Case Studies

Apache Equipment - Phoenix, Arizona

Bob Nally is a 40-year veteran of the rental business and the former owner of ABZ Rentals in Glendale (now United Rentals). He returned to the equipment rental business in 2004 with the launch of Apache Equipment Corporation. In this interview, Bob talks about discovering the performance and flexibility he needs with Enfinity and Solutions by Computer.

Expectation Windows
I wanted something that was Windows-based,simply because 99% of the people coming out of schools now know Windows. I also think Windows is quicker and cleaner, and you can do more with it. With Enfinity, we can do emailing and a lot of other things that we couldn’t do in the past. And there is a lot more software being developed for Windows nowadays, which we can use with Enfinity.

Credibility and Staying Power
With my prior rental company, ABZ, I had gone to a rental show and bought a software package that promised me everything that I wanted, but I never got the functionality. So that was a good lesson learned. I thought, this time I’m going to find someone that has been around and has experience. We visited several local rental companies in our city to see what software they were using and how they felt about their systems, and we read rental software articles in rental magazines. Several software companies sent us disks, which had mock demonstrations. With Solutions, a salesperson showed up at our door, answered our questions in person and gave us a real demonstration.

That helped nail down our choice. With Solutions, the relationship has staying power. Solutions has been around for a long time, and that’s what we were looking for: a software company that has had years of experience with market success.

Flexibility is a Wonderful Thing
My son, who is my partner in the business, had worked at several other rental companies in his career. He wanted our rates to be set up a certain way and print out on the invoice but not on the delivery slip. There were a number of formulas involved. All of that has been automated with Enfinity and it’s a wonderful thing! It immediately gave us a competitive edge because now we’re being judged on the quality of our equipment and service, and not on some competitor trying to beat our rate by ten dollars on a contract.

Another example of Enfinity’s flexibility is special rates. We’re able to lock in negotiated rates so that the system automatically remembers to give certain customers their negotiated rates or discounting, whatever we’ve decided on – that’s a miracle in itself! Enfinity gives us the ability to charge the customer according to our promise.

The Only Way to Go
We have 10 employees using Enfinity. After using it for just a day or two, our employees found it much easier than the system they had been using. Our customers had some questions when we first introduced our new contracts, invoices and statements; however, we took time to explain the changes and answer their questions. That was all it took to make things go very smoothly.

We can write a contract or a reservation in no time. And when we do our periodic invoicing, it’s quicker than any other method we’ve ever used. It’s less work, less remembering, less stress and less time.

Enfinity’s given us a lot of good things. Inventory management is another plus. Just in terms of scissor lifts, we have 400 or 500 machines at any one time, and I can tell you – if you have a lot of inventory, this system is the only way to go. It manages inventory very, very well and effectively.

Capacity for Expansion
Right now we’re one location with plans to expand. That’s why we bought Solutions. We had to have a system we could incorporate into other locations, one that allows the parent company to view day-to-day operations. Enfinity does that. We also wanted a system with the capacity to grow with our business and keep up with trends and changes in the industry.

Even in our current location, I feel like the sky’s the limit in terms of Enfinity handling growth. Usually we have three or four people working on the counter, the phones ringing all day long ... and even with that level of activity, I feel like the system could handle double or triple the volume, no sweat, because it’s so fast and efficient.

There’s a customer service angle to that, too. It’s nice to be able to write a contract quickly for a customer and have it come out right every time. That’s the name of the game.

We’re on the Cutting Edge with Enfinity
We are very satisfied with the performance of our software. Solutions continues to enhance their products with new innovations such as eReports, which allows our customers to view equipment on rent and see their accounts receivable over the internet.

With Enfinity, Solutions by Computer has created a phenomenal package for the rental industry.

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