10 MOST IMPORTANTTRENDS THAT EQUIPMENT DEALERS MUST LOOK FOR

The Equipment Dealership business landscape is changing at a rapid rate. These massive changes are mostly triggered by technological advancements.

While technology is driving change, the evolving relationship between customers and clients is also in flux. Businesses are now focusing on improving customer experience. Those that ignore the changing demands of the market have struggled to stay in business.

This fast-changing landscape has created a unique opportunity for the Equipment Dealership industry to benefit from a new approach to customer satisfaction.

Equipment Dealers, and Rental and Service Companies, must find ways to differentiate their brand from others. By embracing a more customer-centric model, they will insure a growth-intensive culture for the foreseeable future.

This is where Digital Transformation comes in. According to Brian Solis, Digital Analyst and Award-Winning Author, Digital Transformation is “the realignment of or new investment in technology, business models, and processes to create new value for customers and employees and more effectively compete in an ever-changing digital economy.” Equipment Dealers are finding the answer to this proposal by deploying Dealer Management Systems (DMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions Software, which implements advanced and innovate Service Solutions for their customers.

This paper intends to help Equipment Dealers and Rental or Service companies to identify the ten most important innovative trends that they should seek out when considering the investment in their DMS/ERP systems.

THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT TRENDS THAT EQUIPMENT DEALERS MUST LOOK FOR

INTRODUCTION

10 most important trends that Equipment Dealers must look for 1– 2

1. SERVICE MANAGEMENT OPTIMIZATIONWith the fast-changing economic environment that affects every sector of the business world, it is no longer a luxury to adapt. Each company that wants to grow and expand their business must learn the rules dictated by Digital Transformation.

It’s not just about employing any computerized system that can be found in the market. Companies in the Equipment Dealership industry must be able to optimize their Service Management capability. Getting this right will help the company to improve all aspects of its operations.

A good DMS/ERP system focuses on giving the company the ability to plan, track and analyze service operations. This requires three factors to succeed.

First, the system must be able to maximize technician efficiency. This means the active management of employee skillsets and allocating assignments based on technical skill level and certifications. Technicians’ work-time must also be managed properly to minimize labor costs.

Second, the system must be able to increase service market share by providing the company with an opportunity to sell more service and maintenance contracts. This long-ignored revenue stream needs to be mined for increased profits.

Third, the DMS/ERP system must contribute to increased customer satisfaction. By increasing the service offering to meet customer needs, it becomes the differentiating factor for most dealers. Many Equipment Dealers are now using their ERP system to add service options, warranties, extra warranties, attachment options, training, financing, and other extra services to maximize customer retention. A good ERP makes it easy to offer these tailored services while simultaneously ensuring service profitability.

2. ADVANCED CRM INTEGRATIONThe Equipment Dealership industry is now moving to a more customer-focused and value- based services oriented way of doing business. The main thrust of each operational effort is to meet the customer’s expectations, go where they are, and provide their needs in a timely fashion.

In fact, this is the core tenet of Digital Transformation. Companies need to answer the following questions: “What services does my customer need?”, “What kind of experience are my customers seeking?”, and “What functionalities can make my customers’ life easier?”

A good DMS/ERP Software Solution uses data generated through past transactions to anticipate, know, and meet customer needs. It also removes redundancy and time-consuming tasks, streamlining the process. A good solution maximizes the customer’s comfort with doing business with the Equipment Dealers.

10 most important trends that Equipment Dealers must look for 2 – 3

An excellent CRM integration will distinguish an Equipment Dealer’s brand through various customer-benefiting features. One of these features is a Shared-Service via Customer Portal option.

Using the Customer Portal, Equipment Dealers empower their customers by allowing them to access, research, and control areas that are important to their overall success. Customers use the Portal to research service history and request field or shop service appointments. Customers can also update their equipment fleet by ordering directly from the Equipment Dealer’s website or from a pass-through OEM. In addition, customers also have access to informational dashboards that allow them to review data about cost bases and equipment utilization.

3. BIG DATA ANALYTICSWith the growth of the company and the expansion of operations comes the increasing complexities of transactional data. Massive volumes of data will enter the company’s database, and all of this data must be usable.

Executives and managers must be able to make a decision as quickly as possible, and managing such a volume of data efficiently is both difficult and complicated, requiring a sophisticated solution designed to easily handle such complexity.

Equipment Dealers must consider the Business Intelligence capacity of any Enterprise solution they use in their operations. In a 2015 survey conducted by Construction Equipment, only 8% of respondents said they schedule and perform preventive maintenance using data accumulated by their systems.

Scheduled maintenance is a massive growth opportunity for any Equipment Dealer, and the use of Big Data analytics allows this to take place efficiently. With a software analytics system, Equipment Dealers can interpret incoming data to increase efficiency in the field. Additionally, Equipment Dealers are able to manage their fleets more effectively by tracking which parts, designs, and models are performing as expected, and which are having issues.

An excellent data analytics solution improves customer experience while also providing the service department with the ability to prevent equipment downtime. This is called Predictive Maintenance and is a valuable trend that Equipment Dealers should explore for improved profitability.

10 most important trends that Equipment Dealers must look for 4 – 5

4. PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCEThe ability to efficiently monitor and maintain equipment is vital to any Equipment Dealer’s business. The issue, however, is that most of the equipment fleet is scattered across different places. Balancing both the locations and maintenance records of a massive fleet of machines is a difficult task.

Equipment dealers must monitor the status of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of customer machines, including their own rental fleet. These machines range in price up to millions of dollars, and any unplanned downtime can incur serious costs for their users or owners.

Excellent DMS/ERP Solutions solve Predictive Maintenance by predicting the performance of each piece of equipment by combining artificial intelligence, historical service tracking, and real-time field monitoring using advanced equipment sensors.

Using Predictive Maintenance, Equipment Dealers prevent equipment downtime by predicting the imminent failure of machine components and notifying the Service Manager to contact the customer to schedule preventive maintenance before the failure occurs.

Al Cervero, VP of Construction, Utility and Mining of Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ (AEM) is right in saying, “With all the data being driven off machines comes a better service experience. By providing customers with machine information, manufacturers have the opportunity to predict maintenance. They’re able to say, for example, ‘within 100 hours, you’re going to require this kind of a change because the data shows it’s experiencing this kind of stress.’”

This process will help Equipment Dealers to optimize warranty and maintenance contracts. It will also provide peace of mind and insurance against unplanned downtimes. Not to mention that the ability of an Equipment Dealer to do this will immediately establish a perception of more dedicated customer relationships.

5. THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)Automation and remote monitoring are two of the most important aspects of Digital Transformation in the Equipment Dealership industry. Today, modern equipment is built with advanced sensors that help by monitoring performance. These sensors alert dealers when a potential problem is detected, and helps Service Companies automate service, ensuring preventive maintenance using IoT data and alerts.

In fact, in a Construction Equipment Magazine article written by Rod Sutton, he said, “In a service-centric environment…the IoT takes the benefits of M2M communication and fully realizes the potential for automated service.” This is vital for any Equipment Dealer to discover additional revenue streams when it comes to providing services.

The main benefits of exploiting IoT include simpler maintenance management with faster, more accurate service visits, less equipment downtime, and longer equipment lifespan that is applicable to the fast-changing demands of customers.

10 most important trends that Equipment Dealers must look for 6

6. MACHINE LEARNING CAPABILITYEquipment Dealers notice, over their years or decades of experience, that most of the problems they encounter are recurrent. Whether based on different factors like the design or model, the age of the equipment, or parts used for repairs, the nature of these recurring problems is frequently the same.

To avoid unnecessary delay, Equipment Dealers must choose a DMS/ERP Solution that employs Machine Learning Capability. Using Machine Learning, the Equipment Dealer can easily track, learn, and remember solutions to problems that may have occurred before. It can also store new data that will help solve future problems, including the projected time and cost to fix issues.

7. CLOUD-BASED ERPMany DMS/ERP Solution providers incorporate cloud-based deployment of their products. Using this capability, users have more flexibility in the integration of their business processes, resulting in a more efficient flow of operations.

Cloud deployment also eases integration, allowing dealers to use multiple “best-of-breed” solutions instead of settling for a single system’s average results. Equipment Dealers can now integrate their DMS, ERP, Field Service Management, and other enterprise systems through the cloud.

Over the last several years, application development costs have significantly decreased, and this trend is expected to continue. As a result, the cost of investment in top enterprise applications has also reduced considerably. With the integration of cloud-based applications, Equipment Dealers can now use top-of-the-line applications in every aspect of their business, meeting the specific needs of their industry.

8. FIELD SERVICE AND MOBILE SOLUTIONSField Service Technicians are the front line of the service deparment for every dealer and, therefore, are crucial components of quality service delivery by Equipment Dealers. They must always be connected, especially when they are out in the field performing service work.

The primary solution to this issue is to equip these service workers with mobile apps. In fact, according to TSIA Field Services Benchmark Survey1, over 80% of companies have already implemented mobility platforms in the field. The real challenge arises when most of these technicians are outside of internet and phone service range.

10 most important trends that Equipment Dealers must look for 8 – 10

DMS/ERP Solutions can help technicians who are doing field service to continue doing their jobs. It enables the control center to schedule routes and send information to the Equipment Dealer’s technicians in the field. It also allows technicians to complete their entire day virtually without connectivity and sync their mobile devices with servers when they are back online.

9. REMOTE FLEET MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONALITYEquipment Dealers must overcome the challenge of reaching equipment situated in far-flung locations. They must coordinate the most efficient route for the technicians, taking into account severe weather, accidents, and other obstacles to arriving on location.

Fleet management and vehicle intelligence must also be included in any Enterprise system used by Equipment Dealers. Although self-driving cars are currently in the developmental stage, connected telematics is a first step in that direction, and something that Equipment Dealers can integrate immediately.

Having connected telematics inside the vehicles will allow fleet and commercial customers to connect to high-speed wireless internet, facilitating more robust management. Furthermore, this capability will allow dealers to know the status of the vehicle, it’s utilization and location, driver behavior, and other data useful in monitoring fleets.

10. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENTThe ability to record financial transactions in accordance to international standards and generally accepted accounting principles is an area that many DMS/ERP Solutions take for granted. In spite of the comprehensive capability of most systems in the handling of complicated operations, the inability to accurately record financial transactions brings great harm.

An excellent DMS/ERP Solution is one that can handle both the operational and financial management sides of the business. Equipment Dealers know that Executives normally make decisions based on the financial impact to the company. Without precise measurements and reports, this decision-making will be severely affected.

Equipment Dealers must determine if the DMS/ERP Solution they are considering is compatible with the company’s internal accounting policies. Additionally, the Solution must produce comprehensive and accurate reports quickly in order to optimize the decision-making process of the Executives.

XAPT USA HQ5301 Blue Lagoon Drive | Suite 200 | Miami | FL 33126 | USA+1 (305) 744 5901 | contactus@xapt.comwww.naxtsolution.com

SUMMARYIn summary, here are the top 10 most important and innovative trends that Equipment Dealers must look for when considering to invest in or adapt a modern DMS/ERP system:

1. Service management optimization to better manage service operations.

2. Advanced CRM integration to provide comprehensive services to the customer’s needs.

3. Big Data Analytics to make sense of the influx of data and utilize it in making well-informed and data-driven decisions.

4. Predictive maintenance capability to predict performance, anticipate repairs and avoid unplanned downtimes.

5. The Internet of Things (IoT) to take advantage of automation and remote monitoring of equipment and fleet.

6. Machine learning capability to facilitate a solution to recurring problems and projecting estimated time and cost to fix issues.

7. Cloud-based ERP to have more flexibility in using “best-of-breed” applications and provide top of the line services to customers.

8. Field service and mobile solutions to equip technicians with better tools to work on-site even with no internet connection.

9. Remote fleet management functionality to have more robust vehicles and fleet management.

10. Financial management to ensure financial data integrity and prepare, create and generate accurate reports for management use and regulatory requirements.

References: 1 TSIA Field Services Benchmark Survey https://www.tsia.com/research/benchmarking/field-services-benchmark.html