Rental management software

The rental industry spans many different types of equipment from tools to heavy construction equipment, aerial to vehicles, party and event to computers and test and measurement equipment and highly specialized areas such as Crane and Temporary Accommodation rental. In the UK and some parts of Europe it is referred to as the Hire Industry.

Like most software development, initial rental software systems were developed in the 1970s and 1980s as custom or bespoke solutions provided for individual rental companies and occurred in parallel in locations across the globe. In the last two decades a number of leading players have emerged providing solutions for everything from one or two user systems in a single store to international, multi-company and multi-location organizations.

The rental industry itself continues to adapt and re-shape, as different players enter the market and national boundaries become less significant. The introduction and expansion of increasing numbers of manufacturers, such as Volvo Rents, and CAT into the rental industry as direct providers of rental services is also re-shaping the way that individual rental software providers adapt their software.

Rental management software should cover all aspects of a rental business in a systematic way including Financials (GL, AR and AP), Equipment Servicing, CRM and reporting functionality allowing rental businesses to achieve all their business analytics from within a single package. Rental management software that integrates with 'off-the-shelf' accounting software can provide a viable alternative to the 'all-in-one' solutions. There are distinct industry requirements which need to be managed within the software, with Utilization one of the most important. These special features include:

For rental business' working across country boundaries then additional special functionality may include multi-currency, multi-tax jurisdiction and multi-lingual needs.

There are also specialized forms of rental which are either a precursor to a sale of a large piece of equipment, or a special business model normally referred to as Rent-to-own. This specialized area has its own industry body and multiple rental companies across the world are represented.

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