Category: news

Why effective job tracking is the key to delighting customers

Posted on by Martin Port

In this day and age, your customer experience can make or break your field service business.

In fact, companies that lead in customer experience outperform laggards by nearly 80%. Not to mention 84% of companies that work to improve their customer experience report an increase in their revenue.

One key tool that helps field service businesses improve customer experience is job tracking software.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the different ways job tracking software can take your customer experience to the next level – starting with a quick definition. 

WHAT IS JOB TRACKING SOFTWARE?

Job tracking software is a versatile business tool. From time tracking to job tracking and vehicle tracking – it can be used to improve many things for field service management businesses.

For instance, you can see the status of each job from creation to completion. This makes it easy to keep both customers and managers informed of job progress. 

Here are just a handful of the benefits real businesses are seeing:

  • 90% improvement in admin efficiency
  • 70% boost in productivity
  • 5 X more services carried out per month
  • 15% reduction in transport costs

But one of the biggest benefits is the fact it can play a significant role in improving the overall customer experience. In fact, in just one example, a B2B business recorded a 25% boost in customer service rating due to quicker scheduling and faster call-out responses.

And for field service businesses like this one, live job tracking provides customers with alerts saying an engineer is on the way so that they don’t have to stay in and wait.

HOW JOB TRACKING DELIGHTS CUSTOMERS

We’ve touched on this briefly, but let’s delve into this more…

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #1: EMPOWERS YOUR TEAM

This may seem backward, but businesses that win with their customer experience start with their employees. 

Job tracking software is designed to be easy to use. It allows multiple employees to log in and track job progress in real-time. In fact, jobs can be opened and edited at the click of a button.

Why’s this important? Ultimately, it means job status reports are up-to-date, allowing you to inform customers instantly so they don’t have to wait to receive documentation. And if there’s an issue, the nearest engineer can be redirected to a job (more on this later).

This is all made possible by using the right solution and mobile app. This is key to real-time updates, as it allows engineers to communicate on the move. BigChange’s mobile app, for example, maximises efficiency by connecting your back office and field engineers in one system.

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #2: BOOSTS CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION

Today’s customers want transparency, timeliness, and constant communication. 

Job tracking software allows you to do just that. It keeps customers in the loop with automatic updates on job progress and arrival times. And the ease of automated communication boosts customer experiences and frees up your time to focus on service delivery.

Plus, with the back office having full visibility of a job’s status, it helps to eliminate errors. For example, an invoice won’t be sent to a customer in error when the job isn’t yet signed off (‘completed with issues’), or if your engineer was unable to gain access.  

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #3: IMPROVES FIRST-TIME FIX RATES

The number one reason clients complain about services is that the engineer wasn’t able to resolve the issue on the first visit. 

It’s an all too common issue in field service businesses. 

Yet, with job management software, customers can add notes and attachments when requesting a job. If a fix is flagged at a later point, first-time fixes are even more likely because the engineer knows the make, model number, and issue, so they are likely to have the right parts.  

What’s more, using real-time data on parts in vans, engineer skills, and location, job tracking software can help you to assign the right team and equipment to the right site when issues do inevitably occur. 

While this is great for improving customer satisfaction, when a job gets completed on the first visit, you can reduce costs and do more jobs in a day. You can boost efficiencies for your business too.

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #4: PROVIDES CUSTOMERS WITH INSTANT DOCUMENTS 

Once a field technician has completed a job, they can fill out all relevant information on their device, providing real-time updates on job cards (including warranties, images and test results).

Then when it comes to invoicing (if the job is complete), the accounts team can send the customer a digital invoice in seconds. Once invoiced, customers can then pay their invoice immediately using a range of convenient online options. 

Not only do online payment methods ensure that your business bills are settled quickly and on time, but customers will have a smoother experience in dealing with the company and be more inclined to use your services again.

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #5: ALLOWS FOR RAPID RESPONSES

Essentially, job tracking allows businesses to respond rapidly. There are a number of reasons why job tracking can help with this:

  • Availability of full customer history – This means you can send through site details and customer-specific information, such as health and safety regs, prior to arrival.
  • Finding the nearest resource to go to a specific location – Integration with other platforms, such as What3words, allows engineers to even find unmapped sites – invaluable for new builds or companies delivering, say, port-a-loos to festivals. This also helps meet KPIs and SLAs.
  • Preempting needs – To stay proactive, you can even use customer service history to detect when client equipment is due – for preventative maintenance, servicing, or upgrades. 

As a side note, a field service technician who is prepared instils more confidence in customers.

JOB TRACKING BENEFIT #6: GET INSTANT FEEDBACK

Even when customers are happy, there is always room for improvement. Fundamentally, this is what sets you apart from competitors and prompts growth.

This is where automation can help. For example, using automated survey requests allows you to ask customers to rate their experience immediately following a job. This is a much more efficient way to capture feedback than manual processes like emailing or calling. 

Once you have the feedback, you can digest it and make plans to improve service and customer experience. 

And if you don’t get many replies to requests for customer feedback, you can also use job tracking software to review business intelligence data and KPIs to gain valuable insights to improve service levels. 

Now that you know how job tracking delights customers, here is a case study of it in action.

Job tracking in action: Heatforce

Heating company, Heatforce, has used the latest job tracking software to boost its customer service rating by 25% in just six months.

Before implementing job tracking software, Heatforce was inundated with paper and with separate systems, it was proving increasingly difficult to manage operations, so they knew they needed to completely overhaul everything.

“With BigChange, office efficiency has already increased by 25%. In addition, improved job scheduling means fewer miles are being travelled, and productivity is up, especially as engineers don’t need to come to the office as often. We’ve also increased contract win rates thanks to the added capability BigChange gives us, and, despite the lockdown challenges of recent months, the system has actually enabled us to increase our profitability.”

For more on this, you can read more about how Heatforce boosted customer service here.

INVEST IN THE RIGHT JOB TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

By investing in the right all-in-one solution, your entire team can improve response time, reduce costs, and better satisfy customers. 

And to top it off – First-time fix rates will soar! 🚀

Ready to accelerate growth for your business? Book a free one-to-one demo here today to see how BigChange can help you improve efficiencies and customer experience.

How to choose the best gas engineer software

Posted on by Martin Port

Gas engineer software makes planning, tracking, and monitoring jobs a total breeze. 

With a range of features like job scheduling, real-time job tracking, and automated invoicing, job management software is a no-brainer for gas engineer businesses.

But because all tools aren’t built the same, it’s critical you choose the best software for your business.

In case you need convincing, an estimated 48% of field service businesses use job management software. Many of these are boosting growth by 35%. Additionally, businesses that invest in job management software boost productivity by 40% – and waste less money than businesses that don’t.

These stats are hard to ignore. 

With that in mind, let’s dive into how you can choose the best software for your business.

WHY GAS ENGINEER SOFTWARE IS A GROWTH MUST-HAVE

In short, gas engineer software gets rid of the headache caused by scattered and chaotic paper-based operations and replaces it with an all-in-one solution that has everything you need and is easy-to-use.

The end result? Unshackled from the burden of admin, you can free up your team to take on more jobs. You get paid faster and boost your cash flow by invoicing in seconds — not days or even weeks. And you can reduce operational spend by optimising travel routes, reducing fuel, and resource costs.

But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at this handful of real results:

  • 90% improvement in admin time 
  • 25% efficiency improvement
  • 30% increase in productivity
  • 25% boost in customer service ratings

So, how can you get results like this?

Ultimately, with the right job management software, you can:

Quickly find what you need, on-the-go:

✅ Access digital risk assessments, gas safety certificates, and COSHH sheets.

✅ Keep all contracts safe and in one place.

✅ Search and filter documents to instantly find what you need.

Update jobs in real-time:

✅ Storing everything on a secure cloud means your teams have full visibility of jobs.

✅ Optimise engineers’ time and instantly capture signatures, upload photos, and find full job details.

Keep customers satisfied:

✅ Send key date reminders to customers.

✅ Alerts ensure your teams never miss a deadline.

✅ Grow relationships by giving your teams a 360˚ view of every account.

Boost cash flow:

✅ Get paid faster by updating jobs and issuing invoices on-the-go (or by automating them).

✅ Only order the parts you need.

✅ Track engineers in real-time and divert them if there’s an issue.

✅ Intelligent reporting provides financial information, such as work-in-progress (WIP) reports and profitability forecasts.

Now we know why gas engineer software is a no-brainer, let’s take a look at the features to look out for when choosing gas engineer software. 

CHECKLIST: 6 BEST FEATURES FOR GAS ENGINEER SOFTWARE

You might have seen there are quite a few gas engineer software solutions out there. But not every solution is built the same. So let’s look at exactly what you need to gain streamlined operations and deliver superior customer experiences:

#1: IS IT AN ALL-IN-ONE JOB MANAGEMENT SOLUTION?

  • Does it allow for easy job tracking, managing invoicing securely, and easily hold documents?
  • Does it allow for live GPS tracking so that both you and your customers can see where engineers and parts are?
  • Can all your team members access the solution for easy collaboration (with the option to prevent access to sensitive information)?

#2: DOES IT ALLOW ENGINEERS TO MAKE REAL-TIME JOB UPDATES VIA A MOBILE APP?

  • Is there a mobile app for engineers to update jobs in real-time?
  • Is the system user-friendly and visual?
  • Can engineers access the safety documents they need and input new customer information, like the location of the gas meter and stopcock, while on-site? Or schedule themselves additional jobs when required?

#3: CAN IT EASILY AND SECURELY STORE GAS SAFETY DOCUMENTS?

  • Does it provide an easily accessible digital library of COSHH certificates, essential health and safety documents, and more?
  • Does it allow for easy completion of digital risk assessments and other compliance forms?
  • Is the solution industry compliant?

#4: DOES IT PROVIDE AUTOMATION?

  • Can it trigger alerts to notify engineers when new jobs arrive on their mobile device?
  • Can it send customer reminders? 
  • Can it send automated Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) reminders for jobs such as machine or boiler servicing and allow customers to book in their renewal?

#5: CAN IT STREAMLINE INVOICING?

  • Does it enable you to issue an invoice and job sheet as soon as the job is complete?
  • Can you send automated or batch invoicing directly through the software?
  • Does it easily integrate with other systems like your accounting software to avoid double data entry?

#6: DOES IT GIVE YOU A 360-DEGREE VIEW OF YOUR CUSTOMER?

  • Does it provide real-time engineer and job status updates?
  • Can you view customer quotes and invoices?
  • Can you view customer documents like signatures, gas safety certificates and photos?

👉In summary, the right solution for you is one that eliminates as many manual processes as possible from your day-to-day work, saving you precious time and effort. Determine which tasks you need automated and invest in a solution that can efficiently automate these features and much more. 

Psst. BigChange has all these features and more. Take a look here.

If you still need a little more convincing, here’s a real-life case study in action.

CASE STUDY: GAS ENGINEER SOFTWARE IN ACTION

Celsius plumbing and heating identified an opportunity to provide homeowners with the type of professional plumbing and heating service normally reserved for demanding ‘big contract’ commercial clients. 

The challenge was working out how to achieve the desired levels of service as a relatively small and new player in the market.

The solution

Moving away from the cumbersome paperwork that burdened businesses like Celsius, the company made the switch to digital working, leveraging cloud and mobile technology. This covered every step from engineer scheduling to completion — eliminating paperwork at all stages.  

The result?

Here’s what Celsius said:

  • We used to average 6 jobs a day, but now we are doing 7 or 8, meaning that our engineers are often 30% more productive.
  • Our service booking success rate increased from 20% to 90%.
  • Customers love the system. It’s really easy to book a date and time online and with ETA notifications on the day they know when an engineer will arrive.

“In the office, the productivity gains are even greater. With a single, paperless system, BigChange has not just cut administrative work but, through automation, we have significantly reduced the customer calls we make. Saving all that wasted time – we are certainly 40% more efficient – it has in effect freed up two members of staff to focus on important things like customer service.”

Celsius Plumbing and Heating using our gas engineer software

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

As with any software solution, gas engineer software needs to be easy to use, accessible by all (and on-the-go) and with built-in features that take away the administrative burden of physical paperwork.

Otherwise, it defeats the object of having it: to drive efficiencies.

But to really drive growth, you need a solution that goes beyond that. With features like job tracking, real-time GPS tracking for engineers, automation and more — you can really start to drive cost reductions. This is everything from customer booking reminders, fuel cost reduction, and booking in more jobs, through to redirecting nearby engineers in a crisis.

The bottom line is the right software for gas engineers will pay for itself very quickly. Plus, it will improve customer experiences like never before.

Why Shacklocks, Celsius and Heatforce choose BigChange

Trusted by 130+ UK plumbing and heating businesses, BigChange’s paperless gas engineer software is specifically designed to enable business growth.

Say goodbye to chaos and hello to a boost in productivity 🚀

Our software for gas engineers gives plumbing and heating companies the power to do more, guarantees operational compliance and delivers winning customer experiences. (More on this in our brochure).

Ready to put BigChange to the test? Book a free demo here today to see how BigChange can help you grow stronger.

7 Ways To Improve Job Management in 2023

Posted on by Martin Port

Traditionally, job management was symbolised by three things: a pencil, a sheet of paper, and T-cards. 

However, as technology and customer expectations evolve, field service businesses are making the move to job management software. 

In this blog, we’ll walk you through seven ways to improve job management in 2023. 

But first, let’s get into why improving job management is so important for field service businesses. 

Challenges of field service management

Efficient, seamless, and quality field service management isn’t always easy. Aspects that negatively affect the customer experience include:

  • Long waiting times
  • Poor customer communication
  • Lack of information for field service engineers

As well as leading to unhappy customers, these challenges can also increase the need for costly return visits and leave your team feeling stressed. 

The global pandemic has changed field service management for many organisations. We’re seeing a spike in businesses adopting new solutions to improve job management and future-proof their businesses. 

So, how do you keep customers happy, and help field engineers perform at their best? Below, we outline our top seven tips.

7 ways field service teams can improve job management in 2023

The first step to update your approach to job management is to go digital with the right job management software. 

In short, the primary purpose of job management software is to assist field service businesses to run a more efficient and profitable business. 

In this respect, job management platforms have numerous advantages. 

Uniting job scheduling, resource management, team collaboration, finance and billing, job tracking and reporting, you can quickly and easily manage projects from quote to invoice. 

Here’s the top seven ways to improve job management in 2023 and a walkthrough of each benefit individually:

Route engineers more efficiently 

With pump prices at an 18-year high and not set to significantly fall anytime soon, fuel costs can quickly run up the bill. 

That’s why it’s in your best interest to ensure engineers take the fastest and shortest routes to site. The right job management platform can map the most efficient route to reduce travel time.

Job management software solutions can also help you to react faster to urgent jobs by finding the nearest resource to a specific location. Real-time updates also let you know when a worker finishes a job and can take on a new job. 

Keep on schedule

In the past, customers were happy enough to wait hours or days for an engineer or piece of equipment to arrive. Today’s customers expect you to value their time – which means you can’t leave scheduling to chance. 

Modern job management tools ensure you assign the right engineer, resources, and parts to the right job – all while keeping your customers fully informed. Likewise, keeping track of vehicles can help with maintaining your fleet. 

Gain real-time information 

Real-time information is helpful for all involved in a field service job, from engineers, to finance, and, of course, the end customer. 

For example, an increasing number of consumers want to see modern technology with ‘Amazon-type’ features like real-time updates, the engineer’s location, and two-way communication. 

It also acts as a real-time link between the office and the fieldworker, meaning that you can send images and documents with a customer on-site. Plus, it allows job cards to be sent immediately after the job is completed.

Optimise resource management 

Good resource management can help make significant savings with the costs of machinery and vehicles. 

In contrast, increased downtime and inefficient use of assets eats into profit margins. 

But by tracking assets, you can fully optimise their use, whether it’s ensuring that vehicles are regularly serviced or that certification and industry credentials are kept up to date. In fact, 96% of companies that use fleet tracking find it beneficial and users reported a positive return on investment six months after implementation. 

Job management tools also reduce the need to have more than one engineer on-site to solve an issue. Through cloud storage, engineers can access previous service history and vital documents to perform tasks better.

Improve time management

Historically, managers have had a hard time managing field service teams and monitoring the quality and punctuality of their work.

With the right software and improved scheduling tools, you can cut admin time by 60-70% – and view precise locations and whether the job started on time via job tracking.

You can make job and resource allocations faster and make it easy for all employees to know what to do, when, and where. 

Reduce manual work

Manually keying in work orders, customer information and tasks to separate systems takes time and is prone to human-error. 

Instead, your workflows could be automated and integrated. 

Plus, not only can job management be automated, but also reports, certificates, and customer documents can be created automatically. 

Improve cash flow

In today’s day and age, it’s more important than ever to keep tight control of the financial reins, whether via excellent reporting or tighter control of stock and preventative maintenance scheduling.

The good news is, financial documents can be created straight from a job’s information, resulting in improved cash flow – and no un-invoiced jobs.  

The future is digital

Businesses across all industries are undergoing digital transformation, and a similar process is underway for field service management businesses. 

Every day, we’re seeing more and more field service businesses make the switch from traditional manual methods and legacy systems to more modern integrated job management platforms. 

Whether you’re in the market for job management software or are looking to make the switch to a complete end-to-end solution, the team at BigChange is here to help. 

In short, digital job management solutions can have an immediate effect on your profitability, efficiency, and customer experience. 

How BigChange’s job management software provides competitive advantage (with examples)

Posted on by Martin Port

Field service businesses, large and small, juggle many jobs, tasks, and people. Having the right solution keeps everything and everyone organised and able to run jobs in a way that is accurate, efficient, and profitable. 

The benefits that the right job management software brings are boundless.

In fact, field service management software is probably the single most useful tool in making you more competitive and setting you apart from the rest of your industry.

How BigChange provides a strong competitive advantage 

At BigChange, it’s our mission to make our customers successful by accelerating growth and sustainability in our community. 

In fact, our approach is revolutionising an under-resourced but critical part of the UK economy. For the first time, these businesses can be truly scalable. 

We’ve even won awards for it. 

We are extremely proud to celebrate winning The Business Enabler of the Year at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards, the UK’s most prestigious national awards honouring the innovation, success, and resilience of British business. (And we are proud to be the first job management software company to do so.)

Why did we win this award? The win recognises our contribution to helping SME field service businesses transform operational efficiency, productivity, and customer service – and for using our position to promote best practice, safer driving, and compliance with field teams.

Speaking of best practice, in this blog, we’ll walk you through seven examples of how we’re helping BigChange customers to gain a competitive advantage, starting with one of the key benefits of job management software – effortless scheduling. 

Example #1: Effortless Scheduling

Intelligent scheduling allows customers to schedule jobs, see if resources are on schedule, and send and receive automated messaging.

By the same token, not only can customers schedule and reschedule jobs quickly and easily, but so too can field service engineers. 

Take MEDLEC, for example. The electrical contractor boosted worker productivity by 40% thanks to engineers being able to self-allocate jobs.  

“As jobs come in, they are instantly available to our engineers. It means we can be more reactive and efficient with our time, therefore we’re around 40% more productive, allowing us to take on more work with the same resources.”

If you haven’t considered job management software before, you can see how easy it is to schedule a job below.

You can simply drag and drop a job onto the schedule – and send it straight to your mobile workforce.

Example #2: Paperless Operations

It goes without saying, going paperless is one of the hallmarks of a good job management process. 

You can’t gain efficiencies when you spend so much time double-keying the same information into several systems, writing up job sheets, and using T-cards.

Going digital reduces admin time, plus overall job time – and human error. 

With all your key information stored digitally, your team can access it from anywhere in an instant. The increased efficiency will mean you get more work done – with the same amount of people. 

It’s good for the planet too. 🌍

Look for an all-in-one cloud-based solution that can link up with Sage 50, Xero and more. 

But don’t just take it from us, see what plumbing and heating firm, Celsius, said: 

“The new link between BigChange & Xero is now seamless and instant no delays. We only have to enter data once and that cuts hours off our admin time. Now anyone can raise an invoice we don’t have to rely solely on the accounts team. This system automation will allow us to grow without increasing our back office headcount.”

Example #3: Easy To Use Mobile App

Even those with job management software in place can fall short without a mobile app. 

Your workforce is mainly on the road, so it’s critical they have everything they need on the go.

 A mobile app reduces job time, improves first-time fix rates, and more. Specifically, jobs can be sent to field workers in real-time allowing for urgent changes to happen instantly. 

In fact, everything you want your field workers to have can be made available on a customer-by-customer basis, from site maps to manuals, forms and worksheets.

What makes BigChange the best job management software for many clients is its integration with vehicle and job tracking. This allows vehicle locations to be displayed on a secure, web-based mapping system. This real-time tracking provides instant visibility of technicians, as well as traffic conditions – reducing customer wait times and travel costs and emissions.

Talking about the solution, Danny Fuller, Operations Director, at LDF said:

BigChange handles our job management brilliantly, linking site history, alerts and client access rules seamlessly,” he continued. “The function for multiday work, grouped jobs and the allocation of purchase orders is also fantastic and being able to link multiple teams, and multiple jobs to the same address has been a godsend.”

BigChange is also saving LDF customers time and money, evidenced by 86% of its business coming from repeat customers.  

Example #4: Accurate Job Tracking

Accurate tracking means complete visibility of your field based teams, vehicles, and assets with real-time updates.

Knowing exactly where your field workers are at all times, means you can reroute them if necessary or divert them to pick-up van stock from the nearest supplier or colleague.

You can also plan and reduce fuel costs with smart routing between jobs. 

These efficiencies can translate into big profits, as illustrated by J W Hinchcliffe (Tanks):

“Since we went live with BigChange around 2 years ago, we have increased our turnover by around 35 per cent. “BigChange has freed up my time to run the business rather than it running me. This has allowed me to invest time in other areas of the business, such as the website, advertising and customer care, which has undoubtedly contributed to our growth.”

Example #5: Robust CRM Database

In today’s world, how you manage customers matters. 

With a CRM system built for field service businesses, you can improve customer satisfaction through instant communication. Customers can log into a customer portal, track job progress, leave feedback, and directly communicate with your business. 

Plus, field service operations become easier to manage. With full customer history, you can send reminders for recurring jobs, such as servicing of machinery and scheduled PPM (planned preventative maintenance). And you can also see full financial history with a customer as well as associated images, attachments, and contracts. 

Of course, the real value of a CRM comes when it is integrated with your job management software. 

As an example, before BigChange, Omnia Plumbing used a standalone diary system, separate accounting software, and no CRM – which meant countless phone calls and lots of wasted time. Talking about the switch to BigChange, Omnia’s owner, Alastair Barton said:

“Since implementing BigChange, our customer interaction has vastly improved with automated ETAs and updates, and project-specific information available wherever and whenever it’s needed. The vehicle tracking also means we never miss billing a job which saves us literally tens of thousands of pounds every year!”

Example #6: Strong Network and Partnership

Another way to gain competitive advantage is through a strong network and partnerships. 

In a nutshell, a strong network allows you to offer yourself as a contractor/subcontractor or look for contractors/subcontractors safe in the knowledge they are trustworthy partners. 

At BigChange, we are huge advocates of a partnership approach. We even have an entire team dedicated to it. 

The BigChange “Network” provides the ideal platform for collaboration between customers. 

To see how it works in practice, watch our overview video, below.

Example #7: Critical Business Intelligence

When evaluating job management software, it’s easy to focus on ease of job scheduling, and all those other important elements to improve efficiencies. While all of this is important, we sometimes forget to consider business information. 

Access to business intelligence insights can highlight opportunities to not only improve efficiency but also forecast cash flow management. 

With ‘at-a-glance’ dashboards, you gain improved insight into your business. You can set-up KPIs and track job completion stages, financial reports with details on work in progress, and much more. 

It’s so important that everybody, from engineers to back-office staff have access to the right information, as Adam Redgwick, from Warmaway, points out:

“The engineers know in advance what their day looks like and they know they have the information they need to deal with each and every job. With BigChange, even the back-office staff know they have the tools they need to get the job done from scheduling to keeping the customers informed and managing cash flow.”

Award-winning field service business: NWCE 

What’s even better than winning awards ourselves is seeing our clients win them.

NWCE Foodservice Equipment has recently won a Catering Insight award in the category Distributor of the Year Digital Initiative.

Powered by BigChange, the food service equipment company is now able to save 31.4 miles in a day, saving roughly 31 minutes of driving time with live traffic forecasting.

This converts to a massive reduction of 1.5 tons of CO₂ per van, per year!

See for yourself👇

Gain competitive advantage with BigChange

As you plan for next year, take the time to consider what’s best for your field service business and how you can maximise efficiencies and improve cash flow to scale and grow. 

If we have you convinced that job management software is the way to do it, start here with a demo to find out if BigChange could work for you. 

BigChange named British Business Enabler of the Year

Posted on by Martin Port

BigChange, the job management software company, is celebrating victory at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards, the UK’s most prestigious national awards programme honouring the innovation, success, and resilience of British business.

The company picked up The Business Enabler of the Year Award, which celebrates outstanding businesses that help their customers to increase sales and profitability and gain a competitive advantage over their rivals. BigChange is the first job management software company to win this award.

The award recognised BigChange’s contribution to helping its small and medium-sized business customers transform operational efficiency, productivity and customer service and for using its position to promote best practices, safer driving and compliant ways of working with field teams.

BigChange has won 300 new customers since the start of 2022 and is now used by 1,900 organisations worldwide in sectors including building maintenance, fire and security, plumbing and heating, waste management, and electrical contracting.

Richard Warley, Chief Executive Officer at BigChange, comments:

“We are absolutely thrilled to win such a prestigious award. The judges recognised the role we’ve played transforming how thousands of trades businesses manage jobs and mobile workers, and the huge positive impact it has made to their productivity, profitability and customer experience.”

Richard Warley, BigChange CEO

Moving from manual to automated job management 

Posted on by Martin Port

Want to grow your field service business? Here, we’ll compare manual versus automated job scheduling to help you win more work and reduce operations costs.

Field service businesses rely on accurate job management and scheduling. Yet many still struggle with a mix of tools and methods that don’t work well together – or use spreadsheets they have outgrown as the company scales. 

Whether you’re just starting to think about automating job management or have a solution already underway, there are significant opportunities for improving job management through automation. 

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the benefits of moving from manual to automated job management and the risks of sticking with a paper-based approach.

Let’s dive in. 

Why move to automated job management?

Automated job management provides the ability to move away from the costly, error-prone ways of manual scheduling towards improving the overall management of your entire business.

It reduces admin, increases efficiency, and provides excellent cost savings. 

In fact, after moving to digital and automated processes, JWH Tanks saw 35% growth:

“We have slashed the time taken to produce vital documentation for each job. Customised worksheets such as tank cleaning reports and consignment notes can be completed simply by our engineers, which is complemented by easy access to important safety information such as method statements and risk assessments.” 

The end result? JWH Tanks has raised customer service levels with real-time updates and ETAs. They’ve minimised administrative costs to increase turnover. And they’ve reduced errors such as data duplication.

The risks of a manual approach

If you haven’t moved to automated job management, you’re not alone. In 2018, over half (52%) of businesses were still using manual methods for the bulk of their field service processes. 

Yet manual methods pose huge risks. 

A manual or paper-based approach means information stored in multiple places – including lots of spreadsheets, office whiteboards, T-cards, and printed job sheets. 

Updates are often made by engineers via calls and text messages or even by post. And you’d have to wait to receive the printed job sheets before updating a job and then manually raise an invoice.

While spreadsheets are easy to use – they aren’t made for job scheduling. They also rely on everyone having access to a live version and being able to track changes.

Ultimately, this all makes job management a lengthy and admin-heavy process. 

Plus, it’s prone to bottlenecks and involves a lot of coordination, deadlines, and data entry – the risk of human error is huge. 

Not to mention these additional challenges that manual processes present:

  • Paperwork – As well as the need for manual data input to systems, paperwork can also get lost, it can be difficult to interpret different hand-writing, and keep up with job progress. Plus, updates aren’t in real-time.
  • Invoicing – Manual invoicing can be slow, disorganised and negatively impact cash flow.
  • Competitive disadvantage – Competitors can leap ahead with quicker scheduling and smoother customer experiences (with automation, they can provide live updates on a job).

The bottom line? This approach can’t be easily scaled to support a growing business. This is why we’ve seen a real shift in the market with more and more field service businesses making the leap to automation.

For smaller businesses, the need or urgency for a move away from manual job management is less pressing. However, if you hope to grow your business, it might make sense to look for an alternative sooner rather than later.

As an interesting side note, during the pandemic, businesses that quickly moved to automated job management software could continue to operate seamlessly. Whilst we never want to experience something like this again, it’s good to future-proof your business for the unknowns.

Benefits of automated job management

Moving away from manual processes, automated job management uses specialist job management software to allow for accelerated growth in a way that paper systems just can’t handle.

How? Going paperless means all information is available at all times, regardless of your location. This means you can check a job’s progress or send an invoice from anywhere and from your mobile!

Likewise, because this type of platform can automate all the steps in the job management process – and requires only minimal admin input – it ensures efficiency and eliminates effort. 

As a result, you can adapt and scale to changing needs, provide 24-hour service availability, comply with legal requirements, and free up valuable time. 

For savvy field service businesses, it’s a no-brainer. 

No bottlenecks, no data issues, and no more struggling to get a mish-mash of tools and spreadsheets working. Just job management and scheduling that works. 

Here are some additional benefits:

  • Increase the number of bookings – Reduce administration so you can focus resources on booking and attending more jobs. 
  • Speed and accuracy of job scheduling – Arrange job scheduling in the most time and fuel-efficient way, allowing you to do more jobs with the same number of engineers.
  • Respond quickly to new opportunities – Everything from quicker generation of quotes and proposals, through to automating timely follow-up emails and reminders.
  • Quickly adjust job schedules on the go – With a real-time view of every job, engineer and vehicle, you can respond to unforeseen circumstances such as emergency call-outs, driver illness or a vehicle breakdown.
  • Route your team to the nearest jobs – With live tracking and a precise location of a site, you can send drivers exactly where they need to be whilst keeping fuel costs down.
  • Increase profits – Automate everything from timesheets to customer service due reminders to reduce administrative costs, freeing up your team’s time for more bookings.
  • Run a more cost-efficient business – Say goodbye to admin errors and lost paperwork. Automated workflows ensure every job is done right every time, using the closest resource.
  • Improve the customer experience and response times – Say hello to automated, real-time customer updates and ETAs. Plus, have access to all customer details (full job history for each customer, including financial history, model numbers, contact details and more).

In a nutshell, you can run a healthier business: An automated job management system can have a ripple effect through a business positively impacting all processes and teams involved. 

With the ability to link data with the click of a button, so many areas of mobile operations can be streamlined. 

This is why businesses like A&S Newbuild Aftercare have seen a boost to turnover of £5m in just two years. Here’s how:

“We have complete visibility of everything going on in real-time… It has allowed us to really streamline our mobile operations. Tradesmen are now much more self-sufficient; journeys to the depot are rare, first fix rates are improved, and there are fewer wasted hours.”

The end result? Automation allows A&S to meet any contract specification, opening up new business opportunities and much bigger contracts – with the assurance that they can deliver exceptional service.

Make the move to automated job management 

Automated job management can help you save two of your business’s most critical resources – time and money. 

Even when you have a small number of employees, manual job management can create a mass of work and lead to errors. Of course, the problem only increases as your business grows. 

The good news is that automated job management software can take the burden off your shoulders – replacing 70-80% of repetitive work, such as keying in paper-based job sheets – so you can focus on more value-added work. 

In conclusion, moving from manual to automated job management ensures your business stays on the path to continued growth. Ultimately, you can differentiate yourself as a market leader with a strong competitive advantage.

If you’re ready to grow your business and profit margins, you’re probably ready for automated job scheduling. Take a look at this latest blog for a checklist of must-haves to look for in a job management software provider. 

Or, jump straight and book a one-on-one demo with our field service bus

Top 5 Must-Haves When Choosing Job Management Software [Quick Checklist]

Posted on by Martin Port

Decided to move to job management software, but need to ensure you’re choosing the best option for your needs? Here’s the key criteria to consider.

If you’re running a field service business in this day and age, it helps to use job management software. Delivering improved cost savings, efficiency, and profits — it’s not surprising it’s so popular among time-pressed businesses. 

You’ll never go back to messy spreadsheets or paper job sheets again. 

But once you’ve made the decision to invest, what do you need to consider? And what key factors should you think about when choosing job management software? 

Let’s get into it.

How to choose the best job management software

If you’ve decided to move to job management software (also known as field service management software), how do you ensure you’re choosing the best option for your needs? 

📝Here are some of the key criteria that should make their way onto your list.

Criteria for choosing job management software

  • All-in-one solution with the right integrations
  • Easy-to-use (even for those less tech-savvy)
  • Advantages beyond job management
  • Strong supplier and partnership relationship
  • Ability to scale with your business

To help you assess each one, we’ve pulled together some key questions to consider when weighing up solutions and suppliers. 

#1. What do you need your job management software to do? 

Some job management software providers offer job scheduling. Others are designed to support customer quoting and invoicing. Others major in job progress tracking.

If you’re lucky, you’ll find one that can do all three with ease.

Having a clear idea of your priorities can make the selection process far easier. 

The key here is to think about your objectives – what are you looking for in your job management software? Is one area more important to you than another? 

Or maybe, the ideal software is an all-in-one solution that fully integrates with other useful systems. For example, syncing up your finance software such as Sage or Xero, plus GPS and What3Words for location finding. 

Similarly, one thing that businesses find particularly handy is software with the ability to automatically create job cards and industry-specific certificates that can be quickly shared with customers.  \

#2. Who will be using it? 

Often, one of the reasons businesses want to introduce job management software is to make everyone’s life easier. If this is one of your reasons for investing in mobile workforce management, it needs to be part of your decision process. 

Given that, think about the skill set of those you want to make use of the solution. Are they all good with software? Not everyone is ‘app savvy’. 

You want to avoid a complex or unintuitive solution – what you invest in needs to be user-friendly with support on hand. 

Likewise, to ensure adoption with your users, your solution needs to allow anyone – not just management – to access and update jobs if it’s to deliver real benefits to your business.

Aside from your field teams, think about who else might need access to the software, such as stock control, reporting, finance and other teams. Consider if everyone will get what they need from your chosen solution.

#3. Does it have advantages beyond job management? 

Chances are, you’ll need to ‘sell in’ the idea of investing in field service management software to your director. If you can identify and shortlist a solution whose benefit goes beyond improving job management scheduling, you’ll be far more likely to secure the budget you need. 

The best solutions will enable you to not only schedule jobs but offer an all-in-one solution. 

Look for solutions that offer:

  • Mobile app for efficient paperless job management
  • Client job portal (or booking site)
  • Automated job scheduling
  • Live tracking of fleet and resources with real-time updates
  • Better customer CRM and project management
  • Financial management, including quotes and invoicing
  • Integration with your accounting software (or with an ERP system for larger businesses) 
  • Business insights and reporting
  • Audit trail with time stamping
  • Customer messaging, such as text messages to confirm when engineers will arrive 
  • Ability to control the workflow step-by-step so nothing is missed

Are you short-listing suppliers that can deliver on all this?

#4. Does the supplier match up to the solution? 

When you choose a job management solution, remember you’re not buying just a solution, but a supplier as well. The right supplier can turn into a fruitful business partnership. 

Ask these key questions:

Ensuring your chosen supplier can support you on your job management automation journey is vitally important. Make sure the service levels match up to the technical elements of the solution. 

#5. Does the solution have the capacity to scale with you?

Finally, as your business scales, you need job management software that has the capacity to scale with you. 

Can it handle increased workloads while adding users with minimal cost impact? Can you add integrations, such as Xero, as you grow? And is the supplier constantly updating the software with new features?

Equally important, is the solution fast and flexible to launch? Some software requires complex IT involvement, while others can be up and running straight away. 

In short, make sure the solution suits your needs today and has what you need in five years’ time. 

If the answer is yes, put that vendor on your shortlist.

Getting it right when making decisions on job management software

The benefits of job management software are well-recognised. You can save significant time, improve productivity, reduce your admin, and increase efficiency. 

We can’t say it enough. Making sure you select the best solution for your business is the crucial step in achieving the benefits field service management software can deliver.

When narrowing down your options, be sure to read customer reviews and compare features and benefits. 

Hopefully, this blog has given you some ideas of how to get it right when you’re choosing job management software. 

When in doubt, schedule a demo

Scheduling software demos are an excellent way to understand each software better and get a better feeling for their customer support.If you’re ready to put BigChange on your shortlist, why not book a one-on-one demo today? Our team will show you how to win more work, take control of your operations, and deliver the best customer experiences.

JWH tanks boosts growth by 35% with bigchange digital transformation

Posted on by Martin Port

Initially selecting the cloud-based platform to help gain and maintain quality standards and industry accreditations, JWH Tanks also used BigChange to improve the management of their nationwide operations by reducing data duplication, minimising paperwork and eliminating inefficient workflows.

Part of a family business dating back 150 years, JWH Tanks has been offering safe, reliable and cost-effective tank cleaning, tank removal, decommissioning and other fuel-related services for over 40 years. With teams operating across the UK, the Leeds-based company has completed projects for organisations such as the NHS and MOD, major fuel forecourt brands and large development projects, alongside smaller organisations such as independent building contractors and even domestic clients.

“Since we went live with BigChange around 2 years ago, we have increased our turnover by around 35 per cent,” commented Nick Saunders, Operations Manager at J W Hinchliffe (Tanks). “I believe this is attributed to a number of benefits brought on by BigChange, particularly efficiency savings, allowing us to focus on other aspects of the business, such as brand promotion.”

“Using BigChange, we have slashed the time taken to produce vital documentation for each job. Customised worksheets such as tank cleaning reports and consignment notes can be completed simply by our engineers, which is complemented by easy access to important safety information such as method statements and risk assessments via the BigChange app,” he continued.Nick Saunders, Operations Manager, J W Hinchliffe (Tanks)

“Once a job is completed, clients no longer wait 24 or 48 hours for paper documents to be returned to the office. In many instances, our clients receive their post-work completion packs before our engineers even return to base, using the benefit of real-time information sharing.”

Using BigChange, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, resource management, job finance and business intelligence, has dramatically reduced the time and resource required to manage the complete project lifecycle from the initial enquiry right through to project sign-off and invoicing. Intelligent scheduling and routing are reducing costs and unnecessary returns to base between jobs, and the digitisation of paper documents is improving access to and sharing of job-specific information.

Since implementing BigChange, the administrative burden has been dramatically reduced, and management has better control over costs, all contributing to the increase in turnover. The system also improves communication between field-based teams and back-office staff, raising customer service levels and boosting feedback with real-time updates, ETAs and reporting. In addition, the management of staff and vehicles is streamlined with automated checks and alerts, real-time tracking and 24/7 visibility of remote staff. 

“BigChange has freed up my time to run the business rather than it running me,” concluded Saunders. “It gives me the tools and information I need when I need them, it provides the mechanism to share time or business-critical data, and it provides the intelligence we need to be accountable to ourselves, our customers and external organisations. This has allowed me to invest time in other areas of the business, such as the website, advertising and customer care, which has undoubtedly contributed to our growth.”Nick Saunders, Operations Manager, J W Hinchliffe (Tanks)

A&S Doubles Business with Diversification using BigChange Technology

Posted on by Martin Port

New build after-care specialist A&S has used the latest mobile workforce technology to double its business to a £5m turnover in 2 years.

Using the cloud-based job management system from BigChange, A&S has successfully diversified into high-level access services and asset management services for the Private Rental Sector (PRS).  

Established just eight years, A&S has become a leading player in the fast-growing market for new build after-care.  With a head office near Chester and a national training centre in Market Drayton, the company employs multi-skilled and specialist trade teams carrying out NHBC remedial claims, assisting with high-volume build programmes, remedial repairs and technical reports.

A&S works with the major house builders and is now expanding into the private rental sector providing services to UK and overseas investors with A&S Asset Management. With a pool of 100 tradesmen using mobile devices to connect in real-time with the office, BigChange provides a paperless dynamic CRM system that is boosting customer service and efficiency on site.

A&S recently acquired JA Access, allowing the group to offer high-level remedial works, technical external investigations and cladding remedial schemes. JA Access will be the first scaffold access company to utilise BigChange, and A&S are creating a nationwide supply chain network to provide access across the country. This new capability will help A&S complete recently secured cladding remediation and solar panel installation projects.

“BigChange has already delivered productivity gains of 20 percent within our after-care business,” said Sean Coldrick, Group Managing Director, A&S. “Now it has been deployed to underpin expansion into the private rental sector and manage new division in access services – helping us to boost turnover to £5m in just 2 years.”

Sean Coldrisk, Group Managing Director, A&S

“BigChange has transformed JA Access from a paper-driven to paperless business, allowing processes to be streamlined,” Coldrick explains.

“Incorporating JA Access was easy thanks to the ability to link data by the click of a button, making purchase orders and job data simple to exchange. It’s now a business underpinned by a dynamic CRM system; we’ve been able to seamlessly add new clients, double staffing levels and boost sales by 50 percent.”

Sean Coldrick, Group Managing Director, A&S

Using the BigChange mobile app, tradesmen manage all work on-site, aided by on-screen workflows to ensure all the correct procedures are followed and information recorded.  It is completely paperless, and job cards are completed with accompanying on-site photographs, generating contra-charge reports at the click of a button. BigChange also has fully integrated vehicle tracking, providing time and location data, routing, customer ETA alerts and driver performance reporting.

With customer service central to A&S, BigChange provides an important platform for customer mediation, with a portal allowing customers to access all information, including quotes, bookings, job cards and invoices.  BigChange has also been used to transform stock management, with real-time stock control and replenishment of stock on vans and the ordering of parts and materials by tradesmen via their tablets.

“BigChange has allowed us to really streamline our mobile operations.  Tradesmen are now much more self-sufficient; journeys to the depot are rare, first fix rates are improved, and there are fewer wasted hours.

We have complete visibility of everything going on in real-time and that provides assurance that all works are properly controlled.  The system allows us to meet any contract specification, opening up new business opportunities and much bigger contracts – with the assurance that we can deliver exceptional service with a well-proven system and processes.”

Sean Coldrick, Group Managing Director, A&S

BigChange is also helping A&S expand into private rental, creating a new division. A&S Asset Management provides a complete service to the PRS sector, working with UK and overseas investors and increasing the ROI on residential units by providing a high-end cost affective refurbishment scheme for residential units. 

The new division has already secured a multi-million-pound scheme within the NW to bring what are currently standard rentable units up to a modern category, introducing green energy and modern techniques to reduce carbon footprints significantly.

BigChange allowed A&S to centralise all overhead facilities and gave both JA Access and A&S Asset Management a foundation to provide the clients with reassurance.  BigChange ensures all the key requirements are in place; H&S, tracking of jobs and vehicles, asset control and transparency with client login.

“BigChange has lived up to our expectations and transformed the business.  However, more than anything, we chose BigChange because the system was clearly backed up by real people; a team of professionals that have since proven to be invaluable in the roll-out of the system,” said Coldrick. “And like us, they have a forward vision and ambition to grow; that fits very much with our own ambitions.”

Sean Coldrick, Group Managing Director, A&S

Norspace boosts hire services with mobile tech from BigChange

Posted on by Martin Port

Norspace Hire, supplier of temporary accommodation and welfare facilities in Ireland, is boosting its customer service and reducing costs following the implementation of job management software from BigChange.

Used to schedule and report on its delivery and service teams, the complete solution ensures managers are no longer working in a vacuum and have real-time visibility of the mobile operation. Since implementing BigChange earlier this year, Norspace has seen a reduction in the number of credit notes issued, an increase in additional on-site charges and an improvement in customer feedback.

“I truly believe that most problems in business are caused by a lack of communication or communication of the wrong information,” commented Matthew Smyth, Managing Director of Norspace Hire, “and BigChange helps to eliminate this.

“Using BigChange mobile devices, our drivers capture real-time information which is communicated instantly to our back office who can share it with customers to either confirm the job was completed as scheduled or to explain why the job wasn’t completed. This information is time and date stamped, recorded to an exact location and backed up by photographs. It takes a couple of seconds on site to capture the information and is instantly available for back-office staff to view and share with customers or management.”  

Matthew Smyth, MD, Norspace Hire

Prior to the implementation of BigChange job management software, Norspace relied entirely on paper job cards, phone calls and texts. Issues, for example, blocked access to customer sites or lost keys, could take days to be reported to the depot and communicated back to a customer, potentially resulting in credit notes for un-serviced units, lost charges for extended time on-site and unanswerable customer queries.

“BigChange reduces the potential for complaints,” Smyth added.

“We record, access and share information in seconds and with just a couple of clicks. This has all but eradicated negative customer experiences and gives us room to manoeuvre as situations change.”

Matthew Smyth, MD, Norspace Hire

Norspace Hire, headquartered in Lisburn with depots across Northern Ireland and the Republic, is a family-run business with over 35 years of experience providing temporary accommodation and welfare facilities for the construction, infrastructure, health, education, and events and hospitality sectors. Norspace operates a fleet of trucks ranging from small service vehicles to articulated lorries and loader cranes. Offering a range of products and services, from portable toilets to full-scale onsite temporary accommodation, Norspace projects range from 1 day to many years.

Since implementing the BigChange job management platform, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, job finance and business intelligence, in one simple to use and easy-to-integrate platform, Norspace has seen a marked improvement in customer feedback and staff satisfaction. Intelligent and responsive scheduling allows Norspace to react immediately to unforeseen circumstances. Customisable job cards and reports have significantly improved efficiencies onsite and in the back office, which gives Norspace the right platform to maintain high service levels and customer satisfaction.