Interview with Josh Lewis, MCS Software: Solving Real-World Rental Problems

RER: What is new in your software and technology?

Josh Lewis: Right now, our focus is on helping rental businesses make sense of their data — not just collect it. MCS is more than a place to manage contracts; it’s a tool to run your entire operation. And with that comes valuable insights that, when used well, can help you make smarter decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and improve profitability. Our goal is to make that data accessible, actionable, and aligned with the way you actually work. 

We’ve also enhanced our Mobile App and Resource Planner tools. For companies managing dozens of pickups and deliveries per day, these updates have reduced chaos and improved dispatch flow. Drivers have what they need on the go while coordinators can see updates in real-time. 

With the launch of AI Insights, we’re already delivering practical tools — like plain-language equipment help and smart alerts — and laying the foundation for predictive maintenance and dynamic pricing that rental teams can actually use.

How does your software help customers to manage costs?

Rental margins are tight, especially in 2025. The struggle intensifies with more rental assets to manage. MCS helps you drill down into your cost centers: we show cost breakdowns by project, asset group, or customer so you can identify exactly what's eating into profit. We've had clients realize they were consistently discounting too heavily on certain contracts or that specific assets were costing more to maintain than they were making. That level of clarity makes course correction possible.

How does your software help keep track of customers’ rentals?

If a customer calls and asks, “What do I have on rent right now?” your team shouldn’t have to dig through emails or spreadsheets. With MCS, every piece of equipment rented is visible in real-time across locations. You can see how long something’s been out, where it’s headed next, and what’s due for return. That instant visibility improves service and prevents miscommunication.

How does your software keep track of missed rentals with particular customers?

Missed rentals are silent killers for profitability. Maybe a customer called needing two boom lifts, but you only had one. MCS logs that loss and connects it to the customer, timeframe, and asset category. Over time, this shows patterns — are you consistently running short in certain areas? That insight can inform purchasing and help avoid repeat losses.

How does your software help to maintain rental rates at a profitable rental?

Rental businesses often struggle with pricing discipline. MCS gives you tools to set standard rates, as well as customer- or project-specific pricing. And just as importantly, it puts guardrails in place, so your team doesn’t discount beyond a certain point without approval.

Manage the various costs of the rental at check-in, and manage and facilitate
the check-in process?

We make it easy to capture damage, fuel, or cleaning charges as soon as the asset hits the yard. Yard teams log it in the system, and it’s immediately ready for invoicing — no scribbled notes, no lost charges. This has helped a lot of rental businesses avoid revenue leakage and improve accountability across teams

Manage transportation, that is manage the vehicles and manage the fleet?

Dispatch and logistics can make or break a rental experience. With Resource Mobile, dispatchers and coordinators can assign jobs based on driver availability, vehicle size, and delivery zone. Drivers receive routes and updates on their phones, and they can capture signatures or photos right from the app. Everything feeds back into MCS, which helps reduce confusion and wasted time.

Routing the daily deliveries and pick-ups?

We’ve developed Route Planning tools that help generate optimized daily run sheets, factoring in job site windows, geography, driver hours, and asset availability. It ensures you’re not just delivering quickly — you’re delivering profitably.

Tell us about your telematics capabilities and their ability to
analyze potential long-term trends.

Integrating with telematics providers has been a big leap. Rental companies can now track engine hours, fuel levels, and service alerts in real time. But beyond visibility, it’s what you can do with that data that matters. MCS lets you:
•    Flag off-hours usage or excessive idling
•    Link fault codes to maintenance schedules
•    Invoice by actual usage, not just rental duration
And we’re just getting started. We're partnering with rental companies to create structured maintenance histories that will fuel predictive service modeling, so you can fix problems before they cause downtime.

What is AI doing for your software and what capabilities might be on the
horizon for AI?

For us, AI isn’t about hype — it’s about solving real-world rental problems with clarity and simplicity. That’s why we recently launched AI Insights, a suite of tools designed to make operations easier for rental teams and their customers. 

One of the first tools in the suite is Equipment Manual Assistance — and it’s already making an impact. Instead of flipping through dense technical guides, teams can now scan a QR code on the equipment and ask questions like, “Why won’t it start?” or “How do I secure this for transport?” — and receive step-by-step instructions in plain language. It’s like having an expert technician at your fingertips, 24/7. 

We’re already seeing how this improves field safety, cuts down on support calls, and reduces costly mistakes. And this is just the beginning. Looking ahead, we’re continuing to build out AI capabilities that support:
• Predictive maintenance, based on historical usage and fault trends.
• Dynamic pricing and revenue forecasting. 
• Smart alerts for unusual billing patterns or asset underuse. 
• Churn prediction, helping teams spot at-risk customers early.

The goal isn’t to throw AI at the wall and hope it sticks — it’s to build rental-specific intelligence that works the way real teams work. And it all starts with listening to our customers and building alongside them.

How about e-commerce? How is this capability growing and evolving?

E-commerce used to be a bonus. Now it’s table stakes. With RM Web and our Customer Portal, rental companies can offer a branded, online experience where customers can:
•    Browse and request equipment
•    Track orders and deliveries
•    View contracts and invoices
•    Off-rent assets with one click
We’re not trying to reduce rental to an Amazon transaction. It’s about eliminating friction and offering service even outside of business hours. On the backend, everything syncs automatically into the MCS core system — so there’s no double entry or risk of disconnect.

What are some of the capabilities forward-thinking customers might be asking for or thinking about?

They’re asking:
•    How do we automate the full customer journey?
•    How can we see asset ROI, not just usage?
•    How do we integrate with every system we already use?
•    Can the system alert us before things go wrong?
•    Can we quote with profit in mind, not just speed?
•    How do we let customers self-serve and still feel supported?

That’s the direction we’re building toward. Rental software shouldn’t be a burden. It should be a growth engine.

Any other new trends you’d like to discuss?

•    Data access: Business leaders want dashboards, not PDFs. We’re prioritizing SQL access and open dashboard connectors.
•    Industry-specific workflows: Whether you rent scaffolding or sanitation units, you need a system that speaks your language.
•    Modern UX: If your platform looks like Windows 95, new hires won’t use it. We’re redesigning for speed and simplicity.
•    Integrations: Companies don’t want bolt-ons. They want ecosystems that talk to accounting, telematics, and CRMs seamlessly.