Equipment rental now must be called digital equipment rental

Aggregators are jostling for space in construction equipment rental industry currently but it is also becoming quite evident now that aggregators are a future of equipment rental business. The online aggregators are a new rental market place for construction equipments. This is becoming a global trend. In India too, new online platforms are emerging fast but they are yet to be tested how effective these will be in Indian rental market where the industry is facing problems in payment recoveries, stagnant rental rates and dearth of skilled manpower. A lot for aggregators will depend on their success on freeing equipment supplier of the worries of payment recoveries and other problems of renting.

In India, EQUIP9™️ is an emerging future digital marketplace for the heavy equipment industry which promises the customers to manage the certified workforce, track equipment, buy/ rent/ sell their assets anywhere, anytime across the globe.

The Rental Time team spoke with Gaurav Bhushan – Founder EQUIP9™️ to understand how the company is helping the equipment rental industry.

How is EQUIP9™️ platform helping the equipment rental industry?

Equipment rental now must be called digital equipment rental. By 2030, India will see a drastic change in its current business style. The rental industry must focus on digital solutions to current rental problems. We have approximately 2-3 Lakh small and big business owners involved in the equipment rental business. The industry does not have an aggregated digital solution that makes day-to-day work complex. EQUIP9™️ provides an app-based digital solution that helps networking equipment rental owners with contractors, sell their used equipment without brokerage, and search for operators and maintenance for their business. To Manage a 4 bn dollar industry, we will need a digital solution on which every industry player can promote their equipment business and track the ROI from individual equipment. The EQUIP9™️ app focuses on the Man – Equipment – Material – Project model. Currently, the EQUIP9 app provides Digital Services such as equipment listing, creating digital stores, and adding equipment to the global rental and used equipment marketplace. Our Digital Store will help rental companies to digitize their business. We have taken the first step. I am sure that by 2023 we will have world-class digital solutions that will aggregate the equipment industry. We also have plans to build predictive demand analysis of rent across the country, a virtual-reality-based sell platform, an easy rent recovery process, identification of the right company to rent equipment, connecting with the right financiers, etc. Sooner customers will notice the digital effect.

What are the challenges that you are facing?

As a first mover, every start-up faces the biggest challenge of a habit-changing of industry. Challenges are always part of any start-up ecology. We want to create a scalable digital business in the heavy equipment industry. Currently, the industry is doing business without digital apps. They have habits that will need some time to change. We have a plan to onboard 1 Lakh operators and 20000 business owners by December.

Which rental companies are using it?

We are a Pune-based company. Many small to medium-sized rental owners are using our app. PG Infrastructure, Acube Logistics, MKC Infrastructure, T&T Infra, Suraj Buildcon, and Bauer equipment are the few early adopters of technology. We are in touch with JCB, POTAIN, ACE, VOLVO, and KOBELCO to onboard so that their dealers can help end customers find better rentals, sell used equipment, and find operators and maintenance partners across the country.

How are you looking at the market for such aggregated platforms in the next five years?

No doubt the future is going to be digital. You can’t expect a salesperson to hit the streets when the temperature is above 60 degrees Celsius. From Staffing costs to Advertisement costs, everything is increasing exponentially. There will be an acute shortage of sales and marketing people. The government is demanding faster execution. Without aggregating business on a digital platform, on-time development and cost reduction are tough to achieve. Aggregated platforms can help the heavy equipment industry to make the right decisions. One can see the trend in the food industry, automobile industry, fintech industry, and agriculture. Ten years ago, Taj was not accepting Zomato. Today Zomato drives the food industry. The simple reason is Data; it is everything. Aggregated platforms can make operations and sales easy. With the help of Artificial intelligence and machine learning, I am positive that EQUIP9™️ will be driving insights into business in the heavy equipment industry.

What is the model of rental business through EQUIP9™️ App?

EQUIP9™️ app connects owners of equipment owners pan country and globally. We are trying to make rental and used equipment business brokerage free. On our digital platform, a J&K-based contractor can connect with an Equipment rental company in Delhi. As we don’t have brokerage on the rental or used equipment connection, equipment owners and contractors can save more on each rental. Equipment rental connect was not so simple before EQUIP9™️. We wish to create a mesh of global networks for the heavy equipment industry. Currently, our rental owners do business in Oman, Dubai, Nepal, Bangladesh, and many other countries. A global app that connects business opportunities with equipment owners at the doorstep will be of great use.

How successful has it been so far, especially when rental companies are facing problems of delayed payment recoveries?

Journey so far has not been easy. Changing the mindset of industry will take some time. We started with the toughest problem of finding an operator and maintenance partner by any equipment owners around the country. Currently, we have 15000+ operators and maintenance partners on the app. We recently launched our Rental and Used Equipment Services. I am sure the industry will love the new features on the Equip9 marketplace. Recovery is a challenge. We are working on creating discovery of bad rentals. We are coming up with rating system on which any rental owner can post the review and rate the experience of bad recovery. We are also in talks with financial companies as they can help in building a great rental system by encouraging credit card system with cashbacks and awards if rentals are paid periodically on time. Still there is a lot to build from our side. We are very small team. And we have ocean to cross. We are trying each day. I hope industries support will help us to wave a brighter future. We wish to seek help from ICEMA, IESC, CERA as they can come up and support the digital transition. I hope we will be the best app around the globe sooner.

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