3 phases to switching software (and why you should start now, not January 1st).
Hi y’all,
Last week, we started thinking about our goals for 2026. Let’s continue that thread. What actions are you taking today to make those goals a reality?
Kicking the can down the road only makes problems build. The only way to address that anxiety is to take action. Wouldn’t you rather hit the ground running on January 1st instead of scrambling to catch up while your competitors are already ahead?
Whether you’re shopping for your first rental software or evaluating an upgrade to your current system, every company goes through the same three phases.
I’m handing over the mic to Jennifer Rodriguez from Marianne’s Rentals, who’s been using Goodshuffle Pro for a few years now. She’ll walk you through those phases and her approach to systems transitions.
Hope you enjoy!
Mallory Mullen
Goodshuffle
Hey everyone,
I’m Jennifer from Marianne’s Rentals, based out of Oklahoma City.
My biggest piece of advice to anyone considering switching software systems or upgrading plans is to start before the new year.
Mallory’s team tells me that most businesses complete their entire switch — from first demo to going live — in about 30 days.
We’re a pretty big operation, though, after 30+ years, and our timeline needed to be prolonged a bit to account for all the nuance of our systems and marrying those up to Goodshuffle Pro. We spent about 5 months evaluating software, made a decision in September, and then planned on a two month implementation. This enabled us to go live January 1.
But no matter your size, the problems we’re all solving are basically the same: you’ve got inventory that needs to get from point A to point B and back to point A after an event efficiently.
So here’s what I learned about the three phases of software shopping (and this goes for any kind of software, not just event rental software):
- Phase 1: Identify the problem. For us, it was clear: we couldn’t scale with our old system. But even if you’re just starting out, don’t wait until you feel “ready.” You can get value as soon as you make a change.
- Phase 2: Vet your solution. Every system has trade-offs, so don’t expect perfection. Talk to someone on the sales team — trying to research entirely on your own is way harder than just jumping on a call and asking questions.
- Phase 3: Implementation. Think about this happening in phases. Even after we went live, we continued to iterate on our processes and work with our onboarding team to get the most out of Goodshuffle Pro. Unlike an event where you have to have all your t’s crossed and i’s dotted before event day — otherwise disaster strikes — with software implementation, you’re better picking a day to go live and then cross your t’s and dot your i’s as you go. Once you’ve decided you need to make a change, don’t overthink getting started.
How we approached our transition:
First, we exported and cleaned up our data. One of the first things the Goodshuffle Pro team and I agreed on is: bad data in, bad data out. I knew we’d found a great partner when we aligned on this!
Then our sales team transferred all open orders into Goodshuffle Pro, including payment history. Sometimes a clean slate is the best move, but we found that entering in the existing open orders was a great training ground for our team.
Our go-live date marked our final transition from the old system. We started with managers and department heads, who then trained their teams. First came sales and office staff, then the warehouse, and finally we moved drivers from paper delivery sheets to iPads. Believe it or not, even our not-so-tech-savvy folks adapted quickly.
The visibility we gained changed everything. We’re taking on jobs we couldn’t handle before simply because we can see everything clearly now.
The New Year is a great time for a fresh start, but the smoothest transitions happen when you start now — so use the rest of 2025 to get your systems in place!
Jennifer Rodriguez
Marianne’s Rentals
