Does standard Business Central handle equipment rental natively?

Standard Business Central covers core financials and inventory, but specialized rental logic—such as availability calendars, tiered duration pricing, return inspection workflows, and periodic billing—typically requires an industry add-on like EQM 365 Rental.

How does Dynamics 365 Field Service support rental businesses?

Dynamics 365 Field Service manages preventive and corrective asset maintenance. It dispatches technicians, tracks spare parts, and logs repair history back to the asset record in Business Central to maximize asset uptime and utilization.

What is the difference between implementing an ISV rental add-on vs custom configuring Business Central?

Implementing a proven ISV add-on reduces implementation risk and speeds up time-to-market by offering pre-built rental workflows out of the box. Custom configuring standard BC can be riskier, costlier to maintain, and harder to upgrade over time.

Can Dynamics 365 handle both short-term rentals and long-term lease contracts?

Yes, with the appropriate rental add-on, Dynamics 365 supports daily or short-term event rentals alongside long-term equipment leasing with automated periodic billing schedules and tiered rates.

How are asset damages and return inspections managed in Dynamics 365?

During asset returns, mobile apps or Field Service workflows enable staff to record inspection notes, capture photos of damages, and automatically generate repair orders or charge back damage costs to the customer agreement.

Dynamics 365 for Rental Operations – Guide & Partners |…

Knowledge Centre | Industry Guide

Rental Operations

Workflows, system support, and an overview of listed partners — written from a buyer's perspective.

Industry Reality

The rental industry is growing, driven by increased demand for flexible solutions and a sustainability perspective where businesses choose to rent rather than own. Machinery, vehicles, tools, event equipment — common to all rental segments is that profitability is driven by utilization rates, and high utilization requires real-time visibility into each asset's status, location, and maintenance schedule.

It operates under a different business logic than retail or manufacturing. The system must manage the asset lifecycle as the core entity — from procurement and depreciation through booking, delivery, and return to service and eventual decommissioning — connecting it with finance, customer relations, and field service in an integrated flow. Manual processes for bookings, invoicing, and maintenance scheduling are the most common sources of inefficiency and revenue leakage.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is used by rental companies as a platform to consolidate asset management, customer relationships, service, and finance. Standard functionality in Business Central covers basic financials and inventory management, but specific rental logic — booking calendars, periodic invoicing, availability management, and return inspections — typically requires an industry-specific add-on for the system to operate optimally.

Core Workflows and System Support

Business Central with a Rental Solution: The Core of System Support

BC is the foundation for most rental companies in the SMB segment. The system covers finance, inventory, and basic customer management, but needs to be augmented with a rental-specific add-on to fully handle core industry processes. EQM 365 Rental is an example of such an add-on — an ISV solution built on BC that provides dedicated functionality for agreements, availability, logistics, service, and invoicing within rental.

Booking and agreement management with visual availability calendars per item and category
Asset control with complete lifecycle tracking per rental item: status, location, service history, and depreciation
Periodic invoicing for long-term rentals with automated billing schedules
Complex pricing structures with tiered rates based on rental duration, customer segment, and season
Logistics management for dispatches and returns with planning and route optimization
Return management with inspection and damage documentation

Field Service: Maintenance and Service of Rental Assets

Preventive and corrective maintenance of an asset fleet directly impacts utilization and profitability — an asset undergoing unplanned repair is an asset not generating rental revenue. Field Service manages maintenance schedules, service orders, and technician dispatching, linking service history back to the asset register in BC.

Preventive maintenance schedules per asset with automatic service order generation upon reaching service thresholds
Emergency breakdown resolution with rapid technician mobilization and spare parts management
Mobile access for technicians featuring service history, manuals, and field work orders
Integration with asset registers for continuous logging of service history and costs

Sales & Customer Service: Customer Relationships and Case Management

Sales provides rental and sales personnel with a 360-degree view of the customer, complete with full rental history, active agreements, and communication — facilitating upselling and contract renewals. Customer Service handles incoming cases regarding damage, delivery discrepancies, and billing enquiries.

360-degree customer view with rental history, active contracts, and service cases
Quote management integrated with availability calendars for accurate pricing
Case management for damage and delivery discrepancies with full traceability

Listed Partners in Rental Operations

Two partners are listed for the industry on d365 Guide. Below, they are presented in the order they appear on the industry page.

Navet AB

Business Central, Sales, Customer Insights, Customer Service, Field Service, Contact Center | AI Integration Partner

Navet AB is the partner on the list offering a concrete rental-specific add-on: EQM 365 Rental for Business Central, which handles contracts, availability, logistics, service, and invoicing in an end-to-end flow. This is an important distinction — it means Navet does not merely configure standard BC for rental logic, but delivers a proven industry layer on top of the platform. Since 2023, Navet has been part of Aderian Group, offering a broader Nordic IT portfolio. As an AI Integration Partner, they actively integrate AI into their deliveries.

NAB Solutions

Business Central, Sales, Customer Insights, Customer Service, Field Service, Contact Center

NAB Solutions has worked with Microsoft's platform since 2001 and delivers BC combined with CRM and field service for rental companies. Their experience in digitizing service-based businesses and connecting finance with customer relations and field service is valuable for rental companies seeking a connected ecosystem. Their profile is broader and less rental-specific than Navet's, but they cover the same application mix and possess extensive Dynamics experience.

Choosing the Right Partner for Your Organization

The most crucial factor when selecting a rental partner is whether they have implemented a dedicated rental solution or if they configure standard BC to fit rental logic. This makes a real difference in implementation risk, time-to-value, and the system's ability to handle industry-specific workflows like booking calendars, return inspections, and recurring billing.

Navet explicitly offers EQM 365 Rental as an industry solution. This makes a strong case for contacting them early in your evaluation process to request reference customers in the rental sector using that solution. NAB Solutions represents a broader Dynamics 365 alternative with extensive experience and strong platform capability.

The small number of listed partners reflects that rental is a niche segment on d365 Guide. Depending on the type of rental business you operate — heavy machinery and vehicles require different system logic than event equipment or tools — it may be worth exploring further to evaluate whether specialized rental software integrated with Dynamics 365 is more suitable than solving everything within a single platform.

Read more and compare partners: d365guide.com/branscher/uthyrning

Dynamics 365 for Rental Operations