As the leading equipment rental provider in Europe, Loxam offers construction firms everything from powered access systems to earthmoving machinery. We own a fleet of more than 600,000 items that enables customers to keep projects running on schedule.
We’re a business built on documentation—everything from contracts to quotes to invoices to equipment manuals to safety and compliance reports and spare part catalogues. Every day, our customers and internal business and workshop teams need to consult specific items before they start work on site or perform essential maintenance work.
Fast, reliable access to content is therefore vital to delivering great service. Today, OpenText™ Core forms the key component in our document workflows. Here’s why:
Overcoming legacy challenges
In the past, we relied on a legacy system to manage enterprise content, but limited functionality made uploading and retrieving documents a slow process. In addition, many of our workflows were paper-based—for example, we printed out two million customer contracts on paper each year and filed them away in our branches.
To take our customer service and internal efficiency to the next level, we looked for a new content management platform that would accelerate our document workflows. Looking ahead to 2025, we are also prioritizing environmental sustainability, so we were keen to implement paperless working as much as possible.
Reducing cost and complexity with SaaS
When we assessed potential solutions, Core ticked all the boxes. We wanted a platform that was easy to use and offered robust cybersecurity functionality, plus seamless integration with our ERP system. Using a SaaS solution is another major bonus, as this delivery model reduces our IT management and maintenance costs.
We worked closely with OpenText Professional Services to run two pilot schemes on the platform, before migrating data from our legacy system and going live in France and Denmark. OpenText Learning Services played a key role, too, running training sessions in French and English to get our users up to speed with the new tools. Gradually, we are rolling out Core across 8 of the countries that we operate in.
Boosting employee productivity with faster search tools
Around 3,500 people across the company are now using Core to manage and access content—including teams in our offices, branches, and workshops. The Business Workspace functionality in the OpenText solution is especially valuable, allowing us to organize millions of documents based on equipment type and brand models.
This, along with the powerful search capabilities in Core, has made it quicker and easier for our users to retrieve specific documents. In locations where we have gone live, we estimate that branches are saving an average of 30 minutes every week thanks to the OpenText solution—that’s time they can spend on more valuable work.
It also has a direct impact on our customers, who receive more responsive service when they contact us to check a safety report or to request a quote. That helps us to build long-term loyalty and ensure we remain their provider of choice for equipment rental.
Cutting carbon emissions with digital workflows
With Core, we are also well-placed to take steps towards reducing our carbon footprint. We are aiming to digitize two million contracts in the next year, which will free up space in our branches, and help to cut printing costs.
That’s not the only plan on the horizon. We will also offer customers online access to documents to make their lives easier. And we are exploring how we can give our technicians mobile access to the OpenText platform, which will help them perform repair work and get equipment ready for rental faster to drive higher revenues.
To learn more about how we’re optimizing our content management strategy and sharpening our competitive edge, read our case study.
About the author: Stephane Aldeano is responsible for Loxam’s digital transformation initiatives and technical teams as a Corporate Senior Technical Director. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer and led the development of two Loxam subsidiaries. He has a degree in engineering from École Centrale Paris and an MBA from INSEAD.
