Point of Rental has launched its first-ever AI feature designed to supercharge product descriptions for customer-facing websites. Starting with Essentials, and soon to expand to Elite and Syrinx 365, this AI-driven capability enhances how rental businesses interact with their customers.
We sat down with two key figures in this groundbreaking initiative—Matt Gaffin, Head of AI, and Collin Pike, Head of Cloud Engineering at Point of Rental—to discuss the journey and future of AI in the rental space.
Highlights:
- When did we come up with Product Supercharger?
- What took so long to get it into our products?
- The road ahead for AI in Point of Rental
- Addressing Uncertainties
The Genesis of the AI Supercharger
The idea for the AI supercharger sprouted from the company’s 2023 hackathon, where Matt developed the prototype in the three-day event. This innovative step converged with efforts from Collin’s team, which involved collecting and sorting data for better access to accurate information, eventually culminating in 2025’s Product Supercharger. The supercharger facilitates the generation of compelling product descriptions, enhancing online catalogs and making it easy for customers to find the right product to rent.
Overcoming Early Challenges
If Point of Rental had supercharger built in 2023, why’d it take until 2025 to get it into the software?
In short, “Generative AI was not in a great place; it was slow and expensive,” Matt said.
While GenAI companies like ChatGPT resolved those cost and speed issues, the Point of Rental team tackled other challenges, like ensuring data accuracy by validating generated data against known, reliable sources to ensure Point of Rental’s AI limits “hallucinations” – inaccurate data that can erode confidence in a business – as much as possible.
The Road Ahead for AI in Rental Management
Product Supercharger is the first step toward a lot of AI functionality within Point of Rental.
The product and development teams work consistently with customers, exploring the possibilities of AI tools as they’re developed to figure out how to maximize the value for rental businesses.
A key aspect of making features useful and reliable is the company’s investment in establishing a well-organized, secure cloud infrastructure.
Collin highlighted his team’s emphasis on securing data as more businesses adopt AI functionalities:
”We always prepare for the worst. We go to great strides to try and make sure that we stay ahead of the game in things like AI, but we’re also trying to stay ahead of the game in cloud security and infrastructure.
“Wayne always talks about ‘Point of Rental’s a big family.’ We treat our customers’ data like it’s our data. I don’t want my data out there. I don’t want it being unsecured. We’re making sure that the customers’ data is treated the same.”
Point of Rental will continue to roll out AI features in all its platforms consistently while maintaining safety and security for users.
Encouraging User Engagement and Feedback
The success of AI at Point of Rental, like all products, depends on user feedback.
Matt urged users to be “curious, ask questions, find what works for you.” Thoughtful engagement and feedback are vital for iterating and improving AI features, fostering a cycle of innovation and user-centric development.
Collin echoes this sentiment, advising users to “connect your data, early and often.” By actively using these AI features and providing insights, rental businesses can enhance their operations today while contributing to the evolution of even more valuable tools moving forward.
Takeaways
AI is officially in Point of Rental! It’s been a long journey, but these tools will enhance your rental business and they’re built on a rock-solid foundation.
