26
|
HIRE
AND
RENTAL
NEWS
| MAY 2013
INDUSTRY IN FOCUS
Working Smarter
This example shows valuable client details for sales staff using Baseplan CRM
iPad application
We are at a crossroads in the IT world
that is having a major impact on how we
are all doing business and communicating.
Over the past few years email and social
media have taken off and now we have
the emergence of major disrupters in the
IT world of mobility, Cloud Computing and
Software as a Service (SaaS).
The recent emergence and convergence
of these disrupters has brought
considerable pressure on businesses
to adapt to change to keep up with
customers’ expectations. This pressure
is not only felt in the IT world but also
directly in the rental industry.
A disrupter in this context is an
emergent technology that causes us to all
stop and think about what it can do for us.
Our customers have expectations we keep
up with new ways of doing business and
we realise we should make use of it but is
often unclear how to make use of it.
Adapting business to make use of these
new technologies is in itself a disruptive
process and can be costly so a return on
investment (ROI) needs to be assessed.
In terms of assessing ROIs we can break
down the returns on using technology into
several areas relevant to the hire industry.
Client Empowerment
–
letting our clients
have access to more data and functionality
without being directly reliant on staff.
For best client empowerment your back
end system needs to allow you to do the
following:
Connect to clients through online
experiences and social media. This can
be achieved via well-known social media
products such as Twitter, Facebook and
hosting a blog on your web site. Online
chat is also another powerful tool for
reaching out to clients.
Provide a customer facing web portal
that is directly connected to a back end
system allows
the client to see
and interact
with product
information. A web
portal is open 24/7.
A web portal can
allow the client to
see what equipment
they have on hire
and what rates
they are being
charged; to look up
service history and
to request service,
pickups, swaps,
additions etc; to
download product
manuals and
safety information.
It is imperative a
client web portal
be connected live to core systems for
maximum benefit. Client portals should
also be available on mobile devices such as
smartphones and iPads.
Provide SMS/email notification to
clients – keep them informed of what’s
happening with a pickup that is due.
Thank them for their business.
Allow your clients to directly access
service history from their mobile phone by
scanning a 2D barcode on the gear such as
Kennards Hire have with their system.
Better Utilisation
.
This is the cornerstone
of any successful rental business and
an essential requirement of any rental
software system:
Physical utilisation reporting should be
easy and automatic. Physical utilisation
needs to be checked from the perspective
of the branch and also by category and
type. The branch utilisation benchmarks
each branch and typically highlights
underperforming regions. Outliers of
utilisation form the plant type and
category perspective can indicate market
weakness in a particular segment which
can highlight a need for improvement to
marketing ie: advertising or pricing, or
even the fact a market no longer exists for
that class of gear. Poor utilisation outliers
at the individual equipment level can
indicate problems with the plant itself such
as unreliability.
Financial utilisation will show you where
to make your next capital investment.
While the revenue side of financial
utilisation is directly related to physical
utilisation the cost side is a mixture of
depreciation, service costs and interest
charges. Your software system needs to
track all of this automatically for you. From
looking at financial utilisation you are able
to see which items of equipment and also
which categories and types are performing
well compared to others. From this
observation you will be able to see which
gear is a lemon and move it on and also
which equipment is making you money.
Utilisation in both forms is best
visualised with an analytics tool such as
Baseplan Analytics.
Rates.
Are your rates consistent across
branches or even across contracts?
Analysing the rates your branches are
charging across branches or even across
different hire contracts will highlight issues
of undercharging. Your software system
should provide this information visually.
Use of Analytics can greatly help you
to work smarter. Analytics is using your
data to its maximum potential by way
of visualising outliers of data examples
include being able to see rates charged
across branches.
Using mobility for clients in regards to
client portals as mentioned above is a
great way to further enhance customer
relationships and is also a great technology
to provide to your staff. Some examples
include providing your sales team with
mobile CRM so client information such as
equipment on site, rates and service history
is at their fingertips when visiting a client.
Another great use of mobility is for service
technicians to record parts and labour for a
service job or for a yard worker to be able
to scan in a return.
Andrew Ferry
CEO Baseplan Software Pty Ltd
HR
The above shows how data can be visualised such
that outliers such as that for the $80 rental rate
in 2011 Q3 stand out and can highlight a problem.
Image is sourced from Baseplan Analytics.