iPhone: Essential Equipment for Construction Rental Business
Written by Apple Business
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
A construction zone full of scissor lifts, cranes, and backhoe loaders might seem like a surprising setting for an iPhone.
But at Sunbelt Rentals,
iPhones are as indispensable as hard hats. With a two billion dollar
inventory of rental equipment, the Fort Mill, SC-based firm is one of
the largest equipment rental companies in the United States. And iPhone
ensures that Sunbelt Rentals’ sales team is constantly connected to
real-time customer, business, and inventory information.
“Sunbelt is a service company,” says John Stadick, Vice President of IT
at Sunbelt Rentals. “And to be better than the competition, we use
technology. iPhone gives us a competitive advantage—it’s a big enabler
for us.”
More than 1200 of the company’s sales people, field personnel, and
executives keep their iPhones constantly at hand. “They get in a truck
in the morning and drive from job site to job site, office to office,
and they don’t slow down,” Stadick says. “iPhone works better for them
than a laptop because of the power of the platform and its ease of use.”
Simple and Secure
iPhone communicates directly with Sunbelt Rentals’ Microsoft Exchange
Server, connecting the company’s mobile workforce with push email,
calendar, and contacts. In the field, Sunbelt Rentals' employees use
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and iPhone to seamlessly interact with
contacts and stay current on calendar events.
Distributing iPhone to the workforce is quick and easy, says Dean
Moore, Sunbelt Rentals’ Senior Systems Manager and Architect. The IT
group activates and configures each new user’s iPhone, adds a
distribution and provisioning profile, and installs the company’s
proprietary iPhone app, Mobile SalesPro, all in about ten seconds. “The
iPhone tools are simple to use and make the deployment process very
smooth,” Moore says.
With iPhone, Sunbelt Rentals can be confident that their data remains
secure. Each iPhone has an encrypted user ID and password, and any data
sent between iPhones and corporate systems is encrypted as well. “With
the security in iPhone and in our application, we maintain the level of
integrity that we need,” says Moore. “iPhone is more secure than a
laptop in the field. If an iPhone was lost or stolen, we could
instantly remote-wipe that device.”
And thanks to the intuitive iPhone user interface, there's no need to
train the workforce. “The iPhone UI is the best I’ve seen on any mobile
device,” says Stadick. “It does no good to roll out these devices if
the interface is difficult to use. With iPhone, Sunbelt employees are
instantly productive.”
Real-Time Control
Sunbelt
Rentals’ custom iPhone application, Mobile SalesPro, ties multiple
systems and databases into a single package for the sales team. The app
connects the corporate point-of-sale system, inventory control and
management platform, and ERP system. Sales reps can retrieve sales
data, inventory reports, and complete customer histories. Sales quotes
and reports are shared in real time, so they reflect constantly
changing rates and equipment availability.
Mobile SalesPro on iPhone enables the sales team to respond immediately
to customer requests. “Our sales cycles are short,” says Stadick. “If
you can’t answer a customer’s question or fill their need fairly
quickly, there’s a good chance somebody else will come in and win the
business. We can answer a question with iPhone while literally standing
in the dirt on a job site.”
For example, Moore recalls, “We had a general contractor ask about a
specific piece of equipment. The sales rep pulled his iPhone out and
found a picture of the equipment using Mobile SalesPro, the contractor
saw that the equipment would do the job, and we had a rental.”
Doing Business with iPhone
Sunbelt
Rentals continues to develop Mobile SalesPro, further integrating it
with their CRM system and adding features that take advantage of the
capabilities of iPhone OS 3.0. They are also expanding their internal
iPhone user base, cementing iPhone as the cornerstone for customer and
sales communications at Sunbelt Rentals.
“We look at iPhone as more than a new computing platform for Sunbelt
Rentals,” says Moore. “iPhone has changed how we receive and use
data—and how we do business.”
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