About Aertssen Group and their platform Smartyard
Rental and leasing platform
Digital marketplace
Performant & safe
Aertssen Group is a Belgian family company, founded in 1964, which has developed into a leading international contracting group. The company operates in four divisions: Infra, Cranes, Transport & Logistics and Trading. With a strong focus on sustainability and innovation, Aertssen carries out projects in the construction and infrastructure sector in Belgium, France and the Middle East.
In 2018, Aertssen Group launched the spin-off Smartyard, a digital platform that brings the sharing economy to the construction sector. Smartyard facilitates the renting and leasing of construction machinery and site equipment by intelligently linking supply and demand. The platform guides users through every step of the process, making renting a machine as easy as ordering a book online.
A smart and efficient platform for construction equipment rental: Aertssen Group's challenge
Aertssen Group's challenge was to develop an intuitive, high-performance digital platform that supports both tenants and lessors of heavy construction equipment. The platform had to provide secure, fast and efficient transaction processing while minimizing operational overhead.
Agile collaboration and user engagement: Fundamental building blocks
When developing the Smartyard platform, it was crucial that PHPro and Smartyard's internal IT team worked together efficiently and were on the same page. To combine the speed and flexibility of a start-up with a structured approach, we drew up a clear schedule in advance. In doing so, we divided the functionalities into three categories: must-haves, nice-to-haves and won't-haves. This helped us keep focus on the most important features while maintaining an agile working method.
In addition, the conservative construction industry brought a unique challenge. Convincing managers, employees and customers to embrace new digital tools required extensive training and clear communication. This combination of technical development and human adoption was essential to successful digitalization within the construction industry.
Digitization in a traditional sector requires not only smart technology, but more importantly collaboration, focus and a willingness to bring people along for change!
Smartyard Team
A structured approach as a foundation for launching Smartyard
The project followed a structured path, with a clear focus on achieving an efficient and scalable digital platform. It began with a creative analysis of the concept, carefully defining the initial scope. Based on this, two successive project phases were defined.
In the first phase, the application was developed to support Smartyard in communicating more efficiently with their suppliers, the landlords. This provided a strong foundation upon which further functionalities could be built. In the second phase, the platform was expanded to include features that allowed landlords and tenants to interact directly with each other. This expansion marked the transformation of the application into a full-fledged digital marketplace.
The success of the project depended on the collaboration between various experts. PHPro took responsibility for the customer-facing elements of Smartyard, while our sister company Induxx developed a powerful PIM application. This application allowed administrators to easily and efficiently manage landlords' machine fleet. This approach resulted in a user-friendly and future-proof platform.
Result?
Smartyard now has a user-friendly, smooth and secure digital platform, making communication faster and clearer.
Renters can request a quote for a machine from multiple lessors up to 75% faster.
Landlords can prepare a quote within one minute!
Mission accomplished!
With our innovative Smartyard application, we ensure a 55% reduction in (manual) errors in the hiring and rental process!
Also in need of a more complex platform?
Contact us and we will discuss the possibilities adapted to your plans and wishes!