web based rental software

[crstein]

We will be working on a iOS app for this summer, the issue that we struggled with a couple years ago when we were an html based application is the constant refreshing that occurs in this type of an application. As you add each item to a quote and want to check availability live, you need a refresh every time. Same thing with scanning items. Also the longer your quote gets, the longer it takes to return the results for each refresh. The flash platform handles these issues so much better than standard HTML. As far as moving to HTML 5, that is still a couple years off. There are not really any good programming tools, let alone a standard to program to. We chose the Flash player long before Steve Jobs and Adobe had their spat. If you play with our online demo, you will see how elegant the display is, and it looks more like a software and less like a web page.

 

As far as a price goes, we have lots of smaller companies using our software as well as many larger companies. I think the old saying you get what you pay for fits. This is a software as a service, so included in our $235 a month is the online hosting, support, monthly updates, backup and restore services etc.

If you told me 10 years ago that my phone / data rate for me and a couple other employees would be more than $250 a month I would not believe you. But in todays work environment, that is the cost of being able to communicate instantly.

 

Is it the right software for everyone? No.

But defiantly make sure you are comparing apples to apples.

 

Is other software Windows, Mac and Linux compatible?

Is it web based?

Does it include web hosting?

Do you need to buy a server to run their application?

How much additional is their yearly support?

Is that price for one user?

How often do they update their product?

How good is their scanning process?

 

Just a couple questions to help make a good comparison.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Also some great how to videos on our youtube channel at http://www.youtube.c...rentalsolutions

We also have our weekly webinars tomorrow at 4:00 PM GMT.

Go to https://join.me/flexsupport to view live or to our youtube site for an offline viewing.

 

Thanks,

Chris Stein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no software for you to install at all, just a current web browser with a flash player and an internet connection.

 

 

You were grabbing my attention until flash player was mentioned and then I realised that I won't be able to use the iPad to login to the system which is really dull!

 

Hi Just a quick one. Does anybody know of a web based rental software purely because im on a mac and cant seem to find anything that runs on mac. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks

 

The subscription pricing (typically $235 a month for a single warehouse with unlimited users) dramatically reduces up front costs.

 

Oh...and this bit has put me off too - £146 a month is a fair old whack! Maybe this is just for the bigger boys with the need for unlimited users and who have multiple licenses of HireTrack/EasyJob - £1800 p.a. on a cloud based solution seems a little steep to me (considering Pete bought EasyJob in 2008 for £1800 and has had it ever since!)

[david.elsbury]

We will be working on a iOS app for this summer, the issue that we struggled with a couple years ago when we were an html based application is the constant refreshing that occurs in this type of an application.

What's wrong with using AJAX, isn't that exactly what it's designed for?

 

David

[crstein]

AJAX solved some of the problems, but didn't solve all of them.

[callumb]

Using flash to build a program is a terrible idea! Flash good for fancy bits other than that is a total no no! Its a nightmare of security holes and bugs and smacks of laziness. PHP, HTML5, JS and some Jquery outstrip flash. It can be done really simply if you spend the time with it. Your arguments about refreshing are old pre Jquery arguments. My friend is a whizz at JS and all the fancy stuff and the things he has made are outstanding and you wouldn't expect from non flash. It can be done simply and very effectively if you take the time to do so. http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[crstein]

Big thanks to all who voted. Flex Rental Solutions was awarded the Best Rental Management Software at the Rental and Staging Awards ceremony at InfoComm 2012!

From the press release.

 

This was the first year Flex had been nominated for theaward and the company is honored to be recognized for a product that was onlyreleased to the public two years ago.

 

Chris Stein, CEO, said of the award:

 

 

 

“Wedesigned our cloud based software with the end user in mind, and it means a lotthat the users of software around the world are the people who vote. Itconfirms that we are moving in the right direction to deliver the bestproduction management software that happens to be web based. By no means do wetake this award as a “mission accomplished” achievement, but is a call toaction for us to step up our offering with new features and functionality.”

 

Jeffrey Payne, CTO, also commented on the award:

 

 

 

“Itake this as a signal that our users like where we’re headed with the productand want to see that trend continue. Iknow all of us on the Flex software engineering team are grateful for therecognition and are committed to making Flex even better for next year.”

 

 

 

 

[steve@soundbp.com]

I am very much in favor of cloud based systems. I use my accounts on a system called XERO (www.xero.com) Its a really powerful accounts package which is very intuitive to use. Many accountants are switching their clients to it from Sage. With Xero you can get a number of add on web applications which share data with Xero. I use two includes:

 

Capsule CRM - http://capsulecrm.com/ - Web based CRM and task management

Quotient - http://quotientapp.com/ - Fantastic application for putting quotations together. Very simple but very powerful.

 

I am after a hire inventory management system that will link into these other cloud solutions or something that would combine all the features together.

 

People saying that cloud based system are slow is simply untrue. The Xero system works brilliantly through all web browsers.

 

This Flex system sounds ridiculously expensive. When you think Xero is £15 per month and in terms of functionality is on par with SAGE. So I would not invest in Flex at all.

If anybody has cloud programming experience I am sure there is a market for a hire management/inventory system. Esp if it can link to these other applications also.

[Tom Lovick]

Not technically a rental software, although I use it as such.. DJ Event Planner (DJEP) http://djeventplanner.com/ - Made in the US, but with UK support and UK settings.

 

A great piece of software - Email Alex at alex@djeventplanner.com who is the support rep for the uk :)

[rmsplanning]

Hi Just a quick one. Does anybody know of a web based rental software purely because im on a mac and cant seem to find anything that runs on mac. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks

 

Hi,

 

First of all, let me introduce myself: my name is Stan Gunkel and I am from Rmsplanning.com We have been making software for the AV-industry for the past 25 years. Our latest product is RMSAnywhere, a web-based rental software.

We just introduced the latest version or RMSAnywhere, with lots of new features and improvements.

 

 

To give some answers to the questions that were asked:

 

Is the software Windows, Mac and Linux compatible?

Yes, RMSAnywhere works on most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

RMSAnywhere runs on PC, Mac, tablet and smartphone, in fact on anything with a browser.

 

 

Is it web based?

Yes

 

Does it include web hosting?

Yes

 

Do you need to buy a server to run their application?

No, although for people who do not trust the cloud, it can be run on your own server as well.

 

How much additional is their yearly support?

Zero, this is included in the monthly fee.

 

Is that price for one user?

 

1 user extra user

basic pack 49,95 8,95

crew- and transportplanning 12,95 3,95

multisites, per extra site 4,95

 

All prices are in euros, ex. VAT, per month.

Prices include secure hosting and daily backups.

There is no limit to the number of Jobs, nor a limit in disc-space usage.

 

 

 

 

How often do they update their product?

At least once a month.

 

How good is their scanning process?

Scanning is something where other software-vendor make a big issue of.

A barcode is nothing more then a font. In fact, for the software it does not matter whether a code is typed in, scanned, or whatever. As soon as the code is entered, the software processes the information (and in RMSAnywhere, it does that very quick).

 

If anyone wants to give RMSAnywhere a try, just enter your email-address on our website at www.rmsanywhere.com

 

Let me know what you think of it, we are always open for critical remarks.

 

Stan Gunkel

 

PS to the moderators: I hope I have not violated any rules here.

 

[rentalguy2]

Hi,

 

here are a few you can checkout: http://rentalsoftwaredirectory.com/Web-Based-Rental-Software/Host-Yourself-Rental-Software/ and http://rentalsoftwaredirectory.com/Web-Based-Rental-Software/Software-As-A-Service-SAAS/

 

there are both owned and "leased" web based solutions out there. Personally I prefer one that you can purchase and customize as most rental companies defer a little in how they do business.

[John@trackingThis]

Hi Everyone!

 

What a great discussion already! I'm working with trackingThis on cloud-hosted asset management software. I wont paste the whole pitch in here but...

 

We've been working on our rental management functionality and will soon be looking for early-adopters to help test it. The current system tracks safety records, faults etc. against assets so that by scanning one of our QR coded labels with a smart phone, you can get the status and history of whatever the label is stuck to. By building rental management on top of this foundation, we provide accurate availability calculations based on the equipment itself. So if that important mixing desk falls off a van, it can be reported as faulty on the mobile site and notifications fly out to any production manager that suddenly needs to arrange a sub-hire!

 

There are some great benefits to a cloud-hosted solution and all the options are well worth exploring further. If you'd like to hear more about what we have to offer at trackingThis, feel free to PM me or email jbannister@trackingthis.com

[johnhuson]

I am from the HireHop team and we are close to launching our revolutionary web based rental management software that we feel is the most advanced, fully featured, intelligent and easiest to use out of all the rental software packages, not just the cloud ones.

That's a pretty bold statement and one I'd be interested to see if it meets up to expectations.

 

Having reviewed most of the common alternatives (both cloud and real world) fairly recently before settling on our current option I'd be interested in seeing a demo. We're not looking to change from our current supplier but feel I'd be well placed to give a relatively unbiased view for other Blue Room members and if your feelings are true could be interesting all the same.

[paulears]

Myhirehop seems a very strange name? Myhireshop makes sense, but what is with the 'hop' bit? I hope it's good, because you've been getting this up and running for quite a while now, and most of your posts say something like "Don't ask any questions, because it's a secret". You say you've solved the slow interface problem, which we didn't know it had?

 

Normally with any new radical product, there are dummy screenshots and loads of top line detail - but you've mentioned it so many times, without any info, I think you've perhaps lost the moment?

[Pete McCrea]

To be honest we don't really want revolutionary, unless you can get it to read a clients mind before they contact you for the order. We want solid, easy to use and intuitive.

 

Plus I'd rather pay something sensible for software, and actually don't mind paying a subscription. That way we know that the vendor is receiving regular income and will be able to keep the software up to date and to solve issues. It becomes a two way transaction, not a single sale then disappear.

 

If you build something so revolutionary and game changing, charge people a single fee for it, how will you keep the revenue coming in to ensure you can continue development and not go bust once everybody has bought a copy but never needs to pay you again?

 

And I'd be interested to hear Johnhuson's verdict on it too.

[johnhuson]

I am from the HireHop team and we are close to launching our revolutionary web based rental management software that we feel is the most advanced, fully featured, intelligent and easiest to use out of all the rental software packages, not just the cloud ones.

That's a pretty bold statement and one I'd be interested to see if it meets up to expectations.

 

Having reviewed most of the common alternatives (both cloud and real world) fairly recently before settling on our current option I'd be interested in seeing a demo. We're not looking to change from our current supplier but feel I'd be well placed to give a relatively unbiased view for other Blue Room members and if your feelings are true could be interesting all the same.

 

If you go to the signup, you will get a chance to really hammer it and see what it can do.

 

Excellent I've requested a demo so hopefully you'll approve and I can see how your software lives up to it's claims. Obviously happy to feedback to the forum as Pete and I'm sure others will be interested to hear.

 

Of course Pete as an Easyjob user, his feedback would also be useful. Myself as a Hiretrack NX user you could gain some useful feedback from two different perspectives.

[empyfree]

I've also signed up as a Rentaldesk / Current RMS user to see what it's about. Will report back!