Clearview National December 2019 - Issue 217 | Page 61

SOFTWARE
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Rhonda Ridge, managing director of AdminBase, explains how the
introduction of mobile apps has taken the UK’s most popular management
system for installation companies to a whole new level.
» ‘WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER’ IS
a common mantra of motivational speakers
and productivity coaches the world over.
This is often easier said than done, but
actually, in today’s modern world of smart
products – gadgets that are designed to make
our increasingly busy lives easier and more
manageable – working smarter has become
eminently more do-able.
When I launched AdminBase, around 20
years, I was inspired by my time working as a
financial controller at a double glazing firm,
to create a management system that would
make life easier for installation companies
by introducing efficiencies to the sales and
ordering processes. That system has evolved
massively over the last couple of decades and
has proved so successful that it is now an
integral part of window and door installation
companies all over the UK, including over
3,000 users from relatively small businesses to
larger companies that are fitting hundreds of
frames per week.
Of course, a lot has changed in the industry
during those 20 years, and while we have
experienced a big shift in consumer demands
and a much more exciting range of products
for example, we’ve also enjoyed huge leaps
forward in technology – advances that can
perhaps be best demonstrated in the mobile
phones and tablets we all take for granted
today. When AdminBase was launched, the
thought of high speed 4G and 5G, and the
connectivity that it has enabled was virtually
unthinkable, especially because at that time we
lived in a world where computers all stayed in
the office and internet speeds were prehistoric
in comparison.
And as a result of this next generation
technology, we are now at the point where
we have taken AdminBase to a whole new
level, with the introduction of mobile apps
for sales, survey, installation and remedial
services – adding a level of functionality that
we identified the need for a long time ago, but
which has only now been made possible.
So how will our new apps help installation
companies work smarter, not harder? Put
simply, by better coordinating the entire
process of sales, to survey, to installation – as
well as any remedial work – by linking every
stage to a central system via easy to use,
intuitive mobile technology and eliminating
the need for old fashioned handwritten
instructions, and orders scribbled into fax
machines in the process.
There is an AdminBase app for each stage
of an order. A sales person is equipped with an
app that allows a quote to be created for the
homeowner, documents that can be signed
digitally, and copies to be sent instantly to
the customer via email. All this information
is sent to a central database, so that when the
survey team needs it, they can gain access via
their own app and make any necessary changes
with ease. Any documents created or updated
at this stage can also be signed digitally by
the homeowner, via a tablet, and recorded
once again in the central system. When it
comes to the installation, the fitting team can
then access all required information, again
through a dedicated tablet and app, and once
they have completed the job they are able to
secure another electronic signature from the
customer, as well as record any feedback or
problems that were encountered or any follow
up work that is needed.
If this is the case, then service engineers can
bring up detailed notes on their own app, along
with any outstanding balances, and as before, can
collect the customer’s signature before sending
everything off directly to the head office.
Successfully incorporating these on-site
functions into Adminbase has realised a long
term goal to take the whole system to the next
level, using technology that is familiar and
intuitive to everyone. It is evident that some
people will always defer to a pen and pad, but
today, where we all use apps on a daily basis
whether that’s planning a journey or doing the
weeks grocery shop, the introduction of our
mobile apps really has made it a lot easier to
work smarter, be more efficient and stay ahead
of the competition in what has become an
increasingly competitive market place.
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