question.
Two programs. Read both.
Tekion
Its Automotive Partner Cloud keeps dealership data current “with APIs and webhooks,” and says its “self-service controls put partners and dealers in charge of their data.”
APIs, webhooks and dealer controls.
Reynolds and Reynolds
Under the Reynolds Certified Interface program, third parties “apply to be a part of our network and go through a comprehensive certification process,” with re-certifications after that.
An application and certification.
Side by side
Tekion vs Reynolds and Reynolds, Compared Line by Line
Every cell comes from the two companies’ own sites, as of October 2026. It’s what each one says about itself, not a ranking. No scores. Where a company doesn’t publish something, we say so. Confirm the details with both before you sign.
| Topic | Tekion | Reynolds and Reynolds |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Pleasanton, California. Founded in 2016 by Jay Vijayan and Guru Sankararaman. | Dayton, Ohio. Began as a forms printer in 1866 and has served dealers since 1927. |
| DMS platform | Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC), which puts DMS, CRM, service, payments, payroll and analytics on one platform. | ERA-IGNITE, the foundation of its Retail Management System, first launched in 2010. |
| Where it runs | Described as cloud-native. | Hosting options aren’t described on its product pages. Ask whether yours runs on a server in your building or is hosted. |
| Third-party data access | Automotive Partner Cloud, with APIs, webhooks and self-service controls for partners and dealers. | Reynolds Certified Interface, with an application, certification and re-certification for each participant. |
| Phones | Phone and texting companies such as GoTo Connect and CallRevu sit in its partner network. | Sells the Reynolds Integrated Telephone System, tied into its CRM, with the MyRITS mobile app. |
| IT, network and documents | Its Implementation Terms put electrical work, data cabling and the readiness sign-off on the dealer. | Sells IT management, network management, help desk, server and hardware services, plus printed forms and toner. |
| Security it publishes | SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001, 27701 and 42001. | Lists password protection, data backup procedures and multifactor authentication in ERA-IGNITE. |
Sources: Tekion, Tekion ARC, Tekion Trust Center, Reynolds and Reynolds, ERA-IGNITE, Reynolds Integrated Telephone System and Reynolds IT management.
Before you sign
Six IT Questions to Settle Before You Choose Tekion or Reynolds
A demo shows screens. These questions cover the hardware, contracts and data behind them, and they apply whether you’re moving or renewing. Ask them in writing.
Want the IT side of either path priced out for your stores? Request a price quote.
Where Helion fits
The servers, network, devices, security and Safeguards file under the DMS. We do that work for Tekion stores and Reynolds stores alike.
Dealership DMS evaluation Same six questions, either path
1 Where does your DMS run today?
Find out whether ERA-IGNITE sits on a server in your building or is hosted, because the answer decides most of the IT plan. Start there. A server in the back room needs power, cooling, backups and someone watching it. If you move, it also holds years of customer data that still has to be kept, secured and finally wiped.
Walk the server room with the contract in hand.
2 Who owns the phones?
If your phones are the Reynolds Integrated Telephone System, that’s its own contract, and changing the DMS doesn’t end it. Check the term and who holds your numbers. Then work out how caller details will reach the new CRM, since a BDC rep who can’t see who’s calling, or what that customer bought last spring, ends up starting every single call cold.
Pull the phone contract before you sign the DMS one.
3 Who runs the network and the help desk?
Some stores buy IT management, network management or help desk services from their DMS company, often added one line at a time over the years until nobody in the building remembers which contract covers the firewall. A move turns each of those into its own decision. List them. Price them separately. If you keep your own IT person, co-managed IT keeps them in charge.
Separate the IT lines from the DMS lines on the invoice.
4 Is the internet ready to be the DMS?
With a cloud-native platform, a rooftop that loses its circuit loses its DMS. Test that. Tekion’s Implementation Terms also put electrical work, data cabling and the readiness sign-off on the dealer. Our Tekion network requirements guide covers it.
Pull the primary circuit and watch the store keep working.
5 Which devices and forms have to change?
Laser printers, preprinted forms, F&I signature screens, check scanners and every PC in the building meet the new system on day one, and in a store that’s bought its deal jackets and toner from one company for twenty years, the paper side of the business is easy to forget until the first contract won’t print. An old PC stays slow on any platform. Test every one.
Print a real deal jacket and RO from every printer.
6 Which integrations come along, and who gets access?
Every vendor connected through the Reynolds Certified Interface today needs a new connection on Tekion’s Automotive Partner Cloud, or a fresh look at renewal. Build user roles from today’s org chart and turn on multi-factor authentication from day one. No exceptions. A store that arranges financing falls under the FTC Safeguards Rule, which requires MFA and oversight of service providers.
Get the data export format and dates in writing.
How Much IT Work Each Path Puts on Your Stores
The dots show how much of the IT work lands on the store’s side.
Renew Reynolds
Same platform. A good moment to check the server, circuits, phones, access and vendor file before you sign again.
Move one rooftop to Tekion
Circuit and failover work, a phone plan, rebuilt integrations, printer and forms tests, and a plan for the old server.
Convert a group in waves
The same work at every rooftop, sequenced store by store, with each wave learning from the last one.
None of them is wrong. A single-point store with a controller who also runs IT weighs these very differently than a 15-rooftop group with an IT director, three states of circuits and a server at every store. Our DMS transition team plans the IT side of whichever path you pick, and our four-way DMS comparison adds CDK and Dealertrack to the picture.
What Helion Brings to a Tekion or Reynolds Decision
Those stores run Tekion, Reynolds and most of the rest of the DMS market, so we’ve already seen what a move tends to trip over, from the old server nobody wants to unplug to the forms printer in accounting that only one person knows how to load. It’s rarely the software. It’s the printer.
How Helion Handles the IT Side of a Tekion or Reynolds Decision
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Complimentary assessment
We walk the server room, network, devices and circuits at each rooftop and read the IT, phone, forms and DMS invoices you pay now, because those line items are where the surprises in a move tend to hide. Bring all of them.
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Rooftop readiness
Circuits, failover, cabling, Wi-Fi, PCs, printers and forms, checked against what the new system needs, one store at a time.
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Cutover and the old server
Help desk coverage, a paper fallback, user access rebuilt with multi-factor authentication, and a written plan for keeping, securing and wiping the old system’s data.
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After go-live
Our Tekion enablement team stays on after go-live, extending the momentum Tekion’s own team builds.
Common Questions
Still comparing proposals?
Bring both to a complimentary IT and cybersecurity assessment. We’ll tell you what your servers and network are ready for.
Is Tekion better than Reynolds and Reynolds?
Is ERA-IGNITE cloud-based?
How do other vendors get access to our data on each DMS?
How long does a move from Reynolds to Tekion take?
Do our phones have to change if we leave Reynolds?
What happens to our old DMS server after we switch?
Does Helion work with Tekion and Reynolds dealers?
Tekion or Reynolds, the DMS is only as steady as the server, network and printers under it. Let’s check yours before the contract does.
Get Your Complimentary IT & Cybersecurity Assessment →