RER: What is new in your software and technology?
Kimura: We have recently made two major additions to RentalMan. First, we introduced Field Service support by enhancing the integration between our Logistics and Service applications. Now, field service teams benefit from a fully digitized solution that improves communication, visibility, and scheduling throughout the service process.
Our second addition is IntelliSource. Recognizing the common challenge of finding equipment to fill reservations, we developed a solution that automates this time-consuming process. Using a central reservations dashboard and a customizable rules engine, IntelliSource streamlines equipment sourcing based on each rental company’s specific processes.
What effects has AI had on your software and technology and what potential do you see going forward?
It’s been interesting to see how people in the industry feel about AI. Wynne customers have a mix of emotions about the topic. Some are gung-ho about it. Others are cautious about it.
Wynne is absolutely engaging on the topic. Who isn’t? However, we’re being methodical about it. We want to make sure we are going in the right direction, producing something beyond the hype, and making a meaningful impact on rental businesses.
We challenge every product manager across the RentalMan Suite with presenting some use case for AI in their solution. Part of this challenge is to focus on the places where it’s going to have the most impact for customers.
The immediate application is automation. This will likely be working behind the curtain, supplementing the existing RentalMan Suite. The next step will be toward decision making via intelligent user assistance that guides them to the right decisions. Customer-facing applications are very viable too in roles such as helping them find the right equipment for their job.
How important is integration of all of your systems?
System integration is extremely important for rental companies, especially at the enterprise level, where a company may have a large landscape of different systems. Having the right information at the right time is a necessity for individuals to efficiently accomplish their tasks and even automate some of the time-consuming, manual processes. Proper integration makes these automations and efficiencies possible.
Since this is such an important capability to rental teams, we’re continuing to integrate our solutions with one another. The focus of many of these integrations is on supporting cross functional roles in rental organizations by providing users with a “single pane of glass” to efficiently and productively accomplish their tasks throughout the day.
Earlier, we talked about the new field service capabilities made possible by new integrations between our solutions. One integration example that’s making this field service capability possible is the automatic transfer of field service tasks between Service Solution and Logistics Solution.
Wynne also has a long history of integrating RentalMan with outside applications as well. This year, we’ve completed an integration with Samsara. There are a few payment providers, a service application, and another telematics integration currently in the works as well.
What new trends in technology do you expect in the foreseeable future?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
