Hire and Rental News - May 2019

EQUIPMENT GUIDE TO 2019 Support your business with software By Brian Beaudry, Content Generator – Point of Rental Software I f you’re focused on running your hire business as efficiently as possible, you’ve likely looked at hire software to help. Because you’ll trust your hire software with every aspect of your business’ data, however, you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the software that best fits your processes. So how can you determine which software is right for you? TITAN Hoardings recently went through the process and here’s how they ended up with their new hire software. Step 1: Figure out your needs Do you deliver lots of items and therefore need dispatching capabilities? Are you simply interested in inventory tracking? Do you need an online store? Do you want built-in or integrated accounting capabilities? Do you need to be able to do asset tracking via telematics? These are some of the questions you’ll need to ask yourself and your answers will play a big role in determining what’s right for you. Titan learned what it was looking for the hard way; it was using another hire software that was ‘completely unsuitable’ for its needs. The company realised its priorities included an easy-to-use interface, ability to track inventory across multiple depots and integration into its accounting system. Step 2: Talk to your friends The hire industry is a relatively friendly one; many of us recommend others for equipment we don’t carry or sub-rent from competitors. Different parts of the industry require their software to work just a little bit differently. An event company has different priorities than a heavy equipment company, even if their underlying needs are the same. So talk to other companies in your industry to see how they feel about their software and their software’s support team. Titan used recommendations from competitors who had made a similar decision to help narrow its options of potential hire software providers. Step 3: Try before you buy Once you understand your needs and have an idea of which software teams you’d like to work with, you’re ready to start checking out software and watching demos. You’ll know which questions to ask and which features you need to see, allowing you to spend the demo time getting more detailed knowledge about the parts of the software important to you. Ask about implementation processes and training opportunities. Even the easiest software to use requires your team to consistently enter data correctly to be as valuable as possible. For Titan it was equally important its new software company had local staff with a strong understanding of the hire industry, on-site training, and ongoing support. Step 4: Get trained Unless you’re going with the most bare-bones software possible, your software company will offer training as part of implementation. Because data is only valuable if it’s accurate and your software is going to be collecting data as it’s implemented, training is almost always worth the up-front cost. Your staff will be more inclined to use the software if they’re comfortable with its processes, your data will be more accurate, and your reporting will allow you to increase your efficiency and profitability faster. “Our on-site training was thorough and our staff left the training sessions with a good understanding of the system. We didn’t even need all of the allocated training as it was so simple to use,” Christine McCormack, National Manager for Titan said. Step 5: Track growth (yours and your software’s) Much like any other item you’d track in your store, you need to track your software to ensure it’s maintaining its value. If you’re buying top-of-the-line software at the time, but as it ages, it isn’t being improved upon, you’ll end up with out-of-date software and be back in the market for software after a few years. As new technology enters the market, your hire software needs to be able to integrate those technologies so you can take advantage of them. You’ll also need to track your own growth to ensure you’re getting value out of your software. You should be using reports like ROI and utilisation to help you determine which assets you need and which are wasting space. Things like electronic signatures should be saving on printing and filing costs. Dispatching software should be reducing the amount of gas you use, time you spend planning routes, and allow you to make more deliveries with fewer trucks. In October 2018, Titan chose Point of Rental’s Syrinx software. According to Christie, Syrinx has “reduced processing time of all operational processes, most significantly with invoicing. “Previously, our regular monthly invoices took multiple resources many hours and this has been reduced to minutes. This savings alone has paid for the system.” n Visit: www.point-of-rental.com CALENDAR OF EVENTS HIRE19 – Australia 22-23 May 2019 – Melbourne, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Australia’s only Hire Expo www.hire19.com.au HIANZ Conference & Trade Show – New Zealand 2-4 July 2019 – Hamilton Exhibition and sponsorship information contact: +64 07 575 2563 www.hianz.net.nz IPAF Asia Conference & Showcase – China 17-18 July 2019 – Hangzhou, Intercontinental Hotel, Hangzhou, China www.ipaf.org/asiaconference Asian InterMat 2019 – Thailand 5-7 September 2019 – Bangkok, Impact Exhibition & Convention Center Exhibition and conference that presents products and services around construction. www.clocate.com/conference/Asian- InterMat-2019 CONEXPO Latin America 2019 – Chile 2-5 October 2019 – Santiago Latin-American manufacturer-run, regional platform for construction industry www.conexpolatinamerica.com Europlatform – France 3 October 2019 – Nice, Hotel Le Negresco, Nice The conference for European access professionals. www.europlatform.info IPAF 2019 Elevation – UK 27 November 2019 – Coventry, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel www.ipaf.org/elevation CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE 2020 – USA 10-14 March 2020 – Las Vegas The international gathering place for the construction and construction materials and fluid power, power transmission and motion control industries. www.conexpoconagg.com IPAF Innovate – USA 16-17 July 2019 – Illinois, Sheraton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel, IL www.ipaf.org/innovate 5Th International Rental Exhibition (Ire) – The Netherlands 9-11 June 2020 – Maastricht, The MECC exhibition centre in Maastricht IRE will be co-located again with the APEX access show, the European Rental Association (ERA) convention and the European Rental Awards dinner. Visitors will also be free to move between IRE and APEX, which is the world’s largest dedicated access equipment show. The ERA convention will take place on 10 and 11 June and the European Rental Awards on the evening of 10 June. Visit www.ireshow.com P74 HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS MAY 2019