Interviews with Software Manufacturers: From the Physical to the Digital World – Part 2
Participants:
Max Muzik, lead consultant, Sycor Americas
Joe Lewis, CEO, Fame Rental
Kara Longmire, co-president/CEO, Alert Rental
Josh Lewis, president, MCS Rental Software
Ben Cox, chief product officer, Texada Software
Matt Hopp, general manager, Intempo Software
Ara Eckel, director of product management – connected solutions, JLG Industries
Kenneth Kimura, director, product development, Wynne Systems
James Morley, senior vice president, global product management, Point of Rental
Software
Tony Nicoletti, CEO, DPL America
What new trends in technology do you expect in the foreseeable future?
Musik: Continued advancement in the AI space will be the fastest growing technology. We at Sycor Americas foresee the advancement of AI as honing the focus on predictive analytics, allowing companies to better plan supply chain forecasts, market trends, and be better able to react to business needs proactively, maximizing profits and reducing losses.
Joe Lewis: Without a doubt, it’s all about AI. Beyond that, I see a push to consolidate critical business information. This could easily manifest itself as less reliance on multi-tenant, pure-play, point solutions. For instance, you may have all the information about your rental equipment, except for the fact that maintenance depreciation or financing is managed through a cloud-based solution. I see those things coming more in-house.
Longmire: Everything is becoming more mobile. Alert’s features such as Mobile Reports and Alert Rover make rental much easier to accomplish on the go. Having a secure way for outside salespeople, drivers, and managers to access their system enhances everyone’s productivity and profitability.
Josh Lewis: The big trend on the horizon (in addition to AI) is the growing demand for automation. Effective automation of processes and services can yield tremendous benefits to a rental operation. Rental companies will need to automate internal processes wherever possible because the new workforce expects smart digitalization across the board.
Another exciting development is intelligent equipment—think self-driving machines. Imagine needing a machine to dig a precise depth in a specific spot of land. Advanced machinery could be programmed to handle that task flawlessly. If this becomes the industry standard, rental companies won’t just provide the equipment; they’ll also offer the service.
Cox: Gazing into the tech crystal ball, several trends stand out:
AI and LLMs: These technologies are evolving at breakneck speed. Their accessibility to non-technical teams will likely drive rapid innovation and adoption, far exceeding past technological advancements. The past 18 months since ChatGPT 3.0's release are a testament to this acceleration.
Technology Budgets: Organizations will need to allocate funds for new AI tools, potentially leading to the consolidation of software tools. Platforms with deep operational capabilities and integration into customers' businesses will thrive, while point solutions may struggle.
User Experience and Reporting: Amid the buzz around predictive models, AI, and automation, the value of a superior user experience and robust reporting should not be underestimated in a tech strategy.
Hopp: To your point about integrations, we expect to see a continued trend toward a fully connected world. Every little part of a day-to-day rental business – from purchasing new assets and managing the corresponding paperwork to planning deliveries and managing field service – should all link back to a single source of truth. While different departments may use different ERP modules and point solutions to accomplish their goals, it all needs to tie back together to reduce wasted time and effort.
Eckel: Moving forward, many trends will involve a better understanding of opportunities and enhancements with generative AI as it continues to grow and evolve.
Also, I think there will be a real focus in the future on usability and user experiences — for example, the ability to compartmentalize and truncate content. Our industry is still very paper-driven, so how do we get to the point where we can take all this phenomenal documentation and content and deliver it in a bite-sized chunk of information relevant to the right individual at the right time?
Also, if you want to learn more about something specific with a boom lift, there’s an operator manual that's 100 pages long and a service manual that's also hundreds of pages long. That’s thousands of pages to sift through to find an answer. So, how do we help our customers get easier access to this information so they can access exactly what they need when they need it?
For us at JLG, we’re thinking about our strategies or guidelines around generative AI so that they're structured in a way that makes sense as it is becoming a part of everything. Generative AI is another tool in our tool belt that will help us do the things we’re already doing more efficiently.
Kimura: The Internet of Things (IoT) is likely to be a major trend for rental in the future. The industry still needs to work out some of the kinks before it becomes commonplace though, especially on the hardware side. The hardware has some catching up to do.
Telematics devices are tricky and still unstandardized across the industry for the most part. They are tricky in that they can be damaged, removed, and tampered with. Numerous telematics companies and OEMs also provide a plethora of different capabilities with no major unifying standards across the industry.
As hardware catches up, this will be an exciting space to watch though. Imagine generators automatically ordering more fuel for themselves or skid steers turning off if they exit a geofence limit. These are just two examples in a sea of exciting potential capabilities.
Morley: The easy-to-see trends are the ones that have already started. AI and machine learning have almost infinite possibilities, from predicting equipment failures to demand forecasting. Telematics and IOT are only going to be further engineered into products, enhancing tracking and monitoring to assure safety, efficiency, and productivity.
Augmented and virtual realities will become more widespread and help make training, remote operations, etc. easier to implement for more businesses. We’ll continue to be more mobile-centric as we expect to do more and more away from a desk or counter.
With all this technology, we’ll also see a renewed focus on cybersecurity and privacy. As we’ve seen recently with Microsoft 365 going down, we’re putting a lot of value into these platforms and it’ll be even more critical to ensure we’re protected.
Nicoletti: At the physical device level we anticipate everything getting smaller and faster with longer battery life as you would anticipate with technology. Bluetooth is becoming a larger request and we anticipate embedding BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) capabilities in the next generation of most of our devices so they can act as a hub and detect nearby tags, which in turn could be located on smaller ancillary assets such as tools and buckets. From a software standpoint we're going to see more and more companies continuing to integrate and provide a seamless path for mutual customers to view and manage data with the minimum amount of clicking around.
What are the most important contributions telematics makes to a rental company and how challenging is it to integrate telematics with a rental management operating system?
Musik: Outside of what you have mentioned, telematics today can really provide discrete information on the operating efficiency of your fleet. Information like running temperature, output readings, usage readings, are all now easily captured. For a rental company this not only allows you to provide reliable maintenance but can even introduce entirely new ways to bill customers for rentals.
Typically, this sort of integration of your rental management system can be complicated, and more importantly, expensive. With Sycor.Rental, we have built in IoT dashboards. This provides the backbone and infrastructure needed to connect with telematics providers and turn simple readings and communications into actionable events without the headache of a customized solution.
Joe Lewis: One thing I have always said about telematics is, “The machines are talking but is anyone listening?” If you are listening, can you filter out the noise to get what you need? Couple this with what I hear every rental company executive wants to know about every unit in real time. They want to know where the equipment is, what is it doing, how is it doing, what it needs, and what is it going to need. Imagine knowing the status of your entire rental fleet at a glance. With telematics, you can answer the first four questions; and predictive analytics answers the last one.
Longmire: Thanks to the AEMP standard, it isn’t difficult to integrate to Alert at all! Our clients can choose the telematics company that is the best fit for their business (whether it’s price or features) and seamlessly integrate with Alert. While Alert itself is focused on capturing meter readings and locating equipment, telematics users can use technology to enact features such as geo-fencing to know that their investments are protected.
Josh Lewis: Telematics brings tremendous visibility to rental businesses. Yes, it provides a bird’s-eye view of rental assets, making it easy to locate equipment quickly. That translates to faster response times and reduced downtime. Telematics also helps keep an eye on unauthorized equipment use, resulting in greater accuracy in billing for overage hours and preventing maintenance issues due to overuse.
In the future, we see an opportunity to capture error codes and quickly notify personnel both internally and at the job site. This time savings could be the difference between a quick repair and an overhaul repair.
Integrating telematics should be easy to achieve and instantly beneficial. Take our comprehensive Telematics Hub, for instance. Our users connect with one or more of the nearly two dozen providers. Now instead of logging into multiple providers, our users see and report on consolidated data from multiple providers in a single platform.
Cox: Telematics offers immense untapped potential for rental companies. Beyond just locating equipment or scheduling maintenance, telematics enables high uptime service offerings by predicting and preventing equipment breakdowns.
Fleet optimization is another critical benefit, helping determine the best locations for equipment and timing for inventory replacement. To maximize these advantages, telematics data must be integrated with comprehensive customer and equipment information, a capability we provide with our rental management solution.
Hopp: Telematics – when implemented correctly and actively monitored as part of a defined strategy – can deliver major cost savings to any rental business. When technicians can remotely diagnose fault codes, they don’t have the associated cost of sending out a technician who may or may not have the correct parts in their truck for a repair; they know exactly what the issue is and what’s needed to fix it in advance. Or, better yet, they can prevent small issues from escalating to the point that they become major damage, reducing the costs of unexpected repairs overall.
Similarly, when pickup drivers can head to the exact correct location on a large jobsite, their pickup times can go from, say, 45 minutes to 20. It's also an easy way to visualize equipment that the customer has taken off rent and is no longer paying for but still needs to be picked up and brought back to the yard.
In regard to integration, it is certainly a challenge from a technical perspective – which is why we decided to partner with one of the most trusted names in telematics and build the functionality directly into InTempo. With the help of LHP Telematics, we’ve already done the hard technical work; all end users have to do is add their existing data feeds into our InTempo MX platform or add our devices to machines that aren’t already outfitted with OEM hardware. From there, the system can begin populating telematics data right next to the rental data that’s already in InTempo. The go-live process is much faster than trying to integrate something from scratch, and companies see a return on their investment more quickly as well.
Eckel: Telematics' most significant contribution to a rental company is that it provides information to solve problems, such as geolocation to find a machine or notifications on the machine's health.
The challenge with telematics is that so much data is coming off the machine, but rental companies have been limited to one-way interactions with it. With two-way IoT communications, there is a whole new level of machine interaction and integration with the assets. For example, equipment owners and operators can now use the ClearSky Smart Fleet mobile app to find a machine by lighting the beacon light or honking the horn. Or, when looking at data like machine status, users can light up all the machines within Bluetooth range and have them clearly identified through color, seeing immediately if any have active fault codes that need to be addressed. It’s efficiency of time and finding an asset right away. It's about turning data technology and machine interactivity to the next level.
Kimura: Good telematics information can be leveraged to enhance preventive maintenance and proactive customer-service, to provide a better overall customer experience. Knowing that a machine is going to need service, and being able to act on that before your customer is even aware makes your equipment more reliable and cements your position as a valuable partner.
Our experience has been that the challenge is on the hardware side: Getting devices installed and maintained across their fleet is a major undertaking for any organization. Once a device is up and running, getting the data into our system is easy.
Morley: The most important thing is that it lets you know what’s happening with your inventory so you’re making informed decisions. Telematics lets you know where your equipment is and if it’s being used appropriately and allows you to maximize your inventory and lifecycle management. And if you’re ever audited, it helps you ensure you’re complying with relevant regulations, which opens up more opportunities for you - most often with government contracts.
For a rental business, there are two big challenges for integrating telematics with rental software: First is with rental software; because data formats and compatibility aren’t standardized, your rental software may only integrate with some manufacturers or providers. The second is cost; telematics companies aren’t charities and implementing new technology that gives you all this valuable data can be expensive, particularly when you have a lot of inventory.
Nicoletti: With the preponderance of equipment theft reaching epidemic levels, theft protection and recovery is one of the most significant and easily measurable benefits of telematics today. It doesn't matter where you are in the country, theft is rampant and rental houses need a cost-effective way to protect themselves. In addition to that, telematics provides logistical improvements through real time location of company rental equipment, trucks and any other assets in relation to each other for faster dispatching and repurposing.
Furthermore, telematics provides control over rentals using cutting edge features such as a starter disable, whereby a non-paying customer or stolen asset can be locked out remotely from a phone app. Telematics-generated tip and rollover detection alerts are important for curbing operator abuse and/or potential safety hazards. Capturing runtime data through telematics both improves billing with accurate usage and tightens up service scheduling so assets do not miss their maintenance window. Lastly, with richer engine direct J1939 data rental houses can reduce machine downtime by remotely reading fault codes and receiving alerts of potential machine issues.
What are the main concerns and issues customers in the rental industry are asking about in terms of software being able to solve their problems and help them operate more efficiently? Anything in particular that rental staff are asking for?
Musik: The questions we are frequently asked center around operational reporting of assets. How can an equipment rental business see what is over/underutilized? What has been sitting in the rental yard? What is not providing a ROI in the appropriate period? These are a small portion of the outputs a company expects and needs from their rental management system to be able to maximize profits. It is also a core business metric Sycor.Rental focuses on solving.
Joe Lewis: I do not hear that the rental industry is concerned about software solving many or most of their problems or making them more efficient. At some level, I believe that everyone knows that. I hear two things:
1 - Where do I start? There are more than 40 rental software solutions currently available to rental companies. As such, business owners are continually asking themselves, “Which one is right for me?” With markers set by you or your users, there are many different indicators to point you in the right direction. Above all else, they need a solution that’s easy to use, has options that can be customized to fit their needs, and most importantly, is reliable.
2 - Assuming that I choose correctly, what is the risk/reward to my business in making that change? Is it worth it? With every growth spurt in a business, there is going to be change. Switching software providers can be intimidating. Business owners should trust their instincts and recognize signs that a transition is necessary. The payoff will be improved functionality, streamlined processes, and increased efficiency.
Longmire: The ability to update their data/renumber their data to accommodate acquisitions as well as for ease of data cleanup and maintenance is an important discussion point for rental stores with their ERP provider in today’s environment. Similarly, rental software should be able to provide metrics and KPIs on demand and in a dashboard format, as well as exporting data to business intelligence programs.
Cox: Our customers are always on the move, dealing with uneven demand. This means speed and accuracy are crucial, especially for yard, shop, and field teams. Hence, we're continuously enhancing our mobile applications to simplify their workflows in and out of the shop.
Branch managers and owners need visibility across all business areas, making analytics a priority. We're investing heavily in this area to meet their needs.
Additionally, rental companies aim to expedite payments, automate cycle billing, and minimize AR risk. Texada's integrated payment solution addresses these needs by making transactions seamless, fast, and secure.
For equipment businesses, there's a growing demand for integration, particularly customer data sharing between rental teams, machine sales teams, and service departments. We're enhancing these connections across our suite to support our customers better.
Hopp: Making life easier for customers continues to be a priority – especially for independent rental organizations that compete on the customer experience. Empowering customers to do as much as they can independently – from extending their rentals to paying their invoices – doesn’t just save staff time; it provides a more seamless experience that keep customers coming back for more. Additionally, companies continue to ask for simple and intuitive user interfaces. Setup and training becomes much faster when processes are in a logical place and buttons and menus are clearly labeled; companies can onboard new employees more quickly and get a faster return on their technology investments.
Eckel: Traditional telematics is a dot on a map and primary data reporting that somebody has to figure out what to do with that. So, rental companies must hire a team to make the data actionable. That’s a big challenge. So, we asked ourselves, how does JLG help with this? The answer is to make the data very intuitive, easy to use, and easy to understand so it’s easier for our customers to act.
The other component we focused on was digitizing our customers’ daily processes, looking for ways to use IoT to automate manual tasks. For example, it allows our customers to figure out how many hours an asset is and its current state of charge or fuel level, whether it has any active fault codes and so on, by simply touching a button or looking at a data dashboard. That's the efficiency that our customers need and can now get at the power of their fingertips instead of the power of their feet.
Kimura: We make a point to visit our customers throughout the year. Something that we keep hearing from rental teams is how tough it is to find and keep staff. Drivers, sales reps, mechanics, and more are all tough to come by right now.
For us, that reinforces the idea that our software needs to be easy to use, easy to understand, and help users do more in less time. Rental teams need less hurdles to hire new employees and make them effective as soon as possible. The software shouldn’t be a major hurdle.
One of our latest solution additions, IntelliSource, is a direct response to this need. It makes the equipment sourcing process around rental reservations exponentially easier and less time consuming by providing teams with equipment options based on reservations. This is done through smart search features in a rules engine that can be customized by the company.
Morley: In our talks with customers at trade shows, conferences, customer feedback sessions, etc., customer issues generally boil down into two main pots:
Reducing down/non-productive time for their assets and people. Almost every feature we develop aims at trimming wasted time, from realtime updates to ecommerce to mobile features.
- Delivering great customer service. Rental businesses need to deliver an exceptional experience, not just compete on price. Whether it’s via ecommerce or informing rental staff about what’s important to that customer via preferences, history, etc., optimizing those processes is critical.
What are the most important contributions telematics can make to rental companies?
Muzik: Telematics need to be able to provide a business the information that will make their companies run effectively and efficiently. This means providing information such as:
- Geographic locations and geo-fencing
- Output readings such as voltage/wattage for a generator
- Operational usage like run-time or engine hours
- Preventative maintenance measures, like error codes or alerts
Joe Lewis: 1 – Customer satisfaction and profits from more reliable equipment. Having insight into a piece of equipment’s condition, or even how it is being used, will allow intervention before it gets damaged. More reliable equipment translates into higher customer satisfaction and more profitability.
2 – Eliminating losses from theft.
If a unit gets stolen, a business will know it relatively quickly and be able to recover it. With real-time geographical tracking, geo-fencing, and alerts, assets are always accounted for.
3 – More profitable sales of equipment.
If a rental business keeps the data provided by telematics, then traditional analytics tools will help it know when a specific unit in a category class should be sold, and what to replace it with. This will get even better with AI, provided you have the data.
Longmire: From our perspective, the most important contribution a telematics company can make is to conform to the AEMP standard so that the ERP system can plug-and-play with it. When protecting your equipment with telematics, ARA insurance (as well as other insurers) will often waive a deductible in the event of a theft. (Having equipment registered with NER is also a great way to accomplish this – and most ERP systems will generate reports to send to NER.)
Eckel: Based on previous definitions, telematics can only do so much. Basic telematics is one-way data that requires someone to sit at a computer, interpret what the information is telling them and then figure out what action users in the field need to take.
So, as software manufacturers, our challenge is figuring out how to make the actual insights actionable for our customers in the field, who interact with the equipment firsthand. We do this by thinking about problems those people need to solve with our solution.
With IoT, we see a world where we've evolved into this two-way machine interactivity that doesn’t just provide data but rather insightful, actionable information. By having a mobile app, we are giving our users access to the same insights but with the ability to interact with the machine in ways they can see, feel, and touch. We're empowering the people at the branch location and on the job site with a new level of data sophistication and interaction they've never been blessed with before. For example, I'm a fuel truck driver, and I was told to arrive at the job site and refuel the telehandler. But which one? Now, with ClearSky Smart Fleet, at the touch of a button, I can see all of the machines on site, and based on the visual color of the beacon light, the machines are indicating (green – good, yellow – mid, and red – low), I know the exact one that needs attention. That’s the power of revolutionizing telematics as part of a comprehensive IoT offering, like JLG’s ClearSky Smart Fleet solution.
Kimura: Visibility is a major contribution that telematics adds to a rental company’s operations. Location, condition, and status data are vital to squeezing as much profit as possible out of equipment in a rental fleet. Visibility helps speed up various parts of rental operations such as equipment pick-ups and maintenance when it’s integrated with a team’s operational tasks and systems.
Another major contribution is safety. For example, telematics devices can help companies detect sudden stops from their drivers and correct unsafe driving habits if it routinely happens. Detecting equipment damage as well helps ensure that it can be repaired appropriately for future use.
Morley: What’s most important to a rental company depends on their business and the challenges they’re facing now. We mentioned the main ways it brings value above; our goal is to ensure that the information rental stores are getting from their telematics devices (and software) gets to their rental management software.
Having all that data in one place is what’s going to allow rental companies to act quickly to resolve issues and make the best decisions possible when it comes to buying, selling, and overall re-fleeting.
