Jacob Brown, presales consultant, Sycor Americas, talks about the upgrades to Sycor’s products, increased automation and why artificial intelligence is a game changer.
RER: What have been the most important achievements of your software in the past year?
Brown: Sycor.Rental has received some major upgrades in the past year:
· Dispatch Board
The old DispoControl functionality has been replaced with a new Graphical Dispatch Board. This view provides equipment to be listed in a left/vertical column with an adjustable calendar across the top from left to right. The calendar is scalable from a day to a year. Equipment rentals are blocked out on the calendar that can be color-coded. They show active rental as well as transport times, repair down time, etc. Multiple filters can be deployed to show different views including equipment locations/branches.
· Transportation Module
The Transportation Module has been upgraded to improve usability and flexibility. Equipment can be managed though customer pickup, company delivery or third-party delivery. Trailers are identified that allow multiple orders to be loaded for scheduled drop off.
Mobile
The Sycor.Rental Mobile App continues to gain more functionality so that it is usable for yard equipment picking, driver delivery and drop off, and equipment service.
This question is not so much “What are your next products?” as much as “Where does your software go in the next few years?” or perhaps better asked, “What are customers expecting in the next level of software?”
Brown: As AI takes center focus, Microsoft is incorporating Copilot into their product line including Dynamics 365. Sycor will leverage this functionality for equipment availability/forecasting as well as predictive maintenance.
I’m sure you keep your eye on software developments in the world beyond this industry. What are some of the developments or trends in software that you’ve noticed in other industries that you admire, whether or not they are relevant to the rental industry?
Brown: We believe AI will be a game changer. This technology is being embedded by the majority of ERP manufacturers. It will continue to increase the divide in functionality between the niche rental solutions and those rental solutions like Sycor.Rental that are built on ERP platforms like Microsoft Dynamics 365.
It seems there is a lot of discussion about artificial intelligence these days –AI is a popular buzzword. Is AI relevant to rental software?
Brown: Our rental solution is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365. As Microsoft rolls out their ChatGPT-based AI solution Microsoft Copilot, it will be integrated into Microsoft Dynamics 365. You will be able to ask a natural language AI to complete tasks, build reports, and analyze business data from your rental software.
