September 2022 - Striven

Month: September 2022

How HVAC Service Software Can Transform Your Small Business

Posted on by John Fay

Operating a small HVAC business can be both an enjoyable and demanding experience. To make running your organization more efficient, you might consider investing in an all-in-one HVAC software to make it easier to manage your day-to-day operations, whether your organization is still in the early stages of development or has been around for quite some time. The idea that HVAC service software—and for that matter, ERP software at large— is only structured for big enterprises with solid customer retention metrics, more personnel, and more equipment to handle is a common misconception.

However, as small businesses evolve to become more technically advanced, HVAC service software can be more beneficial—and realistic—for your small business than you might realize. Read more to learn four key ways HVAC service software can enhance your company’s performance:

Improve Operational Efficiency

Every business owner aspires to establish dependable, sustainable, and cost-effective methods of executing tasks throughout their company. You can expect that your business will be able to effortlessly generate reports that are user-friendly and full of adequate data to minimize any additional setbacks that may arise later with the best possible HVAC management software.

Using HVAC service software reduces error and waste by optimizing preventative maintenance, assigning tasks more efficiently throughout the day, and keeping track of the tools and equipment needed to get the job done.

Enhanced Information Access

Scheduling, data entry, inventory management, policy monitoring, and many other crucial aspects of running and operating a business have been traditionally managed through spreadsheets before HVAC service software became a prominent component of HVAC business operations. Though this may still be the case with smaller HVAC businesses, they are unfortunately missing out on a more reliable way to access vital information within the company and within a reasonable means of doing so.

HVAC service software offers a trusted platform capable of storing all data necessary to maintain your business and its needs, and it’s available for employees and technicians on the go. Instead of thumbing through multiple files and spreadsheets, you and your employees will find it easy to locate the correct information, thus making it easier to accomplish tasks.

Additionally, most HVAC service software includes customer and vendor portals where they can ask questions and get answers about your business and your services, enter billing information, see receipts, and give job updates while onsite.

Carefully Monitor Your Company’s Success

If you want your business to flourish, you need clear insight concerning its internal dynamics. It’s vital to keep an eye out for shifts if you want your business to achieve its objectives. Having HVAC service software removes the complexity of every facet of managing your business. This could be as straightforward as determining when to place an order for parts and supplies when the demand arises, or it could mean something more intricate, like analyzing the overall performance of your company’s installations to see where improvement is needed.

Guaranteed Customer Satisfaction

With HVAC service software, your company can become better coordinated, allowing you to pay more attention to your client’s demands and the roles and responsibilities at hand. It’s a worthy investment that your company and brand will blossom and continue to expand if you invest considerable time and energy into retaining your customers. Among these are the simplification of proposals and the flexibility of schedules. Ensure your company doesn’t fall behind the competition by investing in HVAC service software.

Your Business Is Growing—Literally. Here’s How Landscape Management Software Can Help

Posted on by John Fay

One issue facing many companies across the landscaping industry is growth that grows beyond the bandwidth of what you can provide. This is a good problem to have– growth is fundamental to a healthy business, and landscape management is no exception– but it is a problem that needs to be solved nonetheless. Demand for your landscaping services can outpace your supply of manpower, antiquated paper files can get stacked in the corner pile into Mount Slushmore, manually creating and logging invoices waste too much of your day, and so on and so on until you lose momentum from sheer inefficiency.

Much like how growing weeds must be tended to, the right landscape management software tends to your growing business. Here’s four ways landscape management software can help manage your business.

1. It Can Save You Time

I’d like to engage in a little thought experiment, designed by the fine folks at Greenius. Think about what you pay your workers or yourself per hour. Calculate what that adds up to. Now think about how long it takes for the average employee to complete tasks like estimating, invoicing, customer relationship management, scheduling, and training. This might seem like making a mountain out of a molehill, but once you tally the inefficiencies and account for the typical rate of human error that accompanies each of these tasks, that molehill starts to get pretty big.

With a decent landscape management software system, time-consuming busywork that would otherwise cost your business hundreds of hours annually is condensed into a simple, easy to use interface that displays everything you need within just a few clicks.

2. Software Eliminates The Guesswork

One of the trickier parts of landscape management is knowing the right estimate to give to a client. According to Joanne Bratton from Aspire, “Most companies underestimate their job costs by at least 1%. Combined with underestimating labor per hour by only 50 cents, that translates into $48,000 in lost revenue for a $3 million landscaping company.” Ouch.

Luckily, most landscape management software provides estimating tools that can take away the guesswork from landscaping quotes and help create consistent, profitable quotes. The beauty of having estimating features built into a landscape management software system is that you can customize them to your liking, adjusting for a job’s length and complexity; if that stump looks clingier than your crew is used to dealing with, all it takes is a single click to fetch you a more realistic estimate.

3. Easy-To-Use Software Works On ALL Levels For ALL Skillsets

Landscape management software that offers a full suite of features has something for everyone at your company, including inventory management, CRM software, scheduling software, supply chain software, integrated accounting, and project management. Now you might be thinking, “That’s a lot of features. I bet I’ll be roped in to buying a whole bunch of other software, and I’ll never be able to keep track of them all :(“. That’s where you’re wrong, hypothetical you.

The best landscape management software systems are all-in-one services, meaning you and your employees will only ever have to pay for and learn a grand total of one software. They are designed for combining simplicity of use and coherent features, so if your company hires chimpanzees, I’m sure they could get used to the landscape management software, too.

4. Automated Technology Can Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder

The online nature of landscape management software means that technology can do the work for you. For example, an accounting software built into a landscape management software will digitally store and automatically organize your expenses for you. At a glance, you will know what your business earns and costs, and all it took was the right technology.

Furthermore, you can automate as many or as few processes as you choose. Integrated accounting means your software can automatically send out invoices and reminders for invoices, late payment reminders and fees, and even bill your client’s credit card in seconds. Tedious tasks suddenly disappear as software takes care of them, enabling your employees to do things a computer can’t—namely, landscaping.. Of course, everything is customizable, so you can automate as much or as little of your business as you’d like.

Striven Named Small Business ERP Software Leader for 2022 – G2

Posted on by Scott Hammer

Lumberton, NJ (September 23, 2022)-  G2, the leading provider of business software reviews, has ranked Striven as one of the market leaders for small business ERP software in 2022.

According to customer-sourced data at G2:

  • Reviewers were asked “Has Striven been a good partner in doing business?” to which they responded with a 9.7/10 satisfaction rating (ahead of the 8.2/10 industry average)
  • Striven was ranked the 12th Easiest to Use ERP out of 563 qualified software systems
  • Striven’s Quality of Support ranks as 9.1/10 (ahead of the 8.1/10 ERP average)

Striven has been named alongside other ERP industry options in what continues to be an increasingly important industry segment, small business ERP software.

G2’s recent inclusion of “small business software” categories underscores a trend that has been rapidly permeating the small business landscape—ERP and business management software systems aren’t just for Fortune 500 companies anymore. Small businesses are increasingly finding greater success with ERP software systems as opposed to using disconnected software systems or more analog, pencil-and-paper styles of business management.

Companies like Miles Technologies have taken advantage of this previously underserved space, which is why Striven has seen such a rise in popularity in recent years.

“Every day we’re thrilled to make a difference for small businesses across America, and across the world,” said Chris Miles, CEO of Miles Technologies, the company that develops Striven. “We built Striven to make it easy and affordable for every small business to have success implementing software into their day-to-day operations. We’re driven by the success of the businesses that use Striven to accomplish their goals, and we’re even more excited for what the future of Striven has in store. ”

David C., a small business CEO who uses Striven to manage his company’s daily operations, added this about his experience with the system:

 “Striven is the software to disrupt the stranglehold that larger ERP systems hold on small business owners.”

To learn more about Striven and read about customer experiences using the platform, visit the company’s ratings and review page.

About Striven
Striven is an ERP software for small and growing businesses that want to expand, simplify, and reduce costs. Striven combines all of the features for accounting, projects, sales, inventory, management, reporting, and more into a single streamlined system.

Landscaping Management Software: The Do’s and Don’ts

Posted on by John Fay

It can be tough to find a practical, simple, and affordable software solution for your landscaping business. Some software can seem as cluttered and random as the weeds you’ve been hired to pull out. Keeping track of inventory, searching for documents, and managing accounting can be arduous chores if your current software system doesn’t have the right features, or if you’re using a bunch of disconnected and inefficient software solutions.

Pruning the garden of your software and technology stack, so to speak, is just as important as the pruning you do for your customers. In fact, it’s this kind of pruning that needs to be taken care of before any of the physical weeds can be removed. Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for what to look for in the landscape management software you depend on to be efficient and competitive as a business.

DO automate as many daily tasks as possible.

This can include scheduling jobs, dispatching landscapers, online booking, and even managing invoices. The best landscape management software provides an all-in-one interface where everything and anything can be put into your computer system, saving your business time and money. Learn it, then love it.

DON’T rely on pencil and paper systems for your documentation.

Joanne Bratton from Aspire explains: 

“Creating estimates on paper gives more room for error, especially if more than one person at your landscaping company writes estimates. Without a centralized business software system, inaccurate and unprofitable estimates often result from:

  • Shortage of time.
  • Erroneous or repetitive manual calculations.
  • Inaccurate labor and materials costs.
  • Inconsistent proposals.
  • Lack of visibility into costs of past landscaping projects.”

Save some trees (and lots of time, money, and labor) by switching to a landscape service software! ERP software solutions are designed for easy and effective landscape and lawncare management that avoids these major pitfalls that come from not utilizing the best landscaping management software on the market. Combining accounting, CRM, project management, HR, operations, and more into one easy to use interface allows your business to take on more work and to better service the customers that you already have. 

DO make the most of marketing.

A key service that landscape management software offers is the ability to launch automated email campaigns, raising brand awareness and netting more clients for your business. 

DON’T ignore the full range of possibilities that your landscape management software brings to the table.

Look for a software that boasts a full suite of features from accounting to dispatching. Remember, every employee in your SME can make use of a landscape management software system, meaning executives, accountants, gardeners, architects, salespeople, and so on can streamline their workflows equally. Most of these software systems are available as an app, meaning your employees will be able to add customer and job information, estimates, photos, and service notes with just a few clicks. 

DO try a free demo.

Budgets can be tight, and there are lots of different kinds of business management software out there, so look for a software that has a free trial period.

DON’T clutter your business with too many software systems that don’t work properly with one another.

Simplicity is key—one single, integrated software system that your entire business can run on is always more efficient (and cheaper) than using a bunch of systems to complete your work. The quicker and easier you can accomplish a task, the better your workflow will be. Landscape management software allows you to spend less time on back office things like accounting, inventory management, or rooting around for documents and more time making the decisions that matter. For your employees, it means more time spent in the garden!

Why Mental Health Services Software Is Essential To Your Private Practice

Posted on by John Fay

For any growing business, an excellent software system is crucial. That applies to private mental health practices, too. Luckily, there are mental health services software systems that can increase the efficiency of your private practice, allowing it to easily expand all while maintaining HIPAA compliance. By improving the efficiency of patient care and improving the way that your practice organizes and safekeeps its data, by optimizing scheduling and making billing and accounting easier, mental health services software benefits both the practice and the patients.

Mental Health Software Creates a More Efficient Practice

The biggest advantage that mental health services software can bring to a growing practice is its ability to increase operational efficiency, which outperforms pen and paper by any standard metric.. One way in which mental health software increases efficiency is through data management.

Mental health services software makes data easier to update and is safely secured after each edit, so that your private practice remains HIPAA compliant and that confidentiality remains front and center. EHR (electronic health records) software allows multiple health organizations to update patient data facilitating communication between doctors. This way, doctors can have up to date information about the patients they treat and can provide the best support possible since they won’t have to worry about any logistical hiccups.

Mental health services software also provides organizational tools to facilitate patient focused work. Note taking templates, looking up DSM codes, and intake/outbound forms are just some of the functionalities that mental health services software provides. 

Effortless Scheduling

Scheduling can be difficult enough on its own, and with an average of one in five Americans with mental health concerns who may be looking for professional help, the process can be made even more troublesome and complex. Mental health services software eases this demanding task with intuitive patient scheduling features.

Patient scheduling software optimizes front office work by allowing the schedule to be more easily adjusted based on both patient and doctor needs. Best of all, mental health services software systems include patient portals which can help your patients maintain easier lines of communication with practitioners.  Not only can patient portals build better and more friendly relations with patients, they also assist with last minute scheduling changes or unforeseen mental health dilemmas so that your practice and your patients can quickly and effortlessly figure out the best path forward .

The scheduling feature of mental health services software has other benefits too. This feature can track patient attendance so that the doctors in your private practice know who attends in individual or group therapy sessions and make note of any potential changes that need to be made to better aid your patients. Patient scheduling software can also send out reminders to patients that their appointments are due so they can make sure their personal schedules are adjusted for the meeting, or call and reschedule if necessary.

Insurance and Billing

Although, arguably the most appealing feature of mental health services software is how it can help with billing and insurance claims. One of the more simple additions that mental health billing software provides is credit card processing so that your patients are given multiple options for paying. Patients can also receive receipts and invoices through mental health billing software so that they know how much they pay and your practice gets compensated for its services.

More importantly, mental health billing software simplifies insurance claims. With an estimated number of 907 insurance companies in 2017, each with their own policies and plans, submitting insurance claims can be frustrating and confusing from both the patient and practitioner end of the spectrum.

Mental health billing software assists in that process by allowing your doctors to submit insurance claims, ERA files and CMS-1500 forms with the software. Combining the ability to file insurance claims with patient portals enables your private practice to make sure that both you and your patients are both adequately taken care of.

Accounting

With billing features and insurance management already included in mental health billing software, it only makes sense then that the best mental health services software contains integrated accounting features. Your private practice is a business too, so your mental health software should include features that help the business facet of your growing practice in addition to all of the tools necessary for providing patients with the best care possible.

Accounting software will help process payments as well as secure your financial data, and make the process of accounting incredibly easier for your practice. The meticulous records kept within the integrated accounting system is sure to simplify insurance claims and increase efficiency. Above all, integrated accounting is altogether just cheaper for your practice. Instead of paying extra for an accounting software to work alongside your mental health services software system, simply find a mental health software with accounting integrated into the system. That way, your growing practice doesn’t have to pay for two (or more) software systems.

Mental Health Services Software – The Takeaway

Investing in a mental health services software is one of the best decisions you can make for your growing practice. With the increased efficiency that the software provides, your employees and doctors can focus on what truly matters, the patients and their mental health. And with how easy mental health software makes scheduling, billing, and accounting both your employees and patients will benefit from the simplified process.

Does Your Business Need HVAC Management Software?

Posted on by John Fay

Technological advancements have led to incredible developments in society over the years that we’ve come to take for granted each and every day, one of the most significant being the heating and cooling units in nearly every building we enter. With Willis Carrier’s first HVAC unit drawings in 1902, we have come to depend heavily on the machinery regulating airflow in our homes and businesses. Installations and repairs and the process of ensuring that technicians can easily locate the tasks necessary to get the job done are significant challenges that HVAC management businesses face daily in their journey to improve their bottom line and provide overall satisfaction to customers.

One of the best ways to handle these challenges? Using an HVAC management software to store data, manage tasks, and crunch the numbers. Despite this, some companies are hesitant when considering adopting HVAC service software to manage their affairs due to the many types of software solutions out there. Read more for four reasons your business can benefit from HVAC management software. 

How Can HVAC Software Can Grow Your HVAC Business?

1. Stay Ahead Of The Competition

Owning and operating an HVAC business means you must have all your “ducts” in a row. It is estimated that the HVAC industry will grow at a rate of 6.3% from 2022 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. A shortcoming of many companies is the inability to track the progression of both individual jobs and year-over-year trends as these numbers continually change.

By integrating HVAC service software into your business, you can streamline your services so that you can stay ahead of your competitors. With HVAC service software, you can supercharge your marketing strategies to attract new customers all while providing your technicians with an automated platform that grants them the ability to easily share information with current customers and ensure no questions are left unanswered or incorrectly handled. By logging all information in one easy-to-access location, you can address any issues that arise.

2. Improve Employee Retention

It is no secret that skilled HVAC technicians are scarce. Although it has been this way for years, statistics show that even with the steady rise of the HVAC industry, these numbers are not projected to spike any time soon. A significant part of this dilemma can be attributed to an aging workforce, but another conflict might be the lack of ease in completing tasks due to outdated methods and antiquated technology. Employees who find their job challenging to manage will feel compelled to move on to something better suited to their personal needs.

As HVAC technicians review warranty services, work their tasks throughout the day, and take payments from customers, HVAC service software can help eliminate the difficulties they face. Integrating HVAC service software within your business will increase employee retention by making HVAC technicians’ jobs easier, therefore leading to higher satisfaction from customers, too. 

3. Keep Your HVAC Business Compliant

In the event that your HVAC company fails to comply with constantly revised regulations from the Department of Energy (DOE), your company may be subjected to heavy fines, legal conflicts, and the loss of permits, which can have a detrimental effect on its reputation. An HVAC service software will prove to be a much more reliable source for keeping up to date with constant changes, thus protecting your company from accidentally falling out of compliance.

For example, while some may be tech savvy, others may need more guidance to navigate a new system. Being patient and providing training through the transition can help employees who are hesitant or worried about a new system to perform more smoothly, and eventually, increase productivity. Some software solutions offer professional training as part of their onboarding process with the company.

4. Schedule Appointments With Ease

It can be frustrating to disappoint a client with a missed appointment or late arrival because of the negligence of a receptionist or technician or if there was an error or shortcoming in the scheduling technology itself. It is just as unfortunate to have customers cancel last minute and have a technician waste time and money traveling to their location to complete a job no longer needed.

HVAC service software prevents the opportunity for missed assignments due to all the data being stored safely and accurately. With HVAC management software, your customers can update their appointments easily and innovatively cancel them, which will notify your technicians in real-time so they can concentrate on the following work order.  

HVAC Management Software – The Takeaway

Stay ahead of the game by allowing HVAC service software to aid in the operation of your HVAC business. Having an all-in-one HVAC management software ensures organization, reliable communication, and, most importantly, a permanent and tangible advantage over your competitors. Companies with streamlined operations and a proven track record of meeting client needs are highly regarded.