As part of a continuing series of interviews with software manufacturers, RER speaks with Adrian Arcoin, business developer/project manager, Corporate Services. Arcoin speaks about the growing importance of providing data and analytics as well as cloud services, why rental companies should use software to improve maintenance efficiency, fleet management and more.
RER: What have been the most important developments/trends in rental-related software in the past year?
Aucoin: Focus on data and analytics has been the most important as far as many of our clients and prospects are concerned. It’s an area that we have put a tremendous amount of effort into as well. Clients want a system, that is the backbone of their business, to not only report on what they are doing and how they are doing, but also give them recommendations on what they should be doing.
With years’ worth of data and the ability to overlay outside data sources, it is now easier than ever to build a reporting solution that can help take your business from simply having descriptive data to a more predictive and hopefully even prescriptive data presentation.
What do you expect will be the most important development/trend in the coming year or so?
We think there are two big areas: continued focus on analytics, and increased adoption of Software as a Service. As companies continue to focus on minimizing costs and maturity now more proven with cloud services and Software as a Service options, we believe these two options will be more important than software features. Being able to respond timely and with competitive offerings on both fronts, we believe will help us stand out in the market.
What have been the most overlooked features of rental-related software in the past year or so – in other words available features that rental companies tend to not take advantage of?
In our experience, the maintenance portion of our applications and others we work with seem to be the most overlooked. In many cases it seems like it’s too easy to make money blindly. Instead of optimizing existing operations and maximizing service time and parts sales/use, many find it easier to expand their fleet and increase revenue size and not necessarily improve margins.
How can software help rental companies do delivery more efficiently?
A good asset management solution that can communicate with routing/delivery services can help on a number of fronts. It can help the company understand things like delayed deliveries, turned away drivers, and potentially even actively re-route deliveries based on traffic patterns. Software can also help maximize delivery and pickups by creating optimal routes to minimize the number of trucks/trips/drivers required for the same delivery throughput to be achieved.
How can software help with fleet management?
Understanding the efficiency at a fleet level is something many businesses strive for but often don’t value at the same level as their rental utilization, for instance. Minimizing down-time in the fleet can help with delivery throughput, allow some businesses to right-size their fleet by highlighting the bad apples and units that simply don’t deliver on their value.
We believe that a software solution that can serve both the rental side of the business and the fleet management side of the business is crucial to fully understanding the ebbs and flow of your business.
How can software help with running the shop more efficiently?
As mentioned earlier, clients are not utilizing maintenance programs as fully as they can and this is a big opportunity area. We have had some cases where clients have recognized existing massive inefficiencies by properly implementing our maintenance program functionality. From overpaying for parts for different vendors, to missed charges for services and proprietary parts, to spending a good portion of a technician’s time on housekeeping type tasks, there is so much improvement to be had by focusing on the shop operations. We hope this is one of the areas we can expand and entice clients to consider.
