Auto Dealer Managed IT in Roswell, GA

Auto Dealer Managed IT in Roswell, GA, COMNEXIA

Auto dealerships in Roswell and across metro Atlanta run on technology that most general IT firms have never touched: dealer management systems (DMS) from CDK Global, Reynolds and Reynolds, and Dealertrack, tightly coupled with F&I platforms, CRM tools, and manufacturer portals. COMNEXIA has supported businesses in Roswell, Georgia since 1991, and its managed IT practice is built around the security controls and compliance obligations that dealerships specifically face, including the FTC Safeguards Rule (16 CFR 314.4), which became fully enforceable for auto dealers in June 2023 and requires a written information security program, employee training, and a qualified individual overseeing it.

Why Dealership IT Is Different from General Business IT

A franchise dealership processes nonpublic personal information (NPI) on every finance application, credit pull, and service contract. The FTC Safeguards Rule requires that you inventory where NPI lives, encrypt it in transit and at rest, implement multi-factor authentication on any system that touches it, and produce an annual risk assessment. CDK Global, Reynolds and Reynolds, and Dealertrack each have their own network connectivity requirements, API integrations, and patch schedules that do not align with a standard Microsoft 365 update cycle. Mixing that traffic with open guest Wi-Fi or a flat showroom network creates the exact attack surface regulators and auditors flag first.

What COMNEXIA Delivers for Roswell-Area Dealerships

COMNEXIA's auto dealer managed IT service is structured around four concrete workstreams, not a generic help-desk subscription.

• Network segmentation and DMZ architecture. We design and document a segmented network that isolates DMS traffic (CDK, Reynolds and Reynolds, or Dealertrack) from the showroom, service lane, and guest Wi-Fi VLANs. F&I workstations sit on their own segment with firewall rules that permit only the ports and destinations those applications require. This directly addresses FTC Safeguards Rule section 314.4(c)(3), which requires access controls limiting employee access to customer NPI on a need-to-know basis.
• Endpoint protection and patch management. Every dealership workstation and server is enrolled in NinjaOne for remote monitoring and management. Patch compliance reports run weekly. SentinelOne EDR is deployed at the endpoint layer, providing behavioral detection that catches threats DMS-adjacent credential-harvesting scripts generate, which traditional antivirus misses.
• Identity and access controls. Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) conditional access policies enforce MFA on every account that can reach Reynolds and Reynolds ERA, CDK Drive, or Dealertrack workflows. Named-user accounts replace shared logins on F&I desktops, creating the audit trail the Safeguards Rule requires.
• Help desk with ticketing and monthly reporting. Every support request opens a tracked ticket. Monthly reports show open vs. closed issues, patch compliance percentage, and endpoint health by department (sales, service, parts, F&I). The qualified individual your dealership designates under 16 CFR 314.4(a) can use that report to satisfy the annual program review requirement without assembling data manually.

Onboarding Process: What the First 30 Days Look Like

COMNEXIA uses a documented onboarding checklist, not an ad-hoc walkthrough. In week one, we perform a network discovery scan, document every IP-addressed device, and map which systems process or store NPI. In week two, we deploy NinjaOne agents and SentinelOne to all endpoints and begin baseline patch remediation. In week three, we implement the VLAN segmentation plan and configure Entra ID conditional access policies. By day 30, we deliver a written network diagram, an asset inventory, and an initial risk assessment narrative your leadership can use as the foundation of the FTC Safeguards Rule information security program. For dealerships already on CDK or Reynolds and Reynolds, we coordinate directly with those vendors' technical teams during cutover so DMS connectivity is not interrupted.

A Typical Scenario: Reynolds and Reynolds on a Flat Network

A Roswell-area dealership running Reynolds and Reynolds ERA on a flat network, where the service-lane tablets, guest Wi-Fi, and the F&I manager's workstation all share the same subnet, is one misconfigured firewall rule away from exposing customer credit data to lateral movement. COMNEXIA has resolved this configuration repeatedly for metro Atlanta dealers: we segment the ERA traffic, apply SentinelOne to the service-lane tablets, enforce Entra ID MFA on every ERA login, and produce the documentation a Safeguards Rule audit demands. The outcome is a defensible security posture, not a checkbox exercise.

Serving Roswell and Metro Atlanta Dealerships

COMNEXIA is headquartered in Roswell, Georgia and has operated in the Atlanta market since 1991. Our technicians know the geography, the local Fulton County business environment, and the operational tempo of metro Atlanta dealerships. On-site response does not require coordinating across state lines.

If your dealership runs CDK Global, Reynolds and Reynolds, or Dealertrack and has not yet formalized its FTC Safeguards Rule program, or if your current IT support cannot produce a documented network diagram and asset inventory on request, contact COMNEXIA today. Call (877) 600-6550 to schedule a no-obligation network assessment for your Roswell or metro Atlanta dealership.