Equipment Rental Trends To Know in 2020
As we’re now past the halfway mark of 2019, equipment dealers and rental companies are looking ahead to 2020 to understand and deploy different methods and technologies for their dealerships. The equipment rental industry is more focused than ever on hot topics and trends around digital transformation. The industry has taken a major turn on adopting different platforms and solutions to improve productivity, efficiency, and performance, but what new opportunities can dealers look for in the coming year?
Before jumping into Equipment Rental Software Trends for 2020, let’s define exactly what Equipment Rental Software is and what it’s used for.
What Is Equipment Rental Software?
Equipment Rental Software is a software solution, designed specifically for the equipment distribution and rental industry. Equipment Rental Software maximizes efficiency throughout the rental department and streamlines the processes involved with equipment rental, inspection, maintenance, and more. Unlike outdated equipment dealer management systems, Equipment Rental Software is built on modern technology consisting of innovative features to transform how you run your dealership.
Dealers and rental companies can improve their customer experience with Equipment Rental Software as the rental department seamlessly integrates with all functions and departments within the organization. Whether it’s multi-site operations, multiple pricing schemes, or multiple contract types, Equipment Rental Software provides the needed flexibility for dealers to efficiently run their organizations. Companies deploying Equipment Rental Software are empowered to take complete control with real-time data and visibility from their software.
The Equipment Rental Industry
Today, the Equipment Rental industry is growing at a consistent rate. Reputable organizations such as the American Rental Association (ARA) are forecasting equipment and event rental revenue in the U.S. to grow to approximately $64.4 billion by 2022. Additionally, rental revenue in Canada is forecasted to grow to approximately $6.5 billion by 2022. Read more about Equipment Rental Revenue Growth from ARA.
“In Canada, rental revenue is forecast to grow 4.6 percent in 2019 to total nearly $5.7 billion and then continue to expand with revenue increases of 5.8 percent in 2020, 4.8 percent in 2021, and 2.8 percent in 2022 to total nearly $6.5 billion.”
“The latest five-year forecast from the American Rental Association (ARA) calls for equipment and event rental revenues in North America to surpass $61.5 billion in 2019, including $55.8 billion in the United States and $5.7 billion in Canada, up 5.3 percent compared to 2018.”
As market data suggests, this year alone “the ARA calls for equipment and event rental revenues in North America to surpass $61.5 billion”. Technological advancements and innovation typically occur alongside industry growth, so it’s vital for dealers to prepare for and capitalize on this growth for future success.
Top 3 Equipment Rental Software Trends
The influence of technology and data in the Equipment Rental industry is increasing every year. Dealers and rental companies are making necessary adjustments to handle industry growth by improving their rental operations with Equipment Rental Management Software. New technologies and platforms are transforming the industry, and we predict that 2020 will see a lot of technological trends developing and significantly impacting the Rental industry. Here are the top 3 trends you need to know for 2020:
1. Leveraging Data
Big Data is already a huge part of the industry today, but it seems that many dealers are struggling with information overload rather than leveraging their data in product ways. Management guru Peter Druckeronce said “Knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant, if not the only, source of competitive advantage.” In a competitive environment like the equipment industry, companies you are not leveraging data to improve decision making, operation efficiency and customer service will fall behind the competition.
Two primary ways that data will be leveraged moving forward include rental rates and machine utilization. Dynamic Rental Rates provided by systems that can change rates based on demand from changes in season or the market will be very popular, as organizations strive to make the rental experience easier and more flexible for customers. In addition, systems automatically measuring and calculating time and dollar utilization of every individual machine will prove to be extremely beneficial for dealers and distributors. Companies will be able to identify their most and least popular equipment, enabling better decision making, performance, and fleet utilization.
2. Mobile Inspection Applications
Mobile usage has far surpassed that of desktops in the world today. This is no different in the Equipment Rental industry as we predict mobile capabilities will play a tremendous role in 2020. Equipment distributors and dealers will be deploying Mobile Inspection Applications to streamline yard management activities including check-ins/check-outs of equipment, generating service orders, creating reports, and much more. Mobile Inspection Applications will develop further in 2020, transforming how organizations communicate and collaborate throughout the company. Unique features like photo-capture and annotation capabilities will improve yard management and rental inspections keeping users informed, up-to-date and on the same page.
Learn more about Mobile Equipment Inspection Apps.
3. Telematics & Fleet Management
Telematics in the rental department will be a big trend in 2020. Dealers and distributors are always looking for new ways to increase rental fleet uptime while reducing equipment downtime in their rental departments. We predict telematics technology will be one of the major contributors to improving the productivity of the rental fleet in the coming years.
Today, the use of telematics technology has made the world a safer, smarter, and better place for everyone. With similar goals in mind, the equipment rental industry will be utilizing telematics to track data on machines such as locations, temperatures, and more. Additionally, telematics of machines will help with upkeep and maintenance, enabling organizations to be more proactive about repairing and sustaining their equipment. Having an in-depth understanding of each piece of equipment in the rental fleet will not only be crucial for safety, but also for maximizing the lifespan of machines. Many companies in the industry have grown their rental fleets to 100’s of machines and more, so maintaining the quality of equipment with telematics is crucial in 2020.
Equipment Rental Customer Life Cycle
For your rental department, speed is essential. A modern Equipment Rental Management System provides seamless integration across departments, which helps you to get equipment in and out of the yard as fast as possible.
At every stage of this life cycle, Equipment Rental Management Software enables better overall management and decision making of their operations. Throughout the process, Equipment Rental Software enables dealers to track and monitor the machine’s life cycle cost and all its corresponding financial activity. Detailed tracking of rental statuses, fleet availability, profitability and more, saves time and cut costs at every touchpoint of the life cycle.
Future-Proof Your Rental Dealership
As 2020 quickly approaches, equipment distribution and rental companies must equip their dealerships with modern technology to serve customers with diligence and excellence. Cutting-edge Equipment Dealer Management Software can leverage your equipment and customer data, deploy mobile inspections apps, and manage your fleet with telematics technology. Don’t get left behind in 2020!
See how e-Emphasys Rental Management is empowering companies to future-proof their dealerships for 2020.
