Mobile – The Golden Egg

March 13, 2012 by Leave a comment

Mobility is the new Golden EggI think I’m like most people … I expect things to be simple.  I expect them to be fast.  And I expect the obvious to be… well… obvious.  And I want it now.  (Just call me Veruca Salt…)  

That’s what I find fascinating about “Mobility;” one of the biggest buzz words of the last few years and likely to stay that way for a while.  It really can handle the need for fast, simple, and “now”.   The explosion of smartphones and tablets for managing your personal life is making real and valuable contributions on the small to medium size business scene, all at a price point that delivers real value.

Technology has caught up to expectations and the masses.

So, the next time you pick up your smartphone, or think about ordering a new computer or the latest tablet, ask yourself how much you (and your team) can accomplish with really simple and smart business applications.  And you’ll be a good egg.

Filed under About ADVANTAGE, General, Tips For Business Tagged with , , , ,

How 21% will work in 2015 – Mobility

March 5, 2012 by Leave a comment

A projected 1.3 Billion workers will be classified as
Mobile Workers by the year 2015.

Why? Productivity.  

If you consider all your daily job functions… How much more would you accomplish if you could do those things via your mobile phone, tablet or bar-code scanner?

Explore the mobile frontier to find out how much more you can accomplish.

Let us guide you. Take a Complimentary Tour right now!Tour the Mobile Frontier

 

Filed under About ADVANTAGE, Tips For Business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Rental Show

February 29, 2012 by Leave a comment

Ahh.. New Orleans in February.  For those of us living in the Northeast or cooler climate areas, we certainly appreciate a reason to head south during the winter months.  This trip was thanks to the American Rental Association’s annual conference and trade show, The Rental Show. 

For those of you involved in the rental industry who are not familiar with The American Rental Association or the annual conference, I highly recommend you check them out.  Founded in 1955, their goal is to promote the advancement of equipment rentals and provide a forum for members of the industry to network and share best practices.  Membership exceeds 7,500 rental companies and over 1,000 suppliers to the industry. 

This year’s event was fantastic.  In addition to this being RMI’s 10th year as an exhibitor at the show, the overall mood was very upbeat and many attendees and exhibitors alike expressed feelings of improved confidence in the economy.  One sign of improved conditions was expressed by RMI Customer Indy Equipment who was also exhibiting at the show.

“We’re noticing increased market confidence and a willingness to reinvest in the business.” Said Jeff Bonomo from Indy Equipment “It certainly has been helpful to have live access to our ADVANTAGE business solution while on the trade show floor.  We are generating quotes and converting them to orders in real time.” 

In addition to talking with Jeff and getting his take on the show, my fellow booth staffers, Adam and Dave, also found many attendees were at the show specifically to find new equipment and new business software.   With the recent decline in the economy, many have been delaying a decision they know is long overdue – investing in their future.  We had some terrific conversations and are looking forward to working with those ARA members in 2012. 

As the snow begins to fall here in the Northeast, I’m looking forward to 2012 and hope you’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel and that the positive outlook continues.

Filed under About ADVANTAGE, Marketing, Rentals Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

A Look Back on 2011

January 3, 2012 by Leave a comment

In 2010, RMI introduced its 10 Year Update and Upgrade plan for ADVANTAGE. Our goal was to introduce quarterly updates and 18 month upgrades to our clients, ensuring that they have access to the best and most innovative tools to improve workflow and manage the business at a higher level.

You might ask “Is there really any value in a schedule such as this?” Absolutely! In 2011, RMI released 3 quarterly updates and delivered on our 18 month upgrade commitment. If you were an RMI customer during this time, what did this mean to you?

  • Introduction of ADVANTAGE Mobile Users. Mobile users are those within the organization that execute specific or limited transactions and derive benefit from using either a mobile device or limited input. As of the end of 2011, RMI has released 23 processes, with continued development in 2012.
  • An upgrade to the entire ADVANTAGE environment, including:
    • Improvements to backend hardware and operating systems, delivering increased speed and performance across the organization
    • Microsoft Office 2010, fully integrated with ADVANTAGE
    • Jet Reports 2010, introducing personalization of drill downs into ADVANTAGE data, simplified queries and storing commonly used commands.
    • ADVANTAGE 2009 R2 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2, including integration with Microsoft CRM.
  • Office 365, enabling communication and collaboration across the organization, both inside and outside the boundaries of your office.
  • Improvement and extension of ADVANTAGE Role Centers. As more clients get excited about our newest User Interface, called Role Centers, RMI continues to add more Roles. Role Centers allow your team to focus on the key tasks under their responsibility. Consider them Job Specific Dashboards for your team.
  • Introduction of 10 new features, ranging from automating the Billing process, to enhanced “location” control over your rental fleet, to Margin Analysis improvements.
  • Support for new Credit Card payment processors, expanding your choices when looking for a partner to work with.
  • 2 New Advanced reports, including a graphical Executive Dashboard and Mail Merge Excel templates to simplify your marketing projects.

Along with all of these product improvements, RMI has released hundreds of videos across our three YouTube channels, enabling training and solution demonstrations on demand.

RMI’s goal is to deliver innovative, agile solutions to our clients, helping them to better manage and grow their business while still controlling costs.

The RMI Team is excited and looking forward 2012; and another year of delivering business solutions that help our customers reach and exceed their goals.

For a complete list of all our 2011 improvements, please contact RMI’s sales team and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Filed under About ADVANTAGE, Newsletter, Rentals, Sales, Service, Tips For Business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using Mobile Technology to Better Manage Your Business

August 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

Almost everyone has a mobile device. Whether it be a smart phone, iPad, PDA, or laptop, we can always be up to date with what’s happening around us.

Now think about people in your organization who are rarely in the office. Salespeople, service technicians, and warehouse workers are on the job all day long and might only be able to report their work once or twice a day. Wouldn’t it be great if they could enter every transaction they make directly into your business system as they take place? This is exactly what a Mobile ERP allows you and your employees to do.

Not only will you know exactly where your business stands at any given point in the day, but your employees will also have up-to-date information at their fingertips. Your warehouse will update the status of inventory instantly. A salesperson will then know exactly what inventory is available for sale. A service tech could bill a customer on site. All this can be accomplished without even having to step into the office.

Just like a full ADVANTAGE user, ADVANTAGE Mobile allows you and your employees to continuously update your

ADVANTAGE Mobile Screenshot

business’ information in real-time. With ADVANTAGE Mobile, you can now use the mobile technology you already own to its full potential.

Are you concerned about employee productivity while they’re away from the office? The ADVANTAGE Mobile User will help you answer that question.

By equipping your employees with ADVANTAGE Mobile while out on a job, you as a manager have the ability to better monitor their performance.

This is easily done through the use of Key Performance Indicators, or KPI’s. KPI’s are automatically generated reports specific to what you need to know about your business. For example, number of jobs completed in a day, time spent on each job, and gross profit, are just some KPI’s you could use to monitor your business. If you choose to go Mobile, you can track nearly everything your employees do while out in the field.

By utilizing KPI’s with your ADVANTAGE Mobile Users, it will become clear which of your employees are most valuable to your organization, as well as which ones need improvement.

Filed under Marketing, Rentals, Sales, Service, Tips For Business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile is not the future…it’s NOW!

August 10, 2011 by Leave a comment

For years now we’ve been hearing that “mobile computing” is the “way of the future.” Palm Pilots used to be must have technology in the business world, but now those are in the Stone Age along with beepers and the Zach Morris cell phone.

Zach Morris Cell Phone

Zach Morris Cell Phone

In a world that is run around Facebook updates and twitter feeds, the need to stay connected is becoming more and more evident. Smartphones have been on the market for years now and the number of things they can do continues to grow rapidly. Anything you are looking to do, there is inevitably someone there to say, “There’s an app for that!”

In a case study by Gartner, it was said that at the end of 2010, over 1.2 billion people had smartphones. Also, according to Ian Howie, author of AdWords EBook, within the next couple of years, the number of mobile Google searches will exceed searches performed on regular computers.

We've Gone Mobile
We’ve Gone Mobile

It is obvious that most of the world has already gone mobile, and we are completely reliant on our mobile devices. If your smartphone were taken away for a day, you would be completely lost. The hard truth is, if you, as a business, do not have mobile capabilities, you are missing out. So when people say mobile is the way of the future, they’re wrong. Mobile is now, and it is not going away.

Filed under Marketing, Rentals, Sales, Service, Tips For Business

Dealers Need to Update Product Descriptions to Improve Google Search Ranking

July 7, 2011 by Leave a comment

Many equipment dealers may have recently seen a fall in their websites search ranking through Google.

A recent change to the way Google compiles search results causes pages that feature too similar of content to appear farther down the search result list than a page with all unique content.

What does that mean for you?
If your website features product descriptions as provided by the equipment manufacturer, your product page will fall low on Google search results because other dealers have the same description on their own product pages.

What can you do to increase search results?
- Modify product descriptions
- Update your website regularly
- Additional tips and whitepapers for improving search results are available through Bing and Google(PDF).

Filed under Marketing, Tips For Business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

RMI Opens Executive Key Performance Indicators Webinar to the Public

June 3, 2011 by Leave a comment

June 2, 2011 – Avon, CT — RMI Corporation announced today that it has opened admission to its Executive Key Performance Indicators (KPI) webinar to the public. Previously by invitation only, the Executive Key Performance Indicators webinar provides attendees with a look at the challenges and benefits associated with tracking business KPIs for the rental, sales, and service industry. KPIs allow you to monitor strengths and weaknesses; enabling you to make the right decisions to improve business practices and processes.

Hosted by successful business owner, adjunct university professor and CPA, Paul R. Chapdelaine, this webinar offers real world insight for decision makers and tips for choosing the best KPIs for your business.

For more information, please visit www.rmiusa.com/kpi.

Filed under Press Release

RMI ADVANTAGE is iPad Compatible

May 17, 2011 by Leave a comment

May 2, 2011 – Avon, CT – Today RMI Corporation announced that their ADVANTAGE solution is now compatible with tablet computers and additional mobile devices.

Click To Enlarge

iPad 2 Running ADVANTAGE Role Centers

The announcement serves to add the Apple iPad to the list of devices supported by ADVANTAGE and RMI’s Help Desk Institute Certified Client Services team.  The tablet compatibility service took effect last week for all ADVANTAGE Cloud customers providing even more value to the ADVANTAGE Cloud solution with no additional cost to their customers.  This enhancement enables customers to log into their ADVANTAGE account from virtually any mobile device; offering users the opportunity to work from absolutely anywhere with access to all the same resources they have at their desk.  Tablet computers, with their lightweight and space-optimized design, enable true mobility by eliminating the need to cart around or even own a laptop or netbook.

“At RMI, we are proud to extend our application’s compatibility to touch devices, such as the iPad.  However, we realize that not everyone is an iPad user, so, as excited as we are about this update we’re not nearly done advancing our mobile features.  Our intention is to further extend the list of compatible devices throughout this year.  With a track record for delivering improvements without adding cost, it is clear that our customers come to us for our product and services, but they stay because our product continuously grows in value without growing in price.”

David G. Richards,

VP-Client Services
RMI Corporation

Beginning April 28th all ADVANTAGE Cloud customers can login and access all features of their ADVANTAGE cloud system from any tablet.  Accessible features include but are not limited to: RMI ADVANTAGE Classic, RMI ADVANTAGE Role Centers, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Business Online Productivity Suite (BPOS soon to become Office 365), SharePoint, SQL Reporting Services, Customer Portal and much more.

About RMI Corporation

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Avon, CT; RMI Corporation is the leader in Enterprise Rental, Sales, and Service Solutions for mid-market companies.  RMI is fully dedicated to the equipment rental, sales, and service industry and offers an industry standard solution including software, implementation, training, consultation and support to help their clients maximize efficiencies and reach their full business potential.  RMI currently has thousands of users working with their ADVANTAGE Solution, representing various segments of the industry.  For more information on the ADVANTAGE Solution and RMI Corporation, please visit their website at www.rmiusa.com.

Filed under About ADVANTAGE, Press Release

Lessons learned from reality TV

April 27, 2011 by

Certified for Microsoft Dynamics

Ok, I admit it.  I’m a huge fan of the Holmes on Homes television show.  For those who have not seen it, Mike Holmes is a contractor that comes in and makes “right” the wrongs performed by other contractors.  As Mike and his team dive in, they often uncover many other problems that were not evident.  The homeowner quickly learns it is not only the external or finish work that counts, it’s work you cannot easily see that is the true test of a job well done.  Each week we learn the same lessons:

  •  Did you make sure that the contractor, plumber, electrician, etc. is certified to do the job that you hired them to do?
  • Did you check their references?    

 It got me thinking about how important certifications really are. 

 In most all “certification” processes, you must complete a prescribed course of action and pass an exam.  It’s an investment of time and energy, but worth the reward.  Think about your personal commitment to gain that business degree, CPA or Equipment Operator Certification so that you can be successful.  Alternately, consider when you are interviewing a potential employee or a vendor.  Do you check for specialized certifications that are required for the job?  I sure do.  I want to know I’m bringing on the skills we need to be successful.

That’s why Certified for Microsoft Dynamics and Certified for Cloud is so important to you and your business.  It’s your proof that the business solution you are choosing has been designed, tested and approved for your industry.  In order to gain these certifications, both the business solution and the organization need to meet the requirements for certification.  This includes a rigorous software application test, customer references, proven support and implementation methodologies, and commitment to the Microsoft Dynamics product.  Moreover, since technologies are ever changing, each certification must be renewed every two years.   

Later this year will mark the fourth time RMI will earn the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics medallion for our ADVANTAGE solution for the rental, sales and service industry.  We make the investment because we believe that it is important to deliver the highest quality solutions and services to you. 

 I’m glad we’ve got Mike Holmes to “make it right”, but wouldn’t you rather have it right the first time? 

 To learn more about the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics certification, click here. 

To learn about RMI’s last Certified for Microsoft Dynamics certification, click here.

Filed under Certifications Tagged with , , ,

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