Connectivity leads to productivity
Installation businesses have been managing remote workers for decades, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. According to Rhonda Ridge of AdminBase, software is now necessary for home improvement companies to be truly connected and more productive.
We hear a lot more about remote working since the pandemic hit a few years ago, but of course, working remotely is nothing new for a lot of people.
For installation businesses, managing fitting teams and service engineers out on site every day is the norm. But just because they are experienced in remote working doesn’t mean they’re good at it.
Some companies are better at facilitating disparate teams than others and it is important, because when done well, communication between off-site employees and office-based staff improves, and productivity is enhanced. There are tools that can help things run more smoothly, and utilising the right software is at the top of the list.
Lead from the front
To foster a positive working relationship between employees that need to work separately, a company culture of connectivity needs to be adopted. Both on and off-site workers should be encouraged to share information and knowledge with each other freely, so the right hand always knows what the left hand is doing.
This approach improves efficiency, boosts productivity, and allows customers to benefit from a better overall experience. The easiest way to achieve this connectivity is to make it easy to do, with for example, a shared CRM.
Ab Initio identified this requirement for improved information sharing in installation businesses over 20 years ago, which is why we designed the fully integrated AdminBase installer management system. The comprehensive CRM, designed specifically for installation businesses, allows data to be shared across the company, whether employees are in the office or working remotely, and ensures complete connectivity across the entire organisation.
AdminBase helps to bolster the sense of teamwork between all employees, including those that work remotely such as installation teams and service engineers. The AdminBase Fitting app, for example, allows installation teams to view all relevant information on a project, including contracts and surveys to save them having to collect reams of printed documents when they collect products for an installation. When the installation is complete, fitters can take photos, conduct a customer questionnaire, and get the project signed off with an electronic signature within the app, and then share all of this information with office staff by making it live straight away.
The AdminBase Service app meanwhile allows installation businesses to send pertinent details of an appointment, directly to a service engineer’s device. They can even be informed of an outstanding balance that needs to be collected. Having access to this and all other information relating to the project they are working on that day allows the service engineer to feel like part of the team and of course helps them do their job more effectively, and more easily.
The engineer can also use the app to capture data about what they did on site that day or log any additional parts they need to finish the work, and upload that back into the system to help staff back in the office to do their jobs effectively. If the project requires the engineer to return another day to finish the work when parts have arrived for example, they can note this for the service call administrator within the app.
With experience of working in an installation business myself and talking to thousands of other home improvement companies over the years, I know how frustrating it can be when teams don’t pull together. But quite often, it’s not through a lack of want, it’s through a lack of facilitation.
In my experience when individuals are given the opportunity to come together as a team and work more closely together to achieve the same goal, they thrive on that connectivity and teamwork and the whole operation becomes more efficient and more productive. What more could an installation business want in such a competitive and fragile market?