Interface 2.0 – A Virtual Event and a Literal Success!
In early October, fleet owners and their teams came together in a way that has come to define the new normal that is 2020, virtually. Interface 2.0, a two-day virtual conference held October 6th and 7th, was a sequel to Fleet Cost & Care’s successful Interface ’19 held the previous October in Nashville. While there was a tangible difference in how attendees and speakers interacted, the mission of Interface 2.0 was the same as the inaugural event: Connect. Educate. Cultivate.
Interface 2.0 was not limited to a single city or a series of conference rooms. Interface 2.0 was held everywhere, with industry professionals joining from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland. The conference engaged more than 150 attendees representing 44 companies from 3 continents. Interface 2.0 was a memorable event that featured the launch of Sales Assistant, engaging training sessions, conversations with Fleet Cost & Care customers, and a visit from NBC Sports’ IndyCar lead announcer, Leigh Diffey.
Read on to hear about the event’s highlights and to find links to session recordings.
“Together, we are better.”
“Together, we are better,” said Fleet Cost & Care President, Jeff Curran, as he kicked off Interface 2.0. His opening remarks provided energy, compassion, a little levity, and the first of two exciting announcements in the opening session.
“Next October we will be returning to Nashville for Interface ’21! People enjoyed Nashville so much, we have decided to return. We visited a lot of great places there in 2019, but I am sure there are a few honky-tonks that we missed,” Curran said.
Interface ’21 will take place October 13-15, 2021 in Nashville, TN at the Hutton Hotel. “Together” has taken on new meaning in 2020, we may not be connecting face to face at an event, but we can still come together virtually to cultivate ideas and educate customers. So, it was with Interface 2.0.
Jeff Curran’s introduction segued into yet another exciting announcement from Director of North American Sales, Jack Curran. Fleet Cost & Care’s new sales tool, Sales Assistant.
Sales Assistant is CRM-like tool designed to enhance the productivity and success of sales teams. Users can create, prioritize, and manage sales activities all within NexGen. Technical Product Analyst, Andrew Lodge, took attendees on a journey through the new functionality, highlighting its benefits for sales directors and personnel.
Watch: Interface 2.0 Opening Session
The first day of Interface 2.0 continued with two live training sessions featuring some of our in-house fleet management experts. Director of Implementations, Kyle Snearly and Implementation Team Lead, Taylor Harmeyer discussed best practices for the dispatch department. Dispatching can be one of the most stressful and complicated areas of any type of equipment rental or fleet operation. Kyle and Taylor provided valuable information to help dispatchers save time and positively impact operations and workflows across many departments.
Watch: Dispatching Best Practices
Later in the day, Sales Assistant took centerstage again with a deeper dive centered on how to begin utilizing it. Configuration at the admin level, how to create and monitor tasks, and more on why it was designed, and how it can impact your organization was covered.
Watch: Setting up Sales Assistant
Day one of Interface 2.0 concluded with a conversation with one of Fleet Cost & Care’s long time customers, Guy M. Turner. Randall Baker, a member of the company’s management team shared their experience as a Fleet Cost & Care customer – the good, the bad, and the ugly! In a more collaborative session, attendees were able to participate in a Q&A and hear about how Guy M. Turner was able to successfully complete a multi-branch implementation of FCC’s Atom mobile app in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To kick off the second day of the event, attendees heard from a Fleet Cost & Care partner. Rouse Analytics excels in turning rental invoice snapshots into comparisons of rental rates, unit utilization, and more. At Fleet Cost & Care, we believe this service to be very valuable to our customers. Managing Director, Phil Mause stopped by the virtual venue to talk more about the Rouse Analytics + Fleet Cost & Care integration and to provide a market update for the equipment rental sector.
Watch: Rouse Analytics’ Benchmark Rate and Utilization Data Integration
Two more live training sessions followed, including an in-depth look at Parts & Inventory tracking in NexGen – an often-underutilized area of the fleet management system. Tracking parts and inventory in NexGen can help service managers organize their shop and reduce costs. The final training session of the Interface 2.0, titled “Greatest Hits of Reporting” spent time looking at management and functional reports that can guide fleet managers and owners to making better decisions surrounding operational resources, capital expenditures, and more.
Watch: Parts and Inventory Tracking in NexGen
Watch: Greatest Hits of Reporting
Looking to the future of Fleet Cost & Care’s products, NexGen and Atom, the development team had their chance to shine near the close of Interface 2.0. Director of Product Development, Annamalai Ganapathy, Senior Technical Product Analyst, David Thornton, and Technical Product Analyst, Andrew Lodge shared what their team accomplished in the first three quarters of 2020. They discussed new software upgrades, functionality, and features that recently became available and those coming soon.
Interface 2.0 came to the finish line with a little bit of fun. The session: In the Booth with Leigh Diffey and Jeff Curran gave our attendees a glimpse “behind the curtain” of NBC’s IndyCar lead announcer, Leigh Diffey’s career and his experience in the altered landscape of IndyCar in the time of COVID-19. As a sponsor of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team and IndyCar driver Graham Rahal, we at Fleet Cost & Care where all too eager to get to this session! The casual Q&A was a great way to end the two-day virtual event.
Until next year…
Thank you to all our attendees who stepped away from their daily tasks, traveled near and far, and made Interface 2.0 a successful conference.
Finally, thank you to the hardworking and dedicated Fleet Cost & Care team that put together engaging content for our attendees.
Save the date: Interface ’21 October 13-15 Nashville, TN.
