Managing the needs of construction equipment has historically been difficult for every part of the industry — from OEMs down to dealers, rental companies and the fleet owners that use the equipment every day.

Each brand or type of equipment often comes with its own platform that houses telematics data and other vital information about their machines. Equipment owners, dealers and users are scrambling to manage dealer business solutions, point solution apps, time carding apps, inspection apps, and so on.

There hasn’t been a single place for equipment stakeholders to view the information they need to keep their machines up and running. The results are costly: broken or inefficient equipment, repair delays and a customer experience that leaves fleet owners disgruntled — and less likely to spend more money with their dealer and OEM partners.

That’s why we created Activate, a B2B SaaS company enabling co-equipment management for the construction industry.

Hey there, I’m Brian Giamo. I’ve spent the last 20+ years helping some of the industry’s biggest construction equipment companies provide a better post-sale customer experience. I’ve seen first-hand the need for a system that aligns equipment owners, dealers, rental companies and fleet owners around a common, mutually beneficial goal: maximizing their equipment’s uptime, performance and productivity.

To solve this need, we’ve launched a SaaS solution: ActivateOS, the fully-integrated operating system for construction equipment owners, dealers and rental companies. It’s the first step towards unlocking true co-equipment management for the construction industry.

Let’s dig a little deeper:

What does “co-equipment management” really mean?

We define co-equipment management as collaboration between fleet owners, dealers, rental companies and OEM’s to address the full lifecycle needs of equipment ensuring maximum uptime, performance and production. It’s about aligning together people, providers, process and technology.

We want to help construction pros keep their equipment up and running while maximizing its usage, from the moment a piece of equipment finds itself in the dirt on a job site to the moment that it’s sold.

It’s in everyone’s best interest. When fleet owners have a better experience, they’ll be more productive — and more likely to keep working with their dealer or rental partner. When those dealers/renters can deliver a great, embedded customer experience, they’re more likely to keep purchasing equipment from OEMs. It’s a “trickle-up” effect that helps everyone be more profitable.

Imagine a world where owners, buyers, and managers can take a deep dive into a machine’s history to learn about its health before committing money to any equipment. Technicians, vendors, and service managers can work together to address breakdowns and minimize delays. Fleet operators and back office staff can go from repair alerts to ordering parts to an up-and-running machine in just a few clicks.

This is what ActivateOS is enabling.

Who does this benefit?

ActivateOS serves every stakeholder in this equation:

• OEMs can boost the performance of their dealer networks by designing and deploying dealer and customer-facing solutions so that they can manage equipment, maximize uptime and increase profitability.
• Dealers can expand their customer relationships beyond the sale of equipment. They can grow their product support business and monetize value-added services by offering their fleet owners a wide range of fleet advisory, condition monitoring, and solutions related to an equipment’s health.
• Rental companies can bring in revenue beyond their rental fees by providing equipment management services for the machines rented and owned by their customers.
• Fleet owners of any size can manage all of their equipment in one place, regardless of brand or type. They’ll have the data they need to proactively address equipment needs, resolve issues in the field, conduct maintenance intervals and get the most out of their assets.

How is Activate enabling co-equipment management?

what makes Activate and ActivateOS different? How are we actually delivering on this promise of co-equipment management?

A SaaS-first approach

Activate is a B2B SaaS company, first and foremost. The best SaaS platforms are easy to adopt without disrupting your workflow. They’re customizable to fit your company’s needs. Working with the brilliant operators and developers at Legacy Capital Ventures has helped us realize our SaaS-first vision.

Viewing the construction equipment from a SaaS-based lens gives us a leg up on our competition. They’re creating software for today; we’re creating an operating system for tomorrow.

Construction equipment expertise

Our platform was built to “SaaS-ify” an already-thriving construction equipment consulting business. We’re taking the best practices and lessons we’ve learned from solving problems for some of the biggest clients in the industry — CAT, Case New Holland, etc — and applying them as we’ve built this operating system.

An operating system, not a platform

Activate isn’t designed to replace other construction equipment platforms — because it’s not a platform. Our operating system is meant to complement the systems you already have. It’s like a control panel for construction equipment management. You don’t have to overhaul your tech stacks or change the way you do things.

ActivateOS gives you increased visibility and alignment by bringing all of your disparate platforms together in a single hub. It aggregates and stores all communications — regardless of machine type or vendor — in one closed loop. Our users can organize a previously-patchworked process, produce real-time information for smart decision-making and support the full life-cycle needs of their equipment.

What’s the next great innovation in this space?

By enabling true co-equipment management, we’re driving the construction equipment industry forward. We’re committed to staying on the cutting edge and helping our customers implement the latest and greatest technology so they can drive revenue.

As an operating system based on data, we’re excited to see how we can use artificial intelligence to drive our system forward. Could we use natural language processing (NLP) to help companies quickly generate equipment inspections? Leverage predictive analytics to give recommendations about service diagnostics and part replacements within equipment management workflows? Use AI models to analyze equipment performance and react in real time.

It’s all possible, and we’re excited to explore every avenue. If you’re looking to join us on this journey and put your equipment workflows on autopilot, schedule a demo today.