RER conducted a series of interviews for our October issue on software technology and will be publishing a number of them in RER Reports. The fourth installment is with Steve Milcik, sales manager for Montreal-based Orion Software. Milcik discusses new developments in Orion’s offerings, the importance of really utilizing the software you already have, and distributing information in a mobile method. Milcik was interviewed by RER’s Michael Roth.
RER: What have been some of the new developments in software over the past year or so from your company?
Milcik: Sirius Pro has added some interesting advanced features such as project billing, which allows our customers that deal with large construction sites or in scaffolding to send only one invoice per month, a great benefit for their customers. Our Preventive Maintenance and Logistics Management modules have been significantly improved thanks to feedback from our customers, who then in turn worked closely with our chief developer. Finally, a new Distribution module helps our customers efficiently manage special orders, equipment assembly, and sub-rentals.
From a software perspective, what do you see as some of the important things a rental company should be concentrating on in the current economic environment? What are some of the ways you can help rental companies deal with the recession?
Enhancing the use of their existing software is key. Most rental houses we have spoken with that have a software system in place seem to use less than 30 percent of their software’s potential. As an example, Sirius Pro can email invoices or statements of accounts automatically, saving $1 per statement in stamps, envelopes and time. If you send 200 per month this way, that’s a $2,400 savings on a yearly basis. Preventive maintenance and logistics are other fields our customers can take advantage of to improve their overall processes and generate substantial savings by improving up-time or improving staff utilization.
What are some new technologies that are important — for example, RFID tracking, doing rentals on line, customer access to their accounts, ability of sales people to have access to technology to process orders in the field, software that helps service staff have access to data from the jobsite, other technology that enhances the ability of a customer to interact directly with the rental company, telematics capabilities and equipment diagnostic capabilities?
All of the above can provide substantial benefits if implemented within the proper environment. The current problem we see is that “critical mass” cannot be easily be attained with any of these “technological” solutions. Off-the-shelf and cost effective offers will take some time to come to the market.
What are some of the new capabilities you expect from software looking ahead five years?
Distributed information is probably the main one. Employees should be on the road — salespeople at construction sites, drivers between deliveries, and support staff in the warehouse, and connected real-time to the corporate information.
