You've probably seen those commercials for office supply company Staples that show someone doing what should be a fairly simple everyday task in what looks like the very hardest way possible. Then the voiceover says “There's an easy button for that.”

Well that's a good metaphor for what computer technology can do for a rental business. Sure, rental companies can continue to do things the hard way, which is never as efficient as a healthy dose of modern technology could make them, or they can adopt some of the latest technology solutions designed to exponentially improve efficiency, and simultaneously improve customer satisfaction and add dollars to the bottom line.

The current competitive technology landscape has solutions providers working overtime to ensure that their systems are easy and intuitive to use for rental personnel.

Because the rental industry is so fast-paced, software providers know that their customers need to be able to adopt new technologies quickly, getting employees up to speed in a matter of days, not weeks.

In addition, providers of rental management software are paying more attention than ever to ensuring that their solutions can integrate with specialized technologies such as GPS, telematics, parts management and dispatching systems.

No rental industry technology can be better described as an “easy button” than the rental management system. Today's systems have hundreds more features with each new generation introduced, bringing with them a new level of sophistication, and greater efficiency and dollar-saving implications for the rental companies who use them.

There are many rental management solutions to choose from and most providers acknowledge that all of them are pretty good at what they do. Each solution, however, offers some unique features that set it apart from the competition.

Toronto-based Texada Software has been busy introducing new products to the rental industry, including a new version of its Systematic rental management system, which adds more than 300 features beyond the previous version.

A key feature to the new version is RFID tracking. Users can now tag both equipment and employees with RFID devices to improve all-around security. According to Texada CEO and president Don Whitbeck, customers have shown a lot of interest in RFID technology, but not as many have actually implemented it. The one exception, however, is using RFID to improve employee security and identification.

To achieve implementation, employees are given an RFID tag and the rental counter is equipped with a low-cost RFID reader. The employee logs into the system with a user name and password. When that employee gets more than three feet away from the counter, the system automatically locks them out, and he or she must log in to the system again. The RFID technology records the actions of each employee on the system, protecting the rental company from unauthorized contracts and discounts, and increasing employee accountability.

Texada also recently introduced its new Systematic Portal tool, designed to enable rental company customers to do more of their rental business online. The Portal provides customers access to their account, allowing them to review what equipment they have on rent, reserve additional equipment, and schedule pick-up and deliveries. According to Whitbeck, large contractor customers particularly are demanding a stronger web presence and additional ways to do business with their rental providers.

A third new product is the Systematic Dashboard, which provides a real-time graphical display of the rental business that shows owners and managers, at a glance, what the health of the business is, and whether business trends are going the right way.

“A dashboard will tell you right away when you're off the rails, so you can fix it, driving up efficiencies and, in effect, utilization, and then you make more money,” Whitbeck says.

Users can compare how the business is doing today vs. the same date last year, or choose from other measurement points to determine how the business is performing. The Systematic Dashboard can also be tied into other systems of a rental company, so data can be pulled from multiple sources such as financial, business intelligence and delivery systems.

Oxford Builders Supplies, which started as an equipment division for Canada's largest commercial construction company — EllisDon Construction — has expanded over the past three years into a full equipment rental, sales and service operation. Oxford uses Systematic rental software to better track its equipment rentals. Since its implementation about a year ago, the company has improved its customer service as a result of improved rentals tracking, delivery and parts ordering, and has experienced a bottom-line impact.

“The technology assists us in parts ordering and equipment cost reporting,” says Mike Demelo, vice president, equipment operations. “We now order parts more efficiently and in more realistic quantities. The software has paid for itself in a year's time by helping management make more informed decisions regarding equipment purchasing and utilization.”

RMI Corp., which offers its Advantage rental management software to the rental industry, recently introduced a new solution called Advantage-Live. The new version allows users to purchase the software license as a monthly subscription service, providing them access to a centralized copy of the system through a secure section of the server farm. The customer's data resides in a secure area and the company does not need to install the software or worry about the infrastructure necessary to maintain it on-premise. Users simply need access to the Internet and they have the benefits of RMI's Advantage system at a lower cost.

“Our thinking internally is it will be the smaller users that will adopt Advantage-Live because the capital expense up front won't be so high, and it will be easier to justify from month to month,” says Paul Chapdelaine, president of the Avon, Conn.-based company.

The easy button