Today we’d like to introduce you to Wayne Harris.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Wayne. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was twelve, I purchased a TRS-80 computer with my earnings from working at my grandparent’s rental store in Oklahoma. That summer my dad’s cousin, who was a computer programmer, showed me how to make the words “Hi, my name is Wayne” move in amber letters across the black monitor. I was and always have been fascinated by creating new functions that automate what could otherwise be tedious processes. I love the efficiency that computers provide, so I decided early on that I wanted to do something in the tech world. I actually started off at MIT pursuing a degree in aero-astro engineering, but switched to software engineering part way through my college career.
By the time I graduated in 1992, the aerospace industry had experienced major layoffs due to cutbacks in spending by the Department of Defense. Aeronautical engineers with decades of experience couldn’t find work, so I see my degree change as a divine intervention, particularly because of the unexpected trajectory my career path took.
I grew up working in the rental store owned my parents and grandparents. It was hard, dirty work – loading and unloading equipment in extreme heat and freezing temperatures, repairing and maintaining equipment in a stuffy shop. I hated getting grease embedded in my hands, so I snuck into the climate-controlled front office every chance I could. I would quickly log into the computer system and start waiting on customers, updating item files, or, if things were slow, play around with the processes to see how the different functions worked. My grandparents’ store was the 13th store to be installed with a Point of Rental computer system, so we were pretty much cutting edge at a time when most stores were still handwriting contracts. It wasn’t long before I made myself indispensable on the computers, so I would often get called into the front office to take care of a technical issue or get on the phone with Point of Rental which had three employees at that time. I had found my niche, and a way to keep the grease off my hands.
During college, I worked part-time as an accounting clerk, since I enjoy working with all types of numbers, not just 0’s and 1’s. But, still I thought aeronautics would be my career. My first job out of college was in the engineering department of an airplane parts manufacturing facility, but it wasn’t long before it went under along with many other businesses in that field. It was then that I received a call from my dad saying that Bob Shaffer from Point of Rental was asking about me because he and his business partner, Steve Husbands, were looking for a computer programmer to replace the original developer who would be retiring. I knew then that Point of Rental would be the trajectory my path would take. It was strange, but it seemed like everything started to click. I now even appreciated the years of having grease on my hands for the insight it gave me into the inner workings of rental.
I was the fourth employee and the only software developer once the original programmer retired about a month after I started. I was like a kid in a candy shop, finally getting the behind-the-scenes access to Point of Rental to manipulate code and make processes flow the way I thought they should. Of course, I was reined in somewhat by Bob and Steve, who taught me the ins and outs of customer service, how to keep a software company afloat, and that too much change too fast isn’t usually appreciated. I spent two decades under their leadership, but from day one, I treated the company as if it were my own. I really cared about giving our customers the best software and service we could and nurturing the work atmosphere to make it place employees wanted to be.
By the time Bob and Steve were ready to sell the company in 2011, we had 19 employees and I was managing the day to day operations already. It was a natural step for me to buy the company, and I’m grateful I was given that opportunity.
Since that time, we have increased our product line and established offices in Australia and the United Kingdom. Now it’s no longer me that needs to be reined in, it’s the passion of our employees, the innovation of the tech world, and the needs of our customers that drive things forward. It’s a great ride to be on, and from my vantage point, I can clearly see that this is bigger than just me, bigger than just my dreams, bigger than just this company. Our job is to make better software so our customers can provide better service to their customers which makes for a better life. That’s what it’s about – the bigger picture of helping others, making a difference in the lives of real people – because, yeah, life is a lot more complicated than 1’s and 0’s.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road is never smooth. In every business there are bumps, dips, and rough patches.
The key is the processes you create to handle them. I believe that you can always do better and that is just as true when you did great as well as when you did poorly. If you are always learning and always striving to do better, bumps in the road are just another opportunity to learn.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Point of Rental Software story. Tell us more about the business.
Point of Rental Software provides state-of-the-art software for businesses that perform any type of rental service or inventory-tracking processes. Much different from a point-of-sale system that keeps track of inventory you have on the shelf to sell; Point of Rental lets you know how much inventory you will have available at any point in time. For example, if someone comes in to rent an item, it is removed from your shelf, but you need to know if it will be available for another person who wants to reserve it for three months down the road. The rental business is complicated in that proprietors need to be able to forecast item availability, including if an item is out for maintenance or repair, so it takes a specialized software to help make it successful. Point of Rental fills that need with rental software products ranging from customized, full-featured enterprise-level software for some of the world’s most complex rental businesses to simplified, easy-to-use rental software for straight-forward rental transactions.
What sets Point of Rental apart as a company is that we are experts in rental. The software was originally developed behind the counter of the company’s own rental store, so the process flow and functionality is intuitive in a rental environment. However, our rental knowledge isn’t limited to just the software or the leadership; we have rental experts in every department who know the industry. We know that it takes more than just great software to help our customers be successful; it takes insight into their everyday situations. We recruit rental experts for that reason, and then that understanding shines through in our software features and our customer support.
Another thing that sets apart as a company in general is that we have fun. We enjoy what we do and it shows all the way down to our release notes. We make each other laugh but we are serious about what we do. If you can’t have fun at work, you can’t be very creative. We are a creative bunch of people.
As a company, I am extremely proud of our team. Their passion, expertise, and genuine care for our customers shines through everything our company does. Our customers regularly send me notes to let me know how impressed they are by our staff and how well they were cared for by them. I am very proud of that. We work hard to cultivate a company culture rooted in integrity and compassion, and I’m very thankful that our team members embrace that and carry it out through their work.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The rental industry is moving the same direction as a lot of industries – as more data becomes available, it’s going to play an important role in how rental companies do business. The most successful companies will be the ones that get that information, are able to analyze it, and act at the right moment. That, of course, benefits the rental software industry – rental software is the tool that does that for them. As they continue to seek more data and analysis, that’s going to keep pushing us to innovate and ensure that they’re succeeding.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1901 N. State Highway 360
Suite 340 - Website: https://www.point-of-rental.com
- Phone: 800-944-7368
- Email: sales@point-of-rental.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/pointofrental
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pointofrentalsoftware
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pointofrental
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/1116896
