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Still Doing Sales Reports in Excel? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t.

Posted on by Axelle Dervaux

Excel may have been around for over 30 years and is a well-established staple for many businesses, but like most pieces of archaic technology and data management methods, it may be time to put it behind you. 

Excel is still relevant, which is why so many companies rely on it, but it’s better for use with developing spreadsheets as opposed to in-depth sales reports and other more complex applications. 

Don’t count on it to serve as the main database for all of your data, especially if you’re gathering too much data for it to handle.

While Excel may still be useful for basic calculations, scheduling, setting budgets, charting, and planning, it’s not as ideal for analyzing or visualizing data, keeping your reports updated, or sharing information with colleagues or clients. 

excel document

If your business is still dependent on Excel to develop a weekly or monthly sales report, there are several reasons why you’re better off turning to a more efficient solution.

Kicking the Habit of Using Excel

Excel is like many other bad habits.

It begins innocently until it becomes a problem and the person becomes dependent on it. For example, that one-cup-of-coffee-a-day habit can develop into multiple cups, until even missing a single cup on schedule can result in a headache.

Bad habits can quickly go from beneficial to downright hazardous before you know it, oftentimes after the damage has been done.

The same goes for Excel, which may have begun with a single employee using the platform to create a comprehensive initial spreadsheet. 

That spreadsheet, or several of them, may have been invaluable in managing many pieces of data to help develop sales reports. 

However, over time, that advantage may have developed into a disadvantage as those spreadsheets collected more and more data, and various errors may be overlooked until they become a hindrance.

If you find that you’re still depending on Excel for financial management and completing sales reports, this software may be hurting your business in ways you’re not even aware of, much like other bad habits.

There are several reasons why Excel is potentially more of a detriment to your business than a help.

Excel Doesn’t Function as a Reliable Database

Spreadsheets can be helpful in keeping data organized in the short-term and in smaller quantities, but they’re no substitute for an accessible and secure database. 

It’s best to avoid using Excel spreadsheets to manage large amounts of data, as the platform is basic at best and potentially dangerous to use at worst. 

Excel is capable of handling many entries, but you’re likely to start experiencing performance issues with your operating systems if you don’t have the hardware to handle substantial amounts of spreadsheet data. 

In fact, the more formulas you use in your spreadsheets, the sooner you’re going to suffer from sluggish PC performance and crashes, which can seriously hurt your business.

There are multiple problems you can experience with Excel that make it less than ideal for use as a database.

Data Errors Can Put Your Business at Risk

One of the biggest problems with relying on Excel spreadsheets is the potential for various errors. 

cascading error messages

Unfortunately, Excel is error-prone and far from the ideal software for building and maintaining a complete and accurate database. In fact, MarketWatch found that even the most exhaustively checked and tested spreadsheets contain errors in one percent of all formula cells. 

The larger the spreadsheet and the more numerous the formulas, the more likely your sheets are to have multiple errors. 

As a result of these errors, large businesses have lost billions. 

Even perceivably tiny errors such as a faulty copy-paste have culminated in millions lost for some of the largest corporations. 

If big, well-established companies can make mistakes with their spreadsheets, so can you.

It’s important to keep in mind that human error is always a factor when people are counted on to manually enter and manage data. 

You could be the most thorough person with an eye for the smallest details, but you just might miss that one typo or miscalculation that could significantly harm your business. 

If you do become aware of the error, it can also take a lot of extra time and effort to identify and address it, which you could otherwise avoid with a more reliable system.

If your sales reports are more likely to contain errors, you’re also less likely to be confident in the data you’re collecting and presenting. 

That uncertainty could also cost you if you can’t pinpoint the best direction to take based on your reports.

You Can’t Trust Formulas to Maintain Accuracy of Data

The nice thing about Excel is that it comes packed with many formulas and functions that you can use to help automate spreadsheets.

However, the caveat is that the accuracy of data calculated with these formulas is only as accurate as the individual entering the initial data points.

Many of the calculations used in Excel are very complicated, with the need to manually enter various figures or program them, through the use of multiple spreadsheets and cascading formulas. 

In the process, you’re probably going to make a mistake at some point.

If you’re great with numbers and have years of experience in Excel, and you know precisely how to set up and manage the myriad functions and formulas, you might avoid most errors. 

Unless this is the case, it’s usually more work and trouble than it’s worth.

Insecure Sharing Can Leave Data in the Wrong Hands

When working with a data-driven sales team, it’s important to be able to cohesively collaborate. 

One of the most important elements of effective collaboration is data sharing, including the ability for entire teams to easily access trends, metrics, financial data, and key performance indicators, among other insightful and actionable data points. 

The ability to quickly and easily share crucial performance data is integral to a healthy, functional sales team, along with teams in other departments. 

While Excel can enable you to share data in a presentable format that’s easy to understand, it’s not the best method to use for data sharing. 

Relying on Excel for sharing sales and other data can lead to lost and forgotten emails, misfiling issues, and in worst-case scenarios, data falling into the hands of people who should never see it. 

Using Excel, you can easily lose track of who has access to your data and what they’re doing with it.

You may also run into other issues when sharing your data. For instance, some recipients of data may experience slowed performance or inaccessibility due to varying operating systems and weaker hardware. 

In other cases, sharing the same spreadsheet can result in overwriting and multiple data entry errors that are harder to catch.

Excel Can’t Effectively Visualize Data

In addition to being an unreliable database, another problem with Excel is that it’s just not useful for visualizing your sales data. 

If you’re considering using Excel spreadsheets to help build a sales dashboard or another type of business intelligence dashboard, consider looking for another option. 

Excel may allow you to visualize data with pie charts, graphs, and other visuals, but it will be difficult to share them with your sales team. 

Too many inconsistencies can arise as people look at multiple versions of an Excel dashboard, and errors are practically inevitable.

Instead, consider opting for business intelligence software to function as a dashboard that offers consistent results.

The Advantages of Using Business Intelligence Software

business intelligence

Through the use of dependable business intelligence (BI) software, you can experience several benefits that you won’t find when solely using Excel for sales reports. 

BI software can effectively serve as a hub for all of your sales data and reports using a centralized platform. 

Instead of working with multiple programs and data sets that you need to balance and manage separately, keep it all together in the same platform with a comprehensive BI solution.

The following are some specific benefits that you’ll get with the right BI software behind your sales teams.

Reduce or Even Eliminate the Risk of Human Error

Good BI software will allow you to connect it to all of your current data, which can help minimize the risk of errors, including issues with improper copy-paste and typos. 

To access and consolidate all data, the right BI software solution will be able to integrate with programs like CRMs, Google Ads, and many other platforms.

Benefit from a Sleek and Intuitive Design

Today’s BI software features better designs than simple spreadsheets, keeping your dashboard and reports visually engaging as well as accurate and accessible. 

Features such as filters, sorting, and zooming can make it easy to navigate your sales reports and visualize them in any way you want. 

You won’t need to worry about getting lost in massive and potentially confusing spreadsheets that are likely to give you a headache. 

Data visualizations can also be far more appealing than what you would get with charts and graphs on Excel and other basic platforms. 

Securely Update and Share Your Database

data security glowing

Using a safe BI solution, you can send sales dashboard data securely through the use of formats like live links, PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs. 

You may also be able to integrate your dashboard with another platform used for collaboration among internal teams. 

You can even schedule report updates to ensure everyone regularly receives the latest sales report.

Stay Consistently Up-to-Date

One potential source of inconsistency among sales teams is using outdated spreadsheet data, as you often need to refresh the sheet once you make any changes to data points. 

You don’t need to worry about constant manual refreshing with the latest BI software. 

As soon as you make any changes, your sales dashboard can automatically update to the latest version, which everyone on your team will see. 

Subsequently, you’ll never inadvertently work with outdated dashboards and reports. 

Perform More Accurate Calculations with Formulas

You don’t need to be a math or economics whiz to work with formulas thanks to today’s BI capabilities. 

The right software will also be able to provide you with the modules and tools you need to make accurate calculations with the right formulas. 

You no longer need to balance all of those functions and formulas in your head when they’re at the tip of your fingers.

Review Analytics Remotely

Regardless of where you and your team are located, you can make sure you have access to the sales dashboard from any access point. 

remote cloud access

Using secure mobile devices, your sales team can use an equally secure app to access the dashboard and make any changes or view real-time data. 

At the same time, everyone will be able to see the same sets of data, as the dashboard automatically updates with the latest information if your team makes any changes. 

Have Complete Control Over Accessibility

Apart from being able to safely and securely share data internally or with remote access, you can also make sure the wrong people never access your dashboards and reports. 

BI software can help ensure that only those with explicit permission to view your data will be able to see it, and you can optimize security by controlling individual access to dashboards, reports, or pieces of data. 

You can even make sure that specific groups of people have access to specific relevant data sets. This eliminates the need to create separate dashboards for different users, saving you even more time and effort.

BI Software Can Give You Everything You Need from Your Database

Excel hasn’t completely outlived its usefulness, but it’s not meant to be an all-in-one solution for sales reporting and data management. 

As your business grows and you need a system that can handle the accumulating data, you will need to adapt by implementing a more reliable solution. 

While Excel can help you get started, consider using business intelligence software to maintain the integrity of your data, eliminate errors, improve security and shareability, and keep your data consistently accurate. 

Using a complete BI platform, your sales teams will be fully equipped to measure performance and meet your business goals.

Here’s Why Your Cloud Software Will Be Free In 2021

Posted on by Scott Hammer

When it comes to setting expectations for 2021, the bar is admittedly low. But, after what seemed like an eternity for small business owners, more help is arriving.

As the second coming of the PPP prepares to roll out, provisions have been made that will bring your dreams of upgrading your technology and software to life.

While the new PPP still requires that payroll costs must make up 60% of forgivable expenses, there’s a new twist—cloud computing costs and services will now be considered a forgivable expense.

To put it simply, any cloud computing service will be FREE for your business courtesy of Uncle Sam. (AND it’s tax deductible now, too!)

President Trump has delayed signing the bill citing a desire to send larger, one-time stimulus checks to all citizens, but we assume that the provisions provided for small businesses will not be altered.

Here’s What’s New This Time:

  • New covered operations expenditures – “means a payment for business software or cloud computing service that facilitates business operations, product or service delivery, the processing, payment, or tracking of payroll expenses, human resources, sales and billing functions, or accounting or tracking of supplies, inventory, records and expenses”
  • Expenses applied to PPP loan forgiveness are now deductible for federal tax purposes. 
  • If you didn’t get your money from the first PPP, you can ask for more this time.
  • A “necessity test” is still part of the application process.

How to Throw a Virtual Work Holiday Party (That’s Actually Fun)

Posted on by Scott Hammer

Boosting and maintaining employee morale is always a top priority for businesses. In 2020, this has been no easy task—to say the least. The sudden, drastic shift of converting living rooms into offices has gone much better than expected. But will the same be true of all of the less professional, camaraderie-building, one-too-many-glasses-of-punch moments that take place at an old fashioned company holiday party?

This year you won’t be drinking from the same punch bowl as the accounting department. You won’t have the thrill of sharing a high five after a successful karaoke rendition, and you won’t have the pleasure of witnessing all of your smiling employees gathered together. 

This year has repeatedly reminded all of us of the things we don’t have, but the holiday season isn’t a time for negativity. At the end of the day, you still have a whole lot—a group of individuals dedicated to shared success, the internet, and (possibly) a personal bowl of that special holiday punch. In a year defined by social distancing, here’s some tips on how you can make your company’s 2020 holiday season one to remember.

Virtual Game Night

Working from home has resulted in increased amounts of employee productivity and satisfaction. Who’s to say this success can’t be replicated when it comes to recreation? After all, video games have had a major leg up on board/party games for a while now.

Setting up an online game night for your employees to take part in is something that everyone can enjoy. Whether it’s a simple trivia game or an entire virtual platform with a variety of minigames, you’ll be able to bring your employees a unique experience. 

Whether you’re personally fond of corporate holiday festivities or not, many of your more introverted employees have probably shied away from them in the past. They could be turned off by the oft-chaotic mixture of large crowds and alcohol, or maybe they just really didn’t want to drive out on a blustery cold night. Whatever their reasons were, hosting virtual festivities will allow people that otherwise would not have participated to join in on the fun. 

Virtual Secret Santa

Yes, even in 2020, there will still be presents. To be fair, most of us have been putting our Amazon Prime memberships to good use recently, but presents are always better when the gift is a surprise. Even though you won’t be able to excitedly hand off your gift to an equally excited coworker this year, you can still facilitate a Secret Santa exchange between you and your employees. 

There’s something just so viscerally thrilling about tearing some wrapping paper apart at the seams. Despite being limited to the confines of their homes, your employees won’t want to miss out on the little sensations that make this time of the year so special—the crackling of tissue paper, the surge of adrenaline as you start to deduce the contents of your gift, and (if you’re lucky) the popping of bubble wrap. As an alternative or addition, consider sending themed eCards to your employees wishing them a happy holiday season.

Regardless of the types of gifts exchanged, people love gifts. Giving employee gratitude gifts boosts the motivation and dedication of employees. Your employees will appreciate the extra thought that went into making a gift exchange happen this year.

Virtual Bake Off

It wouldn’t really be the holiday season without some delicious treats. We all miss the surprise cookies and donuts during a day at the office. This year, the treat-sharing will be a little different. Whether it’s cookies, cakes, chocolate-covered pretzels, or anything in between, your employees can show off their culinary skills.  

Having a friendly baking competition is a great way to facilitate involvement from employees’ families. After all, the reason your employees are so dedicated to what they do is because of the great family they have behind them. So don’t nibble too much cookie dough or lick too much icing just yet—save some for the great bonding moments that come along with holiday baking.

Virtual Ugly Sweater Party

It wouldn’t really be the holiday season without some ugly sweaters. In lieu of flaunting dizzying arrays of contrasting colors around the office, your employees can have the chance to show their style in a virtual setting. 

If there’s one thing workers can agree on, there’s nothing quite like getting a laugh in at the bosses expense. So if you host an ugly sweater contest this year, you would be best served showing up in the ugliest, most unsightly get-up your employees have ever laid eyes on. Give them something to smile about—you’ll be smiling right along with them, too

Virtual Movie Night

While some may argue that Die Hard isn’t a true Christmas movie (it is), people love nothing more during the cold winter months than to curl up with a blanket with a glass of hot chocolate while watching a good movie. 

Movies are a great way to share and talk about a common experience, and you can stream holiday classics to all of your employees while they’re nestled up at home. For those that may want a more laid back, passive holiday party experience, this is the way to go.

In the wild world of streaming services, it seems like everyone indulges in their own personal flavor of television. Hollywood’s inclination to deliver plentiful amounts of niche content specifically targeted to certain audiences has limited people’s ability to bond over common media. Sure, this isn’t always the case, but the direction is clear. This year, you have the ability to buck that trend. Your employees have been deprived of “water cooler chats” about their favorite shows all year long. Give them a movie night that they can reminisce about and enjoy. 

It’s All About Spreading Holiday Cheer

No matter what kind of virtual festivities you choose to indulge in, don’t forget why you’re doing it in the first place—to spread good tidings and cheer to all of your hardworking employees. They deserve a night to forget about the struggles, hardships, and abrupt changes that this year has brought about. 

We’re all navigating through uncharted territory. The notion of “uncharted territory” brings to mind simultaneous yet conflicting emotions—the anxiety and fear of the unknown, and the limitless potential of hope over the horizon. 

It’s a brave new world out there. But you know what? That brave new world will still be there to greet you tomorrow. Tonight, take time to commiserate, celebrate, and be thankful. Give everyone a chance to drown out the outside world—even if it’s just for a fleeting, beautiful, precious moment.  

Why (and What) Construction Companies Need to Automate

Posted on by Reesa David

It always seems like there’s just never enough hours in the day. It’s funny—you set deadlines and goals for months or even years down the road, yet you always find yourself competing against the clock in crunch time. “Man, if I could just get caught up, there’s so much I could do.”

The truth is that it’s never been about not having enough time. You, I, and every other inhabitant of planet earth gets 24 hours a day to live, work, and make decisions. So the issue isn’t exactly a lack of time, it’s a lack of direction. Don’t misconstrue that as meaning there’s been a lack of hard work—that’s the farthest thing from the truth.

The main issue plaguing you and other construction managers is that tedious and tiresome tasks eat up far too much of your day. Given their vitality, it can almost seem irresponsible not to dedicate an overwhelming amount of time to them. Instead of completing tasks with the goal of moving in a productive direction, you find yourself completing tasks just to stay afloat. 

Crunching numbers, tallying spreadsheets, and certifying OSHA regulations don’t have to drain the hours from your day. Yes, these things need to get done, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do them. Construction management software that provides automated operation of simple yet voluminous tasks is something that your business should take advantage of—and you won’t have to break the bank to make it happen. 

Business is Booming: Get Your Backlog In Order

When it comes to construction project management, you’ll face problems of all shapes and sizes. Right now, there’s one problem that you’d be fortunate enough to recognize as your worst professional malady—business is booming. 

“While most of the economy remains under pressure, housing continues to be an exception. Solid demand as well as low mortgage rates are driving growth in home sales,” Rubeela Farooqi, Chief U.S. Economist at High Frequency Economics

(Source: MarketWatch)

The housing sector has continued to succeed while other divisions of the economy have faltered, with housing starts rising 11% compared to 2019. In the Northeast, the pace of new housing growth has unquestionably outshined all other areas of the country with a 67% jump in new housing starts.

So, how exactly is “too much work” a problem in today’s world? Given that the coronavirus pandemic essentially hit the pause button on the construction industry (and life) for several months, having your backlog under control is more important than ever. 

The truth is, having a hefty backlog can do severe damage to your business and its reputation. If work is severely delayed—or worse yet, faulty or incomplete—this will be reflected in online customer reviews. Even if your explanation for delayed work is something truthful and understandable along the lines of “we had other jobs to finish first”, that simply isn’t good enough. If your customer does not feel as though they are being personally catered to, you haven’t done well enough. 

Despite the possibility of skating by with minimal customer resistance during a delay, you still have OSHA reviews to be concerned about. Though you prioritize safety and compliance at every one of your job sites, disorganization never helped a business in its efforts to stay compliant. 

Real Time Budget Adjustments

Having a steady cash flow is good. Having accurate, exhaustive reports of your business’s finances is great. Having accurate, exhaustive reports of your business’s finances that are easy to view, share, and adjust in real time is what will take your business to the next level.

When was the last time one of your jobs followed its original schedule? Or the last time a project came in under-budget? Expenses on the job change every day, perhaps even every hour—the cost of construction materials has steadily risen this year. If your estimating software is rigid and inflexible, you’ll have a hard time accommodating the necessary needs of the project. 

Real time budgeting transparency doesn’t just exist so that you can keep a close watch over the job. It also helps your customers stay in the loop about what’s happening—and what isn’t. As you know all too well, customers and vendors often have a selective memory of sorts when it comes to what they want, don’t want, and are willing to allow. If you’re able to clearly answer all of the five W’s, chances are disputes will be much less frequent and shorter in length. On top of that, you’ll save yourself time by having your entire construction management software system just a click away. 

Keep Your Subcontractors Close

You and your customers aren’t the only people who would benefit from clear, transparent automated processes. There’s a lot of people from outside of your business that you need to keep in the loop—various subcontractors, electricians, material suppliers, plumbers…the list goes on and on. 

Having an unreliable subcontractor can torpedo an entire job. You probably have a horror story or two to share. Unfortunately, there are going to be people who are simply unreliable and/or negligent. It comes with the territory of being a professional in the construction industry. However, most disputes and disagreements don’t actually stem from malice, they stem from a lack of communication.

So what can you do to avoid these situations? The best bet for you and your business is to stay involved and informed. Set the parameters for workplace communication. Have a centralized database where you can keep tabs on your subcontractor’s certifications, insurance coverage, and most importantly, the status of the job.

When it comes to insurance coverage, both contractors and subcontractors have a lot to keep organized. Different requirements for different states (let alone countries), legal expenses, medical claims, etc. For these reasons and many more, it’s important to make sure your business can keep track of it all—without having to do it all manually.

There is no fool-proof, fanciful tactic to fully prevent a subcontractor from lapsing on his or her duties. What you can prevent, however, is ambiguity and wasted time surrounding their work. By putting systems that facilitate transparency in place, you’ll be able to assess whether the subcontractor is adequately performing the task at hand or if it’s time to pull the plug. Either way, you’ll be able to service your customer efficiently. 

Construction Management Software, Evolved

This year has provided a lot of twists and turns, but through it all, the construction industry has once again established itself as a resounding backbone of the American economy. Projects were put on pause, but now that some semblance of normalcy has returned, it’s time to prepare for what’s ahead.

If you were anxiously awaiting the cliché of all clichés, here it is: time is money. All kidding aside, it’s the truth. Finding ways to help your business better deal with backlog, manage real time budget adjustments, and keep tabs on subcontractors will allow you to get back to doing what you’ve always aimed to do, but seemingly didn’t have time for: growing your business. 

What Your Manufacturing Software Knows (That You Don’t)

Posted on by Matt Bernot

Inside the heart of the manufacturing industry, there exists one fundamental truth: supply and demand. The products your business builds are ultimately determined by those who are purchasing them. You know that the driving force behind the creation of your products are your customers and/or suppliers—but what’s the driving force behind your production process?

Human error and operational inefficiency plague production lines nationwide. Some business owners will concede defeat to these shortcomings in the name of keeping familiar systems in place. By standing behind flawed yet familiar systems, you’re instinctively seeking to stay in control of your business—and that’s exactly what you should be doing. But in 2020 and beyond, staying in control means knowing when to let technology take the wheel. 

What Manufacturing Process Software Can Do For You

The way that your manufacturing business runs is just as important as the products you assemble. Even if you consistently produce good results, that’s only just the beginning—the goal is always to produce more products more efficiently. The best way to do this? Invest in cloud technology. 

Most manufacturers are already starting this process—the discrete manufacturing industry leads the way in cloud technology and services spending. They view investing in the cloud not just as a savvy business decision, but also as an inevitability. 

“Cloud software will significantly outpace traditional software product delivery over the next five years, growing nearly three times faster than the software market as a whole and becoming the significant growth driver to all functional software markets,” said Benjamin McGrath, senior research analyst, SaaS and Business Models

(Source: ICT Business)

There are a lot of things that the future of manufacturing will demand from you. First and foremost, it involves investing in new technologies. And profits will follow from smart investments.

By utilizing production software designed to reduce human error, you’ll be able to improve production quality, shorten order cycle times, and intuitively schedule repairs and maintenance. Smart technology is here to help you achieve long term financial security for your business. Here’s some ways that you can put this technology to work for you:

Higher Quality Products

Product development is a complex process with no single, concrete roadmap to success. Each type of product comes with its own set of unique challenges. Your products are different and require varying levels of attention and adjustments along the way—make sure you have a software that is able to efficiently adjust to these changes. 

While a traditional CAD software will ultimately be your main tool for formulating design specs, the creativity, collaboration, and overall team effort that goes into the design process takes place elsewhere. Cloud computing offers something extremely valuable in today’s day and age—flexibility. Allow your entire team and any relevant stakeholders to make notes and adjustments in real time, from anywhere. Cut out repetitive emails, duplicate renderings, and other time-wasters. Manufacturing production software exists to make the hard work you do more efficient than yesterday. 

Lower Order Cycle Times

Automation isn’t as scary of a word as it once was. It used to trigger visions of robots and computers prying jobs away from flesh-and-blood humans. Currently, automation can best be described—in terms of manufacturing—as a process by which machines complete one of two kinds of tasks:

  • Tasks which humans are not suitably skilled for (precisely measuring down to 1/1000th of an inch).
  • Tasks that would simply take us way too long to provide any tangible benefit (analyzing 1000 spreadsheets worth of data). 

Ultimately, automation can function as a tool that can help you and your employees save time and work more efficiently.

Your inventory is arguably your business’s most valuable asset, so it’s understandably difficult to surrender some hands-on control to a software system. But the simple fact of the matter is that while humans are prone to errors, computers are not. Considering that 46% of small to medium-sized businesses still use pen and paper to keep track of their inventory, it’s surprising that inventory is still about 63% accurate across the board. 

Let your software handle tracking and management tasks so your employees don’t have to. The right manufacturing inventory software will manage price quotes, order intake, and customer requests. 

Predictive Repairing and Maintenance

Nothing cuts down on operational efficiency quite like a broken piece of equipment. Sure, things are always going to break down despite your best efforts. It happens. But much like a controlled burn helps manage forests, you can use the technology at your disposal to determine when it’s time to take a functional machine out of duty so that it can be maintained for the long haul.

Take care of your equipment before a problem ever exists—being proactive will save your business time and money. With technology like this at your fingertips, you’ll find new ways to be efficient that you weren’t aware of before. Maybe, for instance, there’s one piece of equipment that breaks down slightly more often than the others. It required maintenance 13 times in five years as opposed to similar machines which required an average of 9.5 maintenance services in the same amount of time—something that you may not have picked up on without the help of smart technology. 

The name of the game is to prevent idle time within your operation. By putting more time into production than troubleshooting, you’ll be able to focus on the long term growth of your business.

Manufacturing Software That Works For You

By allowing cloud technology to improve and expand upon the hard work you’ve already done, you’ll raise the ceiling on what you can accomplish. Each day more and more manufacturers continue to adapt cloud-centric production methods—you still have a chance to be ahead of the curve. 

Ten years from now, how successful will your business be?  Shouldn’t you start forming the answer to this question today? Investing in and trusting cloud manufacturing software will provide a boon to your overall bottom line, efficiency, and future business viability. For the manufacturing industry—and most others, for that matter—cloud technology is here to stay.

[A Better Process For] Scheduling and Dispatching

Posted on by Eric Kingett

When your technician arrives at your customer’s doorstep, it may appear as the first step in the process of providing your service. But for the best field service companies, that moment is actually the result of careful and calculated prior planning. 

Did your technician arrive on time? Did they have all of the necessary equipment with them? What certifications do they hold?

The dilemmas you deal with contain an ever-changing amount of moving parts. Issues such as dispatching appropriately skilled technicians, tracking their status, and avoiding the dreaded low first-time fixed rate all plague your work day.

But they don’t have to. Modern field service management (FSM) technology—and the experts behind it—unify the variables that have always seemed to be stubbornly uncommunicative. 

With the right field service scheduling software, you can worry less about each individual dispatch and get back to growing your business. There are a lot of things to consider when optimizing your dispatching, but if you’re able to take full advantage of the technology at your disposal, you’ll see that the difficult problems didn’t have to be so difficult after all. 

Are You Prepared For Each Dispatch?

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

When it comes to field services, there are many pre-dispatch questions to address. To properly service your customer, they’ll all need to be answered before the customer ever receives an appointment time. Let’s break down all of the components of a successful field service visit from start to finish:

A customer calls in who needs services X and Y at their home, and you have a feeling they may need service Z as well. This customer is near the edge of your service radius. Given the time-sensitive and difficult nature of service Z, you want someone to service this customer ASAP.

Are they nearby? The most obvious obstacle is geography. Given the time-sensitive nature of this particular dispatch, it is important that you have up-to-the-minute locations of your technicians so that you can route someone to the customer’s location with time to spare. Even for jobs that don’t require as much urgency, it is important to hold your employees accountable for maintaining high standards of customer service in regards to keeping prompt appointment times. 

Are they certified to handle services, X, Y, and Z? While services X and Y are fairly routine, service Z requires a little more expertise. Your business depends on your customers feeling as though they received top notch service every single time. Make sure the technicians you dispatch are overqualified to handle all of the possible scenarios they may encounter. With the right technology at your fingertips, you’ll be able to see what specific experience, skills, and other certifications your technicians have so that you can send out the right people accordingly. 

In the midst of everything else you’re managing, don’t let expired certifications impede the progress of a job—the right field service management software will automatically alert you when it’s time for your technicians to renew their certifications.

Do they have the proper equipment? So you’ve found that Technician A is a very short distance from your customer, and they have all of the necessary certifications to complete services X, Y, and Z. Awesome. 

Except—what if they don’t have all of the proper tools with them? 

Sure, they should already have everything they need with them. But in reality, it pays to double check. You really thought Technician A would be the one to solve this issue, but it turns out that they need to take an extra hour to retrieve the proper tools to address the service. Technician B is equally close, certified, and has all of the tools on hand, so you send them over instead.

Each Dispatch Provides Valuable Data

The job is done, the customer is satisfied, and the issues that normally surround service Z didn’t rear their ugly heads this time around. This is all great news. However, there’s a lot more still to be learned from this dispatch. Because not every job will go this smoothly.

Each service call that your business receives acts as an opportunity to gather, analyze, and act upon data. How long did the job take from start to finish? Could anything have been done to expedite the process further? Did your technician have a clear picture of the problem upon arrival?

Even though everything went smoothly, this is important to analyze. In fact, it is important to analyze because of how smoothly it went—your goal should be to learn how and why this job was a success so that this process can be replicated in the future. 

Regardless of whether a job went well, poorly, or in between, you may find yourself asking “Who has time to comb through every single dispatch?” The answer to that isn’t a “who,” but a “what.” The best field service management software is able to generate quick reports so that you can quickly analyze all of the pertinent information surrounding how your jobs went.

The best way to prevent a job from going south is to prepare as best as possible ahead of time. 54% of technicians say that a pre-visit review of service history is their toughest challenge—this being one of the many pre-dispatch challenges you’ll want to account for.

Track Your Technicians

The best way to ensure timeliness each and every time is to have a clear picture of what your technicians are up to, and when. Not only will the right mobile field service scheduling software keep you on top of your technicians location, it will keep your customers in the loop too. Impatience dominates the customer service industry—give your customers the opportunity to precisely see when they can expect to be serviced. Accountability gives rise to success. 

Avoiding A Low First Time Fix Rate

According to the Aberdeen Group, if your first time fix rate performance falls below 88%, you’re not at the top of your industry. Below 80% would qualify you as below average. Keeping this rate high is essential to retaining customers and staying afloat in this hyper-competitive industry. How can you avoid first time failures? Give your technicians all of the information they need, when they need it. Mobile apps developed for field service professionals allow technicians to obtain this data from anywhere, any time. 

In the sample dispatch we covered earlier, everything went right. Look at all of the variables you accounted for to ensure success—geography, certifications, tools, etc.—and apply those measures to each dispatch going forward

Technician Feedback

Data isn’t a one way street here—your technicians should be able to give feedback about the job from their end, too. Whether it’s simply acknowledging the completion of the job or something more complicated like requesting additional equipment, your technician should be able to swiftly communicate with you and your team at all times. 

In today’s world, you would be best served to communicate with your technicians about health and safety issues that may arise. If your customers are required to wear masks while your technician is present, and they refuse to, what happens next? Getting both real-time and post-dispatch feedback from your employees is vital.

It’s A Learning Process

When jobs inevitably don’t go smoothly, the best thing that you and your business can do is learn from and correct the mistakes and inefficiencies that led you down that path. 

The best way to avoid failure on the job is to prepare, act, learn, and repeat. Each day will present new challenges and new obstacles that your technicians have to overcome. Stay on top of the latest technology that your industry uses to facilitate their operations—it may just be the difference between success and failure.