The Challenge

When Echo Barrier was still in its infancy, the company knew that their product was set to take off and so needed to find some rental software that would be scalable to accommodate international demand. They needed software that could:

• Track assets and effectively manage their sales and hire cycles
• Be rolled out remotely
• Be hosted on a single, centrally administered cloud-based solution
• Be accessed remotely by staff, all over an internet connection.

The Solution

First Response now uses MCS-rm to run their external hire operation and site supplies business (First Response Site Services) and a procurement division (First Response Site Supplies). Their entire operation is run by MCS-rm including the hire desk, warehouse, transport scheduling, workshop and accounts.

What made you choose MCS?

We needed to purchase rental software that would handle the growing business, with scalability to accommodate rising international demand. It also needed to track all our assets and effectively manage our sales and hire cycles. Cloud based MCS-rm was the perfect fit for our needs.

Asset Tracking

Each barrier is security coded, so we can see which site each piece of equipment has gone to and that assists us in calculating its utilisation rate. We can also track depreciation rates for each item and, from this, we can identify when a hire asset should be sold off. With reports in MCS-rm, we can derive facts and figures instantly and accurately.

Document Management Scanning

The scanning system is fantastic! We scan everything we can and nothing is paperbased now. It’s all in an electronic format, saving time and enabling us to make the most of our resources.

Job Costing Module

The job costing module helps us measure the profitability of a job - a process that is completely transparent to the customer. The system raises an internal job costing contract which allows us to see the total cost of each job, but this level of detail is invisible to the customer. Only the top line hire rate for all the equipment sent on-site is shown on the contract and customer invoice.

Purchasing

MCS-rm keeps an eye on everything we purchase and tracks and manages all our business costs. We can work out to the nearest penny what we are spending and this assists with stock management, giving us exemplary control and providing a clear idea of our financial position and cash flow.

Cloud

The cloud-based scenario means all the global databases are stored on the same virtual server and accessed remotely by Mac and PC desktop devices and I can manage the whole process and retain full control!

The Benefits

Since using MCS-rm and CRM, Echo Barrier has:

• Expanded their business overseas, supported by their MCS cloud rental solution, opening new depots in the Middle East, the United States, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Used RFID tags on each barrier to calculate utilisation rates for each barrier in MCS-rm.
• Been able to identify when rental assets should be disposed of.
• Been able to understand their internal costs for customer projects but present clients with a contract and invoice showing only their hire rates.
• Been able to keep tight control of their purchases and business costs.