United Rentals choreographs a unified digital experience for customers through the management of equipment, job sites and workers.
United RentalsThe internet of (heavy) things
The internet of (heavy) things
The construction industry, as a whole, lags behind in embracing technology to improve operations. Estimates indicate that equipment sits unused up to 70% of the time. A common pain point is that construction companies tend to underutilize their assets. Most people don’t know where their equipment is, how much they have in inventory, and its condition at any given time.
United Rentals, the largest equipment rental company in the world, recognized an opportunity to dramatically optimize and streamline the rental process, introducing new capabilities to help customers understand what’s really going on with their fleet, jobsites and people.
Fleet
Job Sites
People
Through ongoing research, strategic design, and execution, argo identified pain points and opportunities to improve upon the “norm”. It became clear that, first and foremost, the team would need to create a platform that offered one unified destination for all major functions, while providing enough flexibility to evolve.
Redefining the market
Armed with extensive research and customer stories spanning more than 100 interviews, the team worked with United Rentals to create a product roadmap and design system that would provide this unified platform experience. The goal was to provide a modern digital experience that customers have come to expect, with features built to unlock new potential for efficiency and productivity.
Highlights of the design include:
One unified customer experience for all United Rental customers to rent and manage equipment, job sites, and orders.
Fleet and project management tools that enable automated workflows, personalized workspaces, and on-demand services
Flexible checkout that supports quick orders, complex orders, or multiple reservations.
Sophisticated search, filter, group, and sort mechanisms to help customers quickly find the right equipment for their job.
Online university for extensive operator certification and OSHA-required training.
Expanded marketplace that will include United Rentals, plus third party and customer-owned rentals and items for purchase.
GPS maps with detailed telematics and operational status.
Budget tracking and consumption management to help control spending.
Robust notifications system synchronizing across channels for fleet, activities, and personnel.
Topline reporting tools that alert customers to unusual behavior, and means to optimize performance across fleets and job sites.
argo was instrumental in understanding our vision and translating it into digital strategy that supports an evolving company. The work is changing the way we think about our future, and the future value we offer our customers.
CMO, United Rentals
Marketplace
The redesigned Marketplace allows customers to search, filter or sort the catalog to quickly find what they need. Coupled with equipment guides and consumption insights, United Rentals is offering more point-based details so customers can make immediate decisions on their rental needs.
Manage
Whether you’re a customer or a United Rentals employee, the Manage section is your account home base. It serves as a robust control panel for rental, jobsite and billing management, and allows for account personalization to support role-based toolsets, both internally and externally.
Solutions
The newly designed Solutions pages offer more exposure to these specialty services, along with fresh imagery and use cases to help customers identify what equipment fits their needs.
argo provided a system and process in order to design enterprise-level software.
This meant working with the United Rentals organization to identify product owners, key stakeholders, subject matter experts and partners, all the while introducing them to an agile product work process. With that in place and the establishment of a component-based design system, also known as the pattern library, we have created a scalable and efficient process that ensures a consistent standard of quality.
Looking ahead
Our work has only just begun. argo is proud to partner with United Rentals to reimagine the ideal customer experience, and ultimately transform an industry. The continued development of capabilities across fleet, jobsites, and people will enrich the entire customer experience, and pave the way toward a smarter and more responsive future for this industry.
Our customers’ biggest challenge is managing the complexity of the “modern worksite”. Through both a strategic vision and a deep understanding of our customers’ needs, argo helped us create a roadmap for digital transformation that simplifies that complexity and helps our customer deliver tangible productivity gains.
Director of Digital Marketing and Innovation, United Rentals
