A Closer Look
54 Construction Equipment Distribution www.cedmag.com January 2010 A Closer Look At a time when the economy has encumbered many construction equipment dealers with daily struggles and difficult decisions, one software company is presenting distributor executives with a choice now that is proving to help counter the tough business environment, position their operations for turnaround, and equip them for the new economic reality. As dealers take a close look at what e-Emphasys Technologies offers through its eXtend enterprise solu-tion, they're impressed with what they see, and benefiting from what the software helps them achieve. For example, Dennis Romanson, president and CEO of Road Machinery LLC, checked out several software programs before selecting e-Emphasys eXtend software to replace the company's antiquated operating system. The Phoenix-headquartered Komatsu dealer also visited several dealers throughout the selection process to see the system in operation. They outshone everyone else when we did our evaluations, said Romanson. What we saw from a capability perspective and from an architecture perspective in an `out of the box' solution, was that eXtend, through its feature set, put them to the forefront. To make business decisions, any dealer executive requires data to see what's working and what's not, to see how assets are performing. They need utilization rates, ROI, and, most of all, the ability to plan. Dealers with the visibility to act effectively and decisively will survive the current economic conditions to emerge in a stronger competitive position, said Shriram Rajagopal, product direc-tor for e-Emphasys Technologies. With e-Emphasys eXtend software, dealers are able to see and respond to data in ways that were not possible with legacy systems. Through a business modeling tool, based on a repository of dealer best busi-ness practices, e-Emphasys eXtend helps equipment and rental dealers improve their vision and efficiency in virtually every business process. Aligning technology with business strategy is the underlying driver in everything we do, contends Rajagopal. He says e-Emphasys Technolo-gies has been a pioneer in bringing enterprise solutions to the equipment dealer industry. Enterprise systems have become a de facto standard in most industries, said Rajagopal. Its modern underlying architecture provides greater flexibility to improve business insight, transparency, enhance best business practices and accelerate company growth. Before introducing the first version of the product, e-Emphasys worked with various manufacturers and dealers over a three-year period to understand the specific requirements and current challenges of the dealer market. Recognizing that the dealer/ rental market was underserved from an IT standpoint, they developed a vertical application for dealers, based on Infor Global Enterprise Software Solutions, a system used by many leading equipment manufacturers. e- Emphasys then put their system to the test, implementing it in a diverse group of dealerships. This Downturn is a Catalyst for Forward-Looking Dealers e-Emphasys eXtend delivers an enterprise solution that helps distributors position powerfully for recovery and strength in a changed economic environment. By joAnne costin (continued on page 66)