Blog Archives
What are your plans for 2015?
The new year brings new and fresh possibilities to your business! Why not start out 2015 by streamlining your workforce, scheduling and increased mobility for your business?
With Service Proz you can start out the year with a bang with our workforce management software.
Some of our updated features include:
- The Service Proz app is now updated to seamlessly run efficiently with iOS 8
- Image attachment
- Mapping and scheduling
- Storage of important data in the cloud
- Team oriented clock management
With Service Proz; using workforce management software in the office, at home or on the go with our mobile app will take your business to the next level. With features like scheduling and tracking, customer tracking, technician management and recurring billing and inventory management your company will never miss an opportunity to increase sales and workforce management!
You’re not going to want to miss jumping on board with Service Proz system in 2015!
Contact us today for a demo of Service Proz and find out how we can provide to “provide practical, efficient, dependable and logical software that improves the operational efficiencies of home service businesses.
Service Proz Integrates Quick Books Desktop with Your Business Needs
QuickBooks is a vital program for many businesses and at Service Proz, we recognized the importance of QuickBooks On Line and QuickBooks desktop integration for your business.
When you sync the power of your existing QuickBooks application with Service Proz, your business’s important information and data, billing and invoicing, instantly your productivity is matched with Service Proz’s workforce management solution.
Once Service Proz and QuickBooks are synced organizing your company’s important data is a breeze. Service Proz works seamlessly for you because our application is tailored and targeted to the home service industry for your convenience.
The sync process just takes a few clicks and a few minutes from start to finish. Then from one application, Service Proz and QuickBooks are synced and your business can manage customers, employees, billing and invoicing from just one place. All your important business information is securely stored safely in the cloud for convenient, mobile access.
Scheduling Your Work Orders Efficiently
Scheduling work orders can be somewhat overwhelming for any business. Customers want their job done yesterday, and there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. There are a number of issues a scheduler or dispatcher has to contend with as far as completing each job on schedule.
- Is the technician capable?
- Does he have the knowledge and expertise?
- Is he capable of handling the additional work?
- Does he have tools and parts required and tools?
After all of those questions are answered, your technicians go into windshield time. Routing a tech through today’s busy roads is sometimes one of the biggest challenges. With the utilization of Service Proz “Calendar” along with the “Visual Map” and the ability to optimize a route, a scheduler will be equipped with the tools that will help or assist in getting each job completed, and on schedule.
With Service Proz scheduling your company’s appointments, work orders and routes; you will easily streamline every business day which saves on fuel and, most importantly, time.
A New Year with a NEW Service Proz
The New Year came in with a bang last week, and we at Service Proz felt it was time to show you some of the amazing things we’ve been working on and new features we 
have for 2014.
In 2013, Service Proz experienced unmatched growth within our company and began delving heavily in mobile application to work along side with our workforce management system.
Some our new features we are excited about:
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Improved Robust App Functionality for iPhone and Android, iPad/Android tablet.Add attachments from the cloud with Google Drive or Drop Box
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Image Attachment (Take a Photo or Attach Existing)
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Signature Capture
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Team Oriented Clock Management
Most recently, we have added new functionality within our mobile work order application with the ability to now add attachments from the cloud with Google Drive or Drop Box, as well as local files. Our updated work order attachment function now adds more functionality to your mobile workforce management app experience.
As always with Service Proz, use our workforce management software in the office, at home or on the go with our mobile app. With brand new and updated features like scheduling and tracking, customer tracking, technician management and recurring billing and inventory management.
You’re not going to want to miss jumping on board with our workforce management system in 2014!
Join us this week and try a Free Trial of Service Proz and find out how we strive to “provide practical, efficient, dependable and logical software that improves the operational efficiencies of home service businesses.”
Celebrate Small Business Saturday with Service Proz
Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day dedicated to supporting small business across the country. Small Business Saturday is Nov.30 this year and American Express says that over 100 million people participated in the event last year and made it a point “Shop Small” in their local communities.
What better way to show your friends in the community that you appreciate their small business in your city or town? It is up to all of us to create strong local economies and grow from there.
Black Friday has become almost a national holiday but if you could spare some of the large crowds and long lines at big box stores to support local businesses; the effects will be immense in your community.
Service Proz fully supports Small Business Saturday this year and urges you to participate in such a worthy cause. Contact us to take advantage of our Small Business Saturday special!
From all of us to all of you, enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family—and remember we all have many blessings to be thankful for!
New Workforce Management Features for Android
Service Proz has recently deployed a new version of our mobile application for the Android smart phones and tablets.
After several request to fully integrate our mobile solution with the desktop version we have now deployed Android Version 2.0.
Our new version now gives the user:
- Better visibility and functionality from an Admin Level along with some enhancements at the Field Level.
- Admin Personnel in the field now can access any work order, anywhere, anytime. You can see your field level technician’s work load and adjust if necessary, directly from your smart phone or tablet.
- You can Unassign or Assign or Reschedule a visit with just a few clicks.
We also have added the ability to Input a work order on request. Our customers now have the ability to perform full work order management and schedule a work order from a smart phone. Along with the ability to control your picture or attachment resolution, we also have enabled all functions at the User sign on level. You define exactly what your field level personnel can and cannot do inside the app.
With all of these exciting features there is one left that makes the Service Proz app run seamlessly on your smartphone and that is the integration of Google Nav within the app. Pull up directions for any appointment along with tracking the most efficient use of your technicians’ time and fuel costs.
Service Proz would be more than happy to demo our new Work Force Management Mobile Application for you.
Please call us for a trial run and see how our solution is a perfect fit to your business software needs.
Push-to-Talk: Old technology; new smartphone
Twenty years ago now, many home service technicians kept in contact with the home office or dispatch with a push-to-talk function on a cell phone; a phone that is far inferior to the smartphones technicians carry around today.
But in recent years, some home service companies and dispatchers have reached out to 
the old push-to- talk concept and wanted it replicated on their new smartphones.
Take Tom Raver for example; who started thinking about how to propel his company Fireplace Distributors, Inc., into the future with workforce management software. Raver knew the secret to enter into modern business was in technology and workforce management. His fireplace installation company, of about 20 technicians, needs constant contact for optimal success along with quick contact with his employees–which brought to mind push-to-talk.
Raver purchased tablets for his employees to track scheduling, billing, fuel, mileage, etc. and new push-to-talk flip phones for immediate contact with his technicians.
Bearcom.com recently addressed this push-to-talk radio feature on their website.
“Across the business spectrum, there is intense focus these days on mobility. Companies want to arm employees with the tools needed to do more things from more places—and to do it all faster. Smartphones are getting smarter. And two-way radios are getting smaller and more sophisticated. In fact, cell phones and two-way radios now can be hard to tell apart. With the convergence of the two technologies, it’s natural to ask: Which is right for my business, cell phones or two-way radios?” according to Bearcom.com.
In Raver’s situation it was even financially more sound to choose a push-to-talk and tablet combo than equipping all employees with smartphones. Fireplace Distributors, after the initial expense of the tablets and push-to-talk flip phones, will pay about $50 a month for each technician’s tablet and cell service ensuring 100% mobility.
Bearcom.com also reports that, “A discussion of cell phones and two-way radios naturally will explore the advantages of each technology over various points of comparison. But in most cases, the two technologies are not direct competitors. Instead, cell phones and two-way radios are wireless mobile communications devices that have specific advantages, depending on the user’s requirements.
“So, weighing the two options is really an exercise in needs analysis. That evaluation begins with a discussion of a company’s communications philosophy and the urgency of its communications.”
For a home service company that wants technicians to only have contact with the home office and other co-workers, the push-to-talk feature is a no-brainer. If your company wants to monitor online activity, this push-to-talk and tablet combo gives management even more control over employees overusing the online element of smartphone. GPS also is available of many of these phones.
Push-to-Talk pros:
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Long battery life on new push-to-talk phones like the Samsung Rugby
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Call restriction features
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One button access to contacts
To make the decision for your company on a total workforce management system and what type of mobility technology to choose; first identify the pros and cons of a smartphone, push-to-talk radio function and the speed in which you need to communicate with employees.
Choosing the push-to-talk application could be the key to mobility that your home service company and workforce management system is ready for in today’s business environment.
How to choose workforce management software
Choosing a workforce management system (WFM) for your home cleaning, HVAC, electrical, plumbing or landscape company isn’t the easiest task but can be if your company looks for a provider that offers a few important key features of WFM software.
Most WFM software is cloud-base today because of the benefits that small 
l businesses receive when moving to the cloud, and reports are showing that for small business heading to the cloud is imperative.
A recent report from InfoWorld explained that small companies today, honestly just can’t afford the traditional IT—so heading to the cloud is most cost effective.
If you think about employing a company that handles your IT business or paid IT on staff, your company has to be ready to make a commitment for thousands of dollars being paid out of the budget–which for many small businesses is impossible.
But with a cloud-based WFM product, a monthly or annual fee, along with possible maintenance along the way and a little education for you and your employee’s,
is really all that is required.
So, the investment isn’t nearly so steep with WFM software—and many products also will easily integrate with QuickBooks to keep all of your important data streamlined, stored in the cloud and able to be accessed from anywhere!
What features to look for in WFM software:
- Customer Management: make sure the software can create service orders that includes the customer’s exact requests, history and the ability to communicate exact instructions to technicians
- Billing: accurate invoice billing for exact services, make sure you will never miss a billing cycle with good software and the ability to create invoices while still at the job
- Technician Management: efficient WFM software will have a technician management feature that will create time sheets, note availability, create driving routes for efficient use of time and energy
- Scheduling: is one of the most important WFM features, you should be able to create schedules using interactive techniques, only schedule technicians who meet job requirements and provide the customer with reliable appointment times and copies of work order.
- Mobility: Most important is the mobility feature that cloud-base systems provide. Communication is key because everything will be in real time including new jobs, updated jobs or cancelled jobs. This feature will remove wasteful and inefficient paperwork by communicating directly from the office to the field.
Today’s goal: focus on mobile management
Just a few years ago we were all just discovering the benefits of mobile applications in our personal life and now mobile applications for smartphones and tablets are common, and needed, in day to day business operations.
CIO Insight, the voice of the CIO community that provides analysis for the IT industry, reports that mobile management today is a way to keep your business on the go and in constant operation; which increases speed and customer satisfaction, among other benefits.
Now, factor in cloud computing technology that gives your company access to the most important business files anywhere in the world.
CIO Insight even goes so far to say that “the logical solution is to hire a mobile operations manager for your company to oversee the increasing mobile business.”
If your company isn’t large enough for a mobile operations manager to monitor your mobile applications and employees; the first step would be sourcing a trusted and reliable workforce management system.
A modern workforce management system is essential in today’s business world and new systems are cloud-based; ensuring that all of your important information can be accessed from anywhere.
Once you choose a workforce management system that is tailored to your industry, the next step is to transition all of your business information to the system. A good workforce management provider will be with you step by step as your company transitions to the new system.
It’s important to create a transition plan so all employees are aware and kept up to date with changes in operations. Once all important business data is stored in the cloud, your workforce can be in constant contact for any business and customer needs. Every part of your business will run smoother and faster.
Accenture, a global management consulting and technology company, says that workforce management systems offer higher performance levels, increased time for business analysis and a reduction of overall labor costs—which in return provides better service at lower costs.
Other workforce management benefits include:
- Customer Management: create service orders (jobs); know the customer’s exact requirements, read their history, communicate accurate information.
- Billing: invoice accurately for the exact services required, create recurring invoices to never miss the next billing cycle, create invoices while still on the job expediting when the customer pays you.
- Technician Management: manage technicians’ skills, inventory, and availability; create timesheets based on their known assignments, route them efficiently; and provide them with the latest mobile devices to receive job information and history automatically.
- Scheduling and Dispatch: create the schedule using interactive techniques, only schedule technicians who meet the requirements of the job, provide customers with reliable appointments; commit to a service that you can deliver.
- Mobility: communicate in real time from tablets, PCs, laptops and smartphones.
Workforce Management is more than just scheduling
Workforce management is far more than a human resources term or just a way to schedule employees. Managing your workforce is one of the most important aspects of your home service business to maintain happy clients and a high level of service for your customers.
Workforce Management covers customer management, billing, technician management, scheduling–and what Service Proz provides is a way to make all of this mobile!
For example, with Service Proz your employees can clock in at an appointment, check exact job duties from their smartphone along with pulling up a map with directions. At the home office, managers have the ability to schedule technicians, create work orders and bill customers with just a few clicks.
The mobility of using Service Proz in the office and in the field, along with the freedom of using cloud-based software is what will set your HVAC, cleaning or even plumbing company apart from the others.
In the end you save time, money and please your valuable customers with excellent service.
Service Proz can handle your workforce management competitively in today’s market. Contact us today for more information and this fall receive one month free with new service.
Building a Better Business 