Equipment rental companies manage assets and customer service. Infor Service Management (ISM) does the same.
At a very high level, the goals of an equipment rental company and ISM are the same: to manage assets and customer relationships. The company needs to have assets customers want to rent; it’s also important for those assets to be maintained properly to reduce downtime. If either of those needs are not met, valuable sales opportunities may be lost forever.
Infor Service Management’s functionality is aligned to help companies meet these goals. Let’s start with the most important aspect of ISM: It’s one system, one database.
Related: ISM also helps Field Service companies improve their bottom lines.
Fully integrated solution
Infor Service Management is a fully integrated system that includes everything from customer records through financial statements. This means you have information about all your customers, assets, maintenance records, and inventory in one database. Want to dispatch field service personnel and track their labor? You can do both in the same system with ISM mobile tools.
Full integration means there are no files to upload and download into other systems, and no dealing with upgrades that “break” the interface between systems. It allows you to focus on your business without being distracted by your software systems. In fact, ISM brings a sharper focus to your business because critical information is at your fingertips.
Asset management
The business of an equipment rental company revolves around equipment. ISM’s functionality also revolves around equipment, and was designed to bring a sense of order to your organization.
Equipment status. ISM tracks available equipment, the location of equipment, return dates, and projected dates of availability.
Overall analysis. Equipment rental companies use ISM to track operating costs and understand the rental utilization for each asset—factors that affect the ROI on the asset (which can also be tracked in ISM).
Maintenance. Maintenance costs on an asset tend to become a somewhat hidden expense, labeled as “the cost of doing business.” While it’s true that maintenance is a cost of doing business, ISM ties it back to the asset so it is no longer hidden. Historical preventive maintenance is tracked and will show what maintenance is coming due. This helps prevent unplanned downtime or booking the equipment during planned downtime.
Warranty tracking. Don’t pay for repairs that are someone else’s responsibility. Monitor all the different warranty details for all your equipment.
Automation for equipment returns. ISM streamlines the return process so you can turn around equipment fast.
Fixed asset module. ISM keeps track of the depreciation and book value of your equipment, along with the tools needed to handle the sale or disposal of equipment.
Customer Service
Having all the critical information about your rental equipment at your fingertips is only part of the equation to optimize your company’s performance. Servicing your customers quickly and efficiently—without errors—will strengthen your relationship with them. Infor Service Management will assist you here also:
Manage rental contracts. Creating new contracts at the counter or over the phone in ISM is very intuitive, as is the ability to search, clone, and copy any part of a contract to a new contract.
Manage upsells. Keep your customers happy by suggesting accessory products that would be helpful; do this in a consistent, professional manner.
Provide accurate rental rates. Do you handle billing exceptions with post-it note reminders and “don’t forget to…” training? ISM customers don’t. They build all aspects of billing right into ISM and let it produce an accurate and consistent quoting and billing amount.
Final thoughts
Probably the one word we hear from customers running Infor Service Management is “control.” Their entire organization is managed through a single software package that provides timely, accurate information, which in turn creates an environment for better business decisions.
