Are you looking for equipment inspection software to replace your tedious, unreliable, and time-consuming manual pen-and-paper process?
We don’t blame you.
Many equipment rental companies suffer from thousands of dollars worth of unfavorable damage disputes, needless staffing costs, and ruined customer relationships because of their inefficient, pen-and-paper documentation processes.
To help you overcome this hurdle and find the best equipment inspection software for your company, we put together this list of top equipment inspection software features you need to consider before making a purchase:
- Video & photo capture of equipment utilization
- Digital equipment inspection forms and check-out sheets
- Quick internal company handoff and response
- A real-time dashboard
- Secure, digital e-signatures
- A cloud-secure system
- Seamless customer verification
- Inspections and inventory management
- Inspections and equipment tracking
- An equipment maintenance log
- Task assignment capabilities
What is equipment inspection software?
Equipment inspection software is a practical tool for any rental company to streamline manual inspection workflows and accurately document a unit’s condition before and after renting it out. It gives rental companies the capability to conduct equipment inspections, audits, and maintenance plans, without relying on mistake-prone manual processes.
Top 11 equipment inspection software features
To optimize your asset inspection processes, your equipment inspection software should possess the following functionalities:
1. Video & photo capture of equipment utilization
Video and photo captures are among the most critical equipment inspection software features.
They allow you to visually document your equipment’s pre- and post-usage conditions, which are — unfortunately — insufficiently described in traditional handwritten inspection reports.
Clayton Conrad, Coast Counties Peterbilt rental manager, explains his frustrations on the repercussions.
The biggest issue with the paper logs was customers disputing damages… [We] didn’t have clear evidence as to whether or not the customer caused the damage… [and damage losses] were in the thousands, if not tens of thousands per year.
However, with photo and video documentation, you have accurate records of how your equipment appeared before and after utilization and can correctly attribute them to your clients.
Record360 has high-resolution video and photo capturing capabilities. The app also lets you tap on damaged equipment parts shown on your media file and apply damage tags and notes
Record360 then lets you upload these videos and photos to the cloud, send them to your clients to notify them, and attach them to your inspection forms.
With this feature, you upgrade the quality of your inspections and resolve customer disputes fast (or avoid them altogether). You also preserve your company’s integrity, client relationships, and business savings.
Relieved with this Record360 feature, Conrad says, “We can keep our trucks in better shape and sell them for more because we have someone to bill for the damage.”
2. Digital equipment inspection forms and check out sheets
Another practical capability your equipment inspection software should have is creating digital forms, checklists, and check in and check out sheets.
Why?
Because an equipment check out sheet (and check in sheet) can do wonders for your equipment rental company. It hastens your workflow implementation and service delivery and cuts your administrative costs and resources — boosting your day-to-day productivity.
Pioneer Equipment Rental business owner Michel Allan shares,
If you have a good format and it’s simple to navigate, then it gets done accurately and quickly… With one report… we can process equipment in and out [fast].
Digital inspection forms are also generally more secure than paper files, which can easily get misplaced and damaged, resulting in data loss and low service quality.
Using the Record360 app, you can create digital inspection checklists and forms, load them straight into your mobile devices, and painlessly capture your needed data in standard formats.
Users (whether staff or clients) can simply type in applicable answers, go back to previous pages when needed, and press selected options or tick boxes.
With digital inspection forms, rental companies can complete workflows quickly compared to them taking several minutes when writing and filling up paper forms.
3. Quick internal company handoff and response
If you’re handling an enormous fleet of equipment assets, delegating several urgent inspections to your staff via traditional communication channels can be burdensome.
That’s why you need to select a reliable and feature-packed equipment inspection software. Having one increases the efficiency of your asset inspection activities, making them seamless and automated.
For example, with the digital inspection forms you create on our Record360 app, your staff can conduct inspections offsite and send their results electronically.
You can also perform inspections on any of your company branches. Just send your drivers or contractors a direct link to corresponding Record360 app functions, so they can remotely and promptly fill out and return the digital inspection report.
The Record360 app can also automate and schedule real-time email delivery to responsible departments whenever an inspection fails, needs to kick off on which date, and more.
That way, you and your staff can respond instantly, apply the best corrective action, finish inspections faster, and continue serving your customers with quality equipment.
When Premier Leasing streamlined its vehicle condition review processes through a standard coordinated workflow, rental manager Kevin Etlicher shares:
Having a standardized process means we can get our trucks ready hours before a customer comes in… We receive notice that a rental is going to happen, and we can do the documentation well in advance. That way, when the customer comes in, we can hand over the keys and have them sign the check out form. They’re on their way in no time.
4. A real-time dashboard
A reliable equipment inspection software provides you with a clean, easy-on-the-eyes dashboard showing your overall asset inspection operational performance in real-time.
Record360’s dashboard homepage meets you with inspection-related data graphs and charts, including recent condition reviews, total damages, and more. Get a bird’s-eye view of your equipment inspection operations by reviewing the data on your dashboard.
From the graphs, you can see a summary of ongoing and closed inspections and damages inflicted on the units for a specified period.
The Recent Activity and Recent Inspections panels on the right side update themselves and display those happenings in real-time.
With a comprehensive, informational dashboard like this, you can closely keep tabs on your equipment’s conditions and inspection activities and access rich data to support your claims during disputes.
5. Secure, digital e-signatures
With an electronic signature function in your equipment inspection software, your clients can digitally sign your inspection forms on the fly. They no longer need to drop by your office just to sign a document — they can do this remotely. This saves time, effort, and resources for your client and yourself.
Record360’s eSign feature enables you to send inspection-related and other documents to your clients (even repeatedly) for their digital signature. You can view your eSign request status right from the Record360 dashboard and click in to see more details.
You can also request signatures for multiple documents using a straightforward, customizable email template. Your customers receive a branded email with clear instructions on what to do next.
If your clients have not yet signed the delivered documents in 48 hours (extending to 96 hours), Record360 automatically sends reminders. Once they’ve signed digitally, you and your clients receive a confirmation email with a link to the signed document.
With productivity-boosting features like e-signatures on your equipment inspection software, you can get more done, reduce costs, and improve client satisfaction.
6. A cloud-secure system
Your equipment inspection software should also have a cloud-secure system.
This enables quick file uploads and downloads in a safe repository that’s accessible to you and your authorized employees.
Cloud-secure systems make file sharing much easier because you can immediately save them on a categorized folder online.
You and your staff don’t need to copy and paste inspection-related photos, documents, and videos onto a USB drive, hand it to each other, and risk acquiring computer viruses or accidental file deletions.
7. Seamless customer verification
Equipment rental companies traditionally verify identities by requiring customers to submit copies of authorized IDs and other identification documents in person, via mail, or email.
The rental company personnel then photocopies physical copies or prints electronically sent files and attach them to the rental application and inspection forms.
This makes your rental and inspection workflows tedious, time-consuming, and expensive.
To improve your administrative examination processes, choose equipment inspection software tools with customer verification features.
The Record360 app shows us an example. It has license scanning functionalities that make it safe and quick for your customers to present their identification documents for your verification.
They don’t need to go to your office to submit their files, and you wouldn’t need to buy and use up shedloads of paper and ink to print those documents.
The result: Cost reduction and saved time for both you and your customers.
8. Inspections and inventory management
A handy database of your assets and their respective inspections is vital when getting equipment inspection software.
You should be able to access a ton of information anytime you need it, e.g., when monitoring and assessing your assets, handling repairs, or resolving client debates about damages.
Record360 has the Units panel on its dashboard that lists your rental equipment assets and their details, such as their locations, users, identification numbers, damages, and others.
On every equipment unit’s detail page, you’ll find its photos and videos, essential inspection information, geographic location, inspection history, and activity log (more on this in the next segment).
Record360’s dashboard also has the Inspections panel where it lists the inspected equipment units, plus information similar to those in the Units section.
The Inspections page also has tabs that let you organize and view only the submitted inspection reports and drafts and by other filters. You can also delete listed assets and edit their details (e.g., ID numbers) accordingly.
To download reports on damaged equipment or uncover the business branches that implemented the most inspections for the week, export filtered lists of units and asset condition reviews from the Record360 dashboard.
As you can see, equipment inspection software with an efficient unit and inspection inventory feature streamlines the management of your units, condition checks, and disputes — resulting in better asset protection, brand image, and client relationship protection.
9. Inspections and equipment tracking
Especially if you have multiple office locations, you want to stay on top of things and remain updated with your other branches’ inspections and equipment conditions.
If that applies to you, look for equipment inspection software with asset and inspection tracking capabilities.
As mentioned earlier, the Record360 dashboard homepage shows periodic graphs and real-time updates on your inspections by location.
You can also quickly track your equipment and inspections made on them through the details on the Inventory panel: location, user, ID number, and others. Record360’s activity log and inspection history also let you monitor your equipment and the activities conducted with it.
These are the details summarized by the Inspections History graph on the Record360 dashboard homepage we discussed previously.
With these features, you can closely keep an eye on your assets and equipment inspections and ensure the units are where they should be and regularly examined.
10. An equipment maintenance log
When your inspection reports reveal that your assets need repairs or maintenance visits, you want to supervise these activities smoothly — particularly if you have a large fleet.
That’s why your chosen equipment inspection software must have a systematic equipment maintenance log. For example, Record360 allows you to schedule equipment inspections from the Units section view or an individual asset’s detail page view. Your drivers and other authorized staff can also leave comments about your equipment’s utilization and maintenance status and condition.
Equipment maintenance logs like this let you check that your assets are always in tip-top shape, preventing damages that can harm your customers and ensuring operational continuity.
11. Task assignment capabilities
Equipment inspections involve several recurring tasks.
If you’re still using pen and paper and other manual methods to delegate tasks to your team (such as leaving notes on their desks), your staff can quickly forget or miss your instructions.
In contrast, using equipment inspection software can automate, centralize, and secure your assignments to your personnel.
This translates to efficient task monitoring over time, more systematic staff-manager coordination, and better communication lines in your equipment rental company.
Record360’s new Tasks feature is an example of this software functionality. It allows you to assign specific to-do’s and inspections to the personnel in real-time and notifies them instantly.
As a result, they can complete the equipment inspections, address any arising issues, and serve your customers promptly.
Use the best equipment inspection software for your business
Investing in comprehensive equipment inspection software is among the smartest business decisions you can make as an equipment rental company owner.
It protects your assets, grows your bottom line, and establishes your reputation while strengthening your client relationships.
Don’t miss out on the critical cost-saving benefits of a robust, feature-packed equipment inspection software like Record360.
Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.
