Contents
Introduction
If you are in the plumbing business, you are already well aware of the complexity of this profession. Keeping a track of everything may be challenging, especially when there are so many variables involved, such as appointments, orders, deliveries, and inventory. Moreover, not having a streamlined approach to managing all that data and activities can be both challenging and time-consuming.
This is where plumbing software can help.
Implementing plumbing software into your business operations can provide you with a competitive edge in the marketplace, allowing you to get more contracts, keep track of relevant information, assign work to plumbers quickly, and wrap up work more easily.
In this article, we will look at how innovative plumbing software can help make your business more scalable and efficient and delve into some basic yet crucial features of plumbing software that must use, particularly if you are a small business owner or someone who is using this software for the first time.
What exactly is plumbing software?
Plumbing software is a kind of FSM software that is the digitized and much more convenient version of managing and automating schedules, dispatches, and billing processes, making your plumbing business more productive and profitable. It's the center that consolidates all of your plumbing jobs, allowing you to keep track of your data in one convenient location. The advent of plumbing service software was a game-changer for businesses of all sizes, improving operations across the board, from customer administration and client interaction to inventory management and invoicing.
Plumbing software is available in various forms, so it should be simple to find something that works for your company. Also, because everything is digital, you can use the software when traveling.
There are basically three kinds of software used for automation.
Field Service Management Software (FSM)
Field Service Management Software or FSM is a software program designed to assist in keeping track of the numerous details that make up a field service company's regular operations.
There are various tools included in FSM that can help manage various tasks such as scheduling calls, sending out alerts, collecting work orders, and handling invoices. This software makes it easier to check on everything without having to manually monitor it.
Most FSM programs include many features, but just a fraction of them may be of use to a small business. We at Utilize believe that traditional software has too many unnecessary features, which makes it difficult to learn and use. Instead, good software should have just the features you need and be tailored to your business specifically.
Some of the best FSM software programs are Jobber, ServiceMax, Wrike, and Service Fusion.
No-code
No-code is a software program that requires little to no programming skills to develop an application. It is basically a way to design your own software application such as a new website or a new feature to an existing website without any technical know-how. You can customize it based on your needs and preferences.
No-code has become a popular and appealing option to traditional software design for non-technical business users looking to develop their own full-fledged applications. This system works on simple maneuvers, including dragging and dropping elements, filters and data queries, and APIs to build an application.
With no-code solutions like Utilize, Stacker, Zapier, and Glide, you can build an application from simple spreadsheets such as Google Sheets and connect them to your workflow without any coding.
Developers and agencies
If you have a large business team and need something that can efficiently manage all the task-related scheduling and operations, then building a customizable application with the help of a developer would be your best bid.
There is a lot to put in place when it comes to building a customized software program. It is often time-consuming, less flexible, expensive, and non-transparent. A developer or development agency can help you develop a future-proof software program that can work according to your company’s structure, considering you or your team have some level of technical knowledge about the development.
Why should you use plumbing software?
An efficient accounting system may be a real-time saver for any plumbing business. With the estimate stored in the system, creating an invoice is as easy as clicking some buttons. This eliminates the need to manually enter data or, even worse, try to decipher a technician's illegible handwriting.
Plumbing software helps:
Easily make new requests for work, update existing ones, create backups, and keep track of the progress.
Centralize all communication such as phone calls, emails, and any other in a single location. The system automatically logs these communications received via a website, social media, or advertising campaign.
Get access to the most efficient route to work by taking into account traffic, weather, and other variables and ensuring that plumbers get to work quickly and safely by always taking the quickest route possible.
Enable users to provide improved levels of customer data such as contact details, payment methods, and previous service use.
Provides real-time consumer input into the process, making the customer an integral part of problem-solving.
Create invoices from the field using their smartphones and tablets. Now, you can get rid of the hassle of sending invoices through email and following up with clients to collect payment.
Keep track of all of your company's plumbing supplies and tools. You won't have to worry about running out of stock, having your orders delayed, or making repeated purchases. You are always aware of the current stock of all parts.
What are the most important features of plumbing software?
Plumbing job software caters to the unique requirements of the business world, especially for small businesses.
Here are some of the basic yet most important features of plumbing software. In case you want to learn about more features, we have provided a comprehensive list in this article.
1. Job audits, reports and analytics
Data management is a crucial feature of plumbing company software. Record keeping, particularly if it involves a lot of accounting paperwork, can cause a lot of damage such as paper loss and record destruction. As a result, it's crucial to have a software program that maintains a digital file directory. With just a few clicks, you can find what you're looking for, and in the process, save yourself a lot of time and money.
2. Employee management
It is very challenging to monitor everyone in a large organization and ensure consistent quality output from each employee. Using plumbing software that generates daily reports, schedules, and tracks progress to ensure accountability. It helps record members' progress in several areas on a daily basis.
In case of any complaint from an unsatisfied client, these records can serve as useful information. Scheduling allows you to estimate when projects can be delivered to customers. When everything is said and done, tracking makes it possible to check on machinery and personnel for transparency and responsibility.
3. Client management
This software allows plumbers to have access to client management solutions that allow them to quickly retrieve any relevant data. For each client in your database, you can see their work order history, invoices, quotations, memberships, monitor parts, and much more. Moreover, you can do online bookings through Google Search, websites, and social media.
4. Transparent communication
Effective communication is a must for every successful business. The absence of an effective means of communication increases the risk of misunderstandings, which may lead to unwanted outcomes. Using the program, your plumbing team will have a reliable channel of communication. In addition to asking questions and sending and receiving documents, users may also make changes and add updates. This program will facilitate communication between all members of the company's management team in a quick and precise manner.
5. More customers
When you relieve your employees from mundane tasks like data input and file search, they'll be better able to focus on quality service and expanding your business. Using plumbing business software can allow your technicians to respond to service calls sooner, accept more methods of payment, reduce the risk of billing errors, improve the precision of your bids and estimates, and help you make the most of your workday. By eliminating confusion in the front office, your business will be better able to cater to the demands of its customers.
6. Remote operation
There are several plumbing software solutions that offer mobile app support. The use of these applications provides your plumbing business with the freedom to get work alerts and updates from any location. In addition, this makes it easier for the team to retrieve the data or enter notes while they are out working in the field. An environment that fosters effective communication cuts down not just on the amount of time spent traveling physically, but also on the effort. As a result, plumbing business software is an excellent tool that can help you get value for your company even when you are out of the office.
7. Security
An additional benefit of plumbing management software is that it helps keep your data safe. As opposed to the manual process, where several people have open access to the business document, the plumbing software system allows access to information to only those who have been granted permission.
You can also save a backup of data elsewhere. You can utilize cloud services to back up your data so if ever your system crashes, you can simply restore the data from your backups and continue working as usual.
8. Quotes and invoices
The use of plumbing software enables plumbing professionals to easily create and send accurate, cloud-based quotations to consumers and get quote approvals and follow-ups. These quotes are not only simple to follow up on but also ensure that the bottom line of plumbing professionals is always protected.
Bottom line
The main objective of any good plumbing software is to boost efficiency. By taking advantage of automation for routine tasks, you can free up employees to focus on more crucial tasks.
Plumbing software allows you to better arrange service calls for your customers and keep a track of every employee's work. Additionally, this lets you maximize the productivity of your employees. It lets you skip through repetitive tasks. As a result, you'll have more time for what really matters to your company.
That's where Utilize can help. Utilize is a no-code solution that enables businesses to design custom software without the need for technical knowledge. Utilize's platform empowers businesses to design software tailored to their specific needs, making it a flexible and affordable solution. If you're interested in learning more about how Utilize can help your plumbing business, book a demo today.
