40 years of software
5 April 2022
Many Happy Returns to Point of Rental Software! Today the company celebrates its 40th birthday.
Founded in Texas back in 1982 as part of Overland Rentals, the business was built by three engineers who had previously worked for the NASA space agency and wanted to start their own small general hire business.
Today’s CEO Wayne Harris joined the organisation in 1993 as the company’s head programmer, building the company’s first Windows-based software. He became CEO in 2011.
Since then, the business has expanded globally, currently employing more than 300 people in six locations, serving more than 5,000 hire businesses throughout the world.
Point of Rental acquired Higher Concept Software, the UK-based creator of the popular Syrinx hire management system, in 2016.
“Bob [Shaffer], Steve [Husbands] and Byron [White] built Point of Rental because we wanted to serve others and provide them with the best possible software,” said Wayne Harris.
“As we celebrate 40 years, we’re still focused on that innovation - we just have a lot more people to work with. And that’s really exciting; we’re looking forward to another 40.”
The company says it will celebrate throughout April by conducting several charitable endeavours from each of its offices. It has locations in the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Canada and South Africa.
● So what else was happening on 5 April 1982? Perhaps most significant was the Falkland Islands conflict. Lord Carrington, British Foreign Secretary, resigned on this day 40 years ago for his failure to foresee the invasion, which had started three days earlier – this was back in the days when politicians had a sense of honour and responsibility. Yes, really!
In lighter vein, at number one in the UK singles charts was ‘Seven Tears’ by Goombay Dance Band (who?), while Iron Maiden’s ‘The Number of the Beast’ was top album. Liverpool headed the English Football League First Division (this was ten years before the Premier League’s formation) and would eventually win the title in the first three-points-per-win season.
Pictured below: Wayne Harris on the Point of Rental stand at the ARA (American Rental Association) Show back in 1993.
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