When the off-the-shelf system almost fits

When Maskinuthyrning Öst was getting their business off the ground, they had a clear wish: customers should not only be able to see the machines, but also book them directly online.

At first, we looked at existing booking and rental systems.

We found several options, all international. They could certainly do the job – but as is so often the case with off-the-shelf systems, a lot of other things came along with them.

TL;DR

Instead of adapting the business to a large standard system, we built a tailor-made rental system. The result is a Swedish, cost-effective solution for bookings and rental management that contains the features the business actually needs – and can grow as new needs arise.

A rental system of their own – integrated with the website

The off-the-shelf systems contained features the customer didn't need, and they also meant the business would have to adapt to how someone else had decided a rental system should work.

So we asked the question:

What would it mean if we instead built exactly the system the customer needs?

The result was a complete rental system built around their business.

Customers can open a machine on the website, see its availability, choose a rental period and send a booking request.

The request goes straight into the system, where Maskinuthyrning Öst can handle the booking and get back to the customer.

From there, the flow can be extended with invoicing and other features the business actually needs.

That last point is the whole point.

Instead of starting with a large standard system and paying for lots of features that may never be used, the system can evolve together with the business.

When a new need comes up, we can build on it.

Built for a Swedish business

Another advantage is that the system is built in Swedish from the start, and for how the customer works.

It may sound like a detail, but usability is often about exactly those details. The terminology should feel obvious, the workflows should fit the business, and users shouldn't have to wonder how an international standard system expects them to work.

The system should adapt to the business – not the other way around.

AI has changed the math

Just a few years ago, we would probably have recommended an existing rental system.

Not because it would necessarily have been better, but because the cost of developing a custom solution would have been hard to justify.

That's where AI changes the game.

When parts of the development work can be done much faster, it becomes possible to build tailor-made business systems at a completely different cost than before.

Suddenly, the choice no longer has to be between an expensive custom-built solution and an off-the-shelf system full of compromises.

For Maskinuthyrning Öst, it meant a third way:

A system of their own with the features they actually need today – and the ability to build further when their needs change tomorrow.