Rental software has continued to evolve through the years, however many rental companies still feel they are forced to decide between implementing a single system that can handle all their business requirements or a simple-to-use and easy to install solution. Historically, these have been two different tracks – an enterprise system versus a point or best-of-breed solution.
Implementing an enterprise type system meant that all departments had to be on-board for the new solution. This involved accounting, HR, inventory, rental, transportation, service, and sales. These monolithic implementations could cripple an organization with “analysis paralysis”, taking valuable time away from the day-to-day business.
On the other hand, a simple, rental solution could be deployed quickly without oversight/involvement from other business departments. This may seem like a smart move until you realize your rental system is an “island” that does not share vital data across the company. Transaction costs and revenue are in one system, while depreciation, purchasing and inventory costs are in another. This lack of integration leaves you blind when trying to make strategic decisions on what is the best equipment to buy when you should be buying it.
Here is the truth about enterprise systems today:
Ideally it would be good to find a system that has everything you need. This would consist of all departments across the company, including finance, HR, and payroll. Many companies are even looking to go beyond that and want to include telematics, artificial intelligence (AI), document management, and more.
Sycor.Rental, based on Microsoft’s ERP system, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, includes all your business processes, and can handle your transactions from anywhere, with any type of device. This complete end-to-end solution can manage every transaction with fully integrated results and provides accurate, up to the minute data so that you can make quick decisions. Thanks to its Microsoft Dynamics 365 base, Sycor.Rental is also fully capable of offering AI, telematics, and more.
Most enterprise systems burden the users with multiple keystrokes due to the internal complexities of the system. Some have heard stories that it takes 15 clicks to create a PO. Simple systems seem advantageous to the user but leave managers lacking, without a full picture of their business processes.
With Sycor.Rental, you can customize your processes and screens by providing only the data on the screen that a particular worker needs to do their job. You can automate workflows that “push” data to users who need to see it sooner. Management data is available on your desktop or mobile device that allows you to drill-down into the data – down to the transaction level.
Enterprise systems are often seen as having a big price tag to implement because the business processes are more complex and require more input from multiple departments. Testing the system prior to go-live can also seem time consuming.
However, Sycor.Rental comes with predefined business processes that allow you to deploy “out of the box”, without customization. We have taken companies live with our standard processes in record time and under budget by using our extensive experience in the rental industry and by incorporating that knowledge into the system.
Many of the systems being sold today are old technologies that have been acclimated to the cloud. Lift the hood and you might find 40-year-old code with a web browser user interface. Any changes to these underlying systems can reek catastrophic breakage in the functionality that will drive your business to a halt.
Sycor.Rental is built “cloud-ready” from the ground-up. Sycor and Microsoft have invested heavily in the complete re-write of the solution to allow customization of the application by using extensions. Extensions allow you to create new code, extend existing functionality, and customize business logic, all without locking you into a specific release. These customizations can be upgraded and kept current with Microsoft standard annual release schedule. This allows you to stay current with updates that will keep your organization on the cutting edge.
Enterprise systems that connect all your business processes to one another enable digital transformation that can change the way you run your business. Here are just a few examples how: