The statistics on mobile device usage and its compounding growth are staggering. To start, 91 percent of American adults own a cell phone, according to research from Pew Internet Project. Fifty-six percent of American adults have a smartphone and 34 percent own a tablet computer. As of May 2013, 63 percent of adult cell phone owners use their phones to go online and 34 percent of mobile Internet users go online mostly using their phones rather than other devices such as a desktop or laptop computer.
What was once used primarily for personal phone calls and Internet connectivity has become a necessary business tool as well. Business that was conducted in an office setting a decade ago can now be conducted via mobile device from any location. Business software providers have responded with mobile versions of their products developed specifically for use on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablet devices.
Does your rental management software have the mobile functionality necessary to keep up with the pace of your business? The industry trend has been moving toward increased mobile transactions via smartphones and tablets for some time. Many of the software tools and media applications we use regularly for personal business already have a mobile-specific version. Software solutions and technology developed for the rental equipment industry are no different. Customers are doing more business on the go and from devices that allow for that mobility, making it a necessity for software companies to answer the call with applications and solutions that not only deliver on the functionality that rental businesses are accustomed to from the store, but also to develop improvements to those solutions that make using them via mobile device easier in the field.
Software providers to the rental equipment industry are using the latest technologies to bring users improved access to their business metrics and immediate action ability from their mobile devices, speeding up the rental transaction process and delivering on the immediacy with which modern-day business is executed.
RER asked some of the industries’ leading rental management software providers to outline the capabilities of their mobile software solutions and highlight the boldest features they want to inform rental operators about. We know that a bombardment of new technology can be overwhelming so we present these offerings in a simple-to-read capsule format — the best medicine for prevention of Nomophobia.
RMI Corp.
Offering: Advantage Mobile
Summary: RMI Corp.’s Advantage software comes pre-configured with more than 40 mobile functions that are designed to meet the needs of rental industry professionals who spend much of their time away from a desk. Its mobile functionality is device independent, meaning that Advantage Mobile functionality can be run on any web-enabled device such as a smartphone (i.e., Apple, Droid or Windows), iPad, Surface or other tablet. Additionally, these functions can also run on a laptop and/or desktop computer.
“Our Mobility functionality is designed to keep Advantage completely up to date at all times while delivering information to people within and outside the organization on an as-needed, up-to-the-minute basis,” says Paul Chapdelaine, RMI president. “RMI’s Cloud model has made it possible for RMI to deliver professional consulting services at no additional charge to our customers. Our experienced professionals are available to help our customers plan for and, actually implement, mobile functionality free of charge. This has been incredibly helpful to our clients as they determine how best to deploy mobile devices within their organizations.”
- Executive Snapshot(s) deliver dashboard views of key performance indicators that help a rental executive manage his or her business.
- My Open Work Orders replace printed work order documents with electronic documents that appear on the appropriate people’s mobile device(s).This tells your team exactly what needs to be done, when and where. Work Order processes are available for rental, sales and services activities.
- Time and Material entry allows users to enter product delivery and return information as well as time-keeping information directly into Advantage from a mobile device as the event occurs. Inventory consumption is immediately captured and time entry information is updated. In addition, work orders are readied for immediate closeout.
- Signature Capture in Advantage Mobile captures electronic signatures on completed work orders. A copy of the signed document is retained by the system while a copy of the same document is immediately emailed to the customer.
- Credit Card Swipe allows a mobile device to be outfitted with a credit card swiping device.When used, not only is the work order closed and invoiced, it is immediately paid for via credit card. Credit card funds are automatically posted through to cash receipts according to credit card funding records without the need for human intervention.
- Inventory Transfers and Physical Inventory Processes is required functionality for tracking inventory transfers and for processing physical inventory counts and final reconciliation of inventory quantities and value can be performed where it happens — in the warehouse, rental yard or between branch locations.
- Rental Quote to Order enables field sales professionals to issue quotes, capture acceptance signature and convert the quote to an order while in the field meeting with the customer on the jobsite. Workflow documents are then created and forwarded to appropriate operations personnel.
Point-of-Rental Systems
Offering: Mobile Workforce
Summary: Point-of-Rental Systems’ Mobile WorkForce technology is developed to empower workers on a jobsite and in the rental yard, capitalizing on their mobility. Because many rental employees don’t work behind the counter or have access to electronic information or computer systems, the Mobile WorkForce solution allows them to update contract-related information in real time from a mobile device or tablet.
“For example, a driver delivering a high-reach lift to a jobsite can open the contract from that site and take a photo of the item delivered as well as have the customer sign for it right on the device,” says Wayne Harris, president and CEO, Point-of-Rental Systems. “The signature capture is instantly reflected in the contract, eliminating the need for paper to be delivered back to the office and filed. Similarly, if an employee is sent out to survey a site for delivery and setup, notes can be added to the contract or reservation, detailing the surface and size of the area or any other number of logistical elements.”
A web-based application rather than a device-specific app, Mobile Workforce can be utilized with any mobile device, be it a smartphone, tablet or laptop. In addition, it offers options to add call logs, signatures, arrival, departed and on-the-way notifications, and more.
Functionality:
Offering: Sirius e
Summary: The all-new Sirius e application is based on the best practices of rental operations and uses the newest technology and an SQL database. By combining a Windows application and a web portal with mobility through the cloud, Sirius e is designed to be a complete rental, distribution and service application.
The Sirius e mobile application was designed from its inception to be used on a touch screen, eliminating the mouse entirely at the point of sale and in the field.
“The application is versatile and adapts to the device that is used,” says Patrice Boivin, president and CEO, Orion Software. “Mobile users who access it on the cloud with a tablet or smartphone get a simpler interface with tiles to select items and view transactions. Transactions can be completed in just a few touches by selecting tiles. The application deployed is the same whether users access it from a computer or a mobile device, making it cost efficient and low maintenance.”
- Touch screen interface offers options to the end users to improve efficiency without compromising on the completeness of information.
- e Service Management module on mobile devices is intended for the field staff to access their schedules and map routes. It is fully integrated so as soon as a user completes a new rental transaction, the service request is populated and ready to be dispatched.
Offering: Genisys Mobile
Summary: The latest real-time integrated software developed by Genisys Software for use on mobile devices is browser based so there is nothing that is loaded on the device itself. Users can look up customer information, inventory availability, rates and more from anywhere.
“It was designed for and works extremely well on today’s touch screen-based smartphones — any device or carrier — or tablet,” says Ray Bonestroo, president, Genisys Software. “It is operating system and browser independent, so you can use whatever devices you already have and then mix and match in the future as desired.”
Functionality:
- Customer look-up allows the user to select from a list to see account balance, credit limit, address, phone, open orders and open invoices.
- Inventory look-up lets the user check rates and availability for any customer and any date range in the future. In addition, the user can take inventory on rental or resale/parts.
- Create or convert reservation allows the user to create a rental reservation or quote directly from their mobile device, including setting up delivery; adding jobsite information, name of the customer’s authorized employee, purchase order number, and any rental or sales items required. The reservation can also be converted to a contract or a quote can be converted to a reservation or directly to a sales invoice for inventory or equipment purchases.
- Print, fax or email directly from the device.
- Return rental contracts including entering fuel and updating meters and quantity on bulk items.
- Receive purchase orders.
- Delivery and pickup functionality allows the driver to set up delivery dates and times, and to capture the signature of the customer at the time of delivery and/or pick-up.
- Time clock allows employees to access time clock records when they are not at the physical rental business location.
- Management functions display revenue totals by location for any date range including drill-down to department totals, display time clock for any date range including drill down to the employee level.
Offering: Enfinity e-portal
Summary: The Enfinity e-portal enables a rental company’s customers to check rates, submit rental requests, call equipment off rent and view their account activity reports from any browser. It’s also built to accommodate further smartphone functionality for the field such as the ability to reserve equipment on the fly and check dispatch status.
“We’re very focused on responding to the increasingly mobile environment in which rental transactions take place,” says J.J. Shea, general manager, Solutions by Computer. “Our customers can use smartphones or tablets to access their rental software and database from anywhere with Internet access. If a manager is on the road and wants to oversee the business, or a salesperson needs to quote rates from a jobsite, those capabilities are in hand.”
Functionality:
- E-Sign is Solutions by Computer’s electronic signature capture capability that is fully integrated with its Enfinity system, allowing it to operate on any mobile device and seamlessly incorporate the customer signature into the transaction record.
- Email Updates are automatic emails generated by the system that notify rental operators on their mobile devices when certain circumstances occur.
“Because we’re so entrenched in rental operations, we’ve been able to structure these alerts to be very useful to rental operators,” says Shea. “Typically, the updates flag delinquencies that result from overbookings, wait-listed items that come available, risk alarms and quotation follow-ups. The software’s settings allow for each type of notification to be sent to a different person, so the right people are alerted even when they’re on the road.”
Offering: Axiom Mobile Solutions
Summary: Wynne Systems develop its Axiom Mobile Solutions, which provides users of its Axiom ERP system with the information they need, when they need it. Modules such as Equipment Search, Customer Search and Mobile Quotes enable time-sensitive tasks to be accomplished remotely.
“Future functionality will likely include a logistics application with equipment image capture, delivery and pick-up tickets for drivers, and electronic signatures,” says John Bureau, general manager of Wynne Systems.
Functionality:
Axiom Fuel Management is a brand new automated fuel management system developed by Wynne to maintain, control and monitor fuel consumption. It requires no AC power and has the ability to eliminate the unauthorized dispensing of fuel and limit the amount of fuel dispensed per asset.
The new feature blossomed when someone from the Wynne team was at a rental customer’s business to learn more about their pain points in an effort to find out what kind of technology tools could improve their operations. The Wynne team member noticed the stacks of paper on someone’s desk and asked what they were manually tracking. It was fuel. Wynne Systems did additional research and learned that most rental companies are still tracking their fuel with paper, if at all.
“Managing fuel costs is a time consuming task prone to a variety of issues, especially with the current trend of fuel prices,” Bureau explains. “The solution is fully integrated with Axiom ERP and is intended to help our customers account for and track a number of variables pertaining to their fuel operating expenditures.”
Offering: Alert EasyPro
Summary: Alert Management Systems’ latest mobile offerings, Mobile Inventory Manager, Alert Mobile Reports, Dispatcher Dashboard and Sign and Rent, allow users to access their business information in the Alert EasyPro rental management software from the convenience of their mobile devices.
Functionality:
- Mobile Inventory Manager is a completely paperless process that enables a rental business to take physical inventory in the warehouse or the rental yard using tablets and/or smartphones. Mobile Inventory Manager provides virtual count sheets, real-time availability checking and the ability to securely write-off shortages after the investigation is complete. The web-based design is optimized for smaller screens and for the latest generation of smartphones and mobile devices. Mobile Inventory Manager also runs on standards PCs.
Simple screens show anticipated on-hand quantities as well as on-rent and pulled quantities, updated in real-time via Internet access to Alert EasyPro. Hyperlinks help manage staff assignments and workflow, including filling out virtual count sheets. In addition, Mobile Inventory Manager automatically generates an administrative invoice to make all inventory and accounting adjustments properly, providing a secure, permanent audit trail.
- Alert Mobile Reports deliver automatic status reports and other information to the mobile devices of in-the-field rental operators and their customers. Content-rich Mobile Reports can be any length and can include links to photos and video. Users can click embedded hyperlinks to pull up real-time updates to report details.
The Available Equipment Mobile Report enables the user to select by group or rental class and sort by columns. Clicking a hyperlinked asset allows a mobile device user to drill-down to specific assets and check real-time availability.
- Sign and Rent is a seamlessly integrated, real-time, web-based, paperless rental contract management and signing system for equipment rental businesses. Via secure website, rental customers sign contracts using a finger, stylus or mouse to draw the signature. Sign and Rent works anywhere with Internet access on virtually any smartphone, tablet or PC.
“Your customer can even sign on his or her own device from anywhere, without your help, simply by clicking a URL sent via email,” says Rob Ross, president, Alert Management Systems.
Optimized for documenting equipment delivery, the full-color, multiple-page rental contract can include notes, customized documents, forms and customer terms acceptance on each page. Sign and Rent also enables the driver to take optional walk-around photos of the equipment and customer, which are then seamlessly integrated into the rental contract. Signed .pdf copies are automatically emailed to the customer and stored in Alert EasyPro’s normal customer/contract log files for easy look-up, email or printing whenever needed.
Sign and Rent is fully integrated into Alert EasyPro’s Dispatcher Dashboard system, which provides paperless dispatching and routing, as well as automatic emailing of multiple Sign and Rent contract URLs and .pdfs to the deliver driver’s smartphone or tablet.
“We don’t have a lot of disputed delivery contracts, but when we do, it is imperative that we have a signature,” says Tony Murray, owner of Bellflower, Calif.-based American Rentals. “Sign and Rent solves the problem of ‘blind drops.’ Now there is no reason not to have a signed contract.”
- Dispatcher Dashboard is a virtual white board thatorganizes all a rental business’ transportation resources through a graphical console. Users can set up routes by dragging and dropping tickets, drivers and staff. When ready, the user can click one of the five buttons at the bottom of the route to print or email delivery tickets, create maps and more.
