Beginner’s Guide to Equipment ERP Software For Dealers & Rentals

What is ERP?

Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP is a digital transformation platform that improves the overall efficiency, profitability, and effectiveness of an organization by streamlining the business processes with innovative software and practices. Sales, Marketing, Inventory, Maintenance, and more are streamlined into one system to meet all your business needs. ERP aligns all the business processes together, bringing greater visibility and control over all the operations within the organization. The business processes and information are brought into one place, helping organizations to effectively manage assets, make decisions, and increase overall performance of the business.

ERP can be defined by the following 3 major qualities:

  1. Visibility – seeing across the entire business operation with the capability to analyze each detail and aspect in a granular way.
  2. Functionality – all business processes and functions are optimized, enabling organizations to be more efficient and effective in all activities.
  3. Availability – data that is available in real-time, at any time and location. Accessible through mobile, on any device, and even offline with no network connection.

Why do you need an industry-specific ERP?

Generic ERP software can hinder your organization’s workflow and slow down growth and innovation. These solutions are not designed to meet the specific needs of end-users, meaning that there will likely be significant functional gaps which can result in wasted time and money in the form of costly custom development. In searching for a new ERP software, it is crucial that your ERP solution combines robust, modern features with industry-specific features, functionality, and best practices.

As the Equipment Distribution Industry has its own specific needs, an ERP software must cover every facet and process of the dealership and rental industry including industry specific functionality for sales, rentals, parts, service, finance/accounting, supplier management, fleet management, reporting & analytics and more. e-Emphasys ERP software has not only been designed for equipment dealers, but also in collaboration with equipment dealers to provide the only industry-specific, end-to-end platform in the industry.

Why do you need an ERP software designed for Equipment Dealers & Rental Companies?

Equipment dealers in today’s world must find ways to stay competitive. Technology is advancing rapidly, and the most successful and profitable companies are harnessing modern technology to stay ahead of the competition. The foundation of this is the companies’ ERP software. Unfortunately, many equipment dealers still use outdated Legacy business systems, or in some cases are even running their business on spreadsheets. These legacy systems do not allow flexibility, meaning they force you to run your business in ways that may not be conducive to efficiency or profitability. Most do not integrate with the newest technological advances. It is very difficult and time consuming to make improvements to these legacy software, and there are very few programmers left who know legacy programming language such as COBOL. Businesses no longer need to modify their business practices and procedures to fit their technology, as e-Emphasys ERP provides the functionality for all areas of their operation. ERP software empowers dealerships and rental companies to streamline business processes and have complete control and visibility across the entire enterprise.

To maximize efficiency, it is vital that your Equipment ERP software has the capabilities to integrate every aspect and department of your organization. Along with seamless integration, it is important to have robust reporting capabilities which give key decision makers visibility across your entire organization. e-Emphasys ERP allows for more automation of processes, which reduces expenses, time, and the chance of human error. If implemented and utilized correctly, your dealer management system can facilitate improved efficiency and visibility, resulting in reduced operating costs at every level of business.

e-Emphasys ERP– ERP for Equipment Dealers & Rental Companies

e-Emphasys Technologies provides the Equipment Distribution and Rental Industry with a complete end-to-end solution designed specifically for all the needs of the industry. e-Emphasys ERP software was developed to support the entire customer experience from planning to cash, and everything in between. e-Emphasys ERP for equipment dealers and rental companies contains a full suite of products including BI, Rental Management, Parts & Inventory Management, Service Management, Fleet Management, CRM, and Finance Management. Designed in collaboration with dealers to address vital pain points of dealerships and rental companies in the industry, e-Emphasys ERP is proven to help organizations increase their sales, productivity, customer satisfaction, and efficiency.

e-Emphasys ERP for equipment dealers and rental companies can be seen as the next step in the evolution of dealer management systems. It seamlessly integrates every department in a single platform, and updates information in real time. Usually, the software includes features such as CRM, fully mobile applications, business analytics, RFID scanning, IoT, telematics and more integrated into the system. The fastest growing companies are utilizing true cloud environments to perform activities from anywhere, anytime and on any device. In the digital world we live in today, customers have more options than ever before. For equipment dealers, customer service and satisfaction is key to forming solid relationships that will keep your business profitable. Improved customer experiences can set your dealership apart, helping you to foster customer partnerships that will last decades. These strong customer relationships represent sustainable revenue.

The true value and benefit of an ERP software is tested by how successfully and quickly the solution is implemented and used to make operations more productive and efficient. e-Emphasys ERP has been proven and tested for nearly 20 years to ensure customer success and rapid return on investment.

e-Emphasys ERP: Business Intelligence

Ability to set data-driven, custom notifications on mobile devices, makes data available to executives – anywhere, anytime

Equipment dealers in today’s world must find ways to stay competitive. Technology is advancing rapidly, and the most successful and profitable companies are harnessing modern technology to stay ahead of the competition. The foundation of this is the companies’ ERP software. Unfortunately, many equipment dealers still use outdated Legacy business systems, or in some cases are even running their business on spreadsheets. These legacy systems do not allow flexibility, meaning they force you to run your business in ways that may not be conducive to efficiency or profitability. Most do not integrate with the newest technological advances. It is very difficult and time consuming to make improvements to these legacy software, and there are very few programmers left who know legacy programming language such as COBOL. Businesses no longer need to modify their business practices and procedures to fit their technology, as e-Emphasys ERP provides the functionality for all areas of their operation. ERP software empowers dealerships and rental companies to streamline business processes and have complete control and visibility across the entire enterprise.

Built into the e-Emphasys ERP software, Business Intelligence provides all members of the organization the tools to take a proactive, data-driven approach to running their operations. With the volume of data in today’s business environment, information overload is a threat to effective business management. e-Emphasys Business Intelligence allows dealerships to make decisions based on quantitative data, by providing access to the right information at the right time. With role-specific dashboards, all the critical business information is delivered to the right people, giving executives insight into key performance indicators. Real-time reporting and analytics empower key personnel to positively impact operations, allowing you to capitalize on opportunities and solve problems before they arise.

e-Emphasys ERP: Rental Management

Efficient administration of the rental process from booking invoicing and dispatch

Rental Management integrates the rental department with all other functions of the organization, providing seamless coordination throughout the company. Dealerships can plan, operate, monitor, and improve their rental operations with greater insight and control with Rental Management. Real-time to-do task lists and customizable, interactive dashboards allow executives to focus on business-critical initiatives. Key metrics such as time utilization and finance/dollar utilization can be tracked in real-time, helping management to positively impact operations. e-Emphasys Rental Management helps to decrease equipment downtime and maximize your rental revenue.

Keeping records, tracking service requests, and scheduling regular maintenance checks are all systematized with equipment rental software. Dealerships have access to customer information such as interaction and business history, enabling them to serve customers efficiently while finding the best new opportunities that arise. Rental Management software allows you to exceed your customers’ expectations as they benefit from self-service portals where they can search for equipment availability with real-time inventory and pricing, and reserve/order the equipment that meets their exact needs.

Rental Management has the rich, industry-specific functionality and flexibility to handle the dynamic nature of the rental business. e-Emphasys Rental Management supports multi-site rental operations, optimizing utilization across branches. Equipment rental management software provides flexible pricing and price simulation options, to support advanced pricing schemes with multiple price and discount variables. e-Emphasys Equipment ERP caters to a variety of contract types (rent to rent, rent to sell and lease). e-Emphasys Rental Management software comes ready-made with over 350 equipment best business practices proven to streamline operations.

e-Emphasys ERP: Parts & Inventory Management

Efficient order processing, demand forecasting, planning, shortage handling, purchases, returns, and warehouse operations

e-Emphasys Parts Management is more than just an inventory management software. Parts and Inventory module manages all aspects of the Parts Department including parts sales, order fulfillments, demand forecasting, planning, shortage handling, purchases, returns, and warehouse operations. With a complete, robust, and fully integrated solution, Parts Management helps dealerships to function at a new level of operational efficiency that focuses on three major goals of the parts department: increasing parts sales, improving customer service, and keeping inventory levels low.

Parts and Inventory Management provides close integrations with OEMs and after-market parts supplier systems, giving dealerships fast and accurate pricing, ordering, and delivery. The parts department benefits heavily from efficient over-the-counter sales and seamless quote-to-cash processes enabled by the solution. In common situations when parts are in shortage, Parts Management can track genealogies and offer alternatives for parts and sources for customers. Parts departments are enabled to expedite shortage issues, fulfilling customers’ needs in quick and responsive ways.

Dealers and rental companies equipped with Parts and Inventory Management give their parts departments full visibility of their inventory, locations, lot numbers, serial numbers, consignment inventory, and clean and dirty cores. With this insight, dealerships have greater control and influence over their inventory costs. Additionally, Parts Management is equipped with interfaces with OEM parts catalogs and price list updates, giving dealerships the ability to look up inventory and order parts effortlessly.

e-Emphasys ERP: Service Management

Fast and accurate problem diagnosis, maintenance scheduling and warranty management resulting in improved first-call-fix ratios

Most equipment dealers report their service department as having the highest profit margins, yet these are some of the areas that can still benefit most from a modern, industry-specific ERP software. Many dealerships are still using whiteboards to schedule technicians. Service managers report that their technicians spend hours and hours each week writing reports which cuts in to your billable tech time. e-Emphasys Service Management helps your service departments become virtually paperless, resulting in increased efficiency and service revenue.

Field service software for equipment dealers streamlines daily responsibilities such as scheduling, reporting, and billing. Dealerships are empowered to put the right people in the right place to complete tasks with more accuracy, skill, and efficiency. Metrics such as First-Time Fix Ratio are improved exponentially due to the effective managing and skill matching of Service Management. Businesses can ensure their technicians are fully equipped and able to finish a task assigned to them. As a result, on-site service visits, technician costs, and related overhead expenses are all reduced as well.

Mobile technology in Service Management brings new opportunities that lead to both increased revenue and customer satisfaction. Mobile technology systematizes the regular duties of a service technician, such as accessing equipment details and maintenance history, reporting hours spent and parts used, invoicing customers on the field, and other processes that would consume valuable technician time. With mobile technology in the service department, technicians benefit from Voice-to-Text note taking and Photo/Video capture with annotation features. Executives can track the real-time locations of technicians and segments of work, giving them more control and visibility into their staff, operations, and work. Service Management also provides an offline mode for mobile use in instances where network connection is unavailable to technicians, making the use of mobile technology completely reliable.

e-Emphasys also equips dealerships to create, run, process, and track warranty claims through their lifecycle with Warranty Management. Warranty Management streamlines the tracking and monitoring processes and analyzes profitability of warranty claims, enabling service departments to leverage Warranty Management as a strategic advantage for their organization. Warranty Management drastically improves operational efficiency by reducing warranty claim rejections and providing clear visibility to track and monitor various warranties and claims. Organizations can manage multiple warranties with tight integrations to the finance module. Tight integrations between Warranty Management and the Finance module enable dealerships to maximize profits by leveraging the power of integrated warranty workflows, streamlined processes, enriched data, and active warranty intelligence.

e-Emphasys ERP: Fleet Management

End-to-end equipment life-cycle management and tracking from date of acquisition till disposal

Fleet Management optimizes the way companies manage equipment, helping dealerships to get the most out of their equipment inventory. e-Emphasys Fleet Management streamlines processes, improves visibility, and allows equipment dealership and rental companies to maximize equipment availability, performance, utilization and ROI.

With Fleet Management, dealerships can efficiently track all equipment movement, meter readings, and locations. Availability and status of equipment is fully visible to dealerships in real-time, improving the decision-making process of fleet deployment, portfolio optimization, and equipment replacement.

Fleet Management also enables organizations to easily manage the financial data of their fleet in one place, tracking end-to-end life-cycle costs and revenue for each unit. Seamless integration between financial data and Fleet Management enable dealerships to track landed costs, value-added costs, rental revenue, depreciation, interest charges, and more. Dealerships can also manage the equipment life-cycle of their fleet including configuration, maintenance, inspection, and certification with Fleet Management.

e-Emphasys ERP: CRM/Sales Management Software

Full visibility of all equipment sales activities, customer inquiries

e-Emphasys CRM, also known as Sales Management Software, helps equipment dealerships and rental companies to monitor and manage the sales funnel with full visibility of each client and prospect. CRM provides complete customer interaction, contact, and fleet history information, empowering the sales force to take a focused and guided approach as they interact with and serve customers. With interactive configuration and availability of offline customer information, dealerships have greater transparency in their sales cycle leading to more effective sales interactions and closed deals.

Integrated with e-Emphasys ERP software, CRM allows dealerships and rental companies to configure quotes with the right base units, attachments, and option choices. Once approved, quotes can be automatically converted into orders, making the sales process easier for both the customer and company. CRM increases the productivity of the sales staff with a mobile app that provides easy access of information and a user-friendly interface. When network is unavailable, CRM can also be used in an “offline mode” enabling sales representatives to access crucial information at all times.

e-Emphasys CRM provide the sales staff insight to critical information in real-time such as revenue and profit reporting by geography, branch, line of business, OEM, equipment category, model, and individual transaction. Sales representatives’ customer interactions are improved as CRM provides the tools and insight to schedule follow up activities, provides visibility of the pipeline on an individual basis, and helps prioritize and manage all opportunities that arise. As a result, nobody falls through the cracks, and customers have excellent experiences during the sales-cycle, ultimately influencing their business decisions.

e-Emphasys ERP: Financials and Reporting

Dealer invoicing, cash collection, financial budgeting, and fixed asset management are streamlined through automation

e-Emphasys Finance Management is a fully integrated financial software that provides extensive capabilities to manage finances and improve your bottom-line. Dealerships and rental companies benefit from Financial Management, as processes such as dealer invoicing, cash collection, financial budgeting, and fixed asset management are streamlined through automation. With financial and reporting capabilities, the need for manual entry is reduced or eliminated in some cases, reducing errors and mitigating risks.

The many operations of dealerships and rental companies including sales, rental, service, parts, inventory, and procurement are integrated together providing a real-time financial view for executives. Leadership can make data-driven decisions with life-cycle cost analysis, gross profit analysis, and drill-down viewers that provide more readily accessible on-screen views of transaction details and financial summaries. As a result, Financial Management improves the overall cash-flow of the organization, bringing increases to the bottom-line.

Financial Management must also be able to handle multiple locations, and even multiple company structures under the same organization. As parent companies own many different financial entities, and dealerships commonly acquire other dealerships, Financial Management provides the infrastructure to handle all the financial implications of future growth and success.

e-Emphasys ERP: The Implementation

The average ERP software takes anywhere between 12 to 30 months to implement, depending on the size of the company and implementation. Having built a repository of 350+ industry best business practices into the solution, e-Emphasys is able to provide the shortest training time and quickest ROI on the market. e-Emphasys proven implementation methodology has produced an unrivaled history of on time and on budget implementations, with customers going live in 4 months or less. The e-Emphasys business mapping tool promotes a learning organization that shortens training time and tightens controls. Dealership and rental companies can be assured that plans made in the boardroom are carried out on the shop floor as facilitating management establishes industry best practices throughout the organization.

See what customers are saying about e-Emphasys ERP Implementation:

e-Emphasys enabled us to get our implementation done on time and on budget. This is critical because it allowed us to experience ROI quickly. e-Emphasys provided a ready-made best business practices framework which we were able to customize to meet our own needs. We understand that some systems take as long as 12 to 30 months to implement. In comparison, our implementation of e- Emphasys ERP took only four months.

- Peggy Smith, CFO, Linder Industrial Machinery Company

e-Emphasys Success Stories

e-Emphasys ERP software is proven to transform your business with modern, context-driven tools for every need in the equipment distribution and rental industry. e-Emphasys ERP began development with one goal in mind: to provide dealerships of heavy equipment and rentals with the best possible ERP software built specifically for their industry. As a proven software for 20 years, and customers in 25 countries, e-Emphasys is trusted by leading equipment dealers to streamline operations, improve customer satisfaction, and provide quick and tangible ROI.

What dealerships and rental companies are saying about e-Emphasys:

The ROI on e-Emphasys from a service standpoint has been almost immeasurable!

- Steve Stafki, VP of Service, General Equipment & Supplies

e-Emphasys has cut our service administration expense by at least 50%!

- John Kimball, President, Kimball Equipment Company

Our efficiency and productivity matrixes have gone up in less than a year, and revenue has grown by 32%!

- John Coughlin, President, Linder Industrial Machinery Company

Our revenue, particularly in service, has increased 30% this year.

- Brian Loderhose, VP of Product Support, The G.W. Van Keppel Company

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e-Emphasys ERP meets the unique operational needs of equipmental rental businesses.
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