Your Rental Software Isn’t Always the Problem

I've worked in the hire industry for a long time now, first on the hire side and then for many years implementing, training and supporting rental software.

One thing I've heard hundreds of times is:

“The system doesn't work for us.”

And sometimes they're right.

No rental system is perfect. They all have things they do well, things they could do better and things that just don't suit a particular business.

But quite often, once you start looking into the problem, the software isn't actually the problem.

It's the way it's being used.

I've been into businesses where one depot does something one way and another depot does it completely differently. There are spreadsheets being maintained alongside the rental system, people have their own workarounds and sometimes nobody really knows why a process exists in the first place.

It's just how they've always done it.

Then when something goes wrong, or the reporting doesn't look right, the system gets blamed.

A New System Won't Fix Everything

Changing your rental system can absolutely be the right decision, but it's a big decision and normally a pretty expensive one.

What it won't do is magically fix poor processes.

If your rates aren't being maintained properly today, putting them into a different system isn't going to fix that.

If equipment isn't being off hired correctly, a new system probably isn't going to fix that either.

The same goes for poor data, inconsistent processes between depots, missed charges or people not following the agreed process.

You'll potentially just move the same problems into a different system.

I've seen businesses spend a lot of money implementing new software only to try and recreate exactly what they were doing before.

For me, that misses one of the biggest opportunities of changing systems.

It's actually a really good time to ask:

Why are we doing it this way?

And sometimes the answer is completely valid.

Other times it's simply because that's the way someone decided to do it ten years ago.

Then There's Excel...

I'm definitely not against Excel. I use it all the time.

But it amazes me how many businesses have a perfectly capable rental system and still run large parts of their operation from spreadsheets.

Rates.

Equipment lists.

Workshop information.

Transport.

Customer information.

Reporting.

Sometimes there is a good reason for it. But if the same information exists in three different places, eventually you're going to end up with three different versions of the truth.

And usually someone has to spend time keeping all of them up to date.

That's where I'd start asking whether the process could be simplified.

Do You Know What Your System Can Actually Do?

This is probably a bigger issue than people realise.

I've visited customers who have used the same rental system for years and I'll mention a feature only to hear:

“I didn't know it could do that.”

That's not necessarily anyone's fault.

When a new system is implemented, everyone gets trained and there's normally a lot of focus on doing things properly.

Then time passes.

People leave.

New people join and get trained by someone else in the business.

That person shows them how they do it.

Then they train the next person.

Eventually you can end up quite a long way from the original process.

The software changes as well. New features are released, old processes are improved and functionality gets added that the business may never know about.

That's why I think businesses should review how they're using their rental system every so often.

Not necessarily because something is wrong.

Just to ask whether there is a better way of doing things.

Training Shouldn't Stop at Go Live

This is something I think the hire industry could generally be better at.

We put a huge amount of effort into training people when a new system goes live.

Then, for some businesses, that's pretty much it.

Five years later the business might have completely different people using the system, but nobody has really been trained properly since the original implementation.

Instead, knowledge gets passed from person to person.

That's when you start hearing things like:

“Don't use that screen.”

Or:

“That button doesn't work.”

You ask why and nobody really knows.

Someone tried it once in 2019, something went wrong, and it's been avoided ever since.

A bit of refresher training can sometimes uncover things like this very quickly.

Before You Start Looking for Another System

If you're genuinely unhappy with your rental software, then absolutely look at what else is available.

But before doing that, I'd spend some time looking internally as well.

Are people actually using the system properly?

Are all of your depots following the same processes?

Is the data clean?

Are people properly trained?

Are there spreadsheets and manual processes that don't really need to exist?

Are you using all of the functionality you're already paying for?

And have you actually spoken to your software provider about the problems you're trying to solve?

You might still come to the conclusion that you need to change systems.

And that's fine.

Sometimes a business has simply outgrown its software. Sometimes integrations aren't good enough, reporting isn't where it needs to be, the technology hasn't kept up or the support isn't good enough.

There are plenty of valid reasons to change.

I just don't think changing the software should automatically be the first answer.

After working with rental businesses for years, I've found that the best results normally come when a business is prepared to look at both sides.

What could the software do better?

But also:

What could we do better?

Sometimes the answer really is a new rental system.

But sometimes the system you've already got can do a lot more than you think.