Why You Should Be Using HVAC Software

Many self-employed HVAC technicians, startup companies and even well-established businesses in the HVAC industry face the same common pitfalls. Simple or even large mistakes can be prevented by having the foresight in implementing HVAC software into your business which can assist you delivering efficient, productive and proper information flow.

These pitfalls lie within the processes that businesses take to complete objectives, fulfill orders and serve their clients. Ideally, every process within a company needs to be as streamlined as possible, with proper standard operating procedures in place.

This is what we refer to as workflow, and having a good workflow within the company can only amount to more efficiency as a result of increased productivity. The increased productivity stems from a clear and concise flow of information throughout the processes which go into completing an objective or task.

An efficient and intuitive workflow can be better achieved with the use of HVAC service scheduling software than without it.

What Is Workflow?

 

Take these two fantasy HVAC company examples for instance:

  1. Air State AC Ltd
  2. Spring Breeze Ltd

They are both startup HVAC companies with five total employees but they approach their workflow differently.

Air State AC Ltd

Air State AC is quite old fashioned and the boss is quite thrifty. The office will use text messages or pagers to communicate information to the staff, tasks are scheduled on paper or a single desktop and inventory and expenses are kept on a spreadsheet on a single desktop.

They have a contract to repair a hot water heater and Tom is the guy for the job, he is quite skilled when it comes to plumbing. Unfortunately, it turns out the water has leaked over the electrics and Sue needs to be tasked in for this job too.

So Tom has to call or text the office, the office needs to call or text Sue and as you can see the complexity is already building up. Who is to say Sue will even get the text in time? Who is to say she isn’t already tasked to perform some other task or something else gets in the way?

Either way, the customer will have to experience a delay and Air State AC ltd will have disappointed their customer and may even get a worse review then they could have if their workflow was more streamlined.

Spring Breeze Ltd

Spring Breeze, on the other hand, used an HVAC service scheduling software. They are not relying on individual elements to relay information between the staff but instead have centralized all of the information into one piece of software.

Tom the plumber can input the need for an electrician qualified staff member into the HVAC service scheduling software which instantly notifies the office. They can then begin finding a staff member with the skills to perform the task.

Instead of the office wondering whether Sue received the text or if she is otherwise engaged on a completely different ask, the office can see the staff schedules right away. They can task Sue or anybody else in right away and a notification can be displayed straight to an app on their mobile phone where they too can see the company schedule.

With the HVAC service scheduling software, everybody can see the individual tasks that are required to complete an objective and who is responsible for each task. The office can reorganize tasks as they see fit and assign personnel to them.

But That’s Not All…

The concept of workflow and the use of field management software and/or HVAC service scheduling software doesn’t just stop at the scheduling of staff, in fact, that’s just where it begins.

Any business, from small startups to large companies employing over 100 staff can greatly benefit from the various features that HVAC service scheduling software and field management software have to offer.

Inventory Management

Inventory management features allow you to keep track of parts, tools and consumables available in the inventories of the main branch, side branches and in the technicians van. Each department or employee can easily keep track of stock and amend the inventory as items are used.

This allows your company and staff to stay prepared for any job that could come around the corner and better keep track of expenses on equipment.

GPS and Real-Time Tracking

Having a GPS built right into the app and having it synchronize with the job scheduling feature is extremely handy. It gives the technician a direct route to where they need to be without them needing to look it up themselves and potentially make mistakes.

It’s also really valuable for the office to see where the technicians are at any given time so that if there are delays, they can communicate honestly and accurately with the customer. Staff can also be tracked to make sure they are at the right place at the right time.

Field Communication

The mobile apps that accompany some field service management software also come equipped with the ability for the technician to take and share photos out in the field directly with colleagues.

The technicians themselves are able to create jobs and issue invoices while out in the field which better facilitates ethical up-selling.

Many More Features

As we implied, different HVAC software providers will vary in the specific features that their product offers. They will also differ in their implementation of the features alongside the user-friendliness of their software.

Features such as on-site inventory keeping, customer portal, automatic scheduling, invoicing, API compatibility, estimating and quoting capabilities and other software integration all exist to make your business run smoother and the lives of you and your staff easier!

The Advantages Of HVAC Service Scheduling Software

 

The Advantages Of HVAC Service Scheduling Software

With all that being said about improving the workflow of your HVAC company, let us just summarize exactly how an HVAC service scheduling software can be beneficial.

  • Increased Task Efficiency 
  • Increased Staff Productivity 
  • More Motivated and Engaged Workforce 
  • More Helpful Customer Support 
  • Streamlined Administration 
  • Reduced Lost Leads 
  • Increased Flexibility

The organizational capabilities that HVAC service scheduling software grant you gives you the ability to work faster and more efficiently. This gives you a great edge over your competition as you will show that your company works to a professional standard.

When your team is fully equipped for every job, are going to where they need to be and performing their tasks on the deadline set, your company is ultimately going to look more competent in the eyes of your clients or customers.

Even when handling delays or disappointed customers, with a better flow of information throughout your company, you are better able to provide accurate and honest customer support mitigating potential damage to your brand.

Can HVAC Service Scheduling Softwares Benefit a Small Business?

The more staff members that there are in your business the more disorganized and difficult to manage it becomes and so larger workforces will benefit far more than smaller ones. However, self-employed individuals, partnerships and small startups still have a lot to gain from this type of software.

Organized and Convenient

Even though the need to manage staff in such a perfectly organized way is less of a requirement, it does help when the scheduling and job information is in a place where everybody involved in the small business can see it. That way it’s easier for everybody to be the same wavelength.

It’s also extremely useful as a small business to have all of your inventory, jobs, schedules and your customer information to be accessed in one place. If your software of choice has a cloud-based system, this also means your centralized information can also be accessed from your phone while you are out in the field.

Room For Growth

What’s more, is HVAC service scheduling software is a means to facilitate business growth and because the software available are so flexible you can adjust it to suit your business at any stage of in its lifetime.

Compare that to having paperwork and digital documents, as your business grows the need for more paperwork and digital documents grows. Come one point in time you can be swamped with so much disorganized information that it results in mismanagement, unhappy customers and lost leads.

With a piece of software, you can keep all of that information in one place and expand it as you need without getting swamped due to a streamlined user interface and useful organizational facilities.